Monday 10 February 2014

Conservative Amnesty Act, or Butchering Democracy

I am in total despair over the Cons' plan to butcher democracy, or as Canadian Cynic dubs it:



I was going to blog and collected a bunch of links.

Chantal Hébert

Marc Mayrand

Andrew Coyne

And Alison @ Creekside's expansion on Coyne's thoughts

Stephen Maher

Don Martin

Finally, Michael Harris's excoriations.

But really, it can all be summed up by this:



And we are absolutely helpless to stop them.

Unless. . . there are 18 or so principled Cons willing to vote against their party.

One thing to do today. Participate in the Council of Canadians' Hold the Phone campaign.

I don't have a Con MP (thank the goddess). The Council suggests calling one nearby.

I'm going to call Peter Kent, who claims his self-imposed demotion to the backbench will give him the opportunity to "express my mind and opinion across all our files."

I'll report.

UPDATE: First, all day the title of this has had "Butching" in it. Just noticed and fixed. Kee-rist. DJ! readers are lousy proofreaders. (It's all YOUR fault.)

Next, I called Kent's constituency office and talked to a pleasant young (sounding) man. I explained that I didn't live in the riding and why I chose Kent to voice my concerns to. The man assured me that my comments would be passed along, but that I should put them in writing as well. I told him I had already, but that I wanted to call so that someone would hear my voice and understand how deeply upset I am about this bill. (Thought that was a rather nifty move on my part, playing emotional old doll card.) No email reply yet and the bill passed second reading tonight, which apparently limits the sort and scope of amendments that can be made in committee.

So. They win.

But. #UnFairElxnsAct (Council of Canadians suggested hashtag, q.v.) trended today. We did what we could.

And. Justin Trudeau had pressing business elsewhere, I guess. He wasn't in the House to vote against this. Not that it would have made any difference, but.

4 comments:

gingersnap said...

I don't know where in the hell, peoples heads are? We have known for years, of what Harper really is. He was Policy Chief for his, Northern Foundation of 1989. The Canadian Neo-Nazis donated to Harper's Allince.

Name me one Dictator control freak, that will permit democracy? Fair elections act? Hahahaha. Harper has his ducks in a row, to cheat the next elections. He can'r use his robo-call election fraud this time. Now can he? Elections Canada has been wiped out by Harper. Harper has his courts, judges all set up for his cheat.

Herr Harper's henchmen are all useless, spineless, gutless wonders. Harper's loyal henchmen, are likely promised a piece of Harper's dictatorship pie, at the expense of the everyday Canadians, as usual.

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

There aren't 18 principled goopers down here, that's for certain.
~

Pseudz said...

Could a case be made that the Fair Elections Act encroaches upon free speech - that it discourages full participation - that it obviously enables and abets illegal activity? Law and Order party, my ass!

e.a.f. said...

every MP ought to have been in the House when the vote was called. if only to make sure their opposition to it was noted. this is finally the end of democracy as we have known it in Canada. it is being done so they can cheat and get away with it. Sort of like Putin. Worked for him, so oil can stevie must think it will work for him. Perhaps we need u.n. observers here for our next federal election to ensure the fraud doesn't get too out of hand.

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