Why isn’t Harper’s record on democracy an election issue?

[Oscar]

Why isn’t Harper’s record on democracy an election issue?

[ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/pol ... ice=mobile ]

Gerald Caplan Special to The Globe and Mail Last updated Tuesday, Jul. 21, 2015 12:27PM EDT

EXCERPT:

. . . Our Prime Minister does not appreciate those who disagree with him – who exercise their democratic right to free speech, in other words – and has used his considerable power to gag those who express dissenting views.

As it happens, the United Nations may be about to wade in on the subject. It was just Canada’s turn to undergo a Universal periodic Review of its human rights record by experts selected by the UN’s Human Rights Committee. During the two-day review, Canada faced sharp questions about suppressing free speech and dissent under Bill C-51; the Canada Revenue Agency’s intimidating
audits of NGOs and charities; denying health care to refugees; and failing to take seriously the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women. When the committee announces its findings this week, Canada may well receive a failing grade.

This, of course, will be immediately dismissed with the usual derision and ridicule by our government. Count on Mr. Harper to claim an attack on our human rights record as a badge of honour, and I suppose his cherished “base” won’t give a damn. But for the rest of the world, it will be read as a terrible disgrace for Canada.

I insist on believing that if more Canadians actually were aware of what’s happened to democracy in Canada under Mr. Harper’s rule, he’d be chopped liver after Oct. 19. But the sad truth is that in the mainstream media, at least, these vital reports have received nothing like the extensive coverage they deserve. I hope they’ve been getting much more attention on social media, perhaps convincing younger Canadians to take their precious right to vote more seriously.

I wish every Canadian knew that the Council of Canadians and the Voices analyses existed, and took a few minutes to check them out online. But maybe I’m dead wrong. Maybe most Canadians couldn’t care less that their democratic rights have been trampled for the past nine years and are certain to be abused even further if Mr. Harper is re-elected.

Hopefully that’s too defeatist an attitude. As all the polls agree, something new is in the political air across Canada. You can almost feel trust in Mr. Harper and his government slipping away. It’d be heartening to think that these two first-rate but harrowing reports help explain why.

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Gerald Caplan is an Africa scholar, former NDP national director and regular panelist on CBC’s Power and Politics.

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SEE ALSO:

Broken Covenant: How Stephen Harper set out to silence dissent and curtail democratic participation in Canada, Maude Barlow, May 2015
[ http://canadians.org/media/broken-coven ... per-agenda ]

Dismantling Democracy: Stifling Debate and Dissent in Canada, Voices/Voix, June 2015
[ http://voices-voix.ca/en/document/disma ... ent-canada ]

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