Is Canadian Democracy Just School Yard Stuff?

I thought the Boss said we were some kind of a beacon of Democracy or something to that effect?

Dear Steve Harper:

Many of us thought that the hallmarks of Democracy were openness and transparency, but you’ve shown us how silly we are Steve, committees disappearing behind closed doors for in camera meetings, omnibus bills that have grown so large that we really only need to have you folk in Ottawa for a couple of weeks to vote on it then take the rest of the session off.

Does that sound familiar?  It should, it’s pretty much what you had to say after a Liberal omnibus bill a few years ago.  It seems you want everyone else to be transparent but not when it comes to government.  Or at least Your government…

Every time people try to find out what’s going on with Canada there are brick walls thrown up in their faces.  The treatment of detainees in Afghanistan, the cost of the F 35 jets that may or may not ever come to fruition, the list goes on, and on, and on…

Certainly not open or transparent by any stretch of the imagination.

But I guess the real irony is when you send your MPs to far off places to ensure they have open and fair elections, but when someone takes your people to task over Robocalls and voter suppression, well they clam up, drag their feet, and generally make asses of themselves.

From what I gather, no one in the Party speaks without clearance from the PMO.  Funny thing, we don’t get to vote on who is in the PMO do we?

And no one gets to ask questions without clearance from the PMO either?

It certainly looks like that.  You can correct me if I’m mistaken, but I heard that the Press Pool decided to give up one of their valued questions to a foreign correspondent from China, a fellow named Li Xue Jiang.  When Mr. Li stepped up to ask his question, your staff pulled the microphone away from him and when he had the temerity to try and grab the microphone back he was promptly wrestled away by four of your security detail. 

Thoughtfully, the Globe and Mail has the video here.

Way to show those commies how the leader of an open and democratic society handles inconvenient questions.  That’s sarcasm; I know it doesn’t always carry well in writing.

You want us to believe that you are in the “big leagues” internationally, but you’re not.  This is just school yard stuff being played out by someone who should know better.  Don’t like the question?  Don’t let the Chinese guy ask it.  (And have your minions drag him away) Too hot in Ottawa?  Just yell “Prorogue”!  That’s the parliamentary equivalent of picking up the ball and running away isn’t it?

We’re used to it here.  We’ve seen how you have acted for the last seven years.  Now you’ve gone and shown the world your management skills. 

By the way Steve, yelling “Prorogue” from Whitehorse, in the middle of the summer break is pretty much like yelling “I’m telling my mom” and running away.

School yard stuff, and the saddest part is how many people don’t care.

Laters, BC

Some Musings on the Canada Elections Act

Imagine if you will a competition.  Before it starts, the referee explains the rules and sets the guide lines and then the competition begins.

The referee watches the competition but seems oblivious to what is going on.  He call no fouls, even when onlookers cry out about illegal moves.  He might occasionally give warnings about inappropriate actions during the competition, but those warnings can be denied and ignored.

At the end of the competition the referee declares the winner.

Sounds a bit like pro wrestling, doesn’t it?

Actually it sounds a lot like our election system in Canada.

Elections Canada seems to have very little power when it comes to the actual election campaigns.  They get to shout “Go!” at the beginning and count the votes at the end to declare the victor.

One, two, three.

More recently we had another vote.  It was in the House of Commons to see what would happen to Bill C-424, a Bill to amend the Elections Act of Canada.

A fellow in Liberal red trunks named Dominic LeBlanc, hailing from Beauséjour (New Brunswick) proposed this bill, which would raise the fines for infractions under the Act from $2000 and $5000 to $20,000 and $50,000 for breaking the rules.  For doing things like preventing people from voting, or causing a disturbance at a polling station to prevent people from voting, or intentionally overspending their limit during an election… It’s all in sections 481 through 499 of the Canada Election Act.

And it would allow the Chief Electoral Officer to contest the result of an election where questionable things happened.

Imagine that, people call Elections Canada about unscrupulous matters occurring in an election and Elections Canada can’t go to the court and say “Here’s what happened, review the results.”  Today, only a voter in that particular riding or a candidate for that riding can go to the courts if they feel that an election was unfairly won.

Some referee eh?  Here’s your striped shirt, but no whistle, not even a flag to throw.

Well on November 21^st there was a vote to see if Bill C-424 would go to Committee and it was clearly a partisan vote.  The Opposition side all voted in favour of the Bill and the Harper Party voted against it. 

Goodbye to Bill C-424.

The system is broken.  We saw that when Borys Wrzesnewskyj contested the Etobicoke election results and initially won.  Borys spent a large amount of money in his efforts to show that the Etobicoke election was flawed and that a new election should be held.  Far more money than you or I would be able to spend if we believed the results of an election should be overturned.

The Chief Electoral Officer should be able to go to the courts and have the results reviewed if there is evidence of wrongdoing.  It shouldn’t be up to you or me to fight in court against a political party that is willing to spend the case into the Supreme Court of Canada like we saw in Borys’ case.

In the USA there were reports that the group anonymous may have interfered with the Republican Party’s get out the vote computer system.  There were concerns that they may have broken several federal election laws (in the US) not for interfering with the vote, or the voting machines, but for interfering with a political party’s computers.

Here we have Pierre Poutine and a number of other infractions under the Canada Election Act and nobody on the Harper Party side of the House seems to give a rat’s patoot about it.

We obviously need some reforms and Bill C-424 was a start, and yet Harper’s crew won’t have any of it. 

Isn’t funny how the self professed Law and Order party of Lord Stephen seems to have no concerns about electoral fraud and robocalls and overspending by candidates or candidates receiving illegal corporate donations, et cetera, et cetera…

If you smell what this cat…. Is cooking.

Apologies for the wrestling references, it’s a weakness ;o)

Cheers, BC

Stephen Harper Wants to Bury Election Fraud

Just when you thought they couldn’t sink any lower the Stephen Harper Party plumbs new depths in… being the Stephen Harper Party.

Why does the Harper Party dominated committee want to see the Chief Electoral Officer on Budget Day? Maybe because most of the Press will be in lockdown until after the Budget is read?

Is this a new way to muzzle the Media?

If this type of tomfoolery and chicanery were to have occurred when Lord Stephen sat in Opposition he would be calling for heads to roll, for Commissions of the Royal sort to be called.

Mr. Mulcair! Mr. Rae! Gentlemen, rev up your chainsaws!

Canadians want Harper’s head on a platter!

The fact that the Stephen Harper Party finds the robocall and other election improprieties a laughing matter and tries to pooh-pooh it away is bad enough but now to schedule the appearance of the Chief Electoral Officer before committee on Budget Day is abhorrent.

Harper may like to paint this as a minor left wing Eastern to-do, but the fact of the matter is that it is not only NDP and Liberal support calling for a full and proper investigation into this matter… it is the Conservatives too.

Not your “Harper People”, the sad little echo boxes that parrot whatever the party says.

Not your Harper MPs that can only speak when party leadership puts words in their mouths and their hands up their backside.

The True Conservatives that believe in Canada and Canadians and not Chinese and American oil barons.

They are rallying to our flag. The flag of Canadians.

You’ve forgotten your so called Reform roots. Democracy from the Grassroots is no more, if it ever was.

You’ve shown us your disdain for Democracy in your handling of the Canadian Wheat Board. This is a farmer organization, owned and governed by its members. You chose to overrule them, to write a law that will be before the courts likely for years.

The clowning and joking of the Stephen Harper Party over this current election scandal speaks volumes to me and millions of other Canadians.

This Electoral Fraud needs to be investigated, and those involved brought to justice.

Your obvious lack of interest of finding the culprits makes me wonder who they really are. Do you shake their hands when they come into your office each morning? Do they call you “Sir”?

The facts I’ve seen, the reports I’ve heard all point to the involvement of your party, the Stephen Harper Party.

The information required to contact and misdirect non supporters of your party is not available to the general public. It is not available to front line campaign staff. The release of this information to persons unknown could only have occurred if people well up the food chain in the Harper Party organization released it. Perhaps it was the “master strategist” himself.

To the Media: My challenge to you is to ensure that for each scribe you send to cover the Budget, you send one to cover the committee. Canada wants to know what the Chief Electoral Officer has to say.

If the Harper Party opts to move the meeting in camera, we want to know who moved it and who supported it.

To the Leaders on the Opposition Side of the House, Mr. Mulcair and Mr. Rae: My challenge to you is to call the Harper Party to account for their part in this and other Election Irregularities that occurred in the latest elections.

I leave it to you and the members of the Opposition Side to force a proper inquiry into these instances of Electoral Fraud and challenge for a Royal Commission to get to the bottom of this.

Not only for me, one Canadian…

Not only for those millions of Canadians who believe as I do that this needs to be addressed…

But also for the boys who lie in Flanders and Bergen Op Zoom and all the other military cemeteries and for the members of our Forces that came home but never saw their loved ones again…

Let Stephen Harper know that when he steps on Democracy he spits on the memory of those who fought to protect Democracy around the world.

The Stephen Harper Party vs. Democracy

Stephen Harper, you just doesn’t get it do you?

People have fought and people have died for democracy in every land around the world except possibly Antarctica.

Canadians serving in our forces have travelled to far off countries to help in the fight to achieve democracy for other people.

Canadians as private citizens have travelled to other countries to help ensure that their elections are properly done and the peoples of those lands were able to take part in fair and free elections.

Canadians believe in freedom. Canadians have risked their lives for freedom. Canadians have died for freedom.

Free and Fair Elections are the cornerstone of freedom, and Canadians are concerned that we may no longer have Free and Fair Elections.

When Elections Canada approached the Procedure and House Affairs Committee for increased investigative powers, it was your people, the members of the Stephen Harper Party that said “No”.

This request or rather recommendation was part of the Elections Canada Report on the 2008 General Election. These reports follow every General Election. I do not know if Increased Powers of Investigation was included in past reports but it certainly seems to be a good idea.

The Provinces already do this, why not the Nation?

In the past General Election of 2011 we have seen reports of automated “robocalls” claiming to be from Elections Canada directing people to wrong and nonexistent Polling Stations. We have seen reports of incomplete Voter Registration cards and now we are hearing about undisclosed bank accounts and “third party” agents hiring services for campaigns and being reimbursed for these expenses rather than those campaigns paying for the services directly.

This all looks less than above board to me. How about you?

I understand that you have a Party Lawyer investigating these claims internally.

I have a simple question for you. Would you have accepted an internal investigation of the “Sponsorship Scandal” done by the Liberals? Should we accept your internal investigation any more than you would have accepted theirs?

You claim to be the “Law and Order” Party, it’s time you acted like it.

Grant the powers requested by Elections Canada and make it law. Not in six months’ time in a nonbinding private member’s motion, in a real law now.

Give Elections Canada unfettered access to the information they need to see and do not cause any interruption of this investigation and do not use your position to try and influence the investigation.

I am willing to give Elections Canada the time to do their investigation, but only if it is done without interference from the government.

If they recommend a Royal Commission, I expect you to make that happen as quickly as possible.

If Elections Canada chooses to lay charges against individuals or organizations as a result of their investigations I expect you to allow the cases to proceed without interference.

The bedrock on which a democracy is built is the ability of citizens to participate in free elections. Any attempt to block a citizen from voting is an attack on democracy. Marking an X on a ballot is for most people the only time they get a chance to influence the government. Help us to ensure that no Canadian is denied their voice.

One of your supporters told me that if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear.

Will you join with us or have you something to fear?