Showing posts with label Harpers History. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Harpers History. Show all posts
Sunday, September 27, 2015
Harper History – Conclusion, Index
It is all but impossible to cover all the things that the Harper Regime has done to diminish our democratic institutions or the contempt that he has shown for democratic conventions in a few paragraphs. From the shutting down of parliament to suit his political purposes to instructing committee chairs on how to disrupt or delay proceedings, from not permitting any government employee or spokesman to say a word with express approval from his censors in the PMO, from his refusal to answer any but 'approved' questions from the press (and only three per carefully controlled 'photo opp” at that) to his gradual gutting of any meaningful oversight of government operations there are simply too many hits to summarize.
Nor have I covered, except in passing, the ideological misuse of public moneys under the banner of The Economic Action Plan whilst at the same time preaching fiscal restraint and instituting cuts to departments and programs in a highly selective manner. That said cuts were primarily focused upon womens programs, scientific endeavours and environmental protections and that expenditures were increased within the PMO, in particular for public 'advertising' should clearly indicate this regimes priorities. Add to this the cuts to the mandate for both Elections Canada and Statistics Canada but the increased funding for Revenue Canada to go after registered charities (but not rich tax evaders) who may have expressed a view contrary to the PMO issued spin and you begin to see how dangerous and frightening further unlimited control of our countries purse strings and Parliament by this regime would be.
In my Harper History Series I have over the last six months attempted to list the lowlights of this regime which particularly focus upon the hits to our democracy, I have made NO attempt to cover other areas in which, in my view, they have show disregard for the less than fortunate or financially challenged Canadians, nor have I spoken of foreign policy’s that have reduced our once highly respected country to a shadow of its former self in the eyes of all but one particular middle east regime. Or of the 'free trade' negotiations that would give foreign corporations the right to sue local governments who would give priority to Canadian employers in their contracts. To even attempt to touch upon these thing would require many hours a day simply to keep up with the ongoing disregard this lot has for all but the rich and powerful (and perhaps the gullible), I can only refer you to my series “The Harper History” (this being the last post in that endeavour) which attempts to list, in chronological order, those things that they have done to centralize power, minimize the influence of our elected representatives, eliminate oversight and keep the electorate from seeing what they are doing.
What has been done is bad enough, the manner of its being done and the ever increasing secrecy surrounding those decisions is far more troubling and when coupled with the abuse of parliamentary procedures, including the use of massive omnibus bills, it is clear that the Harper Regieme had no respect for our democracy but has been rapidly moving us towards a defacto dictatorship. Democracy is much more than having the ability to select your dictator every few years, let us take care to elect individuals who do not subscribe to that view.
To make it easier for those who care to wade through this depressing but alarming list I have combined all 11 posts in two long documents, one covering the regimes anti-democratic actions prior to the 2011 election ((19 pages - 7900 words) and one covering the period from 2011 to the present when they held a majority ( 27 pages - 10,230 words) which can be downloaded or viewed HERE and HERE or you can see all the post individually (in reverse order) by clicking on the 'Harper History' icon on the top right of this blog page.
What follows is an index to the various sections with a direct link to each. Please feel free to share or distribute these pages as you see fit, an acknowledgement of the source would be appreciated.
Harper History, Part 1 - The Early Years
Harper History, Part 2 – In Opposition
June 2004 – Jan 2006
Harper History, Part 3 - First Con Minority
Jan 2006 – Sept 2008
Harper History, Part 4 - Con Minority, Prorogued x2
Oct 2008 – Dec 2009,
Harper History, Part 5A - Information witheld , Omnibus Budget
Mar 2010 – June 2010
Harper History, Part 5B - G20, Census Axed, Contempt.
June 2010 – Mar 2011
Harper History, Part 6A - Con Majority - Election Fraud
Spring 2011 & Subsequent Fallout
Harper History, Part 6B – Budget Reintroduced - More Secrecy
May 2011 – summer 2012
Harper History, Part 7 – Suppressed Information – Advertising Overload
2012 – 2013
Harper History, Part 8 – Senate reform / suspensions, Election Act
2013 – 2014
Harper History, Part 9 – Omnibus budget, Anti-terrorist bill, Election call.
Summer 2014 – Aug 2nd 2015
At this point I can do no more than leave you with the following summation of Stephen Harper and his Regime and hope that my series has opened a few eyes.
“Since he has taken hold of the Prime Minister’s crown, a rot has infected our Parliamentary democracy. This offends and fills me with disquietude. It should you, as well. As an elected member of parliament and as prime minister, he has defiled the office he holds, tainting the reputation of Canada and, with the assist of loud, angry, offensive, and ignorant conservative MPs, subverted and made a mockery of our electoral process. Though cited for contempt of Parliament, Harper has remained unscathed, unrepentant and the public largely indifferent. That he has a base of support as large as it is astounds me. How can so many be so blind, so indifferent, so…so dumb? “
Frank A. Pelaschuk in Harper: The Beast
Support Democracy - Recommend this Post at Progressive Bloggers
Sunday, September 13, 2015
Harper History, Part 9 – Omnibus budget, Anti-terrorist bill, Election call.
Summer 2014 – Aug 2nd 2015
In 2014 Green Party leader and Saanich-Gulf Islands MP Elizabeth May described the dictatorship-style Harper PMO as a “$10-million-a-year partisan operation filled with ruthless, cutthroat psychopaths.” She added that the office was manned by people “employed for the purpose of harassing scientists, bullying MPs, and muzzling civil servants.”
It should be hard for anyone who has read through this series to disagree with that assessment for as she says “The staff at the PMO have no allegiance to anything other than getting the Conservative Party re-elected, it completely offends the principles of parliamentary democracy.”
In this the last part of the Harper History series we see little change in their suppression of parliamentary debate except perhaps to be even more controlling and secretive. In advance of the Oct 2015 election we see an ever increasing expenditure of taxpayers dollars promoting various measure proposed in yet another omnibus budget and continuous party ads degenerating opposition leader Trudeau. With the budget supposedly “balanced” though a series of bookkeeping fiddles the purse strings are suddenly opened just a few days ahead of the early election call. Throughout this entire time the senate spending scandal and the attempted cover up by Harper and the PMO was constantly in the news but no attempt will be made here to cover that fiasco.
Also in July PEN
Canada who represents more than 1,000 writers and supporters,
including Canadian literary luminaries Margaret Atwood and Yann
Martel, and presses for freedom of expression at home and abroad
faced an audit. We keep being told that it’s just a bureaucratic
coincidence to see so
many critics of the government facing audits and revocation of their
charitable status since these audits started in 2012
— from Amnesty International to Kitchener birdwatchers to the David
Suzuki Foundation. But PEN Canada — an organization devoted to free
expression, for heaven’s sake — the
whole exercise became officially creepy.
On October the 22ns 2014 a lone gunman with no apparent ties to any terrorist organization entered the halls of parliament with malicious intent and was killed by the parliamentary security forces. This was quickly turned into a “terrorist attack” upon Canada by the Harper regime even before the gunman was fully identified.
"The objective of these attacks was to instil fear and panic in our country, as I said yesterday, Canadians will not be intimidated. Here we are, in our seats, in our chamber, in the very heart of our democracy." Stephen Harper in the House of Commons Thursday October 23rd. This from the king of democratic destruction.
Also in October the Harper government introduced another omnibus budget bill. It brought forward the 458-page C-43 bill and said it intends to pass the legislation before the December break. It included substantial reductions in health transfers for provinces and measures to deny refugees heath care, although spending was announced for things like infrastructure or national defence it was all deferred in order to be able to announce a balanced budget before the election at which time suddenly the purse strings were loosened.
In November it was revealed that, even as various government departments reduced services and staffing levels, Public Accounts documents showed the Conservatives have held onto more than $7 billion in approved spending across a spectrum of departments. Since 2007-2008, the average amount that the government has underspent is 23 per cent of the allocated funds. Over the last three decades, the average was 2 per cent.
In December
“Stephen Harper's government is being called out for spending what the Liberals say is $548 million of taxpayers' money for partisan advertising - just prior to the 2015 election. A long ad campaign about a jobs plan that doesn't exist; feel-good ads about Canada's 150th anniversary - still two full years away; a two-month ad campaign ending this month, showcasing tax breaks that can't be accessed until March or April; and $9 million for ads denouncing Canada's wireless cellphone companies. “
In a scathing article former Conservative MP Mr Rathgeber points out that the Harper Regime continues to boast of programs that have not passed through the legislative process are are not in fact in place and does so with half truths and outright lies.
“It is shameful how a supposedly conservative government wastes tax dollars on blatant, self- serving, political advertising. These recent transgressions are in addition to the $5 Million Veterans Affairs is using to promote the laughable concept of how well Canada treats its veterans. Parliament amazingly voted an additional $21,400,000 Wednesday night for additional government advertising;” (Read the majority Con Regime voted themselves increased advertising budget)
In January The Harper regime introduced Bill C-51, the new Anti-Terrorism Act which was quickly denounced as creating a 'police state' and reducing oversight upon CISIS and doing little to actually combat domestic terrorism.
At a press briefing to introduce the bill reporters in Ottawa became surly quickly when it was discovered the government lock-up they attended on the proposed anti-terror legislation was light on information and heavy on restrictions.
A hint of how the government might handle some of its Bill C-51 critics at committee first came from Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney Tuesday. Leading testimony before the committee, he spoke out against members of the opposition and “so-called experts” who oppose the bill.
The “so-called” experts to which he referred include: former prime ministers, retired Supreme Court justices, eminent former politicians, national security legal academics and constitutional scholars and others.
Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney told CTV’s Question Period that any oversight efforts beyond the Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC), which reports to Parliament on the operations of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), would be redundant.
With a few minor amendments, and having rejected 60 amendments from the Greens and dozens more for the other parties, the bill passed third reading on May 6 with the support of the Liberals with a final vote of 183-96. It later passed in the Senate on June 9 following a vote of 44-28 in favour.
Early in February 2015 Baird became the 21st senior Conservative MP to announce that they will not be seeking re-election during the 2015 federal election, scheduled for October 19. “Add in previous resignations, lost nomination bids and a death, and more than 30 Conservatives elected in Harper’s historic 2011 majority of 166 MPs are leaving or have left.”
Baird's departure from cabinet, along with the resignation of Jim Flaherty a month before his death last year, mean two of Harper's most powerful ministers will have left the prime minister's inner circle in less than a year. The election of a replacement MP was delayed until the October general election.
Also in Feb 2015 Parliamentary Budget Officer Jean-Denis Fréchette accused the Conservative government of breaching its legal obligations to hand over information about the cost of Canada’s military mission in Iraq.
A PBO report said the Department of National Defence refused all requests for specific data on Operation Impact, the mission against Islamic State militants. “Several of these refusals appear to breach DND’s legal obligations under the Parliament of Canada Act,” the report states.......
The report also notes that the government has a history of reporting incremental costs of military missions that are significantly lower than the full costs. For instance, the report states that Operation Mobile, Canada’s most recent overseas mission in Libya, had full costs that were almost six times the reported incremental costs.
In March the rush to pass the Security bill continued with debate being restricted in both the House and in Committee despite the ever increasing objections to it from both the general public and legal and constitutional experts. The hearings clearly demonstrated how dysfunctional the committee process had become under the Harper Regime.
The Canadian Bar Association objects to the planned transformation of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) into an agency that could actively disrupt terror plots. It argues the bill’s “vague and overly broad language” would capture legitimate activity, including environmental and aboriginal protests — and possibly put a chill on expressions of dissent. The SIRC committee's executive director, Michael Doucet, complained in this year's annual report that his staff had trouble getting relevant information from CSIS with it, on average, taking three years to investigate complaints against CSIS.
Late in February it was revealed that over a five-year period, Canada's national police force Mounties withheld some $10 million in funds earmarked for its National Child Exploitation Co-ordination Centre and related projects. It was later revealed that they also did not spend $97 million in 2013-14 that had earmarked for a series of key social programs, including one to fight youth unemployment and another to help the disabled. The shortfall amounted to more than five per cent of the budget for programs at Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC),
In March we found out that Minister of Public Works and Government Services Diane Finley decided to give $1 million to the Markham Centre for Skills and Independence under the Enabling Accessibility Fund despite the fact the project failed funding criteria and included a “number of deficiencies.” Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson noted that “there were a number of interventions in relation to the proposal by the Prime Minister’s Office, two ministers, staff in Ms. Finley’s office and senior departmental officials.” The unethical interference reached the highest levels of the PMO, with Harper’s then-chief of staff Nigel Wright involved in discussions that at one point also included Harper, who told Wright to “sort it out,” according to the report.
In April instead of announcing the budget in the House of Commons, Oliver's office summoned media to the Canada Goose's factory in Toronto to announce his budget. In order to predict a balanced budget for 2015-16 they reduced government contingency funds by $2 billion and included the recent sale of the government’s remaining shares in General Motors, for another $1 billion.
Also in April having totally failed to address climate change federally The environment minister Leona Aglukkaq sent a letter just before a premiers meeting on climate change in Quebec City about their climate change efforts. Many provinces didn't react favourably to the letter, calling on the federal government to focus more on its own efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
The Harper regime then booked $13.5 million for an all-out blitz in April and May to advertise its 2015 pre-election budget. The Canada Revenue Agency is spending $6 million on a concentrated TV bulk buy this month that includes pricey NHL playoff spots in what internal government documents describe as a continuation of an existing campaign that's been running all winter. The tax agency's $6 million in TV advertising is augmented by a $7.5 million campaign by the Finance department, all designed to promote previously announced and new targeted tax breaks. The spring ad blitz comes amid increasingly vocal opposition to the Harper government's use of taxpayer-funded advertising for clearly partisan reasons.
On June 3 2015 Liberal Senate leader Grant Mitchell confirmed that the government will shut down all debate on Bill C-51 at the Senate Chamber tomorrow. This means all amendments and the legislation as a whole will be voted on tomorrow. It passed in the Senate on June 9
Also in June The Harper regime appoints five new board members all with strong Conservative connections to the National Capital Commission ahead of a key decision on the future of a very controversial memorial to the victims of communism. “The question is, are these new appointments there simply to make sure this project is rubber stamped?” asked Ottawa Centre NDP MP Paul Dewar.
Former Conservative MP Del Mastro was sentenced to one month in jail for overspending on his 2008 election campaign; breaking his own spending limit; then filing a false campaign report. He previously sat on the House of Commons ethics committee and regularly defended the Conservative Party in question period on allegations related to the illegal robocalls sent to voters in the 2011 election.
Tory MPs voted to pass a time allocation motion on Bill C-59, a 167-page, omnibus budget implementation bill, this was the hundredth time that the Harper Conservatives have restricted debate since the start of Canada’s 41st Parliament in 2011.
The Bill contains unprecedented amendments to retroactively rewrite access to information laws, exempting all records from the defunct long-gun registry, and also any “request, complaint, investigation, application, judicial review, appeal or other proceeding under the Access to Information Act or the Privacy Act,” related to those old records. It effectively alters history to make an old government bill come into force months before it was actually passed by Parliament.
On June the 19th parliament rose for summer and the Harper regimes minions promptly spread out across the country announcing a myriad of grants and projects designed to persuade the voting public to vote for them in the upcoming election. In one week late in July over $4 BILIONS worth of promises were made.
We could be forgiven for thinking the only thing happening on Canadian military bases over the past two weeks has been photo ops. Recently the department has sent out more than a dozen press releases and held several press conferences where Conservative MPs have announced investments in infrastructure at local bases and military facilities.
The federal government has funnelled 83 per cent of the projects under its signature infrastructure fund to Conservative-held ridings, according to an analysis by The Globe and Mail of the announcements made to date. The New Building Canada Fund was first announced in the 2013 budget, but it has only been within the past few weeks – on the eve of the federal election campaign – that specific announcements have started to flow at a steady pace.
In July despite their balanced budget promises made back in April the parliamentary budget officer says the federal Conservatives will fail to accomplish their key promise of balancing Ottawa’s books this year, instead running a $1-billion budget deficit in 2015,.
Later it was announced that Canada was officially in a recession although the PM refused to acknowledge this fact. The Conservative-dominated parliamentary finance committee voted against calling on Finance Minister Joe Oliver to testify in public about the state of Canada's finances amid a troubled economy as requested by the opposition.
In an apparent effort to keep their “war on terror” talking points before the public Minister Nicholson directed all bureaucrats working in security-related divisions to provide the minister's communications team with "...three MINA (ministerial) statements to the media regarding security in the context of terrorism each week." Since there were no such incidences the bureaucrats were unable to comply.
Late in July Stephen Harper, having not filled any vacancies for two years, announced a moratorium on further Senate appointments, blaming the problems of his previously poor choices on the provinces and suggesting that it needs to be abolished. (something that is not only all but impossible under the constitution but would leave a majority government with no checks to their power)
“This has two advantages. The first and obvious advantage is that it saves costs. The second advantage is that I think it will force the provinces, over time … to either come up with a plan for comprehensive reform or to conclude that the only way to deal with the status quo is abolition.” said Harper.
One of the last things the Harper government did before it launched the federal election was to appoint Steven Kelly to the National Energy Board, who is a consultant for Kinder Morgan. This guy was paid to convince the government to approve the expansion of the Kinder Morgan pipeline. And now he’ll be part of the team that helps to decide if his own argument was convincing.
On Aug 2 2015 Stephen Harper called the election several weeks earlier than was required by law resulting in an extended campaign period. Upon emerging from seeing the Governor General he promptly said:-
“As it is my intention to begin campaign-related activities, as is also the case for the other party leaders, it is important that these campaigns be funded by the parties themselves rather than taxpayers..........”
Given that the taxpayer reimburses 50% to 60% of all legitimate expenses incurred during an election period by political parties and their candidates and that, entirely due to measures brought in by Harper and his (un) Fair Elections Act, the upper limits to said reimbursements increases in proportion with the length of the campaign this to total and utter nonsense.
This is the final article in this series but we will attempt to publish a conclusion and index to the series in the near future. Although how to summarize 10 year of abuse in a few paragraphs makes this just a difficult as wading through the detritus has been in assembling this review of the democratic destruction by the Harper Regime.
Please Note
Parts 1 to 5 and Parts 6 to 9 are now available as two long document (19 pages - 7900 words and 27 pages - 10,230 words respectively) in chronological order and may be viewed, shared and downloaded on Google Docs. Here & Here. Due to the large number of embedded links I recommend you import them as a Docx, ODF Doc or HTML so that you may follow the references if you wish for more information on a particular issue.
Support Democracy - Recommend this Post at Progressive Bloggers
In 2014 Green Party leader and Saanich-Gulf Islands MP Elizabeth May described the dictatorship-style Harper PMO as a “$10-million-a-year partisan operation filled with ruthless, cutthroat psychopaths.” She added that the office was manned by people “employed for the purpose of harassing scientists, bullying MPs, and muzzling civil servants.”
It should be hard for anyone who has read through this series to disagree with that assessment for as she says “The staff at the PMO have no allegiance to anything other than getting the Conservative Party re-elected, it completely offends the principles of parliamentary democracy.”
In this the last part of the Harper History series we see little change in their suppression of parliamentary debate except perhaps to be even more controlling and secretive. In advance of the Oct 2015 election we see an ever increasing expenditure of taxpayers dollars promoting various measure proposed in yet another omnibus budget and continuous party ads degenerating opposition leader Trudeau. With the budget supposedly “balanced” though a series of bookkeeping fiddles the purse strings are suddenly opened just a few days ahead of the early election call. Throughout this entire time the senate spending scandal and the attempted cover up by Harper and the PMO was constantly in the news but no attempt will be made here to cover that fiasco.
July 2014
With the Harper Regime loosing a series of rulings in the Supreme
Court of Canada from their plans for the senate to prostitution laws
to his nomination to the court it should be no surprise that as well
as Harpers direct attack upon Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin he now
has set his minions out to attack the Supreme Court in general. It
would seem that the Court making rulings that follow the Canadian
Charter of Rights and Freedoms is now a “problem” and that groups
using the Charter to defend their rights when a new attack upon our
democracy issues from the Con Oligarchy is somehow antidemocratic.Just to make it clear that this is not just Larry Miller spouting off but a directive from above, we have another report of the same talking points being floated from the other side of the country......
In an outburst that revealed the Conservatives true colours MP Larry Miller told the Post’s John Ivison of his growing dismay that the “courts are making laws.” “I’m all for rights and freedoms,” he said, “but the Charter complicates things.” The problem, as far as rights and freedoms are concerned, is that we have “complicated” them by writing them into law..............
“Pierre Trudeau,” he said, “did this willfully and deliberately, taking rights away from the majority to protect the minority.” “Why elect people and pay them to do something the courts are doing,” Miller grumbles.
On October the 22ns 2014 a lone gunman with no apparent ties to any terrorist organization entered the halls of parliament with malicious intent and was killed by the parliamentary security forces. This was quickly turned into a “terrorist attack” upon Canada by the Harper regime even before the gunman was fully identified.
"The objective of these attacks was to instil fear and panic in our country, as I said yesterday, Canadians will not be intimidated. Here we are, in our seats, in our chamber, in the very heart of our democracy." Stephen Harper in the House of Commons Thursday October 23rd. This from the king of democratic destruction.
Also in October the Harper government introduced another omnibus budget bill. It brought forward the 458-page C-43 bill and said it intends to pass the legislation before the December break. It included substantial reductions in health transfers for provinces and measures to deny refugees heath care, although spending was announced for things like infrastructure or national defence it was all deferred in order to be able to announce a balanced budget before the election at which time suddenly the purse strings were loosened.
In November it was revealed that, even as various government departments reduced services and staffing levels, Public Accounts documents showed the Conservatives have held onto more than $7 billion in approved spending across a spectrum of departments. Since 2007-2008, the average amount that the government has underspent is 23 per cent of the allocated funds. Over the last three decades, the average was 2 per cent.
In December
“Stephen Harper's government is being called out for spending what the Liberals say is $548 million of taxpayers' money for partisan advertising - just prior to the 2015 election. A long ad campaign about a jobs plan that doesn't exist; feel-good ads about Canada's 150th anniversary - still two full years away; a two-month ad campaign ending this month, showcasing tax breaks that can't be accessed until March or April; and $9 million for ads denouncing Canada's wireless cellphone companies. “
In a scathing article former Conservative MP Mr Rathgeber points out that the Harper Regime continues to boast of programs that have not passed through the legislative process are are not in fact in place and does so with half truths and outright lies.
“It is shameful how a supposedly conservative government wastes tax dollars on blatant, self- serving, political advertising. These recent transgressions are in addition to the $5 Million Veterans Affairs is using to promote the laughable concept of how well Canada treats its veterans. Parliament amazingly voted an additional $21,400,000 Wednesday night for additional government advertising;” (Read the majority Con Regime voted themselves increased advertising budget)
In January The Harper regime introduced Bill C-51, the new Anti-Terrorism Act which was quickly denounced as creating a 'police state' and reducing oversight upon CISIS and doing little to actually combat domestic terrorism.
At a press briefing to introduce the bill reporters in Ottawa became surly quickly when it was discovered the government lock-up they attended on the proposed anti-terror legislation was light on information and heavy on restrictions.
A hint of how the government might handle some of its Bill C-51 critics at committee first came from Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney Tuesday. Leading testimony before the committee, he spoke out against members of the opposition and “so-called experts” who oppose the bill.
The “so-called” experts to which he referred include: former prime ministers, retired Supreme Court justices, eminent former politicians, national security legal academics and constitutional scholars and others.
Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney told CTV’s Question Period that any oversight efforts beyond the Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC), which reports to Parliament on the operations of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), would be redundant.
With a few minor amendments, and having rejected 60 amendments from the Greens and dozens more for the other parties, the bill passed third reading on May 6 with the support of the Liberals with a final vote of 183-96. It later passed in the Senate on June 9 following a vote of 44-28 in favour.
Early in February 2015 Baird became the 21st senior Conservative MP to announce that they will not be seeking re-election during the 2015 federal election, scheduled for October 19. “Add in previous resignations, lost nomination bids and a death, and more than 30 Conservatives elected in Harper’s historic 2011 majority of 166 MPs are leaving or have left.”
Baird's departure from cabinet, along with the resignation of Jim Flaherty a month before his death last year, mean two of Harper's most powerful ministers will have left the prime minister's inner circle in less than a year. The election of a replacement MP was delayed until the October general election.
Also in Feb 2015 Parliamentary Budget Officer Jean-Denis Fréchette accused the Conservative government of breaching its legal obligations to hand over information about the cost of Canada’s military mission in Iraq.
A PBO report said the Department of National Defence refused all requests for specific data on Operation Impact, the mission against Islamic State militants. “Several of these refusals appear to breach DND’s legal obligations under the Parliament of Canada Act,” the report states.......
The report also notes that the government has a history of reporting incremental costs of military missions that are significantly lower than the full costs. For instance, the report states that Operation Mobile, Canada’s most recent overseas mission in Libya, had full costs that were almost six times the reported incremental costs.
In March the rush to pass the Security bill continued with debate being restricted in both the House and in Committee despite the ever increasing objections to it from both the general public and legal and constitutional experts. The hearings clearly demonstrated how dysfunctional the committee process had become under the Harper Regime.
The Canadian Bar Association objects to the planned transformation of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) into an agency that could actively disrupt terror plots. It argues the bill’s “vague and overly broad language” would capture legitimate activity, including environmental and aboriginal protests — and possibly put a chill on expressions of dissent. The SIRC committee's executive director, Michael Doucet, complained in this year's annual report that his staff had trouble getting relevant information from CSIS with it, on average, taking three years to investigate complaints against CSIS.
Late in February it was revealed that over a five-year period, Canada's national police force Mounties withheld some $10 million in funds earmarked for its National Child Exploitation Co-ordination Centre and related projects. It was later revealed that they also did not spend $97 million in 2013-14 that had earmarked for a series of key social programs, including one to fight youth unemployment and another to help the disabled. The shortfall amounted to more than five per cent of the budget for programs at Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC),
In March we found out that Minister of Public Works and Government Services Diane Finley decided to give $1 million to the Markham Centre for Skills and Independence under the Enabling Accessibility Fund despite the fact the project failed funding criteria and included a “number of deficiencies.” Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson noted that “there were a number of interventions in relation to the proposal by the Prime Minister’s Office, two ministers, staff in Ms. Finley’s office and senior departmental officials.” The unethical interference reached the highest levels of the PMO, with Harper’s then-chief of staff Nigel Wright involved in discussions that at one point also included Harper, who told Wright to “sort it out,” according to the report.
In April instead of announcing the budget in the House of Commons, Oliver's office summoned media to the Canada Goose's factory in Toronto to announce his budget. In order to predict a balanced budget for 2015-16 they reduced government contingency funds by $2 billion and included the recent sale of the government’s remaining shares in General Motors, for another $1 billion.
Also in April having totally failed to address climate change federally The environment minister Leona Aglukkaq sent a letter just before a premiers meeting on climate change in Quebec City about their climate change efforts. Many provinces didn't react favourably to the letter, calling on the federal government to focus more on its own efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
The Harper regime then booked $13.5 million for an all-out blitz in April and May to advertise its 2015 pre-election budget. The Canada Revenue Agency is spending $6 million on a concentrated TV bulk buy this month that includes pricey NHL playoff spots in what internal government documents describe as a continuation of an existing campaign that's been running all winter. The tax agency's $6 million in TV advertising is augmented by a $7.5 million campaign by the Finance department, all designed to promote previously announced and new targeted tax breaks. The spring ad blitz comes amid increasingly vocal opposition to the Harper government's use of taxpayer-funded advertising for clearly partisan reasons.
On June 3 2015 Liberal Senate leader Grant Mitchell confirmed that the government will shut down all debate on Bill C-51 at the Senate Chamber tomorrow. This means all amendments and the legislation as a whole will be voted on tomorrow. It passed in the Senate on June 9
Also in June The Harper regime appoints five new board members all with strong Conservative connections to the National Capital Commission ahead of a key decision on the future of a very controversial memorial to the victims of communism. “The question is, are these new appointments there simply to make sure this project is rubber stamped?” asked Ottawa Centre NDP MP Paul Dewar.
Former Conservative MP Del Mastro was sentenced to one month in jail for overspending on his 2008 election campaign; breaking his own spending limit; then filing a false campaign report. He previously sat on the House of Commons ethics committee and regularly defended the Conservative Party in question period on allegations related to the illegal robocalls sent to voters in the 2011 election.
Tory MPs voted to pass a time allocation motion on Bill C-59, a 167-page, omnibus budget implementation bill, this was the hundredth time that the Harper Conservatives have restricted debate since the start of Canada’s 41st Parliament in 2011.
The Bill contains unprecedented amendments to retroactively rewrite access to information laws, exempting all records from the defunct long-gun registry, and also any “request, complaint, investigation, application, judicial review, appeal or other proceeding under the Access to Information Act or the Privacy Act,” related to those old records. It effectively alters history to make an old government bill come into force months before it was actually passed by Parliament.
On June the 19th parliament rose for summer and the Harper regimes minions promptly spread out across the country announcing a myriad of grants and projects designed to persuade the voting public to vote for them in the upcoming election. In one week late in July over $4 BILIONS worth of promises were made.
We could be forgiven for thinking the only thing happening on Canadian military bases over the past two weeks has been photo ops. Recently the department has sent out more than a dozen press releases and held several press conferences where Conservative MPs have announced investments in infrastructure at local bases and military facilities.
The federal government has funnelled 83 per cent of the projects under its signature infrastructure fund to Conservative-held ridings, according to an analysis by The Globe and Mail of the announcements made to date. The New Building Canada Fund was first announced in the 2013 budget, but it has only been within the past few weeks – on the eve of the federal election campaign – that specific announcements have started to flow at a steady pace.
In July despite their balanced budget promises made back in April the parliamentary budget officer says the federal Conservatives will fail to accomplish their key promise of balancing Ottawa’s books this year, instead running a $1-billion budget deficit in 2015,.
Later it was announced that Canada was officially in a recession although the PM refused to acknowledge this fact. The Conservative-dominated parliamentary finance committee voted against calling on Finance Minister Joe Oliver to testify in public about the state of Canada's finances amid a troubled economy as requested by the opposition.
In an apparent effort to keep their “war on terror” talking points before the public Minister Nicholson directed all bureaucrats working in security-related divisions to provide the minister's communications team with "...three MINA (ministerial) statements to the media regarding security in the context of terrorism each week." Since there were no such incidences the bureaucrats were unable to comply.
Late in July Stephen Harper, having not filled any vacancies for two years, announced a moratorium on further Senate appointments, blaming the problems of his previously poor choices on the provinces and suggesting that it needs to be abolished. (something that is not only all but impossible under the constitution but would leave a majority government with no checks to their power)
“This has two advantages. The first and obvious advantage is that it saves costs. The second advantage is that I think it will force the provinces, over time … to either come up with a plan for comprehensive reform or to conclude that the only way to deal with the status quo is abolition.” said Harper.
One of the last things the Harper government did before it launched the federal election was to appoint Steven Kelly to the National Energy Board, who is a consultant for Kinder Morgan. This guy was paid to convince the government to approve the expansion of the Kinder Morgan pipeline. And now he’ll be part of the team that helps to decide if his own argument was convincing.
On Aug 2 2015 Stephen Harper called the election several weeks earlier than was required by law resulting in an extended campaign period. Upon emerging from seeing the Governor General he promptly said:-
“As it is my intention to begin campaign-related activities, as is also the case for the other party leaders, it is important that these campaigns be funded by the parties themselves rather than taxpayers..........”
Given that the taxpayer reimburses 50% to 60% of all legitimate expenses incurred during an election period by political parties and their candidates and that, entirely due to measures brought in by Harper and his (un) Fair Elections Act, the upper limits to said reimbursements increases in proportion with the length of the campaign this to total and utter nonsense.
This is the final article in this series but we will attempt to publish a conclusion and index to the series in the near future. Although how to summarize 10 year of abuse in a few paragraphs makes this just a difficult as wading through the detritus has been in assembling this review of the democratic destruction by the Harper Regime.
Please Note
Parts 1 to 5 and Parts 6 to 9 are now available as two long document (19 pages - 7900 words and 27 pages - 10,230 words respectively) in chronological order and may be viewed, shared and downloaded on Google Docs. Here & Here. Due to the large number of embedded links I recommend you import them as a Docx, ODF Doc or HTML so that you may follow the references if you wish for more information on a particular issue.
Support Democracy - Recommend this Post at Progressive Bloggers
Sunday, August 16, 2015
Harper History, Part 8 – Senate reform / suspensions, Election Act
2013 – 2014
Even with the ongoing Senate expense scandal, the Robocall investigation crawling along (much delayed by the presence of the Conservative lawyer at E.C. Interviews) another suspension of parliament for no apparent reason followed up by another massive austerity budget it was the (un)Fair Elections Act that got all the attention during this period. The closing or cuts to any number of federal programs and departments continued, many aimed at scientific, public safety and oversight areas, in an apparent effort to be able to 'balance' the budget just before the 2015 election. It becomes increasingly difficult to see the attacks upon our democratic systems through the BS being spread by the PMO and their ever increasing advertising budget, that difficulty is reflected in many such instances not being listed in this post.
July 2013
Harper’s approach to risk management is illustrated by a deliberate process of offloading costs on the provinces and cuts to essential services. As shown by a reduction in support for heavy urban search and rescue teams (HUSAR) in Vancouver, Calgary, St. Boniface, Toronto and Halifax. Meanwhile, a training center for first responders that was run by Public Safety Canada has been shut down and the Canadian Center for Emergency Preparedness has ceased operations.
August
The Minister of State for (un)Democratic Reform, Pierre Poilievre, held a press conferance to reiterate the Harper regimes position is that it can proceed unilaterally on Senate reform and to outline what they have presented to the Supreme Court of Canada in this regard. As expected by most constitutional scholars this idea was rejected by the court.
Forest Ethics Advocacy, launched a constitutional challenge to new requirements in the National Energy Board Act that place severe restrictions placed upon public comment by Bill C-38 whereby any citizen wishing to comment upon projects, even those directly affected, are effectively prevented from doing so have the effect of silencing citizens concerned about tar sands pipelines.
Sep. 13, 2013
For the third time Haper Prorouges parliment in a move that ensures he won’t face opposition questions on the Senate expenses scandal for an extra month, saying that most of the promises the Conservatives made in the last election have been fulfilled. Upon returning in October however he promptly reintroduced nearly all the government bills that were killed by the suspension of parliament.
November
The Senate flexed its muscle Tuesday and in an unprecedented move the Senate suspended three of its members —Conservative Senators Mike Duffy, Pamela Wallin and Patrick Brazeau — out of the chamber, cutting their salaries and use of office resources. Some senators said that the suspensions largely supported by the Conservatives was as much about politics as expense claims and the process was flawed.
In a more directed to sideline independent MPs and more particularly the Green Party the right of independent and small party MP's right to intervene at the report stage of proposed legislation was removed.
At the Conservative convention the ruling regime came out AGAINST proportional representation and for 'riding equality' whatever that means! It must be noted that in 1997 when in a minority position an essay penned by Stephen Harper and Tom Flanagan extolled the virtues of both proportional voting systems and coalition governments however once brought to power by the FPTP that idea quickly disappeared.Program budgets show cuts to programs focused on aviation, marine and rail safety and security at Transport Canada as well as reduced spending on food safety at Agriculture Canada. At the same time other less essential departments such as the PMO and their advertising budget are increasing substantialy.
In a closed-door session with dozens of bureaucrats (information commissioner) Suzanne Legault cited a series of novel measures she says are damaging an already tottering system. "I am seeing signs of a system in crisis, where departments are unable to fulfil even their most basic obligations under the act," Legault told the group.
"When the access system falters," she said, "not only is Canadians' participation in government thwarted, but ultimately the health of Canadian democracy is at stake."
A group of Conservative MPs has been meeting secretly for well over a year, discussing ways to inject more democracy into the Commons. One of the solutions they have embraced is the removal of the leader’s power to veto individual candidates.
Michael Chong is expected to table a private members’ bill that would change the leader power over candidate nominations.This he did and the bill eventually passed but in such a watered down form as to all but meaningless.
Finally in November having said two years ago that the data collection for the Artic claim was complete, and having reduced our government scientific community to a shadow of its former strength, just a few days before the submission was due to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf Harper suddenly said the submission was incomplete because it 'did not include the north pole'.
December
January 2014
It was revealed that in addition to the 'consolidation' of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans libraries, where reports say that despite assurances that much of the material would be digitized a large number of books and papers have been destroyed without such backup, the Libraries of Heath Canada are now under attack. Many scientists were so concerned about losing access to their research library that some are hording journals and books in their garages for colleagues to consult. This after a report calling for the libraries to NOT be closed was rejected as 'flawed' (i.e. Not the answer that was required) and the library's collection was moved to the National Science Library and the inter-library loan functions were outsourced to a private company.'If you want to justify closing a library, you make access difficult and then you say it is hardly used.'— Dr. Rudi Mueller, retired Health Canada pathologist
February
Just a day after the 242-page (un)Fair Elections Act was tabled House Leader Peter Van Loan gave notice that the government will vote to send the bill to committee the following day, a move that seemed to signal the government plans to push the bill through the legislative process without changes.
What follows is just a very small selection of the opposition expressed about this bill.In an interview on CBC Radio Canada's Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand said "my reading of the act is that I can no longer speak about democracy in this country." it "limits the chief electoral officer's power to provide information to the public."
Under the proposed bill, the only role of the chief electoral officer would be to inform the public of when, where, and how to vote. Elections Canada would be forbidden from launching ad campaigns encouraging Canadians to vote. Surveys and research would be forbidden under the new bill, Mayrand said.
Ed Broadbent
Past governments have avoided turning democratic process into a tool for one party’s advantage. Changes in electoral processes were always based on all-party consensus.
That Harper derides such all-party consensus is, sadly, no surprise. That his robotic backbench will unquestioningly obey is not news either. Except now, the victims of his disregard for debate aren’t only the people we elect. It’s those doing the electing as well.
A letter signed by over 150 professors at Canadian universities who teach and conduct research on the principles and practices of constitutional democracies, including 15 past presidents of the Canadian Political Science Association.
We, the undersigned — professors at Canadian universities who study the principles and institutions of constitutional democracy — believe that the Fair Elections Act (Bill C-23), if passed, would damage the institution at the heart of our country’s democracy: voting in federal elections.
More at undemocratic-democratic-reform
19 international Scholars from six democracy’s across the world add their voice to the over 150 Canadian scholars and almost universal condemnation of the Harper Regime's attempt to introduce partisan bias into our election rules and to reduce the powers of the world respected Elections Canada We, the undersigned, international scholars and political scientists, are concerned that Canada’s international reputation as one of the world’s guardians of democracy and human rights is threatened by passage of the proposed Fair Elections Act.
More at electoral-integrity-of-act-questioned
With the Elections act dominating the news and the legislature agenda the House Affairs Committee studying the bill conducted one day of hearings after MPs returned from the spring break before going into a rushed clause-by-clause review ending May 1. “Clause-by-clause review will begin Tuesday, April 29 with morning and evening meetings for three days until it wraps up May 1.” On May 14th 2014 the deeply flawed “fair” Elections Act passed final reading with a few amendments that public pressure made the Cons include but without the dozens of amendments proposed by the opposition and without even considering the 75 amendments that the Greens were not even permitted to table.
Returning to other issues in the spring of 2014
Tabled around the same time as the (un)Fair Elections Act the 2014 - 359 page budget received little attention but the budget projections, including a cushion of reserve cash, show a deficit of $2.9-billion for the 2014-2015 year. To get there Harper “delayed” $3-billion in defence spending and saved more than $1-billion annually by clawing back health benefits for public-sector retirees.
According to the 2013 annual Public Works ad report, (released in 2014), Canada spent more than $14 million on advertising Canada’s Economic Action Plan (which was called “propaganda” by survey respondents) and an additional $8.2 million on its Responsible Resource Development campaign (which was, in part, responsible for Canada's severely weakened environmental legislation). Both advertising campaigns placed heavy emphasis on the Alberta oilsands as central to Canada’s economic future.
These two campaigns were Canada’s most expensive advertising projects for the 2012-2013 fiscal year, dwarfing the amount of money spent on any other advertising effort.
The $1.25 million supplied to News Canada for publicity work falls outside the disclosed advertising funds mentioned in Public Works annual report, meaning this is additional money devoted to government communications above and beyond its advertising efforts.
March 28, 2014 The ongoing Elections act cluster fk successfully distracted from the latest omnibus budget from the Harper Regime, hardy a word has been seen about the 350 page “Harper Government Creating Jobs & Growth While Returning to Balanced Budgets With Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1.”. Yep, we are back to that H*&^%$# Government thing again........ Also in March The Harper Regime having eliminated the long form Census thus also eliminating reliable information on the economic and social status of various areas and communities across the country then cut Statscan's budget.
Like many other departments (with the notable exception of the PMO) their budget has been cut. Statscan’s budget has fallen by $29.3-million in the past two years, and its staffing has fallen by 767 people and do not have the staff to analyze what little data that the elimination of the long form census has left available. Experts, including the C.D. Howe Institute and numerous economists, have said the quality of Canada’s labour market data is so poor that it is impossible to know for sure whether there is a serious labour shortage. Statistics Canada eventually withheld the release of survey data for one of every four municipalities and other census sub-divisions because of the poor quality of the numbers.
"As a result of data not being released due to quality concerns, potential users of this data for approximately 25 per cent of geographic areas do not have reliable National Household Survey data available for their use,"
AprilAfter commissioning a survey of 25,000 employers that cost $4.6-million to shed light on the extent of the country’s skills gap it was not published due to “ we have no funding for it, we’re reviewing the data so that we can document how well the survey worked”.
In a similar mindset it seems that a survey of the effectiveness the $15 million (2013) Economic (In)action Plan advertising that was taken at a cost of $31,000 now omits to ask whether those that saw them actually took any notice or went to the web site.
Over several moths in the spring of 2014 the Harper regime lost a series of Supreme Court rulings including the government's attempt to gain some clarity about its powers to change — or failing that, abolish — the Senate ran into a constitutional brick wall. The court ruled that reforms, including term limits or Senate elections, or abolishing the Senate altogether, could only be done with the consent of at least seven provinces representing at least half of the population. Also an attempt to prevent medical marijuana users from growing pot at home was defeated, the Court also ruled that cuts to health care for refugee claimants were "cruel and unusual" and that internet service providers must not disclose names, addresses and phone numbers of their customers to law enforcement officials without a warrant.
In the final article in this series we will attempt to make sense of the pre-election promises, misinformation and ongoing personal attacks issuing from the Harper spin machine, all of which were already in full swing more than a year ahead of the election.Please Note
Parts 1 to 5 are now available as one long document (19 pages - 7900 words) in chronological order and may be viewed, shared and downloaded on Google Docs. Due to the large number of embedded links I recommend you import it as a Docx, ODF Doc or HTML so that you may follow the references if you wish for more information on a particular issue.
Support Democracy - Recommend this Post at Progressive Bloggers
Even with the ongoing Senate expense scandal, the Robocall investigation crawling along (much delayed by the presence of the Conservative lawyer at E.C. Interviews) another suspension of parliament for no apparent reason followed up by another massive austerity budget it was the (un)Fair Elections Act that got all the attention during this period. The closing or cuts to any number of federal programs and departments continued, many aimed at scientific, public safety and oversight areas, in an apparent effort to be able to 'balance' the budget just before the 2015 election. It becomes increasingly difficult to see the attacks upon our democratic systems through the BS being spread by the PMO and their ever increasing advertising budget, that difficulty is reflected in many such instances not being listed in this post.
July 2013
Harper’s approach to risk management is illustrated by a deliberate process of offloading costs on the provinces and cuts to essential services. As shown by a reduction in support for heavy urban search and rescue teams (HUSAR) in Vancouver, Calgary, St. Boniface, Toronto and Halifax. Meanwhile, a training center for first responders that was run by Public Safety Canada has been shut down and the Canadian Center for Emergency Preparedness has ceased operations.
August
The Minister of State for (un)Democratic Reform, Pierre Poilievre, held a press conferance to reiterate the Harper regimes position is that it can proceed unilaterally on Senate reform and to outline what they have presented to the Supreme Court of Canada in this regard. As expected by most constitutional scholars this idea was rejected by the court.
Forest Ethics Advocacy, launched a constitutional challenge to new requirements in the National Energy Board Act that place severe restrictions placed upon public comment by Bill C-38 whereby any citizen wishing to comment upon projects, even those directly affected, are effectively prevented from doing so have the effect of silencing citizens concerned about tar sands pipelines.
Sep. 13, 2013
For the third time Haper Prorouges parliment in a move that ensures he won’t face opposition questions on the Senate expenses scandal for an extra month, saying that most of the promises the Conservatives made in the last election have been fulfilled. Upon returning in October however he promptly reintroduced nearly all the government bills that were killed by the suspension of parliament.
November
The Senate flexed its muscle Tuesday and in an unprecedented move the Senate suspended three of its members —Conservative Senators Mike Duffy, Pamela Wallin and Patrick Brazeau — out of the chamber, cutting their salaries and use of office resources. Some senators said that the suspensions largely supported by the Conservatives was as much about politics as expense claims and the process was flawed.
In a more directed to sideline independent MPs and more particularly the Green Party the right of independent and small party MP's right to intervene at the report stage of proposed legislation was removed.
At the Conservative convention the ruling regime came out AGAINST proportional representation and for 'riding equality' whatever that means! It must be noted that in 1997 when in a minority position an essay penned by Stephen Harper and Tom Flanagan extolled the virtues of both proportional voting systems and coalition governments however once brought to power by the FPTP that idea quickly disappeared.Program budgets show cuts to programs focused on aviation, marine and rail safety and security at Transport Canada as well as reduced spending on food safety at Agriculture Canada. At the same time other less essential departments such as the PMO and their advertising budget are increasing substantialy.
In a closed-door session with dozens of bureaucrats (information commissioner) Suzanne Legault cited a series of novel measures she says are damaging an already tottering system. "I am seeing signs of a system in crisis, where departments are unable to fulfil even their most basic obligations under the act," Legault told the group.
As an example, she cited a directive in
April this year from the Treasury Board warning bureaucrats to steer
clear of ministers' offices when looking for documents to respond to
an access-to-information request.
In other words the bureaucrats have been told to not even look in
certain places so that they can say that they found nothing!!"When the access system falters," she said, "not only is Canadians' participation in government thwarted, but ultimately the health of Canadian democracy is at stake."
A group of Conservative MPs has been meeting secretly for well over a year, discussing ways to inject more democracy into the Commons. One of the solutions they have embraced is the removal of the leader’s power to veto individual candidates.
Michael Chong is expected to table a private members’ bill that would change the leader power over candidate nominations.This he did and the bill eventually passed but in such a watered down form as to all but meaningless.
Finally in November having said two years ago that the data collection for the Artic claim was complete, and having reduced our government scientific community to a shadow of its former strength, just a few days before the submission was due to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf Harper suddenly said the submission was incomplete because it 'did not include the north pole'.
December
Quantity not Quality is
apparently the Harper regimes measure of 'success'
Mr. Van Loan
extolled the virtues of the 34-day fall session, which started late
because of prorogation and was adjourned early. He said 2013 was the
most
productive year on record,
with 40 bills receiving Royal Assent. “ “That’s something we
can all be proud of. It shows how Parliament is working better than
ever right now,” he said. With many bills rammed through the House
by government limiting debate and using their majority to pass flawed
and controversial legislation most Canadians would beg to differ!
January 2014
It was revealed that in addition to the 'consolidation' of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans libraries, where reports say that despite assurances that much of the material would be digitized a large number of books and papers have been destroyed without such backup, the Libraries of Heath Canada are now under attack. Many scientists were so concerned about losing access to their research library that some are hording journals and books in their garages for colleagues to consult. This after a report calling for the libraries to NOT be closed was rejected as 'flawed' (i.e. Not the answer that was required) and the library's collection was moved to the National Science Library and the inter-library loan functions were outsourced to a private company.'If you want to justify closing a library, you make access difficult and then you say it is hardly used.'— Dr. Rudi Mueller, retired Health Canada pathologist
February
Just a day after the 242-page (un)Fair Elections Act was tabled House Leader Peter Van Loan gave notice that the government will vote to send the bill to committee the following day, a move that seemed to signal the government plans to push the bill through the legislative process without changes.
What follows is just a very small selection of the opposition expressed about this bill.In an interview on CBC Radio Canada's Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand said "my reading of the act is that I can no longer speak about democracy in this country." it "limits the chief electoral officer's power to provide information to the public."
Under the proposed bill, the only role of the chief electoral officer would be to inform the public of when, where, and how to vote. Elections Canada would be forbidden from launching ad campaigns encouraging Canadians to vote. Surveys and research would be forbidden under the new bill, Mayrand said.
Ed Broadbent
Past governments have avoided turning democratic process into a tool for one party’s advantage. Changes in electoral processes were always based on all-party consensus.
That Harper derides such all-party consensus is, sadly, no surprise. That his robotic backbench will unquestioningly obey is not news either. Except now, the victims of his disregard for debate aren’t only the people we elect. It’s those doing the electing as well.
A letter signed by over 150 professors at Canadian universities who teach and conduct research on the principles and practices of constitutional democracies, including 15 past presidents of the Canadian Political Science Association.
We, the undersigned — professors at Canadian universities who study the principles and institutions of constitutional democracy — believe that the Fair Elections Act (Bill C-23), if passed, would damage the institution at the heart of our country’s democracy: voting in federal elections.
More at undemocratic-democratic-reform
19 international Scholars from six democracy’s across the world add their voice to the over 150 Canadian scholars and almost universal condemnation of the Harper Regime's attempt to introduce partisan bias into our election rules and to reduce the powers of the world respected Elections Canada We, the undersigned, international scholars and political scientists, are concerned that Canada’s international reputation as one of the world’s guardians of democracy and human rights is threatened by passage of the proposed Fair Elections Act.
More at electoral-integrity-of-act-questioned
With the Elections act dominating the news and the legislature agenda the House Affairs Committee studying the bill conducted one day of hearings after MPs returned from the spring break before going into a rushed clause-by-clause review ending May 1. “Clause-by-clause review will begin Tuesday, April 29 with morning and evening meetings for three days until it wraps up May 1.” On May 14th 2014 the deeply flawed “fair” Elections Act passed final reading with a few amendments that public pressure made the Cons include but without the dozens of amendments proposed by the opposition and without even considering the 75 amendments that the Greens were not even permitted to table.
Returning to other issues in the spring of 2014
Tabled around the same time as the (un)Fair Elections Act the 2014 - 359 page budget received little attention but the budget projections, including a cushion of reserve cash, show a deficit of $2.9-billion for the 2014-2015 year. To get there Harper “delayed” $3-billion in defence spending and saved more than $1-billion annually by clawing back health benefits for public-sector retirees.
According to the 2013 annual Public Works ad report, (released in 2014), Canada spent more than $14 million on advertising Canada’s Economic Action Plan (which was called “propaganda” by survey respondents) and an additional $8.2 million on its Responsible Resource Development campaign (which was, in part, responsible for Canada's severely weakened environmental legislation). Both advertising campaigns placed heavy emphasis on the Alberta oilsands as central to Canada’s economic future.
These two campaigns were Canada’s most expensive advertising projects for the 2012-2013 fiscal year, dwarfing the amount of money spent on any other advertising effort.
The $1.25 million supplied to News Canada for publicity work falls outside the disclosed advertising funds mentioned in Public Works annual report, meaning this is additional money devoted to government communications above and beyond its advertising efforts.
March 28, 2014 The ongoing Elections act cluster fk successfully distracted from the latest omnibus budget from the Harper Regime, hardy a word has been seen about the 350 page “Harper Government Creating Jobs & Growth While Returning to Balanced Budgets With Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No. 1.”. Yep, we are back to that H*&^%$# Government thing again........ Also in March The Harper Regime having eliminated the long form Census thus also eliminating reliable information on the economic and social status of various areas and communities across the country then cut Statscan's budget.
Like many other departments (with the notable exception of the PMO) their budget has been cut. Statscan’s budget has fallen by $29.3-million in the past two years, and its staffing has fallen by 767 people and do not have the staff to analyze what little data that the elimination of the long form census has left available. Experts, including the C.D. Howe Institute and numerous economists, have said the quality of Canada’s labour market data is so poor that it is impossible to know for sure whether there is a serious labour shortage. Statistics Canada eventually withheld the release of survey data for one of every four municipalities and other census sub-divisions because of the poor quality of the numbers.
"As a result of data not being released due to quality concerns, potential users of this data for approximately 25 per cent of geographic areas do not have reliable National Household Survey data available for their use,"
AprilAfter commissioning a survey of 25,000 employers that cost $4.6-million to shed light on the extent of the country’s skills gap it was not published due to “ we have no funding for it, we’re reviewing the data so that we can document how well the survey worked”.
In a similar mindset it seems that a survey of the effectiveness the $15 million (2013) Economic (In)action Plan advertising that was taken at a cost of $31,000 now omits to ask whether those that saw them actually took any notice or went to the web site.
Over several moths in the spring of 2014 the Harper regime lost a series of Supreme Court rulings including the government's attempt to gain some clarity about its powers to change — or failing that, abolish — the Senate ran into a constitutional brick wall. The court ruled that reforms, including term limits or Senate elections, or abolishing the Senate altogether, could only be done with the consent of at least seven provinces representing at least half of the population. Also an attempt to prevent medical marijuana users from growing pot at home was defeated, the Court also ruled that cuts to health care for refugee claimants were "cruel and unusual" and that internet service providers must not disclose names, addresses and phone numbers of their customers to law enforcement officials without a warrant.
In the final article in this series we will attempt to make sense of the pre-election promises, misinformation and ongoing personal attacks issuing from the Harper spin machine, all of which were already in full swing more than a year ahead of the election.Please Note
Parts 1 to 5 are now available as one long document (19 pages - 7900 words) in chronological order and may be viewed, shared and downloaded on Google Docs. Due to the large number of embedded links I recommend you import it as a Docx, ODF Doc or HTML so that you may follow the references if you wish for more information on a particular issue.
Support Democracy - Recommend this Post at Progressive Bloggers
Sunday, July 26, 2015
Harper History, Part 7 – Suppressed Information – Advertising Overload
In reviewing the events for this
period I was struck by how important is is to look back at the
undemocratic and secretive actions of the Harper regime, even I, who
has written frequently and consistently on this subject had forgotten
so many of the things done to diminish our governance. This just 2
or 3 years ago, and remember what they do is a much better measure of
their ideology than what they say!.
The amount of effort being put
into suppressing information and controlling the message continued to
increase substantially as the Harper regime consolidated their
centralization of power within the PMO to the point where even some
of their own MPs complained about not being permitted to speak in the
House! The independent PBO position was eventually rolled into the
mandate of the Parliamentary Library, the Inspector Generals
position was eliminated, the environmental commissioner
resigned early in frustration, and the RCMP were told they could not
speak to our MPs without permission!
Here then are a FEW of the hits democracy took in 2012 / 13 under the Harper Regime........
2012
Rights and Democracy, chartered by Parliament in 1988 to promote human rights and democratic development worldwide, was eliminated in 2012 In a statement in April, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird indicated the ailing group was among the casualties of government efforts to “find efficiencies and savings.” Legislation, he said, would be introduced in the “near future” to disband the organization and its functions would be absorbed by his department.
In July 2012 an estimated 2000 scientists gathered on Parliment hill to protest their indignation over the ongoing severe and targeted cutbacks on government research programs and new rules limiting the ability of government scientists to talk to journalists.
As part of their ongoing advertising blitz under the banner of Canada's Economic Action Plan was the Harper government's Canada Job Grant program which at the time did not exist and had not passed in the legislature. About $2.5 million was spent to do so on hockey night in Canada for a total of over $14 million on this false advertising.
Arising from the April budget the Inspector Generals Office wae eliminated officials noted that, despite its anemic resources — a paltry $1 million budget and a staff of eight — the IG’s office played a key role in making sure the government didn’t get blindsided by CSIS. The inspector general's key function was to produce an annual certificate stating whether CSIS had strayed outside the law, contravened ministerial direction or exercised its powers unreasonably. In her final certificate, Plunkett found CSIS continued to flout policy and made a serious number of reporting errors.
By October the Harper regime had signed the 'trade agreement' with China without ANY consultation with, or indeed information being revealed to, either parliament or the Canadian Citizens. “... it will operate the same way Chapter 11 of NAFTA works (which will) allow corporations to claim damages against Canada if any level of Canadian government (municipal, provincial or federal) causes them to experience less profit than had been anticipated.“
While Finance officials refused to disclose the budget for the current “action plan” a Treasury Board document shows that cabinet approved $16 million in “economic action plan” advertising in the first quarter of this year alone. A further $18 million was approved for other misleading advertising as well as $4.5 million for War of 1812 advertising. In all, the federal cabinet had already approved more than $64 million in ad spending for 2012-13
They then tabled yet another omnibus budget implementation bill. This one tipped the scales at 443 pages and contained a number of measures not included in the budget document presented in the spring including gutting protections contained in the Navigable Waters Protection Act and weakening the Canada Labour Code. Despite protracted objections from Canadians and the opposition the bill passed with few if any amendments and modified or abolished over 70 desperate pieces of legislation
As part of the Harper Regimes series of initiatives to cut support to charities and voluntary organizations programs were eliminated, funding was reduced or delayed and third-party research support was eradicated. The 2012 budget gave the Canada Revenue Agency $8 million, later topped up to $13.4 million, to conduct 60 political activity audits of charities, these audits appeared to target those charities that who may have been critical of the regimes policies.
December 2012: After Auditor General Michael Ferguson found “inadequate documentation” of senators expense claims questions are raised about Conservative Sen. Mike Duffy declared primary residence in P.E.I., since he is claiming living expenses for staying in his longtime Ottawa-area home and Nigel Wright, the prime minister's chief of staff, apparently saying it appeared that Duffy's residence expenses complied with the rules. Three years later this issue is before the courts with Duffy and several other Senators suspended.
Jan 2013
The Department of Justice was laid bare in open court when senior lawyer Edgar Schmidt said he and his colleagues have been receiving “illegal” instructions regarding conflict of legislation with the Charter, with government lawyers being told to not raise concerns with the minister .… even if the probability of inconsistency is 95 per cent or more..........
The Liberals elected Justin Trudeau as their leader in late January and the Conservatives promptly launched a series of personal attack TV ads which then continued almost unabated over the ensuing 2 years till the election. Millions have been spent assassinating the leader whilst saying little about policy.
February
The federal government officially closed a Vancouver coast guard base that's considered to be the busiest in Canada along with the shuttering of three other B.C. coast guard communication centres as part of the government’s deep budget cuts , the Kitsilano Canadian Coast Guard Station no longer offers search-and-rescue services. Meanwhile opening The Office of Religious Freedom seemed to be much more important!
......................
MarchHaving failed to seek a replacement for Kevin Page, the Parliamentary Budget Officer, whose contract the did not renew they then defeated an NDP to extend his mandateuntil a competent replacement is found. He was eventualy replaced as the by the Parliamentary Librarian 'temporarily' whilst a 'process' takes place to perhaps replace him. However in a continueing effort to control any real information getting out we learn that Librarian staff have been silenced.
“Federal librarians and archivists who set foot in classrooms, attend conferences or speak up at public meetings on their own time are engaging in “high risk” activities, according to the new code of conduct at Library and Archives Canada. Given the dangers, the code says the department’s staff must clear such “personal” activities with their managers in advance to ensure there are no conflicts or “other risks to LAC.”
The environmental commissioner resigned two years before the end of his mandate and just before leaving points out some major 'gaps' in in the environmental policies of the Conservative government.
Canada's Minister of the Environment, Peter Kent, would not allow the public posting of a final report by the now-defunct National Roundtable on Energy and Environment (NRTEE), a 25-year old government funded project that brought together Canada's brightest minds to work on the convergence of environmental sustainability and economic prosperity. He also prevented NRTEE materials from being transferred to a University of Ottawa think-tank, Sustainable Prosperity, where they will be made publicly available.
Minister Kent wrote:
“…the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE) will upload no further content to its external website, as of the date on which this direction is signed.”In April 2013 upon leaving as PBO Kevin Page said:-
“ I took the job when it was agreed that a few amazing and fearless public servants would join — namely, Mostafa Askari and Sahir Khan. We signed in proverbial blood. We vowed to give Canada a true legislative budget office. Nothing less. I chose career suicide. It was a very small price to pay. After all, I had lost a son; I was “out of range.”
“What’s in it for the government to have a strong legislative budget office? Not much. What’s in it for Parliament and Canadians to have a strong budget office? Maybe a great deal. If it matters to you, please tell your elected representatives.”
Members of the public wishing to comment to the NEB about the proposed East-West Pipeline are told they must first apply for permission to participate. Under the new rules, included in last springs omnibus budget any resident who wants to send in a letter about their concerns must first apply to the NEB for permission and fill out a 10-page form which asks for a resume and references.
Finally in this litany of information suppression we have the emails sent out to RCMP officials, telling them they need to get approval from the commissioner or the public safety minister’s office before talking to politicians. In response to a question in the House Candice Bergen (MP, Portage-Lisgar) said:-.
“If parliamentarians need to or want to meet with RCMP or other officials, the appropriate place for them to do that is in Parliamentary committees. If that member has a concern about any RCMP member, they can speak with myself or the minister of public safety,”
And in May, in a clear and bold statement, Judge Richard Mosley wrote of the robocall fiasco : "I find that electoral fraud occurred during the 41st General Election.". However no results were overturned and to date only one campaign worker has been charged in what was obviously a much wider scam.
Next up:- More
spent of “Action Plan” advertising, Parliament Prorogued again
and another Omnibus Budget.
Please Note
Parts 1 to 5 are now available as one long document (19 pages - 7900 words) in chronological order and may be viewed, shared and downloaded on Google Docs. Due to the large number of embedded links I recommend you import it as a Docx, ODF Doc or HTML so that you may follow the references if you wish for more information on a particular issue.
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