There can be no doubt whatever that the Conservative Party is behind this conspiracy to shut out May, as of all the party leaders, the Harperites fear Elizabeth May the most. Trying to sound reasonable, however, Harper himself is on record as saying on CBC Radio News that he “has no objection” to May’s appearance in the leaders’ debate. Unfortunately, Quebecor, owner of Pravda Canada, Sun Media, and the new TV channel, generally known as Fox News North, seem to have strayed from the Conservative Party script.
Ezra Levant, poster child for the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, and to whom Harper is personally beholden for his seat in Parliament, is well known for parroting the official party line. One would have thought that he would have stayed away from his usual attacks on the CBC, so as not to goad them into changing their mind about May. Instead, he has set off on one of his usual rants about how the Corporation is betraying its socialist (by which he means Liberal) agenda. Vote Compass, according to Levant’s rant, makes everyone into a Liberal.
Of course, Levant misses the point of Vote Compass entirely. According to him, it is an evil CBC plot to convince everyone to vote Liberal. The way the website works is by asking the person to rank his/her opinions regarding various points, such as Afghanistan, medicare, etc. The results are then used to calculate the party closest to one’s ideals. According to Levant, its purpose is to tell everyone they are really Liberal at heart, and to get them to vote accordingly. Obviously, he does not seem to have taken the test himself, as it would have put him solidly on the right, thus junking his theory that it is programmed to make everyone Liberal.
What Levant fails to see through his fog of Tea Party ideology is that most Canadians really are (small L) liberals at heart, preferring not the extremes of right or left, but the more peaceful and commonly accepted path down the middle. The danger to the Harperites is, of course, that the former Progressive Conservative members of the party might take a fresh look at Harper and his ultra-right Reform Party policies, and realise how they have been betrayed.
While the CBC is still in a position to insist that Elizabeth May be included in the debate, it seems rather silly, to say the least, for Levant to go antagonising them to the point that they might change their mind.
Levant, however, is not the only Sun columnist to attack any opposition to Harper. Michael Coren, no doubt an able apprentice to master ranter Ezra Levant, takes on Elizabeth May, claiming basically “no seat, no invitation [to the debate].” Too bad for Harper that Coren didn’t get the directive to pretend to support Elizabeth May’s position, but has inadvertently given us the real party policy.
However, like his master, Levant, Coren obeys the first law of propaganda: “[It] must not investigate the truth objectively and, in so far as it is favourable to the other side, present it according to the theoretical rules of justice; it must present only that aspect of the truth which is favourable to its own side.”
He seems to believe that the Greens are some sort of global conspiracy. “As has been suggested by many commentators in recent years, many in the Green movement and in particular several of its ideologues and leaders, seem to care far more about the planet than for the people who live on it.” No mention, however, of any of the “many commentators”, nor are there any examples of how the Greens are supposed to care more about the planet than its inhabitants.
Coren cites a group of Australian Catholic Bishops who condemn the Green Party, but without giving any of the reasons for this blanket condemnation. It seems that the Australian Greens have fallen afoul of the Bishops mostly because they would allow abortion and same-sex marriage, something most Canadian political parties also allow.
In trying to justify Harper’s fear of the Green Party, Coren writes about the late Petra Kelly, one of the founders of the German Green Party.
In Germany, [the Green Party] was the platform for the extremist Petra Kelly, who led campaigns to prevent the West Germans from accepting refugees from Communist East Germany. In other words, terrified people running from internment camps and execution in the Soviet puppet state should have been, according to the Greens, refused entry into the free west.
The Wikipedia article on Petra Kelly quotes her friend, the Dalai Lama, as saying: “Petra Kelly was a committed and dedicated person with compassionate concern for the oppressed, the weak, and the persecuted in our time. Her spirit and legacy of human solidarity and concern continue to inspire and encourage us all.”
Having thus exposed Coren and Sun Media in such a barefaced lie about Petra Kelly, it is easy to see how they are obeying the “First law of Propaganda.” Unfortunately for Stephen Harper, it begs the question: Why is Stephen Harper so deathly afraid of Elizabeth May and the Green Party of Canada, and what is Harper’s secret agenda?
Richard you sound like you come from an oppressed country. You can breathe now, this is Canada!
“You can breathe now, this is Canada” — so long as Harper is denied a majority.
Perhaps Harper is afraid that the Greens will simply be another potential drain on the road to a Conservative majority. According to the polls, it may be a difference of 1 or 2 seats in gaining/not gaining a Conservative majority. If the Greens end up winning one or two seats, considering they got 1 million votes last time, they could turn out to be the spoilers.
Also, and more importantly, the Conservatives have been totally lax on the environment and I think Harper is afraid of what Elizabeth May will come out with during a debate. Whatever you think of May, she is a very bright woman, and just maybe will attract women voters and siphon off Conservative votes. The Conservatives don’t have a very good record with women in their ranks either.
I can’t take another Harper minority let alone a majority. The Greens will not likely steal conservative votes but Liberal ones. Harper is to stupid to see even that….why would you vote for him?
As far as I can see not one Party has a good record. So who do you vote for, the least likely to screw over the people! If any of these Parties had something good to bring to the table tell me why they haven’t pushed for it while sitting on their “butts” in the House and letting the public know this is what they want to do…they seem to spend alot of money on advertising when running yet can’t do it when they have an idea to bring forth to the House, for the good of the people and the country! Any Politician who makes promises before they are aware of what they are capable of doing are Liars. For once I would like to hear a Politician be honest and say, “these are the changes I want to bring forward if you elect me but I am unaware of what I will be allowed to change until I’m voted in..It’s the truth! People need to remember one thing, these Politicians are your employees. The people of this country pay their wages and all the luxuries they have, so start acting like the boss and stand up and tell these bums we aren’t going to take it anymore!!!
May was annoying and rude in the last debate. The english debate should only include Layton, Iggy and Harper, the french debate has to include Duceppe (even though he is running a provincial campaign). Iggy and Harper actually agree on the vast majority of policy.
Mr Levant is responsible for showing Canada the true colours of some of these so called human rights commisions.
If you take a non jaundiced eye and look at the questions of the CBC survey, you can see the distance from the center they are, and therfore direct many average voters one way.
So the date of the French language debate gets changed because of a hockey game at the request of a Provincial leader, yet the National leader of a party representing almost a million Canadians is still shut out by the “consortium.”
Guy Lauzon, speaking without his script, admitted last Friday that the Harper Government had spent $26,000,000 on advertising government programs, which could have been done by a simple mail-out. Obviously, money well-spent, bribing the “consortium” to keep out May.
An interesting article today in the Toronto Star.
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/972525–mulroney-shows-his-unease-with-harper-s-tories?bn=1
I have been wondering what previous Conservative leaders think about Mr. Harper’s leadership considering the contempt of parliament ruling. We haven’t heard from Joe Clark or Kim Campbell or even Preston Manning for that matter. At least we know what Brian Mulroney thinks. I have renewed respect for him now.
Elizabeth May is an excellent debater, she has kicked Harper’s butt in the past. However, we live in a dictatorship regime. Harper has used underhanded tactics in the past, to get his own way. He prorogued Parliament twice in one year, to escape questions he refused to answer. So, he took the cowards way out, and shut the country down.
Canadians have taken note. Our Constitution is ignored by Harper. Our Civil Rights and Liberties, have been taken away from us. Democracy and Freedom, is being obliterated.
The media are a disgrace to their professions. Harper and his Conservative party, are a disgrace, and, being held in contempt by the Federal House. I have not the least bit interested in anything Harper has to say. He is giving Canada away to huge corporations. He now wants to give the wealthiest company’s in the world, another tax reduction, which will come off Canadians paychecks. Banks, mines, large corporations, gas and oil company’s, are given billions of our tax dollars. They also get huge tax reductions. I watched that motion pass, while I was watching, the House of Commons TV channel. Why is the “HARPER GOVERNMENT”, (as we are now instructed to call the government), giving our tax dollars, to greedy large corporations? After I Googled: Harper delivers his plan, of Global Governance for Canada, the dots started to connect. If Harper wins a majority, we can kiss Canada good-bye.
LOL@Komarowski. Take your meds. Seriously.
Speaking of trolls, Dr. Evil as offered some less than insightful comments lately.
Everybody, take your meds! Why clutter the comments with crap like that?
Dr. Evil you’ll have to change your nick name as Canada’s real Dr. Evil has confirmed that you are not he.
Admin, you were talking to Harper?
No Pete, Canada’s Dr. Evil is Keith Beardsley who worked his magic from Mulroney to Harper before moving into the private sector with True North. If I’m ever nasty it’s because I learned from the best. 🙂
Holy Jumpin’! Do you pay Beardsley for his brain-droppings, or do his people in the PMO pay you to publish it?
@Pete. I am flattered.