Sunny day

It couldn’t have been more of a fairy tale beginning.

Prince Justin, his princess Sophie, and the Liberal cabinet marching up the driveway to Rideau Hall to be sworn in, after having toppled the tyrant.

And yes what a difference a day makes …

One moment we were living in his grim Harperland, the next moment we were living in our beautiful Canada again.

And so magical was the atmosphere I found myself wondering how did Justin manage to get even the weather to cooperate with his sunny days slogan?

Until I remembered he was born on Christmas Day …

And was clearly destined to be the one who liberated us from our cruel fate …

But of course I’m just kidding, and nobody can deny it was a great day.

Gender parity, an aboriginal woman as justice minister, a combat tested Sikh as a defence minister.

To make the former defence minister Jason Kenney look even more ridiculous …

If that’s possible.

And this was a signature moment.

A sign of generational change, and along with everything else a clear sign that we have finally got our Canada back.

But of course even fairy tales can end badly, and the danger is still great.

The mad king Harper may have been forced to remove his throne from the Prime Minister’s office.

And while he may have given up his other throne as party leader …

We all know he will try to hold on to as much power as possible, so he can keep going after Justin Trudeau, for humiliating him beyond recognition.

And in that mission he will be supported by the money bags in this country, the porky one percent, who hate the idea of paying more taxes …

And by most of the MSM who they control, who as Murray Dobbin points out, have also humiliated themselves.

Observing the cathartic effect of the end the Harper regime reveals just how traumatized millions of Canadians were by nearly 10 years of rule by this vindictive prime minister. The analogies and metaphors keep coming: like getting out of jail, like waking up from a nightmare, like the end of an occupation.

By collaborating with and endorsing a foul regime, that by any decent moral standard was unfit to remain in office.

Those who run the country’s daily newspapers show themselves to be concerned only about “the economy” in the narrowest sense, using it as a code word for the corporate elite, the one per cent — not the economy of ordinary wage-earners.

They throw their support behind a government that simply facilitates economic growth by getting out of the way of business, by signing “trade” deals, gutting corporate and wealth taxes, and driving down wages.

So if we are going to reform our democracy, we do need to think about reforming our media.

When we talk of democratic reform, we absolutely must include the reform of the newspaper. There is little point in reforming parliamentary institutions if the instruments of civic literacy have been turned on their heads to produce precisely the opposite result.

Or creating our own.

And of course we do need to keep demanding to know whether the Cons used government departments as blunt weapons to intimidate their political opponents.

And whether some in the security forces also worked for them, for since they are now charged with protecting Justin Trudeau, it’s not a question that should be ignored …