Critics should simply start referring to the "Fair Elections Act" as the "Conservative Amnesty Act." Oh, the hilarity.
— CC (@canadiancynic) February 8, 2014I 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:
.#cdnpoli The scariest thing about the #UnfairElxnsAct is how brazenly it screams "We cheated b4, we'll do it again & you'll never prove it"
— Penny Mills (@Pennyvane10) February 9, 2014And 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.
