By André Faust
Is Stephen Harper the most revered or despised prime minister in the history of Canada?
According to social media he is despised, there are countless of anti-Harper Facebook pages and groups to list a few;
- Canadian Rally to Unseat Stephen Harper
- National Stop Harper Campaign
- Anti-Harper
- Harper’s Last Days
- Vote Harper out
- Stop Harper
- Get Ride of Harper
- Enough Harper
- Anyone but Harper Conservatives
In addition to Facebook pages and groups there is a plethora of derogatory satirical images and videos of him throughout the internet. Leadnow independent advocacy organization who has launched the Vote Together campaign against Stephen Harper. Vote together is based on strategic block voting, with the focus on the swing ridings. The strategy is simple to vote for the Candidate who is most likely to win the riding who is not a Conservative.
Why is there such a growing disdain for Harper?
Inferring from the many discussions on social media and mainstream media. The main theme of the criticism seems to be on his autocratic style of governing and his economic policies. For Example
The number of times Harper prorogued parliament as a minority government.
- 2007 Prorogued Parliament so that he could have his legislation promoted in the following throne speech
- 2008 Prorogued Parliament to avoid a vote of non-confidence
- 2009 Prorogued Parliament to avoid the Afghan detainee issue
- 2010 Prorogued Parliament to avoid having to answer questions from the opposition on the senate expense scandal
The number of omnibus bills that he used to pass unfavourable legislation. Omnibus bills are wolves in sheep’s clothing. An omnibus bill consists of a main bill with a main title, nested within the main bail is a multitude of other bills that may not even be related to the main title. Only the main bill is debated and voted on by members of parliament, if the main bill is passed the other nested bills are also past.
Omnibus bills have been used by other prime ministers to expedite the parliamentary process, Harper’s omnibus bills differ from his predecessors by being incredibly huge and his omnibus bill usually contains sub bills that are not related to the main bill.
Listed below are the main omnibus bill that Harper has used to undermine the Canadian democratic process;
- Bill C-38 “Jobs, Growth and Long-term Prosperity Act” Repealed and/or amended 70 federal laws, including the country’s most significant environmental laws.
- Canadian Environmental Assessment Act
- Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency
- Canadian Environmental Protection Act
- Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act
- Fisheries Act
- Navigable Waters Protection Act
- National Energy Board Act
- Species at Risk Act (SARA)
- Parks Canada Agency Act
- Canadian Oil and Gas Operations Act
- Coasting Trade Act
- Nuclear Safety Control Act
- Canada Seeds Act
- Agriculture Affected
- National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy
- Water Programs
- Wastewater Survey
- Monitoring Effluent
- Bill C-45, “Jobs and Growth Act”
- Amendments to the Income Tax Act and related regulations
- Measures in respect of sales tax
- Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act
- Financial institutions
- Shipping
- Preserving the stability and strength of Canada s financial sector
- Fisheries
- Bridge to Strengthen Trade Act
- Bretton Woods and Related Agreements Act
- Canada Pension Plan
- Indian Act
- Judges Act
- Canada Labour Code
- Merchant Seamen Compensation Act
- Customs Act
- Hazardous Materials Information Review Act
- Agreement on Internal Trade Implementation Act
- Employment Insurance Act
- Immigration and Refugee Protection Act
- Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation Act
- Canada Grain Act
- International Interests in Mobile Equipment (Aircraft Equipment) Act
- Canadian Environmental Assessment Act
- Canada Employment Insurance Financing Board
- Public Sector Pensions
- Canada Revenue Agency Act
- Bill C-51 Anti-terrorism Act
- Security of Canada Information Sharing Act (new)
- Secure Air Travel Act (new)
- Criminal Code (amended)
- Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act (amended)
- Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (amended)
- Bill C-59 Economic Action Plan (introduced)
- new home accessibility tax credit
- Family tax cut and benefits changes
- Federal Balanced Budget Act
- Prevention of Terrorist Travel Act
- Parliamentary Protective Service
- Public service sick leave
- Patent Act and Trade-marks Act
- Compassionate care leave extension
- Copyright Act changes
- Export Development Act changes
- Canada Labour Code
- Members of Parliament Retiring Allowances Act
- National Energy Board Act
- Employment Insurance Act
- Canada Small Business Financing Act
- Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act
- Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act
- Immigration and Refugee Protection Act
- First Nations Fiscal Management Act
- Canadian Forces Members and Veterans Re-establishment and Compensation Act
- Ending the Long-gun Registry Act
All of those nested pieces of legislation are not debated or voted upon, just the main motion.
Besides proroguing parliament, and his omnibus bills what also angers Canadians is;
- Muzzling the science community
- Changing the qualification period to qualify for unemployment insurance
- Tax breaks for the wealthy and big business
- Total wanton disregard for the environment over profits
- Dismissing the seriousness of missing, murdered aboriginal woman
- Refusing to be interviewed by the media
- Letting his religious convictions influence his policies
- His fear mongering
- Penalizing anyone who criticizes him
Harper has become the plethora of Canadian politics and governance, upon his defeat, Canada will once again become the Canada that the world respected.
The Left Eye 