Garth Turner - Commentaries » Halton Riding Events

Sheeple clarification

Garth Turner — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:05:13 +0000

At page 65 of Sheeple, the author makes reference to The Canadian Press running a story about the Prime Minister receiving a standing ovation in caucus after re-iterating that he would not allow the Peace Tower flag to be flown at half-mast when combat deaths took place in Afghanistan. The author never discussed this or any other issue with the Ottawa bureau chief.
The author’s comments were meant to reflect the fact that leaked information from confidential sources within a caucus is not verifiable in the sense that its truth cannot be definitely ascertained, but Mr. Turner accepts the assertion by The Canadian Press that this story and all Canadian Press stories that use anonymous sources are double-sourced and cleared for publication by a senior editor.
Mr. Turner has enormous respect for The Canadian Press and at no time was intending to suggest that it acted improperly.

Caucus confidential

Garth Turner — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 22:21:09 +0000

Dion to be next PM

Man overboard: Flaherty flounders as Harper bails

Some days a boy is just left shaking his head.

Two years ago Stephen Harper threw me out of the Conservative caucus allegedly for breaking caucus confidentiality. When asked to prove it by the media, he could not.

This weekend the Harper Conservatives not only eavesdropped on the national caucus meeting of another party, but then bragged about to the media and released an audiotape. What’s worse? Utter hypocrisy, or a total lack of ethics?

Ah, but this is just the start.

Since staring death in the chops – the kind of political oblivion Mr. Harper visited upon me, heaped upon Stephane Dion, dumped on Bill Casey and anyone else who dared question or oppose him – our subprime minister has been showing just the kind of guy he really is. Apparently, he’s willing to say, or do anything to retain power.

First, he used an economic crisis for millions of Canadians as an excuse to try and screw his opponents on Parliament Hill. In his glee, he forgot any measures to help families or create jobs.

Then, realizing what a dickhead move that was, and after defending it for one day, he threw it overboard. Then he also threw overboard a move to take away the right to strike from public servants.

Along with this, he cancelled a vote in Parliament that would have defeated his government, and pushed it back to December 8th.

Then he threw his finance minister overboard, having him announce a budget for January that he had just announced for March.

Now, as I wrote this, comes news Harper is actually considering shutting down Parliament entirely to prevent any vote from taking place until a budget is read – two months from now.

It could not be any clearer right now what matters to this person, which is what I have been saying here for two years. Stephen Harper is obsessed with himself, with holding and exercising power, and with political brinkmanship. He orchestrated the last election when there was no need for one, simply to avoid the coming financial mess. During the campaign he lied to voters about the economy, the banks, the deficit and the opposition. In Halton, voters were told Liberals would scrap child care payments, jack up the GST and run a deficit – messages which had been repeated in millions of dollars worth of government propaganda funded by taxpayers. All lies. And no sooner had the vote happened, but this guy was in Peru saying the economy was 1929 all over again, and bailing out the banks with $75 billion.

If there was ever an election which was financially and intellectually stolen, it was this one.

And over the last three days we have proof after proof that the Harper agenda has virtually nothing to do with the welfare of the Canadian people. Unethical, dishonest, unprincipled and hate-driven, it is a dead party walking.

Eight more days.

Salt in the field

Garth Turner — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 16:10:04 +0000

Later today the Harper Cons will end the funding for political parties. This will decimate political opposition, yet create no jobs or do anything to help Canadians struggling with a sick economy. But it will make Harper more powerful, as it weakens those who disagree with him. In that, it’s a Third World move which strikes at the heart of democracy. It moves Canada inexorably closer to one party rule.

It’s also completely consistent with Harper’s view only right-wing ideology can be allowed to survive, and actions taken to defeat and silence other views are justified. Canadians should be outraged at this, and yet are unlikely to be so, obsessed as they are now with jobs, finances and families.

Shame on the prime minister for this. It diminishes the man immensely.

A year ago I wrote this about Harper’s mentor, Tom Flanagan. We are about to see salt in our field.

Mr. Flanagan has been Stephen Harper’s friend for 16 years, worked for the Reform Party, became Mr. Harper’s top strategist, and ran his campaign for the Canadian Alliance leadership, along with the 2004 and 2006 elections. He taught, then recruited Mr. Harper’s chief of staff, Ian Brodie. Tom Flanagan’s an academic at the University of Calgary. He says of himself, boldly, “I had the privilege of helping to reinvent the forces of conservativism.”

Indeed he did. Stephen Harper is somewhat his creation. I have just read his tell-all book, Harper’s Team. It’s an account of how the two of them came to create a neo-Conservative Party, dominated by the former Reform movement, of which they were both architects, and which is poised, Mr. Flanagan says, to deliver its final assault.

And this brings us, the professor says, to Canada’s Punic Wars.

In case you forgot, Rome and Carthage were bitter rivals, and fought three deadly battles. In the first, Rome took Sicily from Carthage. In the second, Rome took control of North Africa, reducing Carthage to a minor power. In the third, Rome burned Carthage, then plowed salt into the fields to prevent anything from ever growing again. It was total death.

And what of this for Canada?

“The 2004 election,” Mr. Flanagan writes, “was our First Punic War, in which bringing the Liberals down to a minority government constituted modest progress. We fought our Second Punic War in 2005-6, got control of the government, and reduced the Liberals to opposition status, burdened with inadequate funding and seeking a new leader. But what of the coming Third Punic War? Should our slogan be, Liberales delendi sunt (he Liberals must be destroyed), even if that were in our power? Objectiviely, it would probably be more in our interest to beat the Liberals down to about 20% of the vote, where they could duel for year (sic) with the NDP.”

This is of some interest to me for two reasons. First, Mr. Flanagan, like Mr. Harper, sees a world divided into two orbs – “ right and left. They are at war, and the right must win. It is destined to win, because it has a more moral cause. Thus, the leader of the right can justly call down his opponents as sympathetic of terrorists, scornful of police, disdainful of traditional marriage, soft on criminals, unsupportive of the military, and obsessed with fringe causes like literacy, womens rights, first nations, poverty, the regions and climate change.

Second, the war is about ideology, not public service. Mr. Flanagan may speak with eloquence about Rome and Carthage, while being silent on Toronto and Vancouver.

I always thought this was about Canadians – voters, taxpayers and citizens. They, I assumed, wanted us to be politicians to represent them and serve their needs. Give them common sense laws. Manage the economy. Make public policy reflect public opinion, which today seems to demand an endgame to war, serious action on the environment and help for family finances.

But, today, I’d say the die is cast. Stephen Harper, Tom Flanagan, and Doug Finley want war. The goal is to destroy the political opposition, to “reinvent the forces of conservativism” and, in so doing, plow salt.