Bring Harper Down!

Paging Stephan Dion, Paging Stephan Dion. You’re supplemental spine has arrived in shipping and is awaiting pick-up.
At this point, the fact that Stephen Harper and his government is completely and irreversibly out of touch with what Canadian’s want is no longer in question. The pollsters at Harris-Decima research released poll results that showed nearly every respondent was very concerned about Canada’s economic climate. Clearly, Canadians have no appetite for the ‘wait and see’ approach offered yesterday by the government. While every other member of the G8 has already promised and delivered millions, and in some cases billions of dollars in stimulus packages, Harper and his Cheney-esque zealot Flaherty are doing nothing...now so obviously blinded by pure ideology they can no longer co-ordinate their own efforts, let alone act responsibly on the wishes of nearly every single Canadian. The proof of this can be seen in the already dramatic steps that the opposition parties have taken to laude their disapproval of the government’s financial plan from every rooftop available; indeed it has been many decades since the last serious possibility of a vote of no confidence, and here we are, looking down the barrel of a major political upheaval. Only one question remains: Will Stéphane Dion finally summon the courage, muster the necessary mettle, to actually make good on his threat this time?
Many pundits are quick to point out that one of the sticking points that is upsetting the opposition so much is that the government has included in its financial outline, a plan to remove the ability of parties to redeem government money for every vote they receive. Some say that this is the real reason behind the opposition’s push to topple the government, and that they are merely posturing, uttering empty threats and that they would never go so far as to actually bring down a government based on such self-interested an issue. Perhaps they are correct, and what happened in the House of Commons on thursday was nothing more than typical partisan bickering. What this theory fails to take into account is the conniving and underhanded nature of our current government. Could it be that, worse than a simple disconnect between the Tories and the rest of Canada, they are actually hijacking this economic crisis to pursue their own self-interested goals, and that this plan to do away with vote-based funding (which accounts for as much as 80% of some parties budget) is nothing but a clever trick to cut the legs out from under the opposition’s argument, and make it seem that they are simple whining about losing their money? Were this trick to succeed, Harper will have given himself the perfect leverage with which to push his neo-con plan through. Already he has conceded the issue of vote-based funding (an obvious clue that he was never serious about it in the first place), in a thinly-veiled attempt to placate the notoriously spineless Dion enough to keep him from voting with the other parties. On top of that, he has postponed the next opposition day till December 8th, removing the first chance for the Liberals to table their non-confidence motion, hoping that by then his propaganda machine will have had enough time to convince Canadians that this opposition plan is nothing more than a power grab. If he succeeds, he will have his Chicago-Boys style economic package, and be well on the road to rearranging Canada to better fit his vision of us as part of Pax-Americana, all the while saving face with Canadians until finally our economy is truly in tatters and it no longer matters. This is, as I have said many times, yet another example of Harper and his government attempting to pull the wool over our eyes. All of this hinges on one thing...whether Dion and the other leaders will make good on their promise. It’s ironically suiting that, even while facing the end of his leadership and possibly his political career, the gods of circumstance have granted Mr Dion one last chance to re-discover the courage with which he fought the separatist movement and do something meaningful for Canada. I’m even prepared to make a deal with Mr Dion. Stéphane Dion, I hereby promise that if you, as leader of the official opposition, make good on your threat and vote to show no-confidence in our current government, you will have redeemed yourself in my eyes and, I imagine, those of every other Canadian as well. We will forgive you’re trouble with the English language, you’re nerdy tendencies, and the fact that you named your dog Kyoto. If you actually mange to bring down the government, you will be remembered only as the people’s hero who, even when on his knees, faced a tyrant. All you have to do is walk down to receiving, collect your new spine, and bring Harper down.