Steven Harper would have you believe that the opposition parties are at fault for bringing the government of Canada down somewhat prematurely. That’s a little like spitting at the judge on your way to prison.
If Steven Harper and his MPs had provided Parliament with the information they require to make sound financial decisions then he wouldn’t have been charged with contempt.
What is contempt, anyway? And how does it affect the average Canadian?
In a Canadian court of law, contempt would be “the condition of refusing to honour and obey the court's rules and orders. Penalties for contempt range from a simple fine to continuous imprisonment until the contempt is cured.” Judges take the offence of contempt very seriously and, as voters, so should we.
Steven Harper refused to provide necessary information to Parliament. Why? Is he hiding something?
I don’t know if there is any sound reason to hide the costs of prisons, or jets but I do know that if Mr. Harper was working for any other employer in Canada, he would have been fired for not performing an essential part of his job description.
What is more offensive is the artful blaming of the Opposition, his accusers and our representatives who are required to hold him accountable on our behalf. Harper is trying to force all Opposition MPs to be responsible for his deliberate action of holding Parliament and all Canadians “in contempt”. The way Harper tells the tale, the Opposition wanted this election. Obviously Mr. Harper wanted it more.
Harper wanted the election to happen so much he was prepared to break the law.
The dictionary defines “contempt” as 'an intense feeling or attitude of regarding someone or something as inferior, base, or worthless—it is similar to scorn.' This is how Mr. Harper feels about Parliament, the country of Canada and all voters in this upcoming election. He’s still angry for not winning a majority government last time. This last session has been the least productive I’ve seen in over 30 years of watching and commenting on Canadian politics. Harper refrained from doing anything, working with anyone or even obeying the law. A psychologist might label these actions as passive-aggressive behaviour by a spoiled brat who didn’t get his way.
Someone who commits the offence of “contempt” in a Canadian court of law may be fined or jailed. Contempt of Parliament means the government is fired. In my opinion, Mr. Harper is darn lucky to get another chance to go before the Canadian people and ask for his job back. The rest of us wouldn’t get another chance.
It’s time voters got tough on crime and gave Mr. Harper the final pink slip.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Tea Party Tyrants
a little coverage for my American friends and worth considering for Canadians........
The elite are delighted with the Wisconsin situation. They rub their hands together gleefully as the last vestiges of the middle class start to tear each other apart. They urge on the vicious comments against the public service sector.
For decades the elite have resisted paying their fair share of taxes and hidden behind the skirts of shareholder privilege to line their pockets while the middle class has steadily eroded away under the weight of tax cuts while good paying jobs flee North America.
And now the remaining middle class and working class are beseeched and stirred up by the Tea Party to find fault with the public sector unions who have negotiated good benefits when wages have been stagnant. The poor old taxpayer is being coerced into blaming the victim instead of the culprit.
Who is the real culprit? The elite have downloaded the cost of public services by evading taxes since the 1980s. Now, at the urging of the Tea Party, property taxpayers in our communities – you and I - are ready to blame the public service unions because we are at the end of our collective ropes. Right there to back the Tea Party is Charles Koch whose family fortune was founded on cash from that stalwart of capitalism: Joseph Stalin, while this Koch generation further enriched themselves by skimming off the top of every barrel of barrel that ever passed through their hands.
Wake up people, it’s not your neighbours – the teachers, police and firemen who serve your community – who are to blame, it’s the dons and divas in gated communities who’ve built their wealth on the backs of all of us who are at fault for escaping their responsibility to pay their fair share.
Yes, there is only one taxpayer and he is us, the working and middle class of North America because the elite has escaped the taxman and gone on holiday with the money their corporations saved by shipping jobs offshore.
Just as our brothers and sisters in the Middle East and North Africa are now doing, it’s time we point the finger at the real culprit. It’s time to wipe that smirk off the elite’s face – put the blame where it truly belongs.
The elite are delighted with the Wisconsin situation. They rub their hands together gleefully as the last vestiges of the middle class start to tear each other apart. They urge on the vicious comments against the public service sector.
For decades the elite have resisted paying their fair share of taxes and hidden behind the skirts of shareholder privilege to line their pockets while the middle class has steadily eroded away under the weight of tax cuts while good paying jobs flee North America.
And now the remaining middle class and working class are beseeched and stirred up by the Tea Party to find fault with the public sector unions who have negotiated good benefits when wages have been stagnant. The poor old taxpayer is being coerced into blaming the victim instead of the culprit.
Who is the real culprit? The elite have downloaded the cost of public services by evading taxes since the 1980s. Now, at the urging of the Tea Party, property taxpayers in our communities – you and I - are ready to blame the public service unions because we are at the end of our collective ropes. Right there to back the Tea Party is Charles Koch whose family fortune was founded on cash from that stalwart of capitalism: Joseph Stalin, while this Koch generation further enriched themselves by skimming off the top of every barrel of barrel that ever passed through their hands.
Wake up people, it’s not your neighbours – the teachers, police and firemen who serve your community – who are to blame, it’s the dons and divas in gated communities who’ve built their wealth on the backs of all of us who are at fault for escaping their responsibility to pay their fair share.
Yes, there is only one taxpayer and he is us, the working and middle class of North America because the elite has escaped the taxman and gone on holiday with the money their corporations saved by shipping jobs offshore.
Just as our brothers and sisters in the Middle East and North Africa are now doing, it’s time we point the finger at the real culprit. It’s time to wipe that smirk off the elite’s face – put the blame where it truly belongs.
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