Traitorous Sheep

I hope you‛ve been reading the personal blog of the Anglican Bishop of Quebec, Dennis Drainville.  An item I particularly liked was The Totalitarian Agenda: The Death of Parliament.

Wait now – I shouldn‛t say I “liked” it. What‛s to like in being told by someone you admire that our whole system of parliamentary democracy is going down the tube?  But I agreed with the Bishop.  And I respond to the informed passion with which his item was written.

The Bishop was uttering a cry of rage and protest at the way the Harper Government is undermining, nay, destroying Canadian democracy.  His outrage at this point was directed toward the current “omnibus” bill implementing the budget.

I‛ve always respected the clarity of the term “ominbus” for this type of outrageous bill, conjuring up as it does visions of those big, double decker London buses with people from all walks of life jammed aboard.  But this Harper omnibus has outdone all predecessors.  This monster has more than 400 decks! This monster is intentionally loaded with passengers that, if they were people, would be considered terrorists.  If it were being driven by a minority government it would be stopped and impounded.

Are the MPs really expected to get on at one end, explore all 400 or so decks, and get off at the other end — all within 28 ½ hours — and remember in detail what they‛ve seen? And then are some of them expected to follow it into a strictly limited inspection pit known as a committee in order to repair the  downright subversions that have been intentionally installed by the designer?  In a pig‛s eye!

I‛m willing to wager that the majority of Conservative MPs won‛t even read it.  And yet, by the time this monster gets to its terminal and the Government MPs get to the their celebratory cocktails everything from environmental protection to unemployment insurance, old age security, wages, labour, etc., etc., ad nauseum will have been radically undermined.  One columnist has called this bill, and the Harper agenda which it implements, “a stealthy revolution“.  (The headline calls it “Stephen Harper’s stealthy war against wages and the environment.”)

Bishop Drainville ended his item with a call to battle:

If ever there was a clear indication that Parliament is DEAD [his emphasis] it will be the passage of this bill. I say to the leaders of the opposition parties, it is time to stop dithering.  The parliamentary battle must be joined – and that means now.

I couldn‛t agree more, but I would extend the battle call to Harper‛s own MPs and Senators.  The truth is that they with their unquestioning support for Harper‛s agenda are the ones who make this anti-democratic revolution possible.  They, en masse, are traitors.  (The destruction of Canadian democracy is surely traitorous.)

Yes, I am as angry as the good Bishop.  And frightened.  However, when I get really upset I write doggerel.

Sorry about this, but it helps vent.

Herding the Party Sheep
A Prime Ministerial Ditty

(Sung to the lullaby tune of Hush Little Baby, Don’t You Cry.)

Gather round people, I’ll sing you a song
Of how I drive my sheep along,
They never go ba-a-a and they seldom bleat
While I am herding the Party sheep.

They do what I want and do what they’re told
And almost never escape the fold
For who’d be out on the fields away
Far from the tender shepherd’s sway.

(Shift for a moment into the old Welsh hymn tune for The Ninety and Nine.  This provides a suitable gospel justification.)

Away from the tender shepherd’s care,
Away from the tender shepherd’s care.

(Back to Hush Little Baby tune)

They can bleat and play and have their fun
And all I ask when the day is done
That though they pretend to be strong and free
When it comes to a vote that they bleat for me.

Shepherdless sheep are a sorry sight
But sheep with a shepherd are full of might.
They’re fearsome faithful and almost bold
While safely embraced in the Party fold.

So I herd my sheep and I treat them fair
And whenever I want I do declare
That since I keep them woolly and warm
A loyal vote for me is the norm.

So herding the Party sheep I say
Is a profitable ploy for me to play
‘Cause the more I herd the better I keep
My mythical mandate firm and neat.  ♣

♣ (Copyright  © Munroe Scott 1998) For perspective let me say that this little ditty is indeed from my files of February 1998.  It was written because I was upset over Mike Harris, premier of Ontario.  Mike, of course, was a mere pygmy foreshadowing of Harper who has come along with his antediluvian Calgary School of Economics, an unstinting admiration for big corporations, and an evangelical righteousness of mission. Harris helped to stimulate the decline of Ontario and also bequeathed three of his woolly rams to Harper‛s cabinet  – Tony Clement (Treasury Board), John Baird (Foreign Affairs), and Jim Flaherty (Finance).

If no one else will, may God help us.

Wrong Bull, Wrong Arena

With great respect to Ed Broadbent I‛d like to suggest he waved the red cape in front of the wrong bull when he ventured into the NDP leadership arena on CBC‛s Power and Politics last Thursday.  The real problem was that he was in an old arena, which is not surprising because several of the contestants have been making the same mistake.

Need a Lifeboat?

Dammit all!  What‛s wrong with the pundits!?  Justin Trudeau makes a perfectly reasonable comment and CBC and CTV pundits are all over him.

Good bye Canada ?

Good bye Canada.

No, I’m not leaving Canada but my Canada, and yours, is leaving us. Well, not so much leaving us as being transformed around us into a country we will soon no longer recognize. And what’s more, into a country we won’t want to recognize.

Dear Seven Senators

Dear Seven Senators,

Welcome to the Red Chamber.  When I heard the news of your appointment I didn‛t know whether to congratulate you or commiserate with you, but I‛ve decided to opt for congratulations because you, and your other senatorial associates, have an extraordinary opportunity to implement Senate Reform.  Not, I assure you, Mr.  Harper‛s idea of reform nor the NDP‛s rather anarchistic dream of Senatorial euthanasia..  But reform, you betchya.

The Good Ship Earth

In case you‛ve forgotten, my premise for this blog was  “to see if what bugged me, amused me, challenged me [in the late 1980s], is still around today?  If it is, then what might that say about the evolution or otherwise of our society?”

This week the media  are focusing on two stories.  One is  Attawapiskat and related conundrums and the other the Durban Conference on Climate Change.

Lest We Forget !

I was staring disconsolately at the keyboard when suddenly there he was, emerging from hiding just behind the space bar.  “Hey,  Newshawk,” I said, “my little hacker friend, don‛t startle me like that.”

“Not a hacker,” he growled, “I‛m your research assistant.”

“Did I ask for assistance?”

“Maybe not, but you need it.  November 11th coming up and you just sitting there.  Nothing to say?  Forgetting how not to forget, are we?”

Loyal Disobedience

Civil disobedience was the principal topic of a big public get together held two evenings ago in Peterborough‛s remodelled Market Hall Theatre.  The principal speaker and principal attraction was young Brigette De Pape, also known as the Rogue Page.

The Litmus Test

I was about to write this blog, no doubt following some deeply philosophical critique of the current Ontario election, when I was interrupted by that annoying old friend.  “Hey,” he shouted, emerging from behind the monitor, “have at them.  How about that McGuinty guy, and what‛s-his-face, and what do you think of Andrea?”

“Newshawk, old friend, you intruded into the last item but really this is too much.”

“Nonsense,” he said.  “I know you.  Without a little prodding you won‛t say what you think.”

Newshawk Returns and a sailor confesses

This being the middle of August and the summer so far having provided the usual variety of boating accidents, some harebrained and all sad, I was about to write a curmudgeonly item about the perennial problem of more and more horse power in the motors and less and less horse sense in the pilots when, thank god, I was brought up short by a little voice. “Hey,” it said, “don’t!  You’ve embarrassed yourself before with that rant.”

“Newshawk,” I said, “is that really you?  Where have you been keeping yourself?  Good grief, I haven’t seen you for – for – more than twenty years!”

Now for anyone who hasn’t met Newshawk or doesn’t remember him I should explain that he’s not your average journalist.  Physically he’s about the size of a – well – let’s just say he’s tiny. But as for attitude – humungous needs more syllables.