PopCan - Popular Canadian Politics

By:  David Eaves

Mr. Colvin’s allegations suggest that the government has entered a Bush-like vortex where facts are irrelevant – be it on torture, Canadians abroad or on climate change. We have a government who’s view is: “If we don’t know it, it doesn’t exist.” Moreover, it is prepared to attack the bureaucracy if it isn’t prepared to shape the truth or willing to keep its political masters in the dark in the appropriate ways.

When the most senior ranks of the public service – those who pride themselves on their ability to speak truth to power and whose job it is to protect junior ranks from political interference – feel pressured to do the very opposite, it should send a chill down every Canadians spine. Worse still, we may never know the full truth of what contrary evidence was presented to politicians since, when confronted with countering facts, today’s public servants feel increasing pressure to “put down their pen” and stop writing…[more]

By:  Lawrence Martin

Last week’s issuance of the Harper government’s new citizenship guide came as a fitting capper to the first decade of the new century. With its emphasis on the military, law and order, the monarchy, with expressed limits on cultural tolerance, this was a document that affirmed Canada’s new conservative way.

Rarely, if ever, have the Tories had it so good. For the Liberals, the past decade has been the lost decade. For the Conservatives, it’s been gold. Trends of all sorts are working for them – political, demographic, media, geographic.

Canada has had an image as a liberal Eden since Thomas Edison did his light-bulb thing. The image is not yet undone. One need only look at the big-spending, deficit-building spree of today’s government. But the old conception of Canada is at risk, threatened by an emerging conservative consensus that no one 10 years ago could have foreseen.

Under Jean Chrétien, the Liberal fortress looked impregnable. But starting off the new millennium came the trauma of 9/11. It shifted the political spectrum rightward. It led to the war in Afghanistan, to a redefinition of Canada’s military role, to a glorification of the armed services and men such as Rick Hillier whose agenda was to get out there and kill, as the general put it, all those “scumbags.”

The backdrop eased the way for Stephen Harper’s government to reshape Canadian foreign policy away from the soft-power Liberal inclinations of the previous half-century. Our old voice of moderation – on the Suez crisis, on Vietnam, the arms race, the Cold War, on peacekeeping – is no longer much in evidence. And Canadians don’t seem to mind…[more]

While hindsight is always a convenient 20/20, the Liberals might soon be asking themselves what might have been if they hadn’t pushed Dion out the leader’s door so quickly.

While many in the sheep-like media continue to point to Dion as a low point in the Liberal party, a more objective view shows a different story that could had played out had impatient politicos taken a pill and allowed the former leader to establish himself.

Rewind a year – It’s about the time that Harper tried his poison pill that resulted in a Liberal-NDP coalition proposal that was stalled due to the intervention of the Govenor General (By the way, we STILL haven’t had any explanation from her – she’s a little too content to get back to the ribbon-cutting circuit which is likely more her skill set – acting like a head of state, not actually performing like a head of state – but I digress). Then comes Iggius Cassius who takes over the leadership and turns his back on the coalition.

Now – if Dion had stayed and the coalition had defeated the government we would likely still be governed by a centre-left coalition with a substantial green policy as we approach the Copenhagen talks (heck even the Americans are more ahead of us on this) not to mention the stimulus spending would have been delivered more directly to the towns and cities with a stronger focus on sustainable development. We wouldn’t be talking weasel words about staying in war-mode, and getting rid of gun control wouldn’t be a point of pride for the government. The point is, perhaps the IDEAS of Dion would have had a chance to take shape and the ridiculous belittling of a man with a French accent would have given way to something else – serious solutions for the problems of our time. The same hacks who couldn’t get enough of poking fun at Dion (and still do) are now bemoaning the lack of seriousness in our politics.  But alas, the fact that Dion couldn’t speak English properly was enough to disqualify him a mere year ago.

The same hacks are now turning their guns on Ignatieff.  Iggy has been an unmitigated flop for a number of reasons, but the seeds of Dion’s downfall and Iggy’s slide are the same – the lack of sophistication of our political class who have more in common with lemmings than anything substantial. As long as it’s style over substance, the Liberals are doomed to wander and Harper is free to play whatever game he wants.  Harper’s weakness has always been a lack of a substaintial vision and in prematurely trading Dion for Iggy, the Liberals gave away their advantage in that regard.

The Grits should be thinking about that old Joni Mitchell song - You don’t know what you got ‘till it’s gone.

After seeing all the hoopla about the arrival of the Olympic flame in Canada, the media is really pumping up the impending torch relay that will apparently run through many a town across this great land. The NEW! CBC News Network is so excited, they can’t sit down…

Setting aside all the fun times ahead as the “national joint” is passed from hand to hand, Popcan can’t help but wonder what the spinners in the PMO have been up to as the torch heads on the road. We have all heard about how the political parties use big spending and big spotlight events to trumpet their party brands – witness the recent spending spree on infrastructure announcements using game show-sized cheques to promote the Conservative Party as well as the disproportionate amount of Conservative ridings that were getting more funding over their competitors. Then there was Canada’s Economic Action Plan closely promoted in conjunction with Harper’s party. We even saw the Liberals accusing the government of influencing a Canadian Olympic logo that looks somewhat like the Conservative Party logo.

So it wasn’t a surprise to see spinner-in-chief Harper speaking about the arrival of the Olympic flame and how we should all get ready for the good times ahead.

So where is the torch headed Steve? According to Wikipedia:

The 2010 Olympic Torch Relay is scheduled to be a 106 day run, from October 30, 2009 to February 12, 2010, prior to the 2010 Winter Olympics. Plans for the relay were announced November 21, 2008 by the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC). Communities were informed in June 2008, but the locations were not announced for “security reasons”. Exact routes will not be announced until closer to the relay. There will be an estimated 12,000 torchbearers, including notable Canadian celebrities such as Shania Twain!

The article also has the exact list of cities which follows a path all over the country reaching all corners of Canada. However when you look at the whole list and compare it to the federal electoral ridings through which the torch will pass, some interesting numbers come up:

Of all the communities – the majority 53% are represented by at least one Conservative Member of Parliament. 21% are represented by at least one NDP MP, 17% by at least one Liberal MP, and 9% by at least one Bloc MP.

Coincidence? Perhaps? Just like the spending, cheques, logo, etc. You have to love the Harper Conservatives - at least they are consistent in their complete hypocrisy when it comes to promising a more fair, accountable, and transparent government than the last guys who were there. Once again, the even more amazing thing is that they can get away with it. Now, if only we had some opposition who could really take them to task.