Here in the US, we’re up to our ears in Republican attempts to establish a permanent, totalitarian plutocracy, enforced by pseudo-Christian storm troopers, in which elections exist for show only. I satirically call this the Fifth Reich. Unfortunately, it appears that another would be Fuhrer to our north is importing Republican beliefs and methods.
From muzzling watchdog groups to persecuting whistleblowers, from devaluing Indigenous voices to undermining labor unions, from defunding environmental charities to criminalizing peaceful protests, the Canadian government made civil society organizations "Public Enemy #1."
So charges a new report released Tuesday by Voices-Voix, a coalition of 200 organizations and 500 individuals who say Canada’s federal government has pursued a deliberate strategy to repress alternative views.
"Together, we feel neither secure nor valued," the signatories write in Dismantling Democracy: Stifling Debate and Dissent in Canada (pdf). "In a culture of pervasive scare tactics and punishment, it can be easy to become paralyzed with fear, to accept the advocacy chill and give way to self-censorship."
This "crude campaign to stifle dissent" has manifested in myriad ways, according to Voices-Voix, which includes Amnesty International Canada, Greenpeace Canada, and the Council of Canadians.
Such concerns have been raised several times before. But Voices-Voix’s analysis is perhaps the most comprehensive. Drawing heavily from more than 100 case studies, the report—which journalist Karl Nerenberg, writing at Rabble.ca, said "should be compulsory reading for all Canadian voters before the next election"—documents dozens of examples of such silencing tactics.
Organizations that disagree with the government’s positions have had their funding threatened, reduced, or discontinued, the coalition says. What’s more, it adds, individuals have been fired or intimidated after speaking out on human rights or being critical of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s administration…
Inserted from <Common Dreams>
Harper’s Harlots have been so effective that Canada is now exporting Republicans to the US like Canadians Craig Cobb and “Uranus Inspector” Cruz. I wish you every success at flushing him, but please don’t do so southward.
17 Responses to “Is Canada Becoming a Republican Reich?”
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It is indeed scary when the worst of US policies or practices are replicated elsewhere. I trust Lynn and others from Canada can provide more illumination
Yes, I could use a lesson too. I know that an election held this year in Alberta roundly rejected him and the horse he rode in on, but I'm not clear what effect that has on national politics, or where we can go from here.
The graphic describes exactly what is happening in the USA now.
You are so right.
I think I'll start by briefly describing our political system. Canada is a social democracy under the Westminster system (UK) with one person, one vote. In our bicameral legislature, the Members of Parliament in the House of Commons (lower house) are elected by the people, while the Senate (upper house) is appointed by the Crown in theory. However, it is the Prime Minister who suggests names for senators to the Governor General who is the represenative of HRH Queen Elizabeth II. Man, the Senate is one big pit of patronage appointments. BTW, the GG is appointed by the Queen after recommendations from the Prime Minister. The PM can really stack the deck. In our system, the Prime Minister is the leader of the party with the most votes. At the last election, the Conservatives won a majority government but had only 39.6% of the vote. Liberal leader Justin Trudeau has committed to electoral reform within 18 months if the Liberals are elected.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/justin-trudeau-vows-to-end-1st-past-the-post-voting-in-platform-speech-1.3114902
Further, we have five federal parties: Conservatives, Liberals, New Democrats (social democrats), Greens, and the Bloc Québecois (in Québec only).
The provinces are set out in much the same fashion however some, like British Columbia where I live, are unicameral.
Where to start with Harper and his harlots? I so detest Harper and the Conservatives and have found that since 2006 when they first came to power, they have grown substantially in their audacity, arrogance, and partisanship. I think I'll start with he graphic. From that list, the following are the points that I regularly see: disdain for human rights; identification of enemies; controlled mass media; obsession with national security; corporate power is protected; labour power is suppressed; disdain for intellectuals; obsession with crime and punishment; rampant cronyism and corruption; and fraudulent elections.
disdain for human rights — Look no further than his disdain for First Nations peoples (Attawapiskat peoples for example), but also Muslims. Currently he has issues with Muslim women wearing any veil when taking the oath of citizenship and dealing with any federal government office which is an attack on her religious freedom rights.
identification of enemies — Harper has been very vocal about supporting Israel and shunning all Muslims. He is whipping up a fear mentality amongst the Canadian sheeple hoping that they will elect another Conservative government this fall. Minister Blaney has accused the Liberals and NDP of siding with terrorists.
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/06/16/steven-blaney-terrorists_n_7598818.html
controlled mass media — Canada has traditionally had a strong free press. However, Harper is putting the screws to the CBC, our national broadcaster, by placing Conservatives on the board; by cutting funding; and by instituting changes to operations. In addition, there was Sun News Network, aka Fox North, with Ezra Levant a conservative political activist, writer and broadcaster running a daily broadcast. Harper was tied in with trying to get this up and running back in 2011.
obsession with national security — Bill C-51, the Anti Terrorism Act, is the current fiasco raising the ire of many. There are rightfully, concerns about Charter Rights and Freedoms being denied to Canadians, especially those of environmental activists (anti Kinder Morgan pipeline for example) and aboriginal activists. Currently in the news, Anonymous hacked several government web sites in response to the passage of Bill C-51. Wikipedia has a decent piece (see link 3 beow)
(see link 4 below)
corporate power is protected — While to my knowledge, Canada does not have the level of corporate power that the US does, the income inequality gap is rising which is an indication to me that there is corporate influence. There certainly are favourable tax programmes.
labour power is suppressed — While we have the right to form unions in our Charter of Rights and Freedoms, there has been a marked decrease in union membership and influence. Whether this can be directly tied to Harper and his Harlots is hard to say. But certainly the pro business stance of the Conservatives wouldn't help.
disdain for intellectuals — One situation involved the census chief. Harper did away with the long form census against advice which basically did away with the meaningful data that governments, NGOs etc used to conceive their programmes. Fortunately, we've had no book burnings yet, but it is well known that Harper has directives out that forbid scientists to comment publicly.
obsession with crime and punishment — Former Minister for Public Safety, Vic Toews, made a sweeping statement in 2012 which made his house of cards come tumbling down.
Harper came out in support but eventually the bill died. Bill C-51 also contains significant issues in this regard as well.
rampant cronyism and corruption — I'll mention the Senate expense scandal as one example. The fur is still flying on that one. Suspeded Senator Duffy's trial is on at present and some sources say there are direct links to Harper. It's one of those "who knew what, when" situations.
fraudulent elections — In the past, there were charges concerning robocalls and misleading voters. One junior Conservative worker took the fall and did, or is doing jail time. But many think that the robocall scandal went deeper. There is the Fair Elections Act of 2014. Wikipedia has a good article about this (see link 5 below)
I am not aware of any "religion and government" being intertwined unless this is a reference to his unwavering support for Israel. There certainly is not a US style right wing pseudo Christian block in government.
I hope this helps.
3) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-terrorism_Act,_2015
4) http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/06/17/anonymous-attacks-government-canada-bill-c51_n_7605864.html
5) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Elections_Act
Thanks, Lynn. Very helpful indeed, though I only saw it appear after I posted my comment. Your voting system looks indeed a lot like the British system and not very dissimilar to the Dutch, except we have proportional voting which makes it more fair, but doesn't necessarily mean that you get the government you've voted for either 😉 with all the coalition forming needed to get a majority in the lower house.
Very well done, and very much appreciated. Thanks!
(But you'll always have the best National Anthem … I don't think he'll take THAT away.)
Very well explained indeed, and I second Nameless on your anthem' (which a college, now a university, in Colorado liked so much it stole it as "Hail, Adams State.") A couple of questions – The US Constitution prohibita any official religion, which is the foundation of church-state separation, but the UK has C of E as an official religion – does Canada? Whether or not, how is this formulated in writing?
Your upper house is appointed. Up until 1913 our upper house was elected by the state legislatures, not by the people, and you can imagine how that worked. At least we were able to pass and ratify our Seventeenth Amendment. in 1913. Not that that's foolproof. But your system does sound very dangerous.
"…allowing a party to win the majority of seats in the House of Commons with less than 40 per cent of the vote …" Gerrymandering by any other name … I like Justin Trudeau from what I have seen. Good luck with that.
"Harper has directives out that forbid scientists to comment publicly." He's just going to LOVE the new encyclical, isn't he? Particularly since the Pope IS a scientist.
Thanks for this Lynn – a masterclass on Canadian politics! I am horrified though that your Senate is the place of favour curriers (and favour givers) in politics (perhaps the Senate should be renamed Cronies R'Us!) – both houses should be elected! As for having a 'Governor General' – what the heck is he still doing there – Canada is an independent country and has been for many decades, this archaic leftover is as batty as Australia in this respect!
It's scary, isn't it, to see this loathsome dictatorial behavior now turn up in Canada, and sadly it doesn't stop there. I can tell you from my own experience that the same kind of right wing politics are taking over Europe and Australia too. That is because the same driving forces are behind these shifts to the right and those are called the 1%, the plutocrats or the Big Corporations, some local to these countries, but most of them international.
There are differences of course: many countries, like Canada, have started from a more socialist beginning than America so it'll take a while before they'll catch up in their shift to the right, if they ever do. And for reasons that still elude me, America seems to have more than it's share of crazy fools, but in the end that doesn't matter because as soon as they're voted in office, as they're inexplicably continue to be, they're just as dangerous as their more sane sounding colleagues. It's quantity that counts, not quality, and the right is growing fast everywhere.
However, the main difference is that many Canadians, and as far as I can see, many Europeans and Australians, are waking up and joint organizations Voices-Voix are standing up to what is happening in their country. Harper's party has already lost the elections in his own Alberta, and if he doesn't manage to muffle Voices-Voix, in which more than 200 organizations and 500 individuals joined hands and thoughts across the whole of Canada, Harper is in for some bad weather. I wish it were different, but I just can't see it happen in the America, because – as I've said before – the United seemed to have dropped off from United States of America.
Depend upon it, the TPP and the TTIP are designed by and for the benefit of the 1 (more properly the 0.1%) and will freeze all these fascistic policies into effect everywhere. I sure hope a world wide revolution is possible because it's going to be needed.
I'm truly sorry for you and the rest of your country, Lynn. It seems the effluvia of the TeapulicanTs has risen to the North and entered Canada.
Indeed it has, enabled by Harper of course. He MUST go in the next election . . . straight to the unemployment line!
Thanks to all, and major kudos to Lynn for a magnificent lesson on Harper's Harlotracy of Canuckistan.
Thanks for the article TC, and thanks too to Lynn – that was a masterclass on Canadian politics!