Harper Down On Democracy?

Well, this can't be much of a surprise, can it?

The Haunting Threats To Democracy

Being a rather fitful sleeper at the best of times, I often awake throughout the night, the sole advantage of this affliction being the ability to recall a large number of my dreams. Last night was one such night.

In the dream, while I lived in an apparently normal environment, each time that I tried to express my opinion or move freely about, some force came out of the background to stop me, leading me to realize that my freedom was illusory.

While this dream actually did occur and is not a writer's artifice to lead into his theme, its central metaphor was obvious to me upon awakening. We live in a time when our democratic freedoms are being eroded, along with the values and supports that Canadians have long held dear. And yet, if we do not scratch beneath the surface, everything appears to be reasonably normal. It is only upon closer scrutiny or action that we begin to detect the stench coming from the hidden rot.

I guess it was something I was thinking about the other day during the demonstration at David Sweet's office. A young couple was in attendance; they told those of us who were taking pictures that they didn't want theirs posted on the Internet, the specific reasons for which I will not reveal except to say fear of government reprisal.

I suspect there is much such fear in this country today, and with very good reason. The Harper government, in its relentless drive to remake Canada in its stunted image, is well-known for its vindictiveness against groups who oppose its agenda, currently investigating, for example, the charitable status of those groups who oppose the regime's campaign of environmental despoliation. If there is a government equivalent to libel chill, this is it, although a more apt description is abuse of government power to stifle our Charter right of freedom of expression.

I was watching a documentary recently from a series called Earth From Above. In it, an activist who has worked hard to stop the building of dams on the Loire River in France makes this statement: "If you do not use democracy, it will wither."

I can only hope that this truth will dawn upon more and more people as they contemplate joining some of the planned future demonstrations against the Harper agenda.

Protesting The Harper Omnibus Budget Bill

I wrote a post the other day about a Leadnow.ca campaign promoting nation-wide demonstrations at the constituency offices of Conservative M.P.s to protest Bill C-38, the Harper government's omnibus budget bill that changes over 70 laws, eroding further our democracy, our labour laws, and our environmental safeguards, to name but three of its insidious contents.

Locally, a group of us gathered at the office of David Sweet, the Harper M.P. for Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale. Although disappointed that he wasn't there (and in fairness to him, I checked afterwards and found out that his constituency hours are only Monday through Friday), it was nonetheless a healthy gathering of people, many of whom shared the view that this was just a first step in organizing local opposition to the agenda that Harper Inc. is mercilessly pursuing at the expense of the well-being of all Canadians.

None of us, being mature adults, are under any illusion that the fight will be easy or of short duration. We all know the power of the Conservative propaganda machine; coupled with the fear that the regime inspires in various groups who still subscribe to the tenets of democracy, and the contemptibly divisive tactics employed by a government drunk with its own unholy power, the road ahead is littered with obstacles.

But at least the process is in place. And while I recognize that it is very often very difficult for people to take that first step outside of their 'comfort zone' to join a protest, I suspect most would say that once they have taken that step, they look forward to more opportunities to do what they can to ensure that the great country they have known throughout their lives offers the same values and the same opportunities for their children and their children's children, down through the generations.

The future is at stake!

The Economy And The People

Several years ago, while he was still writing for Canada's self-proclaimed 'newspaper of record,' Rick Salutin penned a column entitled something like, The economy is doing fine, the people not so much. In it, he made some trenchant observations about how, over time, the well-being of the economy and the well-being of the people, once essentially synonymous, have sharply diverged. His thesis was that while the economy once served the people, today the opposite is true.

Echoing that thesis, in today's column entitled GM Oshawa job cuts show real economy hurting under Stephen Harper Thomas Walkom offers a similar perspective.

His biting analysis begins:

When Stephen Harper’s Conservatives talk about protecting the economy, they are speaking of an abstraction.

They override the right to strike of rail and airline workers in order to further this abstraction. They run roughshod over the environment in its name.

But the real economy is not an abstraction. It is people’s jobs and wages. It is our livelihood. It is how we get by.

And this real economy is not doing well.

Walkom then goes on to eviscerate the propaganda so proudly and persistently proclaimed by Harper Inc. that they are economic masters of the universe, the only party protecting the values and addressing the concerns of 'ordinary Canadians.'

For an inkling of whose interests the Harper regime is really protecting, please take a look at the article. Must reading in the arsenal of the critical thinker.

Police Deserve Our Respect - When They Don't Abuse It

Contrary to what one might believe reading my various entries on the police, I recognize the difficult job that they have, and I realize that they are often capable of feats of great heroism when they put themselves at peril to protect the public. As a retired teacher, I also know how easy it is for people to make gross over generalizations about those who work as public servants, stereotyped slurs abounding about, for example, overpaid and lazy teachers, cops on the take, etc.

However, and I think I have been consistent in this, I draw the line at police who abuse their authority or act incompetently and then try to escape the consequences through lies, misdirection, or obfuscatory political language.

My reflections today are prompted by a story on the front page of today's Star detailing the failure of Julian Fantino to apologize to Cecil Bernard George, cousin of the late Dudley George, for a near-fatal beating he received at the hands of the OPP when Fantino headed that organization:

Five years ago, Justice Sidney Linden wrote that then-OPP commissioner Julian Fantino should apologize to Kettle and Stony Point band councillor Cecil Bernard “Slippery” George for near-fatal injuries he suffered during a clash with police.

Fantino, who seems to epitomize the American belief that it should never apologize for anything, has never acted upon that judicial request and appears not to be man enough to own up to his failure, one of many in his very checkered career in law enforcement, a career that included wiretap controversies, homophobia, and corruption scandals under his command.

According to the Star article, Fantino's first feeble explanation for not apologizing to Cecil George came three weeks ago when the now-Assistant Minister of Defence said he sincerely wanted to apologize to George face-to-face, but was told by Ontario Provincial Police staff that George was dead. “I believe he passed away”.

George, who has made no secret of his ongoing participation in this life, even has his picture on the band council's webpage. Mind you, the picture includes three people with the surname of George, so perhaps the kind of discernment required to identify the correct one would have required time that an assistant minister has little of, given his weighty duties in the service of Haper Inc.

Ever the resourceful politician, when informed by the Star that Mr. George is still with us, a spokesperson said in an email late Thursday afternoon that Fantino now recalls that he offered an apology and it was declined.

George said Thursday he’s still awaiting an apology from Fantino and would welcome one.

The Fantino spokesperson also said that two other former OPP commissioners have already apologized to the community.

George said Linden specifically called upon Fantino to apologize and that Fantino should respect the judge’s recommendation.

The Fantino spokesperson said that he no longer has authority to act of behalf of the OPP.

George said he feels Fantino should still make the apology and that he should make it to the entire community.

And so you can see the problem here. The breathtaking scope of dishonesty, rationalization, evasion and absence of honour epitomized in this situation once more suggests that Mr. Fantino is yet just another politician, cut from the same cloth as the majority of the Harper regime, intent on advancing his own career at the expense of the public good.

Yet one more reason I will be protesting at my local Conservative M.P.'s office tomorrow.

The Erosion Of Educational Integrity

I rarely write directly about education these days, now that I am several years into retirement and believe that dwelling upon the past can be unhealthy. Every so often, however, a story comes along that causes me to relive some of the sleazy politicization that continues to erode educational integrity to this very day.

Thanks to a link sent to me by my son, who is now living in Alberta, I read a story reported by CBC about an Edmonton high school physics teacher who has been suspended for giving zeroes on uncompleted assignments or exams:

Lynden Dorval, a physics teacher at Ross Sheppard High School, has been giving the mark for work that wasn't handed in or tests not taken even though it goes against the school's "no-zero" policy.

The thinking behind the policy is that failing to complete assignments is a behavioural issue and marks should reflect ability, not behaviour.

Dorval said he couldn't in good conscience comply with the rule.

Towards the end of my career in Ontario, we were moving toward a similar policy, but at the time of my retirement, many of us were still practising what we called a 'drop-dead date' beyond which late work could not be submitted and would be assigned a zero. However, for me the proverbial line in the sand, one upon which I was never actually tested, was the Ontario Ministry guideline that described plagiarism as a behaviourial issue and that students should be given opportunities to do makeup work.

While some teachers actually provided such opportunities, it was, in my time still only a guideline and not school policy. I vowed to myself that I would never submit to such a stipulation, and fortunately, like the teacher in the Edmonton story, was close enough to retirement to have been able to stay true to my principles had an administrative ultimatum been issued.

And what foundational principle was so important to me that I would have put my job on the line? It was that I would never reward academic dishonesty as if it were a mere slip of judgement, a quirk or peccadillo easily remediated by second and third chances.

And my reasoning was simple: to give makeup chances to errant students was to simply encourage academic dishonesty, since there would be no real consequences for committing what used to be considered a grave academic crime. It also would have mocked the majority of students who were hardworking and earnest in their efforts. That was something I could not live with.

So, as my friend Dom, also a retired teacher, says about those who promote such inane policies, 'educational principles' are now in the hands of the resume-builders, those whose concerns for quality in education are at the very least a distant second, far behind their insatiable appetite for career-advancement.

You can perhaps appreciate why I prefer not to revisit "the good old days' too often.

P.S. If you read the CBC story, be sure to note the student reactions to Lynden Dorval's suspension, especially the first two.

When The Left Is Right

Although one wouldn't know it by listening to the predictable, hysterical, and politically-motivated campaign Harper Inc. is mounting against Thomas Mulcair for his 'Dutch disease' comments, there is a growing view amongst analysts and think tanks that the NDP leader is correct to an extent in his assessments of the economic impact of unrestrained tarsands development.

In his column today, Thomas Walkom offers an overview of analyses that verify the inconvenient truth to be found in Mulcair's assertions.