heureusement, ici, c'est james

"While it’s true that during the campaign the leaders all said they wouldn’t form a coalition, and it’s true that Mr. Dion won less support in the election than any previous Liberal leader, those are not arguments against the democratic legitimacy of the coalition.

Consider that Winston Churchill governed throughout the Second World War as the head of a coalition government without ever winning an election.

Mr. Harper himself sought to participate in a coalition with the Bloc and NDP in 2004.

Many similar countries, including New Zealand and Ireland, are governed by coalitions."

Labels: canada, cons, constitutional crisis, dictatorial tendencies, Stephane Dion, Stephen Harper

We've had our media manipulated and all but kicked off parliament hill, our federal scientists muzzled, leading civil servants fired, and in addition muzzling quasi-judicial government bodies, but it's been discovered that the public no longer has broad access to government information.

Given that we only have vertical access to information laws, this is a considerable setback for the openness of Canadian democracy. Without tools for public scrutiny, the Conservatives have given themselves carte-blanche to indulge any number of reckless, self-serving or ideologically-driven initiatives.

And without our interest, we're helping them do it.

The cited reason for the cut was that "valuable resources currently being used to maintain CAIRS would be better used in the collection and analysis of improved statistical reporting," which, without blinking, we should know is more easily manipulated to the favour of the governing party.

Meanwhile, Auditor General Sheila Fraser has responded to a Conservative initiative to vet all communications by departments, agencies and independent officers of Parliament. Fraser served "blunt public notice this week that 'there is no way' her press releases are going to be vetted by [the Privy Council Office]."

And while I'm sure the opposition and a number of special interest groups will cry foul over this "bunkering" of Parliament hill, you really can't blame the Conservatives. This is all they have left to do after grinding parliament down into uselessness.

Labels: censorship, cons, dictatorial tendencies

Bill C-10 would give the Heritage Department the power to deny government funding for films that aren't "in the public interest," even if federal agencies such as Telefilm and the Canadian Television Fund have invested.

Is it in the "public interest" to have the government tell us what kind of art we can make? After visiting their website, do you really believe that they want to rid the world of hate and propaganda?

Taking their cue from Conservative evangelicals, the heritage department says the new criteria would deny tax credits to films that feature "gratuitous violence, significant sexual content that lacks an educational purpose, or denigration of an identifiable group."

Do we really trust the judgment of a group of artless, soulless pro-market government bureaucrats to "get it" when they watch an independent film? People like Conservative MP Dave Batters, who said yesterday that offensive films should be made with private money. The Globe quotes him as saying, "if there's a market for that, let people pay the $11."

Batters swung and missed there, failing to grasp that these films are being made outside the mainstream precisely because they offend. Good art should rightly offend us, make us as upset, angry, disgusted or elated as necessary to show us how imperfect we are.

Perhaps Batters and Harper should sit down and watch a Canadian film sometime. They would find out that they're less perfect than they thought, or, god forbid, that these films aren't as horrible as they suggest.

New Conservative NFB logo care of creative revolution

Labels: arts and culture, censorship, dictatorial tendencies

One could be forgiven for assuming that Conservative MPs were all raised as only-children. How else do you explain the ramming of two confidence motions down the throats of Canadians in as many days?

I want my way, and I want it now.

Contrary to the spirit of the Manley report it claims to embrace, the government wants to force an extension of the Afghan mission before having actually secured additional troops. Contrary to the constitution, the government wants to tell the Senate what to do. Contrary to the principles of sanity, we have editorialists and pundits rewarding this infantile behaviour, lauding Harper as a manly "master of strategy."

Do we have confidence in Stephen Harper? Sure. Why wouldn't we have confidence in a government which uses principles of threat and violence to manipulate us?

Labels: Afghanistan, cons, dictatorial tendencies, election

It seems Baird has been shocked to find his personal opinions clashing with reality, and like we've seen many times before, the gov't has taken steps to ensure that truth conforms to Conservative Government philosophy.

All scientists at Environment Canada must now use "approved lines" when dealing with the media, and all media queries first directed to the government:

"The new policy, which went into force in recent weeks and sent a chill through the department research divisions, is designed to control the department's media message and ensure there are no "surprises" for Environment Minister John Baird and senior management when they open the newspaper or turn on the television, according to documents."

Surprises. Scientists saying it's hot outside when the government thinks it's cold; or that it's windy when it should be clear. In fact, why don't we just take to manufacturing the weather, like the Chinese?

(Every day, Harper's Conservatives seem to have more and more in common with dictatorial Communists, don't they?).

Labels: cons, dictatorial tendencies, environment, John Baird