Last September, I complained about how I no longer had any respect for what I felt was an egregiously arrogant attitude demonstrated by the then-Premier of British Columbia, Gordon Campbell.

BC Premier Resigns!!

This resulted, barely over two months later, in the headline on the left: “Premier’s resignation ‘emotional’ for Liberals”. It was also emotional for non–Liberals, but an entirely different and diametrically opposed one, I assure you.

Clearly I have more power than even Stephen Colbert does, and am able to topple reigning governments.

Thus, I now call the attention of the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, QC PC; Prime Minster of Her Majesty’s Dominion of Canada; leader of the Conservative Party of Canada; and Member of Parliament for Calgary Southwest, that he is being called out for being ‘a big poopie head’! He may choose to ignore this, but he is urged to hie his thoughts to the fate of the previous leader to be like engaged on this blog.

I vaguely recall people suggesting that President Clinton ought was to be impeached for merely lying about getting a blow-job in the Oval Office, yet this nit-wit gets to blame the other parties for anything that pops into his head. Why, when refusing to provide simple financial information about budgetary estimates, even after being ordered to do so by a Parliamentary Committee, does he get to ignore the fact and say in the House of Commons that “the Opposition is refusing to negotiate about this budget” and not get bounced on his pointy head on the way into a holding cell?

Stephen Harper, Canadian Prime Minister, at Jan. 2010 World Economic Forum (photo, Remy Steinegger)

Plus, for a Conservative Party Leader, Mr. Harper does a terribly poor job of respecting traditions, I might add.

No matter what your political stripe, and despite your view of the policies of ‘the Harper Government’ (as he’s now decreed the ‘Government of Canada’ is to be referred), you’ll probably agree that a guy who doesn’t follow the rules of his own parliamentary system really ought to give his head a shake.

My principle concern is the seeming ease that Mr. Harper has with ignoring the truth, ignoring the need to rule in an open manner, and to follow the law of the Her Majesty’s House of Parliament.

When Mr. Harper says that a coalition isn’t an acceptable way to form a government – after attempting to form one in 2004, plus the fact that it’s perfectly fine according to the British Parliamentary system – he’s lying.

When he says he was defeated because of the budget – when the motion of non-confidence specifically referenced not just one, but the first two findings of ‘Contempt of Parliament’ for a PM in the history of the Commonwealth – he’s lying.

When he says that average Canadians don’t care about “political manœuvrings” – when, I would like to point out, this ‘average Canadian’ does care about the wording of motions made in the House of Parliament and would damned well like him to start caring about it them as well – he’s lying.

His then standing around and saying “those guys, those other political guys over there, shouldn’t get any help trying to stop my run-away train in its head-long rush to an American-style bicameral governmental structure” just pisses me right off. Here’s something the talented actor Peter New posted on Facebook a few days ago, with his comments coming first, then the newspaper article he’s reacting to just after that.

OK, so what he means here is, “my party can pay our election costs either way due to the support we get from wealthy donators, and if we scrap this subsidy we can win more elections because the other guys are all supported by poor people.” Or am I misreading it?

Tired of constant campaigns, Harper says he’ll scrap per-vote subsidy (“Globe and Mail”) – Last attempt to eliminate public stipend for political parties triggered coalition attempt to topple Tories in 2008

No, Mr. New, you are spot-on with your assessment. What in blazes does Mr. Harper think he can get away with here? Basically he’s saying “Well, we’re in power now so what you, the electorate, have to do is re-elect us with a proper majority. This way, we can ensure that those other parties will never be able to stage a meaningful campaign ever again, and I can have the ‘PM for Life’ title that God created me for.”

Lest you think that he’s not already of a mind that he’s in a position of superiority, remember that this is the guy who decided that the name of the country wasn’t as important in the Government’s identity as his own name; is of the opinion that ‘marriage’ is something only acceptable between people of opposing genders, despite the fact that ‘love’ seems to be in short supply around the World; decided last year that it was somehow wrong to make the census ‘long form’ mandatory and preserve the usefulness of the data and the money spent to gather it; and declared that there was no actual need to examine any options for new fighter-jets, beyond the asking “which one did the USA opt for?”, thus giving the country a cost currently estimated* at over $264 million for each of the 64 aircraft!

I’m fed-up with the whole lot of political leaders in the country, by the way, but will admit to being most fed-up with Harper; both as a politician as well as a man.

I yearn for those days when the leaders still directly engaged with one another. You know, the “You had an option, sir!” era? Back when we actually had leaders! You know, like Pierre Elliot Trudeau, John Diefenbaker, and even Joe Clark: people who, even if you didn’t agree with their thinking, clearly were making a decision that was based on something other than their own Sisyphean, hubris-stuffed whims.

An illuminating essay by Murray Dobbin about the retrenchment of Canada’s unique governing codes in favour of American ones can be READ AND/OR DOWNLOADED HERE. I admit I’ve not read a word of it, but seeing as the above screed of my own had resulted in me needing a lie-down, the essay of Mr. Dobbin’s would most likely require me to have a coronary by-pass.

Again I will point out to Mr. Harper that the last time I stood up for what I believe in, the result was a party leadership campaign.

ADDED LATER: Again, thanks to Mr. New for pointing out this development: it now seems that Mr. Harper cares not for even the semblance of accountability, as the media invited to a ‘photo op’ are limited to that activity only, and that any questions of any nature are no longer welcomed.

And now, here’s Stephen Colbert’s version of the fall of the government. Because by this point we all need a laugh.

* We would know exactly what it will be, but that’s one of the things not being provided to the House of Commons [RETURN]

For nearly the past four decades I have closely followed the BC political scene, respecting the difficult task members of the Legislature all face no matter what party they represent. I’ve voted in every election at every level which has been available to me, which is my duty so to do. During that entire period, when faced with cynics who state generalities about how ‘no politician is trustworthy’ or ‘what’s the point in voting, they’re all the same’, I’ve pointed out the need to understand the complexities of governing as well as actively playing a part in the decision-making process was important in order to make one’s voice heard.

Until now. Frankly, I’m fed up.

The BC Liberal Government has so frequently demonstrated an arrogance and inability to heed the needs of anyone beyond the halls of Premier’s Block that I can no longer stomach hearing the news each morning. Repeatedly statements made by senior Cabinet Ministers and the Premier of the province have proven to be less than entirely truthful.

We were told that there was no money for the BC Arts Council, yet there was a billion available to build a new Port Mann Bridge (which hasn’t reached the end of its life-span as yet). Yesterday, suddenly, $7 million of the Arts Council’s funding is restored, with the arts being “a priority” to the government.

We were told there was no money for young people’s community sports programming, yet there are countless millions available for the re-fitting and expensive re-roofing of a stadium which many said was no longer worth the continued use of, given the increased need for convention centre space instead. A few weeks ago, suddenly, the budget for that project is nearly doubled in order to then publicly declare it ‘under-budget and on-schedule’.

The provincial parks system is incredibly under-staffed and under-funded, and the revenue it takes in gets syphoned off to some other ministry. Meanwhile, the Premier shovelled money off a truck for his pet projects with no strings attached regarding how and when the money was to be spent.

There’s no real advancement with either the extension of SkyTrain to UBC – something which is long over-due – or the Evergreen Line which was announced nearly a quarter-century ago. Meanwhile it’s up-to-the-minute important to get going on the Site-C Dam, and for three plane-loads of people be flown to the area for the announcement of the millions of dollars about to be spent on another study for the project. This is possibly because the Premier considers himself the re-incarnation of W.A.C. Bennett.

Now it seems that the Liberal Government was very closely examining the question of the HST weeks before even calling the last provincial election, something both the Premier and Minister of Finance bluntly and repeatedly denied in the budget media lock-up, as well as every single time they were pressed on the matter by anyone and everyone. Additionally, the HST was described by the Premier as “the single most-important thing for the province”, yet he couldn’t be bothered to show-up once in the Legislative Chambers to speak or even vote for the legislation.

I could go on and on, but fatigue prevents this from occurring. In essence, either they think we’re idiots and we won’t notice because we’ve the memories of small cats, or they’re just plain too full of themselves to care.

The following carefully, specifically, and very clearly chosen words are for the Premier of BC and his Cabinet: when are you going to call an election and be held accountable by your public for these constant and blatant lies? If you intend to deny any of the numerous accusations of dissembling that many have given voice to, and provide a defence based upon semantical points that un-truths were not uttered, you’d be wise to save your breath, because I’ve stopped listening to you and to anyone else currently in office.

Congratulations; you can now do anything you feel like, because the last person to actually care what’s going on has given-up.