Flaherty makes me want to cry ...
After reading this story http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM... I just sat and stared at the screen of my laptop. My face flushed and I cycled between rage and despair.
Has Flaherty just completely lost his marbles? Does this government really believe that we're better off when provinces fight and cut and slash, than when we co-operate?
Does this government only care about the Tar Sands?
I am convinced that the longer this bunch of Randian hooligans is in control of Ottawa, the more likely the country will eventually break up. I just can't see any other path when you have a government populated by bitter regionalists, small minded hacks and end-times true believers.
Help me out here, folks. What do you make of it?
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The Ebony Tower
John Fowles (deceased English author) once described intellectual and moral decay as the "ebony tower" (as opposed to ivory tower). Sort of an opposite to principled beliefs.
The Harper regime will go down in history as the era when U.S. money ruled and, as Justice Gomery has pointed out, too much power resided in the PMO. Conservative MPs are now robots programmed by the PM. Impromptu TV interviews are banned. I love the woman with sunglasses seated behind Harper in the Commons. Daylight (or any light) is becoming uncomfortable for them. Harper was shamed into tackling the case of the woman languishing in a Mexican jail because he was too busy suing the Liberals - he learned all about lawsuits from Brian Mulroney; architect of the Ebony Tower.
And of course with PCs it is all about money. I wrote the PMO several months ago questioning who pays for RCMP at PC conventions. I received a polite note thanking me for my comment. I wrote back saying that I asked a question; I did not offer any comments. I got another automated thank you for my comment. So the average citizen is precluded from questioning the PMO. This must be the new accountability we were promised by Him.
Yes, it's a wonderful time to be Canadian. Have you listened to racket in the Commons when someone is trying to speak? It sounds like an insane asylum when a full moon rises. Werewolves can be heard barking at the moon. The official opposition are equally to blame for allowing the disarray and corruption. Well, Liberals = corruption; we all know that story. So is it any wonder that they agree to continue the mindless sojourn into Afghanistan. No, there's big business and U.S. administration (God and Jesus, not necessarily in that order) to worship first.
Did you all see the CBC special re: the tar sands. All the new pipelines go South from Ft. McMurray. Who cares about the energy requirements of Eastern Canada as long as the U.S. get our oil.
Flaherty is probably the worst finance minister I can ever remember. What sort of federal government Minister can be so partisan that he recommends people invest in Ontario only as a last choice? A perfect underworld representative of Harper's retrograde principles.
At least the Taliban have religious and ethical principles which supercede money and allegiance to the U.S. It's a damned sight more than our government has.
How things have changed---
When I was a teen I wrote a letter to both Joe Clarke and our local MP arguing in favour of legalizing marihuana. To my surprise, I receive thoughtful replies from both. The MP said that when he was first elected he would have violently opposed such a move, but after being part of a committee that was investigating prisons he came to the conclusion that being put into jail was far worse for a person than smoking marihuana, so he had changed his opinion and now agreed with me. Joe Clarke, of course, was a lot busier (I assume that this was when he was PM, or else I can't see why I would have written him.) He dictated a reply that his secretary wrote up, and it was sort of pro-forma (the party was in favour of decriminalization----which they all were at that time.) But even as a teen I understood he was really busy, so I understood this.
Can anyone imagine today's Tories writing letters like that?
"There is always an easy solution to every human problem--neat, plausible, and wrong." H.L. Mencken
In answer to your questions: Yes
Does this government really believe that we're better off when provinces fight and cut and slash, than when we co-operate?
Yes, they do. The Conservatives are psychologically committed to competition and economic survival-of-the-fittest. They apply this rigid dogma to individuals, provinces, and even countries, and that is why I agree with you that they will destroy Canada if not countered. They way the Cons see things, the U.S. is the penultimate Country, and all others are failures by comparison - including Canada. (Their view does not allow a scale, but only those on top and those below.) Because we are weak and they are strong (in their view - the Cons only count military and economic power, not moral) the Cons must lead us to integration and ultimately absorption by the United States.
You could see this with Mulroney, whose government catered to the Americans to an extreme, even pegging the dollar at 95c after the FTA was enacted. This served to move thousands of jobs south, as average Canadian wages were higher. A floating dollar would have eliminated this difference, but the Cons cannot conceive of Canada being an equal partner to the U.S.
It sounds crazy, but then so does Taliban ideology. And if you look at where the neocon ideology in the U.S. has taken them, it is clear that rational long-term self-interest, never mind humanity, are subservient to the greater god of Power.
Brian Gordon
Nominated Candidate, Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca
Green Party of Canada
Trained Presenter
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