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Laying the groundwork for a police state

Laying the groundwork for a police state In December 2008, Governor General Michaelle Jean prorogued Parliament, which is to say she granted Prime Minister Stephen Harper's request to send MPs home. This was unprecedented in Canadian history. Prorogatio

In December 2008, Governor General Michaelle Jean prorogued Parliament, which is to say she granted Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s request to send MPs home.

This was unprecedented in Canadian history. Prorogation had never before been used to keep a government in power that had lost the support of the House. Harper had to go and see Jean for a serious two-hour long visit.

In 2009, it was a similar situation. His only reason to prorogue was to avoid losing support in the House. But the precedent had been set. He phoned Jean and made it happen.

By now, Jean would have realized she made a huge mistake in 2008 by not using the precise and confined power and duty of the office to check the illegal executive action. Constitutional convention requires majority support for government at all times.

Canadians know their tradition of constitutional monarchy, which included multiple identities, common solidarity, dynamic progress, reciprocity of loyalty and powerful oral conventions since before Confederation. We understand the pitfall of a republic, that it’s healthy for our democracy to keep the glamour aspect of state representation away from corrupting the political leadership; history says too much power in one place is not good. Harper doesn’t accept this.

By rejecting the constitutional laws of Canada, Harper has become a monstrosity.

Unfortunately, the opposition has put themselves in a position were they think they can’t call him on that. It was a massive failure of political instinct to let the political language of Canada be taken away from them. It’s an illusion to think that only NeoCon ideas produce radicals like Harper. The whole country had to fall into a slumber before the constitutional safeguards could derail this far. Remember John Manley, who as Jean Chretien’s deputy prime minister promoted a republic. And nobody said a word in the House of Commons or anywhere else.

What eroded lawful government, what had made the opposition in the House complicit with the NeoCons and soft on prorogation may be a little counterintuitive for some.

But it is important to follow his trail of preparations to break the law, and how he’s implicated others to politicize the justice system.

The Liberals and NDP participated in Harper’s escalation of drug prohibition and crime wars, which target the First Nations with astronomical incarceration levels. And, in this way, the government slyly tries to infiltrate and weaken aboriginal communities with criminal, NeoCon and other corrupt mentalities, and by attempting to roll back the liberty First Nations have achieved against the prison-camp character of the Indian Act history.

The growing, radical over-policing, the community disruption and the street drug as well as alcohol popularization through prohibition are all excesses against the First Nations that will no doubt someday be seen as reminiscent of the British Opium War strategy against China.

This crime war is detrimental to respect for law and safety and well being in all our communities. It is a clear and manyfold violation of our constitutional laws to diminish the judiciary independence.

This is the deceitful centerpiece of recent crime legislative pieces, such as the omnibus crime bill, increased mandatory minimum sentencing, illegal SCAN and Safer Communities legislations etc.

Manipulating public sentiment with anti-crime rhetoric and creating intentional political confusion and disenchantment without making differentiations are classical early warning signs for fledgling police states. However, history shows that concerns are usually overlooked or belittled.

The opposition parties appeared admirably innocent about the political purpose in the instigation of the anti-crime campaigns, which is to hog-tie the fundamental democratic watchdog function of the judiciary by entangling and polluting it with corrupt class justice.

The public was misled with a real pickpocket diversion trick, they showed dishonestly construed public safety concerns while, in reality, these legislative actions compromise the ability of the judiciary to check the most dangerous kind of crimes.

These are the crimes committed by the powerful, especially by an authoritarian government that is out of control.

It’s just so easy to accelerate this self-asserting path of ever more inequality in the courts, ever more anarchy for the rich and powerful and a million rules and rising for little people. Every parent, every teacher knows two sets of rules don’t work. In that environment, deterrence against crime goes out the window. Generations have known that.

This loss of judiciary independence feeds directly into the lack of accountability where we are stuck now. If, again, Harper gets away with an illegal prorogation (dear reader, be a little patient; courts as well as broad discontent bide their time) most likely the next thing we lose, after a law-abiding executive and judges who protect democracy, will be free and fair elections. It would be naive to assume that former US president George W. Bush and Harper would not have shared a thing or two regarding how to go about that.

The conservative Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador Danny Williams had it straight already on September 10, 2008, when he spoke to the Newfoundland and Labrador Board of Trade.

“Stephen Harper is a fraud,” he said. “Anything but Harper’s Conservative Reform Party. A majority government for Stephen Harper would be one of the most negative political events in Canadian history. Stephen Harper’s agenda has been cleverly hidden.”

Williams failed to mention what is clear to many patriots of all stripes, that the waters are being tested for a totalitarian democracy.

Nobody knows what will happen, but the executive dictatorship model could turn out as bad as any other dictatorship. There is a problem to consider with all these dictatorships, they are very much like a jail, easy to get in and hard to come out.

The NeoCons are approaching majority support because others have helped to make their sick ideas palatable.

Isolating and voting down the toxic Harper in the House and in elections is the priority, and from there one can expect a necessary renewal process in the country, involving all parties.

Peter Becker

Whitehorse