North Island-Powell River Local Polling Results - the NDP's Rachel Blaney Leads by 14 Points

Leadnow's Vote Together Campaign today released the results of the Environics local polling done between September 18-21. While the 31 ridings are spread across the country, they do not include any ridings in Quebec. A detailed list of the results in all 31 ridings is available here. An explanation of their methodology is available here.

The North Island - Powell River riding where i live is detailed here. Basically Rachel Blaney of the NDP leads by 14 points in North Island-Powell River.  But the details are very interesting. The NDP's present 41% hasn't changed much since the writ was dropped. But at that time Harper's Conservatives were very close and both the Liberals and Greens were far behind. In the mast month the NDP has stayed steady but the Conservatives have dropped to 27% while the Liberals are now at 18% with the Greens at 14%. When looking at it graphically it sure looks like the huge drop in the cons numbers since the 2011 election [[from 46% in 2011 to 26% today] mirrors the climb in Lib/Green fortunes not a change in NDP numbers.

This is good news for the Heave Steve Day campaign and for all the strategic voters in Canada whose #1 goal in the Oct 19th election is dumping Harper and his neo-con ilk. It also goes along with a trend towards Trudeau and the Liberals that's being felt on the street across Canada.

The big national polls and pollsters are calling the 3 way race dead even statistically. Every day almost a new poll comes out but each of them is within the margin of error of the polls' methodology. So, as it has been from day 1, it's to close to call by the pollsters but from the feeling in the air and the vectors of change in most graphics the Liberals have the wind in their sails and look ready to peak at the right moment. Consequently, as of now - 26 days from Oct 19th - The Mud Report is predicting a Liberal Minority Government.

Many polls agree that over 2/3 of Canadians want the Harper regime defeated and that over 60% of them are willing to vote strategically to accomplish that result. The problem for strategic voters is the lack of detailed riding by riding information upon which to base their strategic vote. That's where Leadnow's Vote Together Campaign comes in. Leadnow saw this problem and started raising money and organizing volunteers to do those all important riding polls and the results are now rolling in. Please check out Leadnow's efforts and results [so far, another round will be done just before voting day]. Every riding, every vote counts in this election. Canada's future will probably be decided by a small percentage in the key swing ridings across the country.

Let's all vote together and Heave Steve on October 19th.

Harper's Appeal of Niqab Ruling to SCOC Another Chunk of Red Meat for His Anti-Muslim Base

Beverley McLachlin -
Vendetta leader or Heroine

Despite his disastrous record in his past attempts to use the SCOC as a tool in his fear of Muslims and terrorists campaigns, Harper has asked for a 'stay' [which would put the pro-Niqab wearing ruling on hold and stop the practice immediately] as well as appealing the ruling by the Federal Appeals Court. The whole thing will certainly drag out until long after the election on Oct. 19th. That's all Harper's team wants, they'll lose of course, but Harper gets to use it as red meat for his base of anti-Muslim evangelical, Tea Party like fanatics.

The National Post published 'A scorecard of the Harper government’s wins and losses at the Supreme Court of Canada' in it they say, "In one of starkest examples in Canadian history of two branches of government openly turning against one another, the red robed members Supreme Court of Canada have spent months systematically shooting down virtually every issue the Conservatives hold dear. Court boosters say the Tories simply have a fondness for unconstitutional legislation. Harperites, meanwhile, allege that they are the target of a weird vendetta from their down-the-street neighbour."

Vendetta eh. Goes right along with the new book out by Globe and Mail journalist John Ibbitson, among the issues covered in the book is Harper’s distrust of the courts and legal community and his unprecedented public criticism last year of McLachlin, which critics said was an effort to intimidate the court.

Harper has privately fumed to his inner circle that under the leadership of Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, the Supreme Court of Canada has become a “sociology seminar” that emasculates the power of Parliament. Further Ibbitson says the staff convinced a seething Harper not to launch full-on public assault on Supreme Court. Ibbitson writes that Harper’s criticism of the chief justice Beverley McLachlin set a “dangerous precedent”.

Given Canada's constitutional setup Harper is right, Beverley McLachlin and the SCOC are the last chance there is to stop Harper and the corporate juggernaut's lock-step march with it's NWO criminal brethern. The Niqab ruling is supported by Mulcair, Trudeau and May hopefully on broader moral grounds than narrow political ones.

Harper's agenda must be stopped, remember on Oct 19th that Beverley McLachlin, hated and feared as she is by Harper, is our heroine right now but unless Harper is stopped by Canada's voters the corporations will win.

Tonight's Canadian Economy Debate Will Be About the Capitalist Myth Endless Growth

In a few hours the Globe and Mail, will host a debate among three of the Federal Parties Leaders on their slightly different versions of how to keep the wheels of consumer capitalism eating up the globe's limited resources growing. None of them, including the only real progressive leader Elizabeth May who wasn't invited just in case she might speak up for the 'great unwashed' even accidentally, dares confront the inescapable fact that the endless growth of consumption of resources is impossible in a closed system - like the Earth.

They all will refuse to mention the phantom menace of their growth dreams. All of the political parties are captured by one arm or another of the Bankers and Billionaires Club, all of them dance to the same irrational economic tune. What the capitalists and their captured politicians refuse to refer to is that their is another way - slow degrowth driven by mild deflation - which is nothing but common sense because there are no profits, no good jobs, no dreams for your children on a dead planet.

The main problem for our environment and the economy that rides on its back is the continued and increasing demand of energy to satisfy production and consumption patterns in the Global North. It is, in sum, the economic system based on exploitation, extraction, industrial production and expanded consumption. The capitalist model itself is the main cause of the current climate crisis. In this way, the solution lies in a fundamental change of the system, based on new non-exploitative ways of relating between humans and nature. Harmonious relations with nature, but also just relations within society, are key to change the anthropocentric paradigm that has put humans and growth at the centre of society. - Resilience .org

my stake in capitalism

One of the big reasons why our western democracies have been so successfully captured by the Banker and Billionaires Club is some decades ago the few contrived to rob the many of not only their common sense but the future of their descendants in the service of more short-term profit for the Club's gluttonous members. The elites somehow convinced the middle classes that their future well being was tied to the speculator's myth of endless growth. Now so many people have bought into this disastrous scheme where their pensions, their mutual funds, their tax free savings accounts, their 'portfolio' are all tied to the growth myth through the 'market' that they believe that they have a stake in capitalism when the reality is that, other than the elites, the common person gets to fight over a few fallen crumbs best.

The unavoidable truth is that the economy is a small subset of the environment. For instance, just as the stock market rises on the sale of industrial agriculture's 'growth' of soil killing fossil fuels through fertilizers, equipment manufacture, shipping and supporting infrastructure while in reality those very actions are killing the biosphere that underlies everything, so too does all parts of the mythical endless growth economy exist only as long as the living world that supports them does too.

We milk the cow of the world, and as we do We whisper in her ear, "You are not true."
- Richard Wilbur, 1950

Harper's Phantom Budget Surplus a Pack of Lies and Broken Promises, by Mogs Mogilo

Now let's talk a little about Steve's 'phantom budget surplus' rumored to be $1.4 billion as of April 21 2015. This is coming from a government that has the worst performing economy of the G-7 and has had 7 budget deficits in a row. How did the harper-con government manage to rearrange [cook] the books to get a deficit in a recession?

Simple arithmetic tells us how. "...the Harper government transferring $ 57 billion from the old Employment Insurance Account to the Prime Minister Office’s general revenues in 2010. ..." "...By excluding the $ 57 Billion in the current budget, for the first time in Canadian history a prime minister has been able to circumvent the parliamentary system of budget scrutiny for such a large amount of money...."

"...What is Mr. Harper going to do with it? Will the PMO “Account” become
his very own hedge fund? Or might Canadians pressure his government to
finance an economic strategy to fight underemployment? The answers to
these questions remain unclear at the moment, but one thing is very
clear to me of what should be done; the money collected beyond what the
law permitted should be returned to where it came from in the first
place."

http://www.globalresearch.ca/a-57-billion-dollar-surplus-for-canadas-budget-the-governments-massive-grab-of-workers-money/5447470

"What is Mr. Harper going to do with it?" Dirty tricks, election cheating, fund Pierre Poutine etc a slush fund for harper?

It is obvious what harper did with the money he stole from the unemployed who cannot get qualified for EI even though they lost their jobs through no fault of their own but through Harper's mismanagement of the economy he made the vulnerable pay for his own sins. There is no money for them because harper took it. If a president of a company did a similar thing transferring employee benefits or payroll deductions [employee paid] into the companies general account there would be hell to pay.

Further Oliver was lose with the budgetary books [April 21, 2015]:

"...Finance Minister Joe Oliver delivered a federal budget that boasted a
narrow $1.4-billion surplus, scoring a politically critical goal just
six months before a scheduled election in October.

To get there, Oliver took the unusual step of draining $2 billion out
of the budget's $3-billion rainy-day reserve, which is supposed to be
set aside for unforeseeable events like natural disasters. ..."

http://barrie.ctvnews.ca/harper-government-nips-tucks-its-way-to-first-surplus-in-8-years-1.2338091

Now we have $59 Billion to play with stolen from funds that were allocated for different purposes not for balancing a serial seven year budget deficit. Then of course that was not enough for the Harper gang.

"Monday's report on the final 2014-15 accounting also show the government
under spent on direct program expenses by $1.5 billion last year —
lapsed funds that opposition parties say were budgeted for everything
from veterans services to transportation safety and services for the
disabled." Now $60.5 Billion.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/09/14/news-of-balanced-budget-buoys-harper-as-economy-takes-election-centre-stage_n_8134708.html

Okay so Lac Megantic did not have to happen but Harper took the money. Vets seniors and the disabled could have been treated with dignity but no again harper took the money. Why? So he could deliver his base a stolen 'balanced budget' on the backs of the less fortunate. His budget is tainted so bad it stinks and I can smell it from here.

The modern day robbing hood harper is stealing from Canada's social fabric to support multi billion dollar industries and the wealthy who control them.

"In 2000, the Canadian federal corporate tax rate was 28%; by 2014, it had dropped to 15%. Cuts to corporate taxes since 2007 are costing the Canadian federal government up to $13 billion per year in foregone revenue."

"Canadians for Tax Fairness estimate that Canadian corporations have $199 billion stashed in offshore tax havens, costing $7.8 billion per year in lost tax revenue. A 2014 Citizens for Tax Justice study found that 72% of Fortune 500 companies operated subsidiaries in tax haven jurisdictions in 2013."

"A 2015 International Monetary Fund (IMF) report pegged global energy subsidies at $2 trillion in 2013. In Canada, the externalized cost to government of the subsidies amounts to $34 billion per year. The IMF calls these subsidies to oil and gas companies “perverse subsidies”..."

"In total, the Harper-led Conservative federal government is deliberately and knowingly costing itself over $68 billion a year, mostly to the benefit of corporations.
- It has $13 billion less income a year because it lowered corporate tax rates.
- It has $14 billion less income a year because it lowered GST / HST tax rates.
- It has $7.8 billion less income a year because it allows – or abets? – corporate tax avoidance.
- It costs itself $34 billion a year from the impacts of its perverse subsidies to the non-renewable energy sector"

http://sustainabilityadvantage.com/2015/09/01/3-strange-signs-our-government-doesnt-want-corporate-taxes/

So Harper steals from rainy day funds, veterans, seniors, disabled persons, medicare, EI, Transportation Safety, Science Funding, Cutting the Civil Servants workforce the list is endless and who are the beneficiaries at the expense of the Harper-Con Government being a "proactive role in the social, environmental, and economic well-being of our society"? Forbes 500 corporations and the wealthy that control them.

"The Big Heist - Canada continues to let billions leave the country tax free"

https://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/monitor/big-heist

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/gabriel-yiu/resource-rich-canada-is-poor_b_8047124.html

To many Canadians who have had their livelihoods ripped asunder and found zero help no social safety net that had been created over decades see harper as an immoral liar cheat and thief who only cares about the wealthy and environmentally destructive industries.

With the secrecy Harper has established around himself and his governments doings [The Harper Government not a Canadian Government] and the gag orders he has placed on scientists Cabinet Ministers his caucus and all federal employees we will not find the whole truth until we eliminate all cons from parliament do your part on October 19th to ban robbing hood harper and his ghoulish cons.

"While reviewing the latest edition of the federal government's little-known legislative bulletin, The Canada Gazette, Canadian Press reporter Jim Bronskill noticed a troubling detail: a new order is now on the table that would dramatically expand the number of current - and former - federal government employees under a lifetime gag order, potentially curbing the right to free expression for thousands of Canadians."

Why would he do that? In order to subvert all future lawsuits against his government and himself, which are in the making...

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/vincent-gogolek/harper-gag-orders-canada_b_3498606.html

Does anybody need more compelling reasons to end this conf*ckery?

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Today's post is a copy of the comment Mogs made this morning at the Tyee and re-printed here with permission by Mogs Mogilo.

Renown Canadian Nationalist Mel Hurtig Explains Why 2/3 of Voters Want Harper Out on Oct. 19th

Mel Hurtig, one of Canada’s most-celebrated economic nationalists. His latest book 'The Arrogant Autocrat: Stephen Harper's Takeover of Canada' was written as “a wake-up call to Canadians” and to convince them “to reclaim our democracy and our country before it is too late.” Mel is incensed by the sweep of Conservative legislation under Stephen Harper, in particular the recent wide-reaching anti-terrorism bill, and earlier the slashing of waterway and environmental protections, muzzling of scientists on climate change, and gutting of Canada's research libraries.

Recently The Tyee ran a series of slices of Hurtig's razor-like condemnation of Harper's economic policies: one on how Canada got less competitive under Harper, another on  how takeovers and secret trade agreements have eroded our sovereignty and self-determination, another on how the Harper government's jobs and economy growth record is the worst since the early 1930's and another on how Harper ate up a huge federal surplus and piled up six deficits.

As of today, Sept 14th, according to the CBC's poll tracker - a poll of polls designed to tell the broadest possible polling results day by day. The headline though in almost every mainstream media outlet is that it's a 3 way dead heat [within the margins of error] with the Greens and the Bloc getting about 10% between them.

What the headline either misses or doesn't think will grab enough audience is that that means 70% of Canadian voters want to dump Harper and his cohort out. The only reason it can called a 3 way horserace is because of the undemocratic First Past the Post voting system which the NDP, Liberals and Greens all promise to throw out in favor of some form of Proportional Representation if/when elected.

Harper faces an opposition divided by longtime historic hatred between the Libs and NDP and has in the past won because of the split vote in many swing ridings. The obvious solution would be for some type of co-operative effort which would give them both what they want but like Prisoner's Dilemma game theory states, they are both trapped in a negative loop by past non-co-operation. There seems little hope that these two teams of partisans can change even though Elizabeth May of the Greens has offered to be a go between.

So it's up to Canadians to come together and form a one-time People's Coalition of strategic voters who will vote for the party and candidate in their riding with the best chance of defeating Harper and his henchmen on Oct. 19th Here's a primer on why Strategic Voting is so crucial on Oct.19th - Heave Steve Day

Veterans' Anti-Harper 'Anyone But Conservative' (ABC) Voting Campaign Hurting Conservatives

.

In case you have forgotten here's a few Conservative attacks on Canada's veterans: pensions killed, benefits clawed, killed lifetime pensions for Afghanistan veterans, and failed to spend $1.13 billion of the Veterans Affairs budget but found money to increase advertising and ceremonies for politicians to honour veterans.

"The Harper Conservatives spent taxpayers' dollars to deny a vet compensation for losing his legs and testicles.” said Mike Blais, a volunteer at 'Anyone But Conservatives' adding, "Despite numerous reports of service failures and lack of support for veterans, the Harper government shut down nine Veterans Affairs offices to save $3.78 million and the same year increased its advertising budget by more than $4 million to buy playoff hockey ads."

A fast growing group of veterans who disagree with Harper's policies is rallying under the banner - "Anyone But Conservatives -- Canadian Veterans Campaign 2015." - a group, of veterans and supporters, who are asking all Canadians to support their campaign -- Anyone But Conservatives -- and on Oct. 19 vote to defeat Harper's Conservative government.The organization is asking Canadians to vote for any alternative to the current government.

The Veterans ABC campaign is, according to Insights West working. In their piece 'Poll Shows Treatment of Vets Could Hurt Tory Base' which found one-third of Conservative voters are considering other party and the treatment of veterans is the biggest issue.

 The new book, 'A Dirty Little Skirmish', launched on Sept. 1 in Halifax, former army sergeant David MacLeod and writer Harold Leduc which charts the battle veterans must wage to access needed benefits and services from a government in denial, as former soldiers endure waiting lists for medical care and injury claims turned down by Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC), won't help Conservative fortunes a bit. MacLeod is just one of many angry vetreans who are rallying under the banner of the Anyone But Conservative (ABC) Veterans Campaign 2015.

Another volunteer, Susan Clarke-Tizzard, a logistics corporal attached to the search-and-rescue team is speaking publicly about her PTSD for the first time, driven by a duty to help her comrades who are struggling with the after-effects of war and yet ignored by the Harper government, driving her to volunteer with ABC.

The results of the Oct.19th election could be determined by these deserving people who are determined to receive the justice they've earned.

Canada's Major Unions Launch Strategic Voting Campaign Armed With Improtant Polling Data

This past weekend Canada's major unions came out in favor of strategic voting as the best tactic for defeating Harper's Conservative government. The Globe and Mail article 'Unions set to launch major anti-Harper offensive' explains that "Canada’s largest unions say if enough of their members vote strategically in key ridings across the country, Stephen Harper and the Conservatives will not get a fourth term in office."

This in itself is good news for the many anti-Harper, pro-strategic voting Canadians. The G&M article says in part "Workers say their assault will begin shortly after Labour Day and will be the culmination of months of preparation. Union heads have been training workers across the country on election campaign basics while collecting data through polling and focus groups on which ridings to target and what messages resonate most with voters.

The Union movement is in a unique place in that the biggest hurdle Canada's strategic voters face is access to the riding by riding polling information that is necessary to accomplish the task of voting effectively for the candidate in each riding with the best possible chance of stopping the Harper-Cons. The union movement has the resources and national coverage that small groups of individuals don't and consequently not only are they in a position to collect that much needed information but also in a position to make it generally available to all Canadians to help them in their strategic voting efforts to Heave Steve.

As Jerry Dias said in the G&M article,  "Unions used polling companies to collect data on voters who chose the Conservatives in 2011 by relatively small margins and could swing to the Liberals or the NDP this time around." IMO, were the major unions to release their riding by riding polling results publicly it would serve the union movement doubly in that it would help the strategic voting cause of ousting Harper and boost the PR image of the union movement generally.

This riding by riding polling information is an important key issue in the success of the Heave Steve movement and it could turn out that the major unions, because of their large base of both voters and resources could be a decisive player from coast to coast to coast if they decide to release their poliing and other data to the general public. To that end, this morning i wrote to the 3 biggest union's leaders with my suggestion [see letter example below]:

----------------------------------------------------
Email Addresses:

QFL secretary Serge Cadieux
Simon Berlin : Executive Director
sberlin@sepb.qc.ca

Unifor President Jerry Dias
president@unifor.org

Hassan Yussuff, president of the Canadian Labour Congress
Kerry Pither, Director, Communications
Kpither@clc-ctc.ca

------------------------------------------------------------------
Sample letter:

Hi President Dias, My name is Bob Wiley, i've been promoting strategic voting as the best option for Canadians in the Oct. 19th election for many months now and want to thank you and Unifor for stepping up to the plate and joining in the fight.

Having just read the Globe and Mail article below it occurs to me that the Union movement is in a unique place in that the biggest hurdle strategic voters face is access to the riding by riding polling information that is necessary to accomplish the task of stopping the Harper-Cons. The union movement has the resources and national coverage that small groups of individuals don't and consequently not only are you in a position to collect that much needed information but also in a position to make it generally available to all Canadians to help them in their efforts to Heave Steve.

IMO, were you to do this - release riding by riding polling results publicly - it would also serve the union movement doubly in that it would help the strategic voting cause and boost the PR image of unions generally.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/unions-set-to-launch-major-anti-harper-offensive/article26240095/

Thanks for your time,
Bob Wiley

A list of the Harper Government's Assaults on the Good, Peaceful and Fairminded People of Canada

Of course no list of the Harper government's assaults on Canada's society can be considered complete because there's just so many of them. When i started this process some months ago i soon realized this. i'm going to start with the worst of the worst from my perspective.

Back in 2012, the Harper government launched an unprecedented assault on Canada’s environmental laws when it introduced Bill C-38, an omnibus bill that put a halt to automatic environmental assessments of projects under the federal government’s purview. All told, the Fisheries Act, Navigable Waters Protection Act and Canadian Environmental Assessment Act were either repealed or simply gutted, while the NEB was neutered. The Harper government made a wholesale effort to not only destroy protection but then to destroy data and destroy knowledge when eviscerating of the Navigable Waters Act, attempting to close the Experimental Lakes Area, and dumping books from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Library. All of this, including the auditing of environmental and civil society groups, was done to allow the fossil fuel industry, Harper's #1 benefactor, to build pipelines without having to endure the inconvience of people and laws that oppose such destruction of our common environment.

This past year Harper passed Bill C-51, the government’s anti-terrorism legislation - popularly known as the secret Police Act -which  criminalizes free speech and allows government agencies to widely share personal information without any regard to privacy, while giving CSIS, RCMP and CSEC freer range to spy on whomever they choose. Consequently, spying on environmental and aboriginal activists, especially those opposed to pipelines or who participate in National Energy Board (NEB) hearings.

Harper is the only Canadian prime minister to be found in contempt of Parliament, which occurred in 2011 after his government refused to release costs on certain programs to opposition MPs. On the childcare front, Harper scrapped plans for a national daycare program that Paul Martin had promised and now is passing out cheques to all parents, including the rich, to buy votes.

Starting in 2010, Harper tabled a bill with 883 pages that included changes to Canada Post and environmental assessments. Since then, Harper has passed 10 more omnibus bills to circumvent debate in parliament, often making sweeping changes to laws and regulations.

Haper's attempt at vote suppression - the Fair Elections Act. Last year the Harper government overhauled Canada’s election laws to deal with electoral fraud. But its critics soon labeled it the “Unfair Elections Act” because it weakened the power of Elections Canada, effectively muzzling the chief electoral officer from communicating with the public and MPs about investigations, and cut off the agency’s investigations arm, it changed the ID requirements for voting making it far more difficult for students, FNs and the homeless [all Harper opponnts] to vote.

Harper's gagging scientists from speaking freely about their research. Numerous scientists have been prevented from speaking to the media, especially those researching the environment. Germanwatch and Climate Action Network Europe — which produce an annual report card on climate change performance — put Canada 58th out of 61 countries in regards to its efforts to combat global warming, above only Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan and Australia.

Taxpayer-funded political ads. This spring, Finance Canada is planning to spend $13.5-million on ads to boast about the government’s budget. The Toronto Star estimates that $500-million has been spent by the Harper government since 2009 promoting its programs – $75-million in 2014 alone.

It's a long list:

• Harper’s former Parliamentary Secretary, Dean Del Mastro, found guilty of election fraud;

• Government found guilty of election fraud 5 times in 8 years;

• Spent $7 million in partisan anti-drug ads in just 3 months

• Has spent $700,000 fighting Canada’s veterans in court

• Spent tens of millions of taxpayer dollars developing partisan legislation that stood no chance of withstanding a Constitutional challenge……and when all were overturned by the Supreme Court, began undermining the credibility of the Court, and its Chief Justice;

• Deception around Nigel Wright repaying the $90,000 Conservative Senator Mike Duffy defrauded from taxpayers, closing off investigation and refusing to give details….with RCMP finding all trails lead back to Stephen Harper’s office;

• undemocratic ‘Fair Elections Act’ removing ability of Elections Canada to do its job;

• Auditor General reported $3.1 billion in anti- terror funding missing; using taxpayer dollars to fund partisan personal attack ads;

• Spent $750 million taxpayer dollars in partisan advertising;

• found guilty on three separate occasions of election fraud and campaign financing violations;

• Allowed XL Foods meat processing plant to continue to process and distribute tainted meat for 3 weeks after U.S. stopped importing for the same reason;

• Over spent those cabinet-approved ad budgets by $128-million — more than 37 per cent…..all the while cutting funding to important government programs;

• Shut down Committee investigating F-35 purchase scandal;

• Conservative campaign staff proven to be behind Guelph Robocalls;

• Lied to Parliament and the Canadian public about the true cost of the F-35's,

• Auditor General proves fraud and incompetence in Government's F-35 purchase,

• Increased the size of the federal public service by 32,000 employees, increased government spending by 30% to a record $276 billion,

• largest deficit in Canadian history,

• Industry Minister Christian Paradis stays in Cabinet after being found in violation of the Conflict of Interest Act;

• First Government in Canadian History to be found in Contempt of Parliament,

• Took $38.2 billion Liberal Surplus, and ran it into 53 Billion Dollar Deficit,

• screwed up G8 and G20 Meetings,

• Veterans Affairs Minister Fantino criticized for spending $4 million on advertising programs for veterans rather than investing the money in services;

• $1.3 billion in unspent funding for Veterans returned to Treasury to help balance budget after Veterans Services cutbacks;

• ignored recommendations contained in 2012 Auditor General’s Report regarding security deficiencies at the Parliament Buildings…….contributing to the killing of a soldier there on October 22, 2014;

• reduced funding for Canada’s military to an all-time low of 1.4% of GDP;

• Despite the Conservative government’s frequent warnings about lingering terrorist threats, it quietly abolished a federal panel of national security advisers;

• Lost Canada’s seat on the Security Council;

• Turned down $300 million offer to sell the Canadian Wheat Board’s assets to Canadian farmers, so he could give them to American businessmen for FREE;

• The annual cost of paying Conservative political staffers working in a network of satellite minister’s offices ballooned by 70 per cent (from $1.6 million to $2.7 million) during the same years the government was eliminating some departments and programs, and ordering others to tighten their belts;

• ratified a controversial 31 year treaty that will allow China to sue Canada in secret tribunals for Canadian laws that interfere with Chinese investments;

• muzzled outgoing leader of Canadian Joint Operations Command (CJOC), Lt.-Gen. Stu Beare …. preventing him from talking to journalists about the challenges that CJOC and Canada face during this period of global tumult;

• another of Stephen Harper’s key pieces of legislation was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Canada, when his section limiting pre-trial sentencing credit was overturned;

• imposition of new federal grain and transportation rules, that because of lack of coordination, transparency, accountability, and infrastructure……caused global clients to walk away and buy elsewhere……at a cost of $5 billion to Canadian farmers;

• poor monitoring of safety and environmental controls by Department of Transport, detailed in damning Transportation Safety Board report as a contributing factor in the Lac-Mégantic train derailment that killed 47 people;

• A report by Canada’s veterans watchdog says nearly half of the country’s most severely disabled ex-soldiers are not receiving a government allowance intended to compensate them for their physical and mental wounds; instructed civil servants to begin deleting ‘sensitive’ emails; Under proposed changes to prescribed annuity taxation, Canadian poor seniors will pay a lot more taxes; according to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation……

• Stephen Harper employs 3,325 spin doctors, at a cost of $263 million…..almost equal to the cost of operating the House of Commons;

• sent out email to Public Servants asking them to promote Conservative tax proposal on Twitter;

• Harper government paid $35 million to quietly settle lawsuit regarding contract dispute where Conservatives rigged the bidding process;

• Paul Calandra's dishonest and embarrassing performance answering questions in the HoC;

• Using taxpayer funded ten-percenters and constituency mailers, and House of Commons free mailing privileges to send out attack literature;

• wants to change copyright law to allow for privately owned news copy to be used free of charge in attack ads……but has done nothing to protect film & music copyright owners receive proper payment;

• using the Canada Revenue Agency as an arm of PMO to target groups and agencies deemed ‘unfriendly’ to the Harper government;

• scrapped 3,000 environmental reviews on pipelines and other projects;

• Canada ranked worst of G7 nations in fighting bribery & corruption, by Transparency International, the watchdog agency that monitors global corruption;

• Canada slipped out of the top 10 countries listed in the annual United Nation’s human development index — a far cry from the 1990s when it held the first place for most of the decade (rating a country’s performance in health, education and income);

• cancelled the Health Council of Canada and the 10-year health Provincial accord that led to its creation;

• consistently used Omnibus bills to hide and pass controversial legislation that it did not want to debate separately;

• government employment policies stimulate creation of part-time jobs at the expense of full-time positions;

• Canada performance ranked as 58th out 61 industrialized countries by international climate organization;

• Held back $7 billion in approved spending to finance tax cuts……depriving some departments of required operating funds;

• Listeria Outbreak;

• Transparency Lies,

• Accountability Lies,

• Afghanistan Secrecy;

• CRTC Meddling,

• Rona Ambrose lies & ineptness;

• Anti-Intellectualism;

• Fake election phone calls in 34 ridings,

• Fake Citizenship ceremonies,

• Tony Clement's $50 million Gazebo fund,

• Misleading Parliament on what the Gazebo Fund was supposed to be used for,

• In And Out election violations,

• Income Trusts lies,

• Security Leaks,

• Cadman Affair;

• fired Nuclear Watchdog Linda Keane for doing her job,

• fired head of Military Police Inquiry for doing his job,

• fired Veteran's Ombudsman for doing his job,

• had Firearm Long Gun Mountie removed for doing his job,

• eviscerated Long Form Census to keep facts from the public,

• trashed Diplomat Richard Colvin for doing his job;

• Dishonestly used image of Canadarm with photoshopped Canada logo on government websites;

• Canada Was The Only UN Member To Reject Landmark Indigenous Rights Document;

• Ignored UN Environmental Commission report on urgent need to get greenhouse gasses under control;

• Conservative Parliamentary Assistant Alexandra Constantinidis caught twice, trying record Liberal candidate’s private conversation;

• Spent $15.4 million on a records archival system it never used (2014 Auditor General’s Report);


Certainly there's many more in our past but no more after October 19th - Heave Steve Day.