Canadian 'Totalitarianism'? Hope Can Win, Says Author King

[Oscar]

Canadian 'Totalitarianism'? Hope Can Win, Says Author Thomas King

[ http://thetyee.ca/Culture/2015/07/08/Ca ... ign=080715 ]

Governor General award winner talks election politics and the power of words.

By David P. Ball, July 8, 2015, TheTyee.ca

Cherished author and former New Democrat candidate Thomas King insists he'll stay out of politics this pivotal election season.

But on the heels of his Governor General award-winning novel The Back of the Turtle -- set in a coastal B.C. village devastated by a toxic spill -- neither is the 72-year-old Order of Canada recipient shying away from controversy.

He's incensed by the sweep of Conservative legislation under Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in particular last month's wide-reaching anti-terrorism bill, [ http://thetyee.ca/News/2015/06/02/Kill- ... t-Wingers/ ] and earlier the slashing of waterway [ http://bottomlines.tyeesolutions.org/chapter/intro ] and environmental protections, muzzling of scientists on climate change, [ http://thetyee.ca/Mediacheck/2010/03/25/HarpersMuzzle/ ] and gutting of Canada's research libraries. [ http://thetyee.ca/News/2013/12/23/Canad ... Libraries/ ]

"The pieces of legislation they brought in, to my way of thinking, have been very close to a kind of totalitarianism," he told The Tyee in a phone interview from his home in Peterborough, Ontario. "That doesn't make me feel good, and I don't think it's very -- if I dare say it -- Canadian, particularly."

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INTERVIEWER: The Conservatives just passed the anti-terrorism bill, C-51, that a lot of Indigenous land defenders are really worried will hit them especially hard.

"What it's basically saying is, if you don't agree with what the government likes, then it can be designated as terrorism. That's just not the kind of thing this country needs. We don't have a history of that kind of nonsense; the U.S. does, but we certainly don't need it here. I'm quite appalled that the Conservatives have decided that this is their legacy.

"So I'm hoping to see the population turn around and say, 'Wait a minute, we were willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, but now all doubt is gone and we need to make a change.' I don't know if it's going to happen or not, but hope springs eternal."