The Reform Party, guised as the ‘New’ Conservative Party, held their convention in Calgary this past weekend. The delegates cheered, danced and humbled themselves before their king, just returned from the battlefield known as the ‘House of Commons’. The delegates sang in praise of their illustrious leader. And it warmed their little hearts to see that the rumour they’d heard of their king being wounded by the swords of opposition forces were not true. ‘Wounds?’ They saw none. “Our King is invincible. He cannot be slain,” they shouted as they voted to pass ultra-right wing conservative policies. Poor, poor Reformers, they don’t get it, do they! The rest of us do not view the world through their tainted lenses. We see what’s real. We know when the freedom and democracy our young people fought and died for in two World Wars is being mocked. We won’t stand for anything less than ethical, responsible leadership. Leadership that protects the human rights of all and stands against those who would needlessly destroy the little of what’s left of our once pristine homelands.
A week ago today, I was invited to sit in the galleries in the House of Commons to bear witness to the debates taking place below. “Lucky me!” I thought! Turned out I wasn’t so lucky, just disappointed. If the House of Commons is there for debate, none occurred on the day I was present. Question Period? Better to call it “Question? Period!” I can tell you that though many questions were asked, none were answered. Harper came across like the village idiot. Those folks who lived long ago, whose dream it was to have a place where duly elected leaders could debate issues important to the health and wellbeing of Canada’s citizens would have done somersaults in their graves had they borne witness to what I observed last Tuesday. What a farce! A pathetic contempt for Parliament if ever there was one, brought to us by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Government of Canada.
How can anyone respect a system like that? How can anyone respect a prime minister who tells ‘his’ followers, “I couldn’t care less,” referring to what Canadians who do not embrace his doctrines think. “I’ll do what’s right.” Right? Yeah, the far right! Sorry, Mr. Prime Minister, but us simple grassroots folks don’t want anything to do with the far right.
Let’s make a promise now! Let us promise to vote in 2015. Can you imagine another six more years of Harper and a government with an ultra-conservative agenda? I don’t even want to go there.
“I couldn’t care less” – his words will surely sound the prime minister’s political death knell.
Keep the Circle Strong,
Albert “South Wind” Dumont.
It amazes me that a majority of voters are okay to vote for people who abuse power like Harper and Rob Ford. Many voters must value entertainment over governance. Almost like they are voting for survivors to stay in the screenplay of the most recent edition of Jackass.