Only In Canada…

Stephen Harper has prorogued government for 2 months. What does this mean you ask? Well for starters it means that our MP’s are only working a maximum of 7 months of the year when you factor in these 2 months, another 2 for the summer recess, 3 weeks off for Hanukkah/Christmas/New Years, and another 2 weeks off for Easter/Passover. I certainly wouldn’t mind a 5 months of PAID vacation.

It also means that Stephen Harper is skirting the issue that boiled up last month regarding torture and our armed forces. First the Conservative government denied the claims made by a former Canadian diplomat to Afghanistan that Canada handed over prisoners to Afghan forces knowing that the prisoners would be tortured. Then the government’s denial was quickly discovered as a lie when our top military commander confirmed for all that yes we knew this was happening. So what do you do when you’re in a pickle? Prorogue government and hope that the Canadian people (voters) will forget about the whole torture and lying about the torture thing, and eventually forget that you prorogued parliament for 2 months in order to get out of you know actually leading the nation by dealing with the situation. The sad thing is that for the most part the Canadian populace likely will forget about it.

Here are some other things that the Canadian voters have forgotten about with the Conservative government.

1. Broken promises - Child care, those spaces the Conservatives promised - never happened. Oh yeah and what about the taxing of income trusts when they promised they wouldn’t?

2. The Environment - don’t even get me started. Saying that the Conservatives have a viable environmental strategy is like saying the Maple Leafs have a viable Stanley Cup strategy.

3. Canadian’s Oversees/Refugees - Well to start there was the debacle in Lebanon, you know the one. It involved Israel attacking and really slamming Lebanon. Canada had the largest number of foreign nationals in Lebanon however we were one of the last countries to get out people out. The ministry of foreign affairs kept families back home in the dark about what was going on whether or not people were safe, then when Israeli forces ”accidentally” shelled a U.N. observation post killing 3 U.N. workers including a Canadian there was no condemnation from the government over the matter, no apology demanded. Moving on from Lebanon there’s the Maher Arar issue, where the Canadian government allowed extraordinary rendition to Syria with knowledge that there he would be tortured (seems the Conservatives have a thing for torture). Turns out Arar was innocent - oops. Along somewhat similar lines is the matter of Omar Khadr. He was captured by American forces when he was 15 in Afghanistan and is currently at Guantanimo Bay (one of the few left). He his charged with war crimes and terrorism after he allegedly threw a grenade at an American soldier. Numerous reports have suggested any evidence implicating Khadr as the person who threw the grenade is shaky at best. Khadr is the last Western citizens remaining at Guantanimo and his case is unique in that the Conservative government has refused to seek extradition back to Canada. In other cases we have examples of Homosexuals being sent back their countries where they face prison or torture simply because of their sexual orientation. Kulenthiran Amirthalingan’s case is a prime example of this. Most recently we have the example of is Suaad Hagi Mohamud. The Conservative government knew about her situation in mid June and the press got wind of it by the end of June yet for some reason the Conservative government did not act on getting her home until late July. They allowed her to be imprisoned, humiliated, and stranded her for 2 months. The government has still not apologized.

4. Stricter Measures in place for bringing home Canadians convicted of crimes in foreign countries. While this may seem like a good thing consider the bill in Uganda making homosexuality punishable by life in prison or death penalty. If you are Canadian, Gay and find yourself under arrest for being Gay in Uganda according to the Conservative governments new policy you are shit out of luck they will not try to bring you back unless you a) pose no threat to public safety, b) have taken part in rehabilitation programs (so if you’re gay the Conservative government wants you to go through conversion therapy), c) have co-operated with law enforcement agencies, d) accept responsibility for their crimes. Pretty harsh considering in 82 countries homosexuality is illegal and in 8 (soon to be 9 with Uganda) of those countries is punishable by death.

5. Attempting to remove the rights of over 3 million Canadians. The Conservatives in December of 2006 put up a motion to overturn Bill C-38 that legalized same-sex (or equal) marriage thereby trying to remove the right from over 3 million Canadians.

6. Money: Spending public funds on party campaigning via government websites, GO Trains, and other media. Favoring Conservative ridings with stimulus funds.

7. Calling Cancer sexy and leaving sensitive documents out in the open.

Yes many Canadians have forgotten about all of the above so proroguing parliament to try to remove the heat over torture does make sense.

Slainte!