August 18, 2013

By Andrew Chernoff

According to reporter, Michael Den Tandt, Postmedia News, Prime Minister Harper and his Conservative government are planning on staying the course with no intent on turning back on the federal Conservative government agenda. Full steam ahead. Damn the torpedo’s!

In his article, “Stephen Harper uses first speech of northern tour to lambaste oppositions’s dangerous ideas and vacuous thinking’, Tandt writes:

“Prime Minister Stephen Harper used the occasion of his eighth annual Arctic summer tour to deliver a blistering, highly partisan and combative speech in which he defended his record across the board and hammered the opposition relentlessly.”

Was this a good news speech Harper was delivering to the people of the North and the city of Whitehorse? Oh…..wait….it was a speech to Conservative Party supporters at a barbeque for about 200 supporters.

Tandt noted that, “Harper sounded more like a campaigner than a mid-term prime minister on a relaxed visit to one of his favourite regions. “You have trusted us, and we have delivered, despite the Opposition,” he said. Indeed, Harper claimed, the government has delivered on 84 of “more than 100 specific pledges” made in the last election.”

Of course Harper was just a wee tiny bit biased to the Conservative faithful in touting his federal government record.

Are they really “accomplishments” as reporter Bryn Weese , of QMI Agency wrote in his article, “Stephen Harper harkens back to gold rush, slams opposition to kick off northern tour”?

Harper lauded his actions, you know….the negative consequences being felt by 99 per-cent of Canadians; of his policies and the Conservative governments unapologetic support of global threats to Canadian sovereignty and shameless submission to the powerful and filthy rich 1 per-cent.

Anti-union sentiment is rampant with Bills before Parliament that seek to continue eroding what is left of the middle class in this country; trade agreements like CETA and TPP threaten Canada’s autonomy from coast to coast to coast; federal government layoffs threaten access to government; changes to EI seek to add more anxiety and stress to an already high unemployed Canadian population especially amongst young people.

Harper has never known what it feels like to be on welfare. Harper has never known what it is like to go hungry and scrounge for food; Harper has never had to use a food bank; Harper has never known what it is like to live from pay cheque to pay cheque with no savings to speak of or cushion to fall back on if your budget gets hit with a surprise.

Harper has never had to rely on the social safety net like many Canadians have and do.

Harper never has to worry about his defined pension benefit unlike many Canadians who are facing attacks on theirs and being threatened with a defined pension contribution. Parliament has decided their own fate on that subject, whether Canadians like it or not.

The point is, Harper is completely, unapologetically, unequivocally out of touch with the majority of Canadians.

Harper has no empathy or understanding of the reality of the work of nurses, steelworkers, sawmill workers, fisherman, coalminers, janitors, bus drivers, policeman, fire fighters and the rest of Canadians on the front-line like retail and service sector workers. Many Canadians have more than one job, as they struggle to make ends meet with a minimum wage.

When is the last time Harper had to make ends meet with one or more minimum wage jobs? Never!

Harper does not care how his policies are impacting the reality of the majority of Canadians and their families, many of them working in jobs highlighted above.

Harper’s arrogance is too far gone.

He believes his speeches. The speeches are not words to him. The speeches are not spin or hype. To him, the speeches are the truth.

Harper’s personal philosophy and political beliefs are his Bible. To question his integrity and direction is to commit the most unpardonable sin and to take his name in vain, is blasphemous.

Harper spoke of the mining of the North, how it led to the finding of gold over a century ago. But he did not speak of the sweat and toil, the strife and hardship, the impact on the health and well-being of the miners that slaved to extract that gold in harsh, inhumane conditions.

“The North is Canada’s call to greatness. As Conservatives we believe this with a passion… And as Conservatives, we have pledged that northern development will mean northern prosperity,” Harper told his faithful.

Of course Harper is excited about the potential of the North; of course, he believes the North is his…oops….Canada’s,,,, call to greatness.

The North, the Arctic, will be the cherry on Harper’s political legacy: the tapping of the North and Arctic’s economic richness and development of its land and resources are his ultimate goal, in my opinion.

We have seen it with the Alberta tar sands, and his unrelenting pursuit of the development and selling of “dirty oil”. Why should the North and Arctic be any different?

It may provide some northern prosperity, however long, or, short lived it may be, as history has already shown. But the expanded raping and further imperialising of the North and Arctic will provide untold wealth and riches to the 1 per-cent, with only a few crumbs to appease Canadians but many negative consequences because of it.

That is the real reason behind Harper’s annual Arctic summer trips.