Harper is changing Canada ? for the worse

Published: January 09, 2013 11:00 AM
Updated: January 09, 2013 11:27 AM

Editor:

A few years ago, national newspapers reported that Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in an address to an ultra-conservative group in the U.S., ended with the now-famous line, ?You won?t recognize Canada when I get through with it.?

Here are 10 of Harper?s best efforts in 2012 to change the face of this country:

1. Harper approved the sale of Nexen to CNOOC, a state-owned Chinese company, and to make matters worse, the Conservatives secretly negotiated the Canada-China FIPA treaty, giving China increased access to our strategic natural resources.

2. During the last election campaign, Harper said the F-35s would only set Canadians back $9 billion.

The parliamentary budget officer, the auditor general and accounting firm KPMG are now saying the bill is more like $44 billion.

3. Recent court documents reveal Elections Canada pointed the finger directly at the Conservative party during the ongoing investigation into voter suppression in the 2011 federal election.

4. Harper?s second monster budget bill dismantled environmental reviews, gutted the Fisheries Act, eliminated wildlife-habitat protection, repealed the Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act, reduced the powers of the auditor general, dissolved the Public Appointments Commission meant to fight patronage and restricted food-safety inspections.

5. To an audience of billionaires in Davos, Switzerland, Harper announced his plan to raise the age of eligibility for Old Age Security to 67 from 65, which, according to the auditor general, will take $10 billion a year from the pockets of Canada?s poorest seniors when implemented.

6. Harper?s cuts to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency were followed by the largest meat recall in Canadian history.

Canadians continued to buy tainted meat two weeks after the U.S. pulled it from American store shelves.

7. Harper?s cabinet ministers ran amock in 2012.

Bev Oda ($1,000 limo rides and $16 orange juice), Peter MacKay (Ministry of Defence helicopter ride from a friend?s exclusive fishing lodge to a Conservative fundraiser) and Vic Toews (responded to criticism of his bill on Internet security with ?You either stand with, us or with the child pornographers.?) led the parade with their scandals, ethical lapses and poor judgement.

8. Harper?s cuts to Employment Insurance benefits and rule changes mean fewer Canadians qualify for fewer benefits.

He decimated the appeals tribunal, slowing claims processing ? a direct attack on seasonal industries and underemployed regions of our country.

9. Harper?s war on the environment continued unabated, rolling back the clock on decades of environmental-protection efforts.

Thousands of lakes and rivers are no longer covered by the Navigable Waters Protection Act, the Environmental Assessment Act has been shredded and fish-habitat protection disappeared from the Fisheries Act.

10. Harper?s heartless refugee health-care cuts left some of neediest members of our communities behind and the provinces holding the bag.

These and other regressive steps taken by Harper in 2012 resulted in less Canadian resource ownership and less control over our economy, less government transparency, accountability and honesty, less for seniors, less democracy, less caring and compassion and less protection for our air and water.

Michael Crawford

Kamloops

?

Editor's note: Michael Crawford was a federal NDP candidate in Kamloops in past elections.

?

'; } } document.getElementById("ad_unit").innerHTML += ad_unit; google_adnum += google_ads.length; return; } google_ad_client = 'pub-9774721429222771'; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_ad_channel ='3389691084'; google_max_num_ads = '4'; google_feedback = 'on'; google_ad_type = 'text'; google_adtest = 'on'; google_image_size = '300x250'; google_skip = '3'; // -->

Source: http://www.kamloopsthisweek.com/opinion/letters/186202291.html

robert kardashian chicago weather forecast narcolepsy narcolepsy weather st louis faceoff kings island