Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Stephen Harper Wants to Bury Election Fraud

Just when you thought they couldn’t sink any lower the Stephen Harper Party plumbs new depths in… being the Stephen Harper Party.

Why does the Harper Party dominated committee want to see the Chief Electoral Officer on Budget Day? Maybe because most of the Press will be in lockdown until after the Budget is read?

Is this a new way to muzzle the Media?

If this type of tomfoolery and chicanery were to have occurred when Lord Stephen sat in Opposition he would be calling for heads to roll, for Commissions of the Royal sort to be called.

Mr. Mulcair! Mr. Rae! Gentlemen, rev up your chainsaws!

Canadians want Harper’s head on a platter!

The fact that the Stephen Harper Party finds the robocall and other election improprieties a laughing matter and tries to pooh-pooh it away is bad enough but now to schedule the appearance of the Chief Electoral Officer before committee on Budget Day is abhorrent.

Harper may like to paint this as a minor left wing Eastern to-do, but the fact of the matter is that it is not only NDP and Liberal support calling for a full and proper investigation into this matter… it is the Conservatives too.

Not your “Harper People”, the sad little echo boxes that parrot whatever the party says.

Not your Harper MPs that can only speak when party leadership puts words in their mouths and their hands up their backside.

The True Conservatives that believe in Canada and Canadians and not Chinese and American oil barons.

They are rallying to our flag. The flag of Canadians.

You’ve forgotten your so called Reform roots. Democracy from the Grassroots is no more, if it ever was.

You’ve shown us your disdain for Democracy in your handling of the Canadian Wheat Board. This is a farmer organization, owned and governed by its members. You chose to overrule them, to write a law that will be before the courts likely for years.

The clowning and joking of the Stephen Harper Party over this current election scandal speaks volumes to me and millions of other Canadians.

This Electoral Fraud needs to be investigated, and those involved brought to justice.

Your obvious lack of interest of finding the culprits makes me wonder who they really are. Do you shake their hands when they come into your office each morning? Do they call you “Sir”?

The facts I’ve seen, the reports I’ve heard all point to the involvement of your party, the Stephen Harper Party.

The information required to contact and misdirect non supporters of your party is not available to the general public. It is not available to front line campaign staff. The release of this information to persons unknown could only have occurred if people well up the food chain in the Harper Party organization released it. Perhaps it was the “master strategist” himself.

To the Media: My challenge to you is to ensure that for each scribe you send to cover the Budget, you send one to cover the committee. Canada wants to know what the Chief Electoral Officer has to say.

If the Harper Party opts to move the meeting in camera, we want to know who moved it and who supported it.

To the Leaders on the Opposition Side of the House, Mr. Mulcair and Mr. Rae: My challenge to you is to call the Harper Party to account for their part in this and other Election Irregularities that occurred in the latest elections.

I leave it to you and the members of the Opposition Side to force a proper inquiry into these instances of Electoral Fraud and challenge for a Royal Commission to get to the bottom of this.

Not only for me, one Canadian…

Not only for those millions of Canadians who believe as I do that this needs to be addressed…

But also for the boys who lie in Flanders and Bergen Op Zoom and all the other military cemeteries and for the members of our Forces that came home but never saw their loved ones again…

Let Stephen Harper know that when he steps on Democracy he spits on the memory of those who fought to protect Democracy around the world.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

I’m not “Harper People”… Do I get an Attack Ad too?

I was going to write about Bob Rae and the Harper Party attack ads but I got side tracked.

There was a bit on the news about Harper’s trip to Asia and how Canada was going to be open for business when it came to Asia.

He was talking oil.

He said it would be clear when the budget came down.

I’m not a gambler but I’d be willing to wager that a certain politician is about to ram his pipeline into B.C.’s interior and say it’s necessary for Canada’s Financial Interests.

Canada is getting a lot smaller, there are only two groups... the Pro Harperistas and everyone else.

If you stand against the Harper Party you get half truths and innuendos up the wazoo. Ask Bob Rae, he’s been marked by the Dark Lord as his inequal and is open to the Harper Propaganda Machine’s hate messaging system.

Using half truths and sound bites the Harperistas are trying to make Bob Rae look like the most incompetent Premier in Ontario’s history. Actually Rae did a pretty savvy job of steering a world class economy through a recession with no help from his Federal counterparts, the Mulroney PCs.

Compare that to Harper’s record on the economy and his dealings with the recession. When Rae got through Ontario was ready for business, Harper still whines and pules about how fragile the economy is even if we have supposedly recovered.

Then there is Thomas Mulcair who was merely a candidate for the leadership of the NDP and we got leaked stories about how he approached Harper to run for the Stephen Harper Party but he wanted to be a front row Cabinet Minister. Harper allegedly turned him down because he was greedy…

Thomas Mulcair was a free agent and a well know Quebec politician and talked with both the Federal Liberals and the NDP. Harper would have given his eye teeth to pull Mulcair into his circle. Imagine having Mulcair as his Quebec Lieutenant rather than having to appoint a Senator who wasn’t even from Quebec at the time to sit in his Caucus as the Quebec representative.

The Harperistas were trying to poison the NDP against Mulcair… didn’t work.

Congratulations Thomas Mulcair on your successful leadership bid for the New Democrats!

I understand Bob Rae sent a nice note of congratulations to Mr. Mulcair, Stephen Harper’s Team sent one too, accusing him of being a tax and spend socialist or something of that sort.

Class act Stephen, the ads start tomorrow right? [Edit apparently they start Monday]

When it comes to aboriginal relations, Harper seems to like the natives, when they wear their fancy Indian clothes and make him an honorary chief or sit with him in the high class box at the Olympics. When they are polite and don’t ask for much.

Contrast that when the Harper Party was shocked and amazed by the squalor that the people of Attawapiskat were living in. When they asked for help (by declaring a state of emergency) the Harper Party berated them for being wasteful, smearing them and accusing them of mismanagement of their Native allowance.

This is the same community whose children went all the way to the United Nations to beg for money to have a proper school in their community.

Not long ago an Inuit boy died while travelling from his grandmother’s house to his home on a snowmobile.

When he was overdue, a search was organized and National Defence was contacted to assist. They declined.

They said the weather was too bad for their helicopters. It was not.

They said they have a “call back” policy where the searchers have to call them again before they can act. The policy does not exist.

Turns out there were no helicopters available, they were down for service, both of them.

Apparently Stephen Harper would rather give tax breaks to big oil than ensure the safety of Canadians by ensuring we have adequate search and rescue available at all times.

In Stephen Harper’s world, a Cabinet Minister can lie to the House of Commons, be found in contempt of the House of Commons, and still get a promotion.

In Stephen Harper’s world, a Cabinet Minister can misappropriate money for pet projects and still get a promotion.

In Stephen Harper’s world, a Cabinet Minister can have an affair with a subordinate and still get a promotion.

In the real world these acts would get you terminated and possibly tossed in jail.

In Stephen Harper’s world, those who do not want a pipeline full of bitumen run through their back yards are not allowed to have experts talk on their behalf. Those experts are banished because they are interfering foreigners attempting to damage Canada’s economy. Take that Sierra Club, you bunch of hooligans.

But the other interfering foreigners, the oil companies, are allowed to argue in favour of running the muck through your back yard.

But then again, they’re “Harper People”.

But the thing these “Harper People” need to keep in mind, you are only “Harper People” as long as you are useful to him.

Ask the grain farmers who are fighting to retain the Canadian Wheat Board.

He got your votes and now he gets his way.

Trudeau called MPs pawns. Harper has made them Marionettes. They can only speak when Harper puts words in their mouths.

You and me? We are only important for one month every four years or so.

The smears and attack ads are just his way of telling you how to vote, so you can be “Harper People” too.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

The Stephen Harper Party vs. Democracy

Stephen Harper, you just doesn’t get it do you?

People have fought and people have died for democracy in every land around the world except possibly Antarctica.

Canadians serving in our forces have travelled to far off countries to help in the fight to achieve democracy for other people.

Canadians as private citizens have travelled to other countries to help ensure that their elections are properly done and the peoples of those lands were able to take part in fair and free elections.

Canadians believe in freedom. Canadians have risked their lives for freedom. Canadians have died for freedom.

Free and Fair Elections are the cornerstone of freedom, and Canadians are concerned that we may no longer have Free and Fair Elections.

When Elections Canada approached the Procedure and House Affairs Committee for increased investigative powers, it was your people, the members of the Stephen Harper Party that said “No”.

This request or rather recommendation was part of the Elections Canada Report on the 2008 General Election. These reports follow every General Election. I do not know if Increased Powers of Investigation was included in past reports but it certainly seems to be a good idea.

The Provinces already do this, why not the Nation?

In the past General Election of 2011 we have seen reports of automated “robocalls” claiming to be from Elections Canada directing people to wrong and nonexistent Polling Stations. We have seen reports of incomplete Voter Registration cards and now we are hearing about undisclosed bank accounts and “third party” agents hiring services for campaigns and being reimbursed for these expenses rather than those campaigns paying for the services directly.

This all looks less than above board to me. How about you?

I understand that you have a Party Lawyer investigating these claims internally.

I have a simple question for you. Would you have accepted an internal investigation of the “Sponsorship Scandal” done by the Liberals? Should we accept your internal investigation any more than you would have accepted theirs?

You claim to be the “Law and Order” Party, it’s time you acted like it.

Grant the powers requested by Elections Canada and make it law. Not in six months’ time in a nonbinding private member’s motion, in a real law now.

Give Elections Canada unfettered access to the information they need to see and do not cause any interruption of this investigation and do not use your position to try and influence the investigation.

I am willing to give Elections Canada the time to do their investigation, but only if it is done without interference from the government.

If they recommend a Royal Commission, I expect you to make that happen as quickly as possible.

If Elections Canada chooses to lay charges against individuals or organizations as a result of their investigations I expect you to allow the cases to proceed without interference.

The bedrock on which a democracy is built is the ability of citizens to participate in free elections. Any attempt to block a citizen from voting is an attack on democracy. Marking an X on a ballot is for most people the only time they get a chance to influence the government. Help us to ensure that no Canadian is denied their voice.

One of your supporters told me that if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear.

Will you join with us or have you something to fear?

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Canada: Democracy under siege

What does Stephen Harper think of Elections Canada? In 2001 he called them “Jackasses”.

As in “The jackasses at Elections Canada are out of control.”

Well it appears the Jackasses are still out of control, but they aren’t in Elections Canada, they are in the Stephen Harper Party.

Canada was a bastion of freedom, a place for the world to look for inspiration. Sadly that is no longer true.

It took a long time for us to evolve from settling electoral campaigns with fist fights to buying votes with bottles of whiskey to our recent system of campaigning to present the reasons why one should vote for this candidate rather than that candidate.

No, while we were sending our ships and planes and foot soldiers to places across this world to free other countries from oppressive regimes we had an oppressive regime forming right here.

Harper said it himself, I’m in charge, I make the rules. And when he doesn’t like the rules it is fine to walk all over them. But only Him and His people.

At the same time that Harper’s Omnibus Bill to put the bad guys in prison longer, to make Canada “safer” was being debated, the Harper Party was challenging the court’s ruling against them in the “In and Out” scandal. And what a penalty the Harper Party paid, some fines, and the ones that admitted guilt kept their comfy red velour seats in the Senate.

Not long ago, the opposition parties wanted the Harper Party staffers called before Committee to answer for issues that were being raised. No less a person than John Baird rose up and shouted that the staffers were not to be called but the Ministers who were in charge. He would not stand for bullying of staffers by the Opposition Members on the Committee, but now that the Harper Party wants a Liberal staffer called onto the carpet the story changes.

Dean Del Mastro says that if the Liberals wanted then they should be willing to allow it now. I say stuff it in your hat Dean Del Mastro. Baird set the precedent, you live with it. Or does Dean Del Mastro advocate two sets of rules for Canada? One for the Harperistas and one for the rest?

In 2001 Stephen Harper warned that the Internet should not be infringed on by government and that the free flow of information was essential to Canada. His infringement of the Internet got booted to Committee in record time, likely because Vic Toews called Canadians paedophiles rather that it just being a bad law.

Ask the prairie wheat growers about Harper’s stance on democracy. They had a constitution for the Canadian Wheat Board that required that the farmers vote to dissolve it if they so desired. Harper ignored that and wrote his new law that in effect breaks the old one.

Now we have Elections Canada investigating vote suppression that occurred during the last Federal Election, the “Robocall” scandal. Harassing phone calls to non-Harper Party supporters late at night or early in the morning or on the Sabbath designed to drive supporters of the other parties away from the polls and going as far as contacting people on Election Day to falsely inform them that their polling station had been moved. Was this an attempt to keep non-Harper Party voters from voting?

It certain looks like it to me.

When the issue was raised in the House of Commons, the Harper Party response was predictable to say the least. A staffer was sacrificed, thrown under the bus and the finger pointed at him. When he denied involvement the finger was pointed at the Liberals, accusing them of undermining their own campaign efforts and suggesting that the Liberals had hired a U.S. firm to make these calls while the Harper Party boasted that they had not used any U.S. firms.

Even though the Harper Party was shown to be “in error” over these “facts” they still maintain their story.

That is called lying.

And lying to the House of Commons is Contempt.

Our only hope at this time is that Elections Canada with the RCMP will be able to trace what the message of the calls was, and who caused those calls to be made. And whether they will have the freedom to investigate this scandal.

This investigation has grown from one or two constituencies to forty or more. There are complaints of harassing calls and fake Elections Canada messages directing people to the wrong or nonexistent Polling Stations and now even voting cards directing people to incorrect Polling Stations sent to addresses, but with no names on them.

Had Stephen Harper and His Party stood with the Opposition to decry the Robocall scandal and make efforts to get to the bottom of this and see that the guilty are held accountable they might have avoided much of the scandal. But their antics, blaming a rogue operative, blaming the Opposition, and now they’re even blaming Elections Canada. This is beyond belief.

The Harper Party is standing in Elections Canada way when they ask to see the actual receipts for election expenses. And now we are finding out that although the Harper Party candidate from Guelph apparently used Racknine’s robocall services in the election, they didn’t include any charges from Racknine in their expenses.

Apparently some candidates used Visa Cards and PayPal to pay Racknine for services and then reimbursing whoever paid the charge. This strikes me as odd. When I was in business we were billed directly and paid directly. Only incidentals were handled differently, small items through petty cash, but only with the receipt.

Calls to Racknine are showing up from MLA and MP constituency offices. Constituency offices are only to be used for government business and electioneering is not government business.

But what surprises me the most is that this story has was discovered by and driven by the staunch supporters of the Harper Party, the National Post.

The National Post says they know where the Robocall scandal ends, in the Stephen Harper Party computers, in the Constituency Information Management System database.

It seems the National Post is more interested in right and wrong than being on the right politically.

Where does Stephen Harper stand?

Well we got some late breaking news…. Seems that Stephen Harper has decided to join with the NDP and support the New Democrats’ proposal to enhance the power of Elections Canada to see documents and new rules governing Robocallers… But he is mentioning something about six months from now…

And it seems that around 2700 people in the riding or Eglinton-Lawrence showed up at polling stations without voter registration cards and filled out forms in order to vote, but [in violation of the Election Act] an unknown number left their current and previous addresses blank and others used false addresses… This is a riding where the Liberal candidate complained about harassing phone calls… and lost his riding by about 3000 votes… Go figure.

Maybe we need to start running our elections like the Third World countries who are trying to use Democratic means to oust Dictators and their regimes.

I’ll dip my finger after I vote, I just hope the ink isn’t blue.