After almost two years, and little if any progress on issues of importance to Canadians, Mr. Harper talks as if he had a majority, and operates as though he’s campaigning instead of providing leadership and good government which Canadians want and deserve. As the saying goes; one can fool some of the people all the time but not all the people all the time. Hopefully Canadians are keeping track of his record; a record of hype, broken promises and misrepresentation etc., and the list goes on.
First: it was claims of success on a Softwood Lumber deal. (it left millions of dollars to the Americans to fund them to fight us further on issues under NAFTA).
Next:
• They refused to follow through on our Kyoto Commitment. All they have come up with is inaction, excuses and misleading targets that will result in our country’s carbon emissions increasing until 2050 or beyond. Their proposals lack any enforcement teeth, thus allowing the situation to worsen; hopefully not past the point of no return.
• In May 2006, two weeks after killing the Kelowna Accord, a government delegation cited the Accord as an example of how well our Indigenous people are treated; yet Mr. Harper’s Government declined to sign the UN declaration on Human Rights for such people, and was subsequently chided by the UN for failure to do so.
• Afghanistan has been a total fiasco, in which to date 72 Canadians have been killed.
• Latest, they’ve attempted to silence General Hillier and we still have no indication when our troops will be replaced.
• The Government continues to defy rulings to make the bidding process for military contracts fair; currently around 140 million dollars are in question.
• Latest, the Auditor General’s Report shows they’ve failed to adequately ensure that Canada’s soldiers enjoy health care services they deserve.
• On a separate issue, the Attorney General recently raised serious concerns over whether the Government has taken adequate action to protect our borders.
• A year ago they precipitated the Income Trust issue which resulted in the loss of billions of dollars of seniors’ hard earned cash meant for retirement.
They made a big noise about access to health services; most of us could have predicted the outcome since it is largely a Provincial Responsibility.
• Currently, the Elections Canada Commissioner is investigating (the Conservatives) for allegedly orchestrating an elaborate money-laundering scheme. It allowed the Party to overspend by more than a million dollars. Conservative candidates apparently claimed nearly $800,000 dollars in rebates for the 2006 Federal election. Instead of cooperating, they’re taking Elections Canada to court.
• The Conservative government never enacted the ‘Law and Order Legislation’ approved by both houses; one can only suspect that this is to provide an issue he can blame us Liberals for when he calls the next election.
• Their so-called tax break amounts to a paltry $10.00 a year to someone with an income of $20,000.00 and not even a couple hundred for the guy making $150,000.00; big deal! The GST cut caused more irritation and cost to business again.
• The Latest: the Conservatives have said they will support the upcoming resolution on Capital Punishment and Mr. Harper said he will not intervene on behalf of citizens to be executed in other countries.
Mr. Harper and his team continue to mislead Canadians, and to misrepresent us to the world. The grandstanding continues and he has provided no information, except secrecy on the Security and Prosperity issue.
Immediately following Mr. Dion’s election, Stephen Harper and the Conservatives saturated the media with the notion that Mr. Harper is a leader and Mr. Dion is not. However, I and many who know Mr. Dion, know he’s a man of integrity. Transparency is evident and what you see is what you get. He’s an unpretentious and deeply committed Canadian. While Mr. Harper was busy trying to break-up the country, even signing the “firewall” manifesto; Mr. Dion was busy establishing the Clarity Act that resulted in great personal risk, to the point he and his family had to be given protection.
It’s clear to me and many who the leader is. The issue on which we lost the 2006 election, and which was resolved by the Gomery Inquiry, sure pales in comparison to the mounting issues and ineptitude of a right-wing government bent on getting their ideology established. Business and Wall Street called their proposal in follow-up to the Income Trust fiasco “stupid” and complimented the Liberal plan. The Liberal Opposition believes Canadians deserve real leadership from a Prime Minister who is honest and accountable. Mr. Harper has not delivered. People want a richer, fairer, greener Canada. This is the Liberal Goal. Let’s get back to governing: to resurrect the child-development program and the Kelowna Accord, to support our farmers and businesses, to make education affordable for our youth and to rescue our planet before it’s too late. I remind you it was you and the Liberals that had Canada lead the G8 and the world with nine of 11 balanced budgets.
Liberals are ready to govern again!
Michael Cormican, Nominated Federal Liberal Candidate, Lethbridge Riding
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