That'll Do.

Jason Kenney's Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration enforced a deportation order, quite possibly in a frenzy to prove to critics excoriating Harper's government for a number of incidents where brown-skinned citizens were stranded outside Canada that Conservative ministers are NOT acting on the basis of systemic and implicit racist policies and/or incompetence.

Hours before her legally blind, 69-year-old mother was deported to Poland last night, Aldona Pindiur was in tears, begging for help. "She's old, she can't see ... Who will look after her in Poland? All the family is here," Pindiur said in halting English. "Can you help her stay with me? Please help."

But there was no help, no last-minute reprieve: Stefania Magdziak was put on a plane to her native Poland last night, days after she lost her appeal to stay in Canada on humanitarian grounds after a failed refugee claim.

Pindiur and her brother, Miroslaw Magdziak, came to Canada almost 15 years ago. They applied to stay as landed immigrants and were accepted. Their mother came for a visit in 1998 and never went back.

An unscrupulous immigration consultant advised the family to file a claim for refugee status so that she could stay, Miroslaw said. The application was rejected and a few weeks ago, her plea to stay in Canada with her family was also denied.

From here.

Will Harper say to Kenney: "That'll do, Pig"?

Peter Van Loan got in on the action too.

In an e-mailed statement, Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan, who is responsible for the Canada Border Services Agency and had the power to halt the deportation, said he could not comment on specific cases, but added the CBSA enforces the law and court decisions.

"The removal of inadmissible individuals is key to maintaining the integrity of the immigration program and to ensuring fairness for those who live in this country lawfully."

Yet another nail in the coffin of Conservative "Family Values". That will do indeed.

Red Tory first blogged about this.

Photo Op

As always with the PM and his Con-job ministers, it's all about political OPportunity, OPtics and OPerations.

After touring homes in Vaughan that suffered severe structural damage during Thursday's storm, Canada's Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan said doling out financial aid is not a political decision but rather the result of a "complex mathematical formula."

Could one of the factors in that "complex mathematical formula" be the demographic profile of Vaughn and other neighbourhoods affected by Thursday's violent storm in Milton, Newmarket and Durham?

Specifically, how to calculate whether federal financial assistance doled out will cancel out a public perception that the Public Safety Minister and his colleagues are mostly indifferent to the rights and the plight of brown-skinned Canadian citizens left stranded outside Canada?

Accountability and transparency... as envisioned by Harper Conservatives.

Ahem

Back in September, I asked this legitimate question: Could this whole business be a cruel confidence job?

One of the comments in response was:

"Well sir, you should read the judges decision - NOTHING in there about me setting them up.In FACT the judge said MOST of what I said was CORROBORATED by intercepts anyway and concluded the evidence was OVERWHELMING. As to your claim that I sold the clip to NEFA --- careful...how many of your words have had to be eaten already?An ELATED and VALIDATED Shaikh."

purported signed by himself.

Today the same Alison@Creekside posted this at The Galloping Beaver:

Mubin Shaikh on Friday:
"I thought that if the RCMP didn't tell me I couldn't do it, I inferred that I could do it," Mr. Shaikh testified.Lawyers for Canada's first underage convicted terrorist argued in court Friday that without Mubin Shaikh, assigned by CSIS and paid by the RCMP, there would have been no terrorist conspiracy at all.

Go read the whole blogpost.

If the Liberals support this budget ....

A really strange thought crept in, ever so quietly.

If Michael Ignatieff directs his caucus to support the budget and to vote with the Conservative minority government, isn't that a recognition Stephen Harper is the best leader the Liberals never had?

Tainted Meat Follies, Part XXX

It appears that my tongue-in-cheek blogpost about unions last week pushed a few hot buttons. Check out the hostility explosion in the combox.

Thus I'm pleased to follow up with an encouragement to go read Just Another Willy Loman for his timely blogpost about the recent confrontation between Stevie and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency workers.

The CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) will be voting on a new contract today. The union for the agency whose purpose it is to protect our sources of food, has played a leading role as whistle blower about the Harper government’s secretive deregulation of Canadian safety standards.

Predictably, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz is nowhere to be seen - or heard.

Dr.Dawg adds:

Meanwhile, on the subject of unions, David Reevely of the Ottawa Citizen points to a good summary of the complexity of the bus scheduling issue and the central importance of that issue to striking OC Transpo bus drivers.

I wrote a Letter to the Editor for the Progressive Coalition

and so can you!!!

Furthermore, I used the Conservative Party of Canada's handy-dandy website for that purpose!

Does that mean I'm tactically opportunistic or that I'm democratically astute?

Note: I wrote about subverting the CPC website during the election campaign back in September. During these recent events, the strategically savvy Dipper Chick has taken steps to fully develop its potential for advancing the Progressive Coalition. Oh, and go sign the petition too, at The Galloping Beaver.

Famous blue sweater = pabulum

"... how Harper and the "StealthCons" are like a Big Mac."

This blogpost made me laugh. After weeks of attempting to decode the point of the blue sweater meme the Cons exploited, all is explained here:

The Blue Sweater Vest ads. The Thanksgiving message. I don't think for a moment that they were an attempt to bring people over to vote for him. They were meant to neutralize the acidic taste he leaves in most people's mouths.

Go read the whole post at Blogging if necessary but not necessarily blogging. Brilliant.

And now ladies and germs,

... your special Harper appearance scripted for an exclusive audience.

There’s something entertaining about the limited range of Stephen Harper’s performances during the course of this election campaign. As October 14 looms nearer, it becomes quite apparent that a decision was made regarding which particular acts should be punched up in order to reach and reassure ambivalent voters.

Indeed the scripting, staging and styling of Stephen Harper was anticipated well ahead of the moment chosen to call the elections. For example Michelle Muntean has been on board for a while. Requests for information made to disclose who has been paying for her styling skills are deflected. L’idée du jour says she is paid through some undisclosed discretionary slush fund that every elected member of the House of Commons is allowed.

Famous blue sweater. Leading up to the drop of the writ for the elections, Harper was cleverly portrayed in political advertisements and in ‘candid shots’ as a home-spun, piano-playing, kitten-patting warm fuzzy guy. Many agreed with my impression that this incarnation was creepy and phony, yet some took exception to my description of the cringe factor.

The object of lust. In a truly bizarre move, Mashline, the online news/social media website owned by Conservative supporters, paid out a large sum of money to secure the rights to a Canadian version of "I have a crush on Obama". It was a weird marketing ruse for the former Reformers (they count the faux-doctor Charles McVety among their staunch supporters). After all, the girl who crooned this insipid little ditty was definitely not Harper’s wife.

Was it a lame attempt to convince women of Harper’s charms? Unlike brilliant YouTube creations that went viral upon their release – Culture en Péril, even in its 9 minute version got more hits – this gimmick quickly flopped out of sight.

Bad Con, Faux Con. At an overtly scripted event staged for the purpose of announcing the Conservatives' changes to the Young Offenders' Act, Harper appeared in a suit jacket & sweater vest combo. He was posed holding the hand of Theresa McCuaig who clutched a photo of her dead grandson, conveniently killed by young offenders (convenient that is, for the Cons' photo opportunity, not for Sylvain Leduc and those who mourn him).

The veneer of Harper’s smoothly orchestrated public appearances and sound bites cracked last week when he lashed out at the insubordinate and insurgent artists who continue to voice criticism of his policies. The nasty and real Stephen Harper – not the well-crafted façade – held forth about culture and those he labeled rich gala-goers. So unlike the ordinary working people”, he sneered. Not that Harper has anything in common with ordinary working people.

The nasty flip side of ‘Family Man’ emerged. Shortly after Harper exploded with bitter remarks, his generous and hard-working spouse Laureen put an end to her volunteer responsibilities as chair of the National Arts Centre Gala. No doubt her continued participation in the organization of a cultural event of the type held in contempt by her husband would seem to undermine his authority. His children were removed from field trips organized by their schools, since attending theatre or any cultural event would not be congruent with their father’s crude opinion of the arts.

Like any carefully constructed Con game, the purpose is to manipulate the outcome. Any detail that contradicts or detracts from the purposeful image must be removed. Absolute control over the audience is also a key element to the success of this strategy.

Watching the contrived transformations of Stephen Harper into divertissement that draws attention away from the real man behind the masks, but especially from the real issues of this election, is evocative of .... no, not old-style vaudeville or carnival tent shows, though that would be delicious irony. Harper’s calculated displays are similar to those found in old-fashioned National Geographic documentaries – the ones about predatory animals and the various guises they adopt to fool their prey.

Un grand merci to alison - your blogpost provided an important perspective.

Update: Go read Nothing could be further from the truth for an excoriating analysis of the commercial media's complicity in this Con game show.

I wrote a Letter to the Editor for the Conservative Party

... and so can you!

Inspired by this woman's account, I zoomed over to the CPC website.

After reading 10 facts that I did not know about Stephen Harper, I had a short nap. When I woke up, I clicked on the 'Write a Letter to the Editor' link. I was taken to a page where I had to provide my postal code. I considered my options - making up or borrowing existing information so I opted for a combination of the two; I gave the code for a neighbourhood housing co-op.

Topic for Letter to Editor. The choices were health care, lower taxes, Arctic Sovereignty, Help for first-time homebuyers, Child care, Environment, Supporting self-employed mothers, Support for Seniors, Tackling Crime, Accountability, Cutting the excise tax on diesel.

Decisions, decisions. I selected 'Supporting self-employed mothers'.

Next page, I could click on The Globe and Mail or The National Post. I picked the Post. Then boxes, with Asterisks flagging information that HAD to be given. The set-up was interesting. The default province was Alberta. There were 5 boxes dedicated to information about the street: Number, Number Sfx, Name, Direction, Type. (Is that a Calgary idiosyncrasy?) I entered a fictitious name, then location info about the housing co-op. For Street Direction I provided 'One-Way'; for email address, another inspired bit of fiction.

I was ready to write my Letter to the Editor!

On the next page there was a box for the subject line, and the text, helpful hints and, MOST importantly, CPC platform points. I was crass. I copied most of the platform points with a few embellishments. This was my Letter to the Editor:

To whom it may concern,

Canadian women deserve the right to make the best choices for their families. No one should be forced to choose between starting a family and starting a business because of government policy. That's why Prime Minister Stephen Harper's announcement that Conservatives will give self-employed Canadians the opportunity to opt-in to maternity and parental employment insurance benefits is important and will keep women off welfare and in the house.

In 2007, more than 2.6 million people were self-employed in Canada and one third of them were women. Now these women will have the choice to pay into the EI program so that when they need to take the time to care for their newborns, they have financial support so they don't have to sue men for alimony.

This announcement is another example of how Conservatives will help our economy and our families.

Well, that sure was a LOT of fun. I hope that the housing co-op people aren't too cranky with the CPC flunky who calls their phone number to check up on Sergei Lafortune.

Good Con, Bad Con

Today's front page photo, Le Droit. Yesterday Harper spoke at a sparsely attended venue in Vanier Ontario for the purpose of announcing changes to the Young Offenders Act, with harsher penalties.

Angela Campbell, who specializes in children and the law at McGill University's law faculty, doubted Harper's proposal will curb youth crime. She called it a "hard-line, law-and-order approach that is very simplistic ,,,, People who believe that young people are committing more acts of violence will say 'that's a great idea.' However, the reality is that crime perpetrated by young people has actually diminished quite consistently in Quebec and across Canada."

There is no evidence that tougher penalties and naming teenage perpetrators has any dissuasive effect on their actions, Campbell said. Montreal lawyer René Binet said this approach is "more emotional than rational because there is no study that shows that tougher sentences lead to a lower crime rate."

Harper is posed with Theresa McCuaig and a picture of her dead grandson.

A Con-ning photo opportunity.

What's next? Gerry Ritz in a Ronald McDonald suit, cozying up to families holding pictures of their elderly parents or infants, killed by listeriosis?

Harper and his Conservatives are making public safety an issue in this election campaign. This may be their strategy for avoiding a debate on the hot-button topic of public health.

In today's Le Devoir, Brian Myles writes about punishment as a weapon of mass dissuasion. He points out that politicians (I would add, of the right-wing, so-con persuasion) are particularly fond of this solution.

Law-and-order statistics seem to indicate that in spite of screaming headlines and sensationalistic news coverage that offer little or no analysis, the increases in violent crimes committed by young offenders may not warrant the draconian measures advanced by the Conservatives.

It would appear this is more of the same-old same-old reactionary mise-en-scène for Harper and his gang-that-shoots-itself-in-the-foot, as a tactic to engineer a holy majority.

Update/September 24: Radio-Canada reports that the Québec Minister for Justice and Public Safety, Jacques Dupuis and Yves Francoeur, president of the police officers' union are opposed to the changes in the Young Offenders Act that were announced yesterday.

The tyranny of the majority ....

It's an interesting turn of phrase, is it not? It was said by Conservatives who were chafing and frothing with the injustice, nay, the inhumanity of being subjected to the rules of order of the House of Commons Ethics committee.

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson .... told a rally in Ontario on Sunday that Prime Minister Stephen Harper has already made it clear he would not tolerate any more "obstruction"...

Meanwhile in Québec, former senator and now Conservative candidate Michael 'Teflon' Fortier is the point man for the attack against the Bloc Québecois. It seems that he is travelling across the province with a publicity van. These Conservative campaign advertisements attack not the raison d'être of the BQ party which is legitimate criticism, but the actual validity of casting a vote for Duceppe's party.

A caller to the Radio-Canada noon open-line program, Maisonneuve en direct, said bluntly:

"C'est grossier, ce que prétendent les Conservateurs. C'est comme si on avait pas le droit de voter pour le député ou le parti qu'on a choisi. Et ça vient de Monsieur Fortier, qui a été ministre sans jamais être élu."

Translation: This is crass, what the Conservatives claim. It suggests that a vote for the candidate of our choice is not legitimate. This from Mr Fortier who was a Minister without being elected.

In this opinion piece, the author castigates Fortier as a dangerous right-wing zealot and a promoter of hateful messages attacking the BQ and those who vote for the party. He announces his intention to file a complaint with Elections Canada.

Stephen Harper wants a majority and he will use whatever means necessary to achieve his goal.

Remember, back in August when Harper first tested the notion of calling an election, he claimed that he could no longer govern with the opposition holding the majority of seats? Under his leadership, senior CPC officials called riding workers who were suspicious of the 2006 'In-and-Out' scheme "a bunch of turds". One of those campaign volunteers was a police chief in a small Ontario town who smelled a rat and advised his candidate to turn down the offer.

Harper and his dirty-tricks gang have demonstrated that they can do tyranny very well, albeit on a small scale. All they require is a majority to really unleash their full potential.

A big Merci! to CC who started the thought process with his post. The political cartoon is from the Toronto Star.

Culture en péril

NOTE: I posted this yesterday and Blogger gobbled it up when I returned in edit mode to add tags. Just so that everyone knows I'm not pulling a Cherniak - it's the same text, including a préambule that warns of the return of my blogging colleague.

For all the Dr Dawg fans out there in the blogosphere: do not despair! He will be back soon, in fine argumentative form.

In the meanwhile, I do believe that I am getting the hang of this. A little context for the following production. A voice-over states that the Heritage programs in support of the arts that were cut have been replaced by a different funding structure. A musician enters the Committee room to explain his festival's request for support to travel to France. It is Michel Rivard, one of the founders of Beau Dommage. He starts to sing a beloved Félix Leclerc song about a seal who has left her love and her community to work in the US but he barely gets past the word phoque before the ideological impairments of the Committee members cause them to become hysterical.



For more background about how Stephen Harper and his Conservatives have savagely cut funding to many programs funding the arts, read Beijing York's excellent series of blogposts here.

How is that working out for you?

Mashline is a new media product. As its name suggests, it mashes "headline news and entertainment" in a range of formats on one website. Genevieve Desjardins, a former deputy director of communications in the Conservative PMO, said:

the site is one-stop shopping for both election news and election rumour. "You have the traditional media and then you click, you have the social media — all the blogs, all the video on YouTube, all the news on CBC, CTV, La Presse — every Canadian outlet is there and updated every minute."

On the Social Media page, this is posted:

Warning - Content posted directly from social media sites may be offensive to some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised.

Indeed. There are 4 columns/areas dedicated to each of the four male leaders of the CPC, LPC, NDP and BQ. No Green Party.

The page is updated every 2 minutes or so. Though I bookmarked the website last week, I only check it perhaps 3 or four times a day. It appears to me that most of the social media that is fed to the PCP column is very critical of Stephen Harper and his Conservatives. Today I followed a link and discovered this clever YouTube:

HARPER IS A CYLON

This one has the potential for going viral, unlike the other Harper themed new media product launched to great fanfare last week.

It seems, from my unbiased perspective, that Mashline, as a medium for displaying glowing testimonials from Conservative bloggers and producers of social media is not working out favourably for them. Perhaps they should allow 'real' people to attend their events, besides the ones they trick for photo opportunities.

Could this whole business be a cruel confidence job?

Alison of Creekside is a very droll lady and a sharp political blogger. She writes today about the 'secret' undercover footage that a CSIS operative took of the young Muslim men currently on trial for alleged terrorist activities.

This video evidence (which the trial judge did not allow to be released to the media) has been posted on the website of the NEFA (Nine Eleven Finding Answers) Foundation. "Exclusive" footage they say. This made me wonder if the CSIS operative, Mubin Shaikh is the one who sold the footage to NEFA. Once I started down that road, I also considered if Shaikh set up these young men to be charged with terrorist acts. To justify his deceit, he said:

.... the suspects had already chosen their path and needed no encouragement from him.

Nice work if you can get it.

Were the Harper Conservatives to be elected to government, events of this nature where individuals con and set up members of their own communities, and people rat each other out for money would become more common I suspect, This happens whenever authorities make sure their spook organizations have deep pockets and shallow minds.

Spin, spin, spin, Stephen.

Between June 2 and September 6, Stephen Harper's Conservative government spent or promised to spend $19,233,543,503.00, according to a 19-page, detailed report produced by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

Now try to reconcile (that's an accounting term, I believe) the amount above with a statement from Stephen Harper, in response to dire forecasts regarding the US economy.

"Obviously this is a time that requires prudence...this is not
the time for wild experiments in new taxes or grand spending schemes," he said.

This is not the time for .... grand spending schemes.

If Harper keeps spinning at that rate, by October 14th he should have spun a hole for himself all the way to China.

We need more cowbell, please.

The lies of Stephen Harper, mouthpiece extraordinaire and chief ideologue for the Not-Your-Parents' Conservatives are tiresome and boring. It is Sunday and this week-long electoral campaign has become a horror-show or, alternatively, bizarre beyond the wildest rantings of a Hunter Thompson, say.

The only solace is more cowbell.

Enjoy and remember that the enactment of Bill C-61 will deprive you of the opportunity to find and play this uplifting bit of zaniness on your computer.