Canada's online magazine: Politics, entertainment, technology, media, arts, books: backofthebook.ca

Politics, tech, media, culture and more, from a Canadian point-of-view

  • Politics
  • Media
  • Culture
  • Science and Tech
  • Living
  • Arts and Books
  • Features
  • The Video
You are here: Home / Politics / Dear Canada: We gave you Stephen Harper. We’re sorry.

Dear Canada: We gave you Stephen Harper. We’re sorry.

10/07/2015 by the editor 6 Comments

Sorry cardBy Frank Moher

Dear Canada,

Western Canada here. We gave you Stephen Harper. And we’re just writing to say we’re sorry.

We know it’s a little late in the day. But it’s something we really need to square with you.

It’s true that Ontario gave him to us, back when Harper was 19 and moved out to Edmonton. Or at any rate, it didn’t do anything to stop him. But that was a long time ago now; let bygones be bygones.

We’re the ones who really birthed him — the ideologically-compelled, autocratically-inclined Prime Minister we have today. He was a product of his education at the University of Calgary. He was succored by our regional grievances, and he used them to gather power to himself. We should have seen that that’s what he was doing. We didn’t. We’re sorry.

And you, when you decided to try him on as Prime Minister back in 2006, were just trying to figure out if there was a way to get us to stop complaining. This was the West’s guy, you thought; if we give him a shot, will they just shut up? Of course, you had also grown tired of the Liberals, who after 12 years in power were as corrupt as the Conservatives are now, and so it was time to turf them. But there was also a little bit of, okay westerners, you want in? You’re in. Let’s see how you do.

And we have utterly, embarrassingly screwed it up. We’re so sorry.

Sad dogThe guy we gave you started out pretty well. He didn’t pursue the whole ban abortions, outlaw gay marriages thing. He apologized to the First Nations for the residential schools. He recognized Quebec as a nation within Canada. Actually, that one made some of you nervous — wasn’t that playing footsies with the separatists? — but at least it wasn’t what the francophobes in his party, of whom there were many, wanted. So there was that.

But then came the creepy substitution of “Harper Government” for “Government of Canada” on ministerial press releases. Very Kim Jong-il. And then came a majority government, and the full Stevie hove into view.

We note that you helped give him that majority government, Canada, so you’re not entirely blameless in this. But still, we started it. The demonizing of environmentalists. The muzzling of scientists. The torpedoing of the long-form census, on which so much social policy rested. Monster omnibus bills, that rammed through hundreds of items of legislation at a time, with minimal debate, effectively telling democracy to go screw itself, like Bill C-45 that included legislation reducing the number of protected rivers and lakes from 2.5 million to 159, and which turned out to have been largely authored by the pipeline industry. And the exploitation of the 2014 Parliament Hill shootings (carried out by a deranged young man living in a homeless shelter) in the form of Bill C-51, which curtailed Canadian civil liberties to such an extent that four former prime ministers, five former Supreme Court judges, the federal Privacy Commissioner, Amnesty International, the Assembly of First Nations, the Canadian Bar Association, 100 legal experts, and even hardcore right-wingers felt obliged to protest it.

Our boy didn’t care.

There was also the dismantling of the CBC, first by stealth and then via the real estate listings, the destruction of  research libraries, the politicization of Revenue Canada, harassment of charities, So yeah, that happenedvoter suppression courtesy the inventively named Fair Elections Act, tinpot warmongering, and the refusal to address the matter of 1017 murdered or missing indigenous women.

All ultimately traceable back to us. Not all of us, of course. But most.

We can only hope that on Oct. 19th you will help us get rid of our guy Steve. “Oh sure,” you’ll say. “You make the mess and we have to clean it up. Is that it?” Yeah, that’s pretty much it.

So far, however, it’s not entirely clear that you’re ready to do that. According to the polls, a lot of you are giving him a second look, based mostly on the fact that he’s willing to give those niqab-wearing Muslim ladies a hard time. Stephen Harper may be a product of the strong strains of racism, nativism, paranoia, and misogyny that continue to run through Western Canada, but apparently a lot of you are easily induced to the same sort of sexism and bigotry.

So here’s the thing. If he gets back in this time, it’s no longer just on us. It’s on all of us. You too, Canada. Because while we may have started this most dispiriting period in our nation’s history, we all have the opportunity to end it. And if we don’t, then this time, we’ll all be to blame.

Meantime, we’re sorry. We wanted in, and you let us in, and we trashed the place. We’ll understand if you think twice before you let that happen again.

We’ll go to our room now.

Sincerely yours,

Western Canada

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: "Fair Elections Act", 2015 federal election, Bill C-45, BIll C-51, Calgary, Canada, CBC, civil liberties, Conservatives, environment, First Nations, Quebec, Revenue Canada, Stephen Harper, western Canada

Subscribe to BoB by e-mail or RSS

Comments

  1. Judy says

    10/12/2015 at 6:58 am

    This is total rubbish!!

  2. Dmatvie says

    10/11/2015 at 6:49 am

    Rubbish? Well, the voice it is written is a little annoying, but the content is just straight facts.

  3. Brad says

    10/08/2015 at 3:41 am

    There be Con Trolls here.

  4. Hank Offereins says

    10/08/2015 at 1:24 am

    This is someone not a true westerner.
    I am glad he or she is not the average canadian
    Always remember nobody is perfect.
    Remember the previous governments,how happy we were for the change from corruption.

  5. Ken ZAKRESKI says

    10/07/2015 at 9:43 pm

    Nice article about how Canadians sat by as an ‘economist’ leader stripped mined the national culture and identity.

  6. Adam says

    10/07/2015 at 1:38 pm

    As a Canadian citizen and voter with no affiliation to any particular party, what a load of rubbish this article is.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Google+
  • Living
  • Politics
  • Media
  • Culture
  • Arts and Books
  • Features
  • The Video
Fire sale sign

Fort McMurray: Shopping time!

By Brady Tighe We’re now officially in the aftermath phase of the northern Alberta wildfire crisis. The fire is long gone, and everyone with a home to return to is back in its … [Read More...]

Nathan Cullen

Electoral reform: Hashtag fresh thinking

By Alison@Creekside The most interesting and innovative idea to come out of the first meeting of the all-party Special Committee on Electoral Reform, or ERRE, was Nathan Cullen's suggestion, … [Read More...]

Trudeau on quantum computing

The Trudeau gush fest is getting old

By Jim Henshaw There have been several bewildered as well as angry accounts coming out of the USA lately about how little media time has been spent covering the Democratic Presidential Primary … [Read More...]

Rick Meyers in Nanaimo Pride Parade

My friend, Rick, at the Pride Parade

By Frank Moher On this dreadful day, I don't want to write about the shootings in Orlando. I want to write about my friend, Rick. Rick lives just outside of Nanaimo, a city of about 80,000, … [Read More...]

Stephen Colbert on Late Night set

Triumph of the drama nerds

By Frank Moher Two drama nerds have recently moved into high profile positions. Before I name them (or perhaps you’ve already guessed who they are; or perhaps you’d like to scroll down and look at … [Read More...]

From “Our Rape Blog”: Shooting the Moon

Originally published on Our Rape Blog, the author's account of the aftermath of a violent sexual assault. By Mary Fraughton Have you ever played Hearts? It’s a card game. For our purposes, … [Read More...]

First Nations defending Lelu Island

The video: Lelu Island: “They will come.”

From Creekside: The B.C. provincial government is trying to green light the construction of a massive LNG terminal on Lelu Island in the Skeena Estuary -- Pacific Northwest LNG, backed by Malaysian … [Read More...]

Google

Follow Us!

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter

RSS CBC News



Recent Posts

  • Fort McMurray: Shopping time!
  • From “Our Rape Blog”: Shooting the Moon
  • Electoral reform: Hashtag fresh thinking
  • The fish hotel
  • Hatred on an Alberta golf course
  • The video: Lelu Island: “They will come.”
  • My friend, Rick, at the Pride Parade
  • Our selective sympathy
  • The Water Bomber, The Frogman and The Great Canadian Novelist
  • Komagata Maru: The story behind the apology

Tags

9/11 Afghanistan Alberta bad behaviour books British Columbia business Canada Canadian military Canadian politics CBC celebrity computers Conservatives crime environment family film G20 Globe and Mail internet Jason Kenney journalism Justin Trudeau law Liberals Maclean's music National Post NDP newspapers oil sands online media Ontario Quebec RCMP religion sports Stephen Harper television theatre Toronto U.S. Vancouver women

Archives

The Video: Lelu Island: “They will come.”

Pages

  • About
  • Privacy

Copyright © 2023 · News Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in