When I returned from my trip I found a country very different from the one I’d left. In the few days I’d gone, Stephen Harper proposed changes to public-financing rules that would have bankrupted the opposition while continuing to line the pockets of his party. He released an economic plan so anemic one wonders if he’s seeing the same downturn we plebs are. And when his actions triggered the shitstorm that anyone could have foreseen, he asked the Governor General to prorogue Parliament to avoid a no-confidence vote he would have lost – a request to which she agreed.
This is a travesty.
Today marks a new low in federal politics. I will remember the moment I sat, listening is disbelief, as Stephen Harper got the go-ahead to suspend Parliament for no better reason than to save his political ass. I will remember that as he talked, he showed no indication that this entire mess was of his making. And I will remember that this is a man who, in the middle of global economic turbulence, put partisanship over the needs of our country.
Stephen Harper is no longer fit to govern. He has exploited and exacerbated regional divisions in Canada, pitting Western Canada with its perennial chip-on-the-shoulder against Ontario and Quebec. He has emboldened the separatists through his inflammatory comments. And now he has abused the power of his office, subverting our democratic process to preserve his political future. He is a disgrace, and worse – dangerous. He has to be stopped.