In his usual arrogant style he lied about the reasons for why he wants this campaign to start now, 11 weeks before Oct 19th instead of the usual 5 weeks before election day by saying it was in the taxpayer's best interests, which of course is exactly the opposite of what every pundit and news outlet has already called bullshit. Within minutes even Canada's largest newspaper - The Globe and Mail - hardly a progressive bastion, came out saying that the only reason Harpo made the call was because he's trying to buy the election, saying: "There was no reason for the election to be called on Sunday, except that the Conservatives wrote the new election rules and can benefit from them.". Adding, "Whether voters will be annoyed, even outraged, by this blatant political manipulation, or will shrug because they assume all politicians do whatever it takes to win, will be known voting day, Oct. 19."
The fact is Harpo and his neo-con ilk have huge corporate backing. As SumofUs.org says "Make no mistake, this election is about corporate power." Sum of Us is one of many groups who are mobilized to fight against Harpo's corporate backed regime through the tiny donations from ordinary Canadians. SomeofUs says in part: "Every candidate from every party needs to show they’re in this for the public good, not for their buddies in boardrooms. Over 600,000 SumOfUs members in Canada are going to be diving deep and uncovering information about candidates and their connections to big business lobbyists, shining a massive spotlight on slimy corporate-funded politicians."
As an example of Harpo's style he chose the Friday afternoon of a long weekend, just before his election announcement, to controversially appoint a paid Kinder Morgan consultant to the National Energy Board (NEB) in a timed press release that critics say was an attempt to bury the news. "It's utterly incredible the Government of Canada would appoint such an industry consultant to a regulatory agency that presumably is interested in the public interest, and not in the interest of multinational oil corporations", said former CEO of BC Hydro, Marc Eliesen on Saturday from Squamish, B.C.
On the same day team Harpo announced the finalization of the gutting of the Canadian Wheat Board that served prairie grain farmers equally since 1935 "The work of generations of prairie farmers went into building that CWB brand, that Canadian Wheat Board brand, and now it's been given away for a pittance to a foreign-controlled interest," said Matt Gehl, an NFU board member in Saskatchewan.
and the ne-branding of the Saudi and American conglomerate as G3. The problem in Harpo's mind was the 'equal' part. Now the richest, biggest wheat farmers, those who donate bigtime to the Harpo-cons cab and do get more for their wheat than the little guys. That's Harpo's style, serve the rich, screw the rest of us.
The Mud Report will be publishing articles throughout the run-up to Heave Steve Day detailing some of the most outrageous of Harpo's bullshit. Of course it'd take thousands of pages to list them all, but there will be many other sites doing the same and many other groups like SumofUs.org contributing to the national effort make Heave Steve Day happen.
