Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Harper Slaps Aboriginal Canadians in the face
The Budget brought down today by Prime Minister Tax Credit and his friend Jimbo Flaherty is a disgrace to Canada, Sure it will be nice to have some of our money back but at what cost? The Newspapers tommorrow are all likely to report how much tax breaks your all going to get. But at what cost? Well you are going to get some more money in your pocket at the expense of your health (the environment) and you will also be getting your tax break on the backs of all aboriginal canadians. Mr. Harper simply ought to be ashamed of himself for de-funding the Kelowna Accord, It was a purely ideological move and his actions shame all Canadians. I myself am ashamed to see my government cut funding to this. It makes me feel that I'm a part of it. This is just another blemish on the many years of mistreatment by various canadian governments of aboriginal people. Rather then leave the funding alone, Harper disgracefully ripped up the Kelowna Accord. It's shameful, absolutely shameful that Harper has slapped aboriginals in the face during a time in Caledonia where aboriginals are protesting for their land back. This cutting of the accord adds insult to injury and pours salt on open wounds and for that I am mad. Also, I personally cannot believe the Bloc would join Harper in voting for this budget, Duceppe was bought off with the fiscal imbalance, however, I cannot blame him for doing what he was elected to do, he said he would vote for things in quebec's interest and obviously he sees that part in Quebec's interest. Mr. Duceppe I know definitely has a heart. However, that being said Mr. Duceppe is simply doing this because he doesn't want an election and quite frankly I agree with him, we simply do not need an election right now. However, I do feel sorry for Duceppe because it's like cutting your hand instead of your hair, what i mean is he's voting for something that I truly believe he does not support at all, and that's he's doing this because he knows that the majority of the people don't want an election, While I disagree with his reason for supporting the budget. I will admit that he is doing the right thing for the Canadian People as they have been electioned out despite the fact that personally he knows deep down what he is voting for will really hurt canadians more then help them.
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6 comments:
I was not happy with the part on de-funding the Kelowna Accord. While the budget did include some money for aboriginals, I believe $400 million, it was a far cry from what the Liberals offered. While it is possible the same goals could be achieved with less money, perhaps at 70% of what the Liberals offered, I don't buy the same affect can be achieved at 10% of what the Liberals offered.
But the reality is this budget was about one thing and one thing only, winning a majority government. This targeted conservative supporters and potential conservative supporters. The groups left out were groups that would never vote Conservative. Not that this is right, but at least I know why they made the decisions they did.
Is 450 million dollars a slap in the face of aboriginals? The Liberal way of solving a problem has always been to throw money at it. What this money does is go directly to improving living conditions like housing and water. What thismoney does not do is go to the chiefs who use it to hold their conferences in Arizona and Hawaii. It does not go to chiefs to pay for their exclusive condos in the city. And it does not go to chiefs who can use the money to pay for their supporters and non-supporters be damned. And if you watched CBC last night you would have seen the someone (I forgot his name) who represents Canadian natives say he really liked the budget because it also addressed the 79% of natives not living on reserves.
Someone?
He sounds official.
In that case Miles this budget will probably not achieve their ends.
I have brought this up with several people at work and they really have not cared.
Listening around the office the topic is not the budget. The hot topic this morning is the next round of the playoffs.
This budget is already a non-issue.
Anonymous: The Liberals agreed to $5 billion and the Conservatives reduced that to $400 million. If you seriously think that the Aboriginal communities will be happy with that then I would suggest that you share what you have been smoking with the rest of us.
Anonymous I will say that the funding they did give is quite okay and 450 I am happy about however, breaking the kelowna accord agreement is really a hard pill to swallow.
The issue is Harper's gameplan to substantially reduce the powers of the central government in Canada by devolving those powers on the provinces. If Harper is successful, Canada will become a balkanized nation of bickering premiers, with no common standards uniting Canadians as a nation, and with the Prime Minister sitting in the booth closest to the kitchen, with his hands tucked under his seat, doing nothing.
Harper and his New Tories aim at a massive transfer of power (legislative, financial) to the provinces, through a deal cut in smoky rooms, and over a policy which has not been tested by being debated vigorously during an election campaign. Harper is aiming at a stealth-change of how Canada functions, agreed to by premiers and him, without the voters of the provinces or the voters of Canada being involved in such a decision. It is akin to a Meech Lake Accord without requiring Canadians to vote on it.
Is this process of Harper's democractic? Not by a long shot.
Have Canadians agreed to these dramatic changes in the federal / provincial structure? Not by a long shot.
Will Harper open his dealings to public debate? Never – he does not agree with his decisions being debated by voter representatives.
Harper is aiming at making Ontario the "bad guy", and getting the other provinces to gang up on Ontario's Premier. He is hoping to stampede Ontario into agreeing to a deal, so that Harper can then go the country for an election, hoping to win more seats in Quebec and gain a majority government.
As Chantal Hebert wrote: "Nothing would do more to accelerate Harper's plan to emerge as the default federalist option in Quebec than a campaign that found the federal Liberals and the Bloc Québécois on the wrong side of a deal with Charest on the fiscal imbalance."
Harper's stampede tactics (similar to those used by Bush in his deceptive entry into the war in Iraq) have been successful so far – he suckered Duceppe and Layton into supporting a vote of no confidence in the Liberal government. If it worked once, why not try again?
What can Ontario's Premier, Dalton McGuinty, do given the by now obvious strategy of Harper?
Simple. He can take a stand on principle: that such decisions should be made by the people. McGuinty can make the whole backroom-dealing process transparent by simply stating right now that he requires two things to take place: (1) that all meetings of Premiers on this subject, and any meeting he has with Harper, be open to the public, and televised; and (2) that he will not agree to any deal unless it has been put to the voters of Ontario through a plebescite.
This will immediately make the whole process of nation-changing more democratic, put pressure on the Premiers of all provinces to consider voters as well and perhaps adopt similar plebescites, and relieve McGuinty of any pressure to rush into a deal "in the interests of Canada" (as John Tory has tried to frame it).
So, Dalton: strike a blow for democracy. Call for transparency in meetings of Premiers on this "backroom Meech Lake Deal", and have Ontario voters decide the issue.
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