Canadian Coup d'etat?

The RCMP has recently identified “activities aimed at overthrowing, by violence, the Government of Canada.” as a specific security concern in their plans and report to government. This has me wondering what conditions must exist for such concerns to become part of the operational priorities for the year.

Whist our neighbors to the south do have a bit of history in invading countries I hardly think that such a thing is very probable and the RCMP (or for that mater our entire military) could do little to stop it anyway. The problem it seems must be closer to home, certainty a large portion of our population is unhappy with the Harper Regime but I hardly think that a takeover by violent means is imminent, never the less let us look at the sort of conditions that could lead some folks to believe that such a move would be the answer.

There would have to be an authoritative dictatorial regime in place who refused to consider the needs and desires of the general populous, one who put their own ideological agenda ahead of seeking consensus within parliament. There would have to be a regime in place that wasted taxpayers money on self serving promotion, increasing partisan departments such as the PMO whist at the same time reducing funding to other needed departments and programs. A regime that withheld the true state of the economy, on details of government spending, on social needs and other key indicators. A regime that silenced open debate and opinion by government employees, scientists, statisticians and economists and who summarily dismissed those who dared to openly disagree with the official government line. One that used every means at its disposal to circumnavigate the rules and conventions of our parliamentary system in order to forward its own views and to remain in power despite a broad condemnation of such tactics.

There would have to be a suppression of the publics civil liberties ,the right to peacefully protest, the right to gather in public places. There would be the use of police or military force to prevent or control such gatherings, our public and private broadcasters and press would be prevented from asking unscripted questions of government representatives, members of the ruling oligarchy would be tightly controlled and instructed as to their opinions and voting. There would have to be a refusal to even consider changing the method by which the government of the day was selected, any move to make the system more representative of the citizens choices would be soundly rejected. Any move to make the funding of electioneering fairer and more evenly distributed, or to remove the advantages afforded to the government of the day by restricting expenditure of taxpayers money on partisan messaging, would be ignored and existing rules would be broken or removed. There would be large numbers of citizens unemployed and unable to find work and at least a perception of little chance of change in the foreseeable future, the government would say there are no problems, the recession is over.

Hmmm, perhaps it not so far fetched as I thought! That said I do not believe that a regime brought in by other than democratic means can be considered a democratic government, as is the hope in Afghanistan it MAY lead to a democratic system sometime in the future, but democracy cannot be forced on the population nor can a democratic government be installed by force. It would seem then that those who would remove a government by force either want a (perhaps different) dictatorship of their choice or simply no government of any kind and not a “better” democracy!

There are many other things which could trigger an uprising of the populous against the government either in small groups or generally across the country but there is one condition which seems to be missing from the mix thus far. There must be a realization by a large portion of the population that such abuses are taking place, coupled with a feeling that there is little chance that we can initiate change through the normal democratic process. The first is gradually becoming true despite the apparent unwillingness of our media to report such things however the second, although a view held by many, is not factual. We DO have the means for change, if only it would seem at the convenience of the ruling party, it just takes US encouraging the right individuals to stand for office and then getting out and voting for them.

So get off your collective arses, seek reliable and unbiased information, seek honest politicians (is that an oxymoron?) or candidates and then at the first opportunity VOTE. But vote for those who would protect and enhance our democracy and do NOT vote for those who would abuse and diminish it no matter what party they are affiliated with. Lets do that, whilst it is still an option, for the alternative is unthinkable.

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