Seven reasons to dump Harper

1. Contrary to what those folks think who get all their news from the PM’s youtube channel, Canada’s stature on the world stage has been greatly diminished in the Big Steve era. Here’s a small example. Glorious victories in Afghanistan and Libya notwithstanding, we’re no longer a peace-keeping nation, we talk big but carry a ping-pong paddle, and behind the boastful headlines there’s been a steady erosion of Canada’s military.

2. Contrary to what the Harper gang would have us believe, there is no evidence whatsoever that randomly signing “Free Trade Deals” with all and sundry helps average Canadians. Signing on to TPP while not allowing the public to see it tells us there’s plenty to hide.

3. The First Nations Financial Transparency Act, refusing to hold an inquiry into the missing and murdered native women, and failing to reform education funding for native Canadians are just three ways that the Harper government perpetuated the marginalization of Canada’s First Nations. That’s all part of the divide-and-conquer strategy that deliberately pits sub-groups of Canadians against one another. That’s not nation-building.

4. After running perpetual deficits year after year, Harper pulls a “balanced budget” out of his hat just in time to run as a responsible steward of the economy in the election campaign. That’s nothing more than opportunism and hypocrisy.

5. Bill C-24 makes my citizenship and that of most other immigrants, and that of our children and grandchildren, a plaything of political operatives that can be withdrawn arbitrarily and without recourse to appeal. More politics of fear and division.

6. Bill C-51 is an odious bit of fear-mongering that wouldn’t have prevented the only terror attack Canada has ever had, Air India. Canadians with drug addictions and/or mental illness who kill others in the name of a religion they know nothing about aren’t terrorists; they’re Canadians with mental illness, but the divide and conquer strategy demands we fear them rather than help them.

7. Back in the day when the so-called old stockers had chased the natives onto the reservations, Canada had some shameful moments with respect to immigration of Chinese, Sikhs, and Jews, among others. We’d somewhat atoned for that with our generous welcome for refugees from Hungary, Ukraine, and Viet Nam during their hour of need. Under the Harperites, our response to the current refugee crisis has been nothing less than shameful.

It’s time to end the politics of suspicion, polarization, and fear-mongering.