Maybe we should just be glad that Stephen Harper and his government are not social conservatives. They are not in a rush to hang people nor to ban same-sex marriage. Those are some changes they might get around to down the road. Today, they are showing what they can do for the corporations.
The alacrity with which Labour Minister Lisa Raitt hopped to it and moved to end a possible strike by Air Canada’s unions on Friday of the past week was remarkable. If just a fraction of that speed had been put to helping keep the jobs of the Caterpillar workers in London Ontario, we would have been more impressed.
What was wrong with the Labour Minister’s action was the lame excuses she used for her actions. Despite her reasoning, March Break is not a national emergency. Air Canada needed the revenue. That was the emergency.
It is like the urgency of the XL Pipeline from Alberta to the Gulf Coast of Texas refineries for Athabasca Oil Sands crude. Same for Enbridge’s dual pipes over the Rockies to the West Coast so we can ship crude oil to fuel the Chinese economy. With Harper and company pushing these projects, tree-huggers best get out of the way!
Mr. Harper has already shown us what he can do for his corporations. How do you think Bell Canada ended up with CTV? How did Shaw end up with Global Television? All Mr. Harper had to do was emasculate and co-opt the purposes of the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). Soon enough, Canadians will rue the day Pierre Karl Péladeau became the proud owner of Quebecor and Sun Media.
One of the first acts of Stephen Harper’s majority government was to remove the government election funding that Jean Chrétien’s Liberals had brought in to try to level the political playing field. Harper and his corporate friends have no wish for a level field. They want power and they want to keep it. Do you think there will not be further changes in who can finance elections?
If Mr. Harper’s party is capable of voter suppression on the scale such as Elections Canada is now investigating? If the Conservatives can plead guilty and just pay a fine for the In-and-Out schemes of previous elections? Do you not think he already has all the support he needs from his corporate friends?
With all of this corporate support, you would think he would finally get VIA Rail to arrive on time.
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Copyright 2012 © Peter Lowry
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