Too bad about the kid. Now, back to war.

By Montreal Simon

Many hours after I first saw it, I am still haunted by this photo of that poor little Syrian boy washed up on a Turkish beach.

And by the knowledge that his refugee family begged the ghastly Chris Alexander to let them emigrate to Canada. But got absolutely nowhere.

But while I’m disgusted I’m not really surprised. For Alexander, like all the other Cons, are just cowardly stooges of their depraved master.

And Stephen Harper would rather talk about WAR.

Stephen Harper stood in the middle of a too-small-for-the-crowd hotel meeting room in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., and tapped the notes on the lectern in front of him in time with his words.

“Canada is not immune to jihadist terrorism,” he said. “Two [tap] brave soldiers [tap] dead [tap] on our own [tap] soil [tap].”

For crass political purposes.

If you cannot even bring yourself to call jihadist terrorism what it is, then you cannot be trusted to confront it, and you cannot be trusted to keep Canadians safe from it.”

At this, Harper received his most enthusiastic response from the crowd, which erupted into an ovation and calls of “Four more years. Four more years.”

To pleasure his rabid base, and his own monstrous instincts …

And try to scare Canadians into voting for him, because fear is all he has left.

Even though he himself admits our puny for show war is faltering. Even though everybody knows that religious conflict will only be settled by the ground forces of those who live in that region.

And even though it was the insanity of war that caused this human catastrophe in the first place. The criminal invasion of Iraq, that he supported, is what led to the rise of ISIS.

And the bombing of Libya helped turn that country into a paradise for some of the world’s most dangerous terrorist groups. And no safe haven for all those now seeking to escape to Europe.

But what horrifies me the most about the criminal Con regime is the way they mock those who would act like Canadians and seek to help those desperate refugees.

Like they do in this hideous attack ad aimed at Justin Trudeau …

But then again, why should we be surprised? When as Frances Russell points out this is a government that is really at war with Canada, its values and its democracy.

They have trampled on virtually every tenet of British parliamentary democracy and hacked, slashed and abolished vital national programs, storied institutions and highly respected civil society organizations simply because they disagreed and disliked them.

On the international stage they have sullied Canada’s reputation as a one of the world’s most esteemed democracies by ignoring science in their pursuit of re-making Canada into a freewheeling sole-source hinterland to serve the global oil and gas industry regardless of the costs to the environment; appropriated big portions of Canada’s identity and institutions for their own political and electoral purposes and grafted American governmental forms onto Canada’s parliamentary democracy determined to twist it out of shape – and – all without the slightest consultation or regard for the sensibilities of many Canadians.

This is a government that is philosophically and genuinely hostile to the nation and people it seeks to govern.

And Russell is right about this too.

As October 19 gets closer, Liberals and New Democrats should stop the petty blood feud they love to carry on over petty and marginal policy distinctions without genuine differences. Otherwise, Canadians will be subjected to another four years of a government determined to dismantle the Canada most Canadians know and cherish and hope to pass on to their children and grandchildren.

Now is not the time to fight each other, now is the time to stand up for Canada.

You know, I used to be so proud of this country, and its humble but noble role in the world.

But if I has been on that Turkish beach, and had gently picked up that poor little child who never knew anything but war in his short life …

And if I had known that the Cons might have been able to save him and his brother and mother, but didn’t even try. I would have wept with sorrow AND shame.

Because I dream of a better Canada, and the day when we are free at last.

And until that glorious day this is my army.

Those are my heroes, the healers not the killers, who are standing up for my values.

And Stephen Harper can keep his war, and shove the fear factor where the sun don’t shine.

Or keep it company in his closet …

Because he will never scare me.

Unite to defeat that monster.

And take back our Canada …