Is Canada democracy under threat?

http://www.peoplestandup.ca
Canada's democracy erodes.....




At a time when Arabs risk life and limb for political freedoms, Canadians seem largely apathetic about the erosion of their democracy.




On Friday, March 25, 2011, the minority Stephen Harper government fell on a confidence motion by a 156-145 vote. Speaking to the motion, Opposition Leader Michael Ignatieff attacked the Harper government for disrespecting Canadian democracy and treating parliament with contempt.


The myth of Canada being dull is captured in the apocryphal story that in an international competition for the most boring news headline of the year, the winning entry was "Yet another worthy Canadian initiative".


Edmund Burke noted that all that was necessary for evil to triumph was for good men to do nothing. Canadians are certainly good and worthy folks, but they suffer an excess of civil obedience, politeness and lack of civic rage. These forms of complacency needs change that could be harnessed to combat political atrophy and erosion of their democracy.


The centralisation of power in the hands of the prime minister and political staffers - with the resulting diminution of the role and status of cabinet, parliaments and parliamentarians - is common to Anglo-Saxon democracies in Australia, Britain, Canada and the US, but the extent to which constitutional conventions, parliamentary etiquette and civil institutions of good governance have been worn away in Canada is cause for concern.




A minister told parliament she did not know who had altered a document that cut funding to a foreign aid group. Later, she admitted to ordering the changes, but did not know who had carried out the order. Lying to parliament, a cardinal sin of Westminster-style democracy, has now become a political tactic.




Following rulings by Speaker Peter Milliken, for the first time in Canadian history, the government and a minister have been found to be in contempt of parliament for withholding information and misleading the house.




The Harper-appointed Integrity Commissioner was so inept that she failed to uphold a single one of more than 200 whistle-blowing complaints. Forced out of office by the ensuing public outcry, she was awarded a $C500,000 severance package on condition that neither she nor the government talk about it. That is, a public servant paid by the taxpayer was financially gagged by yet more taxpayer money to stop taxpayers finding out what was going on.




When a foreign service officer blew the whistle on the Canadian military handing over detainees to Afghan security forces, in likely violation of international humanitarian law, the government tried to destroy him and refused to give documents to a parliamentary inquiry. The Speaker reminded Harper that the parliament controlled cabinet, not the other way round.




After the last elections, when the opposition parties were close to agreement on a coalition majority government, rather than face the house in a vote of confidence, Harper talked the governor-general into shuttering parliament for a month until he shored up his own support.




When the time came to choose a new governor-general, Harper opted for someone who had carefully drawn up terms of an inquiry commission to exclude the potentially most damaging aspects of a scandal involving former conservative prime minister, Brian Mulroney.

Four conservatives have been charged with exceeding campaign spending limits in the 2006 election that put Harper into power. A minister used public office and material to pursue party-political goals of courting ethnic vote banks for the conservatives.

Having come into office on campaign promises of greater transparency and accountability, Harper has silenced civil servants and diplomats, cynically published guidelines on how to disrupt hostile parliamentary committees, and suppressed research that contradicts conservative ideologically-driven policy, for example data that show crime rates to be falling.

Judges who rule against the pet causes of the government's ideological base are not immune to attacks from cabinet ministers.

Civil society groups that criticise any government policy or ideology risk loss of funding and hostile takeovers by boards stacked with pro-government ciphers.
Little wonder Globe and Mail columnist Lawrence Martin describes the government's "arc of duplicity" as "remarkable to behold".
What remains unclear is whether this adds up to an indictment of Canadians' indifference to democratic rights being curtailed or of the opposition parties, which have failed to harness the silent majority's outrage.
As Canadians head for the polls in early May, it remains to be seen whether Liberal Party charges of the Harper government being obsessed with secrecy, control, spin and attack ads will resonate with voters...
Until then, Oh Canada, we pray with a cry from our hearts for thee.

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[phr34kyy]

@phr34kyy

The facts are, the only reason why Canada has turned into a shit hole, just so happens to be more and more each year in the last 20 - to - 30 + years since immigration has continued unchecked ethnically and culturally wiping out true Canadians whome made Canada what it is.

Also Canada is a CommonWealth Realm nation, whome do you think protects Canada with its nuclear arsenal?....America? are you fucking kidding? you think they care about you? they want to annex you and still trying.

[phr34kyy]

@povertyincanada

Everything you just said, proved you are anti-Canadian and most likely a migrant.

The very problem with Canada, parasites, don't like it, leave, no one wants you in the first place.

As for supporting the monarchy, welcome to Canada, its what the nation was built on, People of Scottish/Irish/English/French/­Indian peoples whome have fought side by side against the Americans in the war of 1812 when your lil favorite nation America invaded Canada.

[johnnycmajor]

We like the States need a total cleansing of the Parliament I mean total start over, new people that believe in less government, less spending, and to stay to hell out of our private lifes.

[johnnycmajor]

We need Ron Paul to win in the States and we need a Ron Paul to raise his head in Canada.

[Mormon4LIfe10]

Canada is being planned to implode just like the United States. The average citizen is being conned and deceived into thinking that either Canada or the U.S. is a better country. The higher elite want to combine Mexico, Canada and the U.S. into one region called the North American Union. The enemies of all three countries reside in the government!

[92359hg]

More like are we under the threat of Harper's vision of democracy

[JonathanSeagullUtube]

Only mentally challenged & little kids think Canada is a democracy. Look up the definition of democracy and subtract reference to the term "representative". We get to vote every couple of years for a "party" that elects a dictatorial leader that spends our money to invade and murder civilians in other countries. Lets call "government lobbing" as it is, bribes and payoffs. When was the last time you voted on where your stolen money (tax) is spent? Fuck the crown clowns and all their criminal acts

[MindofaJedi]

1. From bondage to spiritual faith; 2. From spiritual faith to great courage; 3. From courage to liberty; 4. From liberty to abundance; 5. From abundance to complacency; 6. From complacency to apathy; 7. From apathy to dependence; 8. From dependence back into bondage " These are the steps every Democracy goes through

[gundamWWW]

2:50 "I'd be delighted to fight an election on these issues"

Ignatieff probably regrets those words.

[graemeEf1]

@povertyincanada The Queen is not some sort of feudal overlord. The best way to describe it is the land belongs to her "in name". The governor general doesn't have any actual power as well. The last time a governor general refused the request of a Prime Minister was the King/Bing crisis, and if it ever happened again under any circumstance the citizens and politicians in Canada would not put up with it. I agree we should sever these silly and expensive ties with the UK, but it's not 1837.

[povertyincanada]

@graemeEf1 but she owns all the land in Canada you cannot deny that , the governor general is only the personal representative of the queen , she is the queen of Canada

[graemeEf1]

@povertyincanada The Queen is a symbolic head of state and has no authority over Canada.