Subterfuge

The people thought they were getting accountability and transparency with the conservatives. Instead, Harper brought a cloud of opacity to Ottawa. It was the only way he thought he could push a social conservative agenda. By patiently using subterfuge. Piece by piece they have been pushing Canada towards social conservatism. Unfortunately, the only way the public finds out about it, is when they fuck up.

Bev Oda was entrusted by the Canadian people to perform her role as International Cooperation Minister with the principles and values she campaigned on.

Like, accountability.

The Canadian International Development Agency recommended to her that she approve federal funding to the international aid group Kairos. She then ordered the document stating this recommendation, to be doctored so that it said the opposite of what the CIDA had signed and submitted. Then she lied to the public by saying that it was not recommended by CIDA. She said that it was not 'aligned with the objectives of CIDA'.

She lied to the Canadian people.

Just like the long-form census debacle last year, a conservative minister misled the public into believing their employees were on board with their decision. They try to hide the fact that it is their blind ideologies that are behind the decisions. Bev Oda led parliament, and the Canadian people, to believe CIDA was on board with the decision. That is a complete lie. Tony Clement led us to believe that the head of Statistics Canada supported removing the long-form census. It was a complete lie, and the head of Statistics Canada resigned over it.

Jason Kenney also stated that the reasoning behind defunding Kairos, was that they were anti-Israeli. Bev Oda contradicted that by trying to pass it off as a routine decision. Could it actually have something to do with the fact that they have been critical of Alberta's oil sands? That they have been considered to be a left-leaning aid organization?

Only a fool would believe these people aren't pushing their agendas. Only a fool would believe this conservative government will put sound, reasonable, well-researched common sense over their backwards social conservative philosophies.

Bev Oda's fuck up is just the latest, take that evil tub of hatred Charles McVety, for example. He began to boast too loudly about how easy it is to push his agenda with his buddies Jim Flaherty, Stockwell Day, and Jason Kenney in the cabinet. When the conservatives were pushing the change in giving out film tax credits, they said that they were only going to deny films that were 'against public policy'. The morality police got their censorship bill all the way to the senate before McVety started boasting, and claiming that he had strong influence in the cabinet and the PMO. His comments caused a torrent of interest in the bill, and reporters flocked to story. The last thing the conservatives want, is to have their oppressive agenda dragged out into the light. Harper thought he had a sure way of bolstering support amongst social conservatives, and ended up devastating his reputation amongst many Canadians, but nowhere more-so than Quebec.

Harper is not always considered prone to making tactical mistakes. He is largely considered to be shrewd, and good at pushing his agenda. He can spin his efforts to reduce reporter's access to his office and the actions of the government, into looking like he is cleaning up Ottawa.


“[CAIRS] was deemed expensive, it was deemed to slow down the access to information, and that's why this government got rid of it,”

“The database in question was created by the previous Liberal government. It was called ‘the product of a political system in which centralized control is an obsession,' and that's why the government got rid of it,”
-Harper

Nice double speak. Bitch.


The reason he pushed the same-sex marriage vote early in his government, and then said he was not going to bring it back up again, was that he knew it was a death trap for his government. He could not permanently defeat same-sex marriage in Canada, so he made a strategic decision to get that out of the way as soon as possible. This does not mean that he is not a threat to gay rights in Canada. He still opposes equal marriage. He fought against it, in much the same way he fought against protecting us from hate crimes. He labeled homosexuality as 'sexual behaviour' and stated that opposing gay rights was one of the mains tenets of the Reform party while he was a member and policy adviser.



If you think I am spouting conspiracy theories about these people using subterfuge to advance the social conservative agenda, then read this lecture from Preston Manning:

http://www.canadianchristianity.com/nationalupdates/070511comment.html

He outlines pretty clearly that the only way to make Canada a christian nation, with social conservatism to rival that of the United States, is to employ the tactics of William Wilberforce. Except, instead of fighting for the rights and freedoms of slaves, he will be fighting to take away our rights and freedoms. The freedoms of LGBT persons to get married, to adopt children, to make films about gay cowboys falling in love in the Alberta rockies (Do you think Brokeback Mountain would have been given a tax credit?). The rights of women to choose abortion, even in cases of rape.