This week Stephen Harper indicated once again that he wants to return this country and its citizens to the 19th century. Bob Hepburn writes in the Toronto Star:
The latest slap at Canada’s independent image came this week when the Harper government announced our army will be tossing out the Canadian-style Maple Leaf rank designation on the shoulders of officers’ uniforms and restoring the traditional British Army-style stars, or “pips,” that existed until the 1960s.
Harper also is expected to restore British insignia and rank designations to our air force and navy.
Harper's latest move is consistent with earlier Harperian decrees:
In just the last two years, he has restored the word “Royal” to the official name of our navy and air force, ordered our embassies abroad and federal offices at home to display the Queen’s portrait prominently and agreed to have Canadian diplomats share office space in British embassies.
What is surprising is how tone deaf the prime minister is to Canadian opinion:
When “Royal” was put back into the navy and air force names, [Peter] MacKay said it was done to correct a “mistake,” a reference to the 1968 decision made by the Liberal government as part of its program to unify the forces.
As Harper moves to promote our outdated British ties with silly moves such as ridding the army of the Maple Leaf insignia, most Canadians have long tired of honouring the British royalty and traditions.
Many commentators have noted the prime minister's morose turn of mind. He appears to be perpetually unhappy. Perhaps the explanation is that he feels he was born too late. Harper would have been happy as a member of the Raj, or giving orders to troops during the Boer War.
Perhaps his next move will be to replace "O, Canada!" with "God Save The Queen."
8 comments:
Stephen Harper lives in the pre-Canada of 1813, not the modern Canada of 2013. But, somehow, he has deluded a significant minority of the population to share in his delusion.
One fact is clear for the vast majority of Canadians - we must remove all political power from these delusional and stupid people.
"Delusional" is a pretty accurate description of the man and his people, Anon.
Removing them is the hard part.
This move might also be read as just another example of the contempt in which Harper holds most Canadians, Owen. He seem to think that by tinkering with a few symbols and hurling a few epithets at those who challenge him, he can elicit the kind of blind and jingoistic responses that so many Americans gladly give when words like 'troops' and 'freedom' are mentioned, and the truly bizarre notion of American exceptionalism is promoted.
By putting the world 'royal' in front of some institutional names, the silly man seems to believe we will pine for a simpler and more absolutist era.
Harper's world view -- and his view of the Canadian economy -- come straight out of the 19th century, Lorne. He wants us to, once again, be hewers of wood and drawers of water.
And, on the international stage, he wants us to fight for Queen and country.
For a man who is supposed to be highly intelligent, he is shockingly ignorant.
Testimony to both harper's insanity and his cretinism.
Testimony also to our collective cretinism and ignorance and apathy that we've allowed such a small man to dominate us for so long.
Really? His government is crumbling around his ears and harper busies himself with asinine nonsense such as this? He's like, ... no, he IS an overgrown simpleton retreating to play with his toy soldiers.
This is a man who stands for nothing and believes in nothing because he understands nothing.
Your last sentence is superb, thwap. It succinctly summarizes who Stephen Harper is.
.. Its interesting to note some of the goals that have achieved 'paramountcy' in Stephen Harper's stark evangelical arc and twisted political crusade.
I did look up 'paramountcy' .. which he used it in a bizarre stumbling incoherent speech about how closing life guard stations (Kitsilano) in Vancouver put more rescue boats in the water..
“The paramountcy of government resources in this area is on public safety and the government is allocating its resources in a way that we believe, based on the advice we have received from the coast guard, that is best in terms of public safety,” the Prime Minister said.
“That is to put as many of the resources as we can into actually having rescue boats in the water. That’s where we put our investments going forward.”
(Also transferred the oil spill response unit from the BC coast to .. uh Montreal ?)
I realized that one could simply substitute First Nations' or Pipelines or The Charter, or Navigable Waters or Democratic Elections or Pensions, or Tar Sands Expansion or Honesty or Parliament or The Arctic or Accountability .. or .. well .. about anything a genuine Canadian holds to be part of the 'glowing heart' never mess with Canada Eh .. ethic.. 'we stand on guard for thee..' .. ... .. NOT ..
Twist or blur or fabricate a word or context.. and hey presto.. you have Harper Northern Alliance policy of baffle with bullshite, lie to the nation and electorate, then lie and obstruct, and suppress some more till all the honest folks eyes roll back in their heads and they don't know whether to burst out crying.. or never care any more.. cuz its all out of control .. Canada is broke .. unrecognizable just as the split tongue white eyes lizard skin walker Stevie/Ray Harper said it would be
Here's my 1st attempt at substituting just a word or two and context or two to illustrate similar policy.
“The paramountcy of government resources in this area is on polls rather than public elections and the government is allocating its resources in a way that we believe, based on the advice we have received from the PMO, that is best in terms of election efficiency.” the exalted evangelical Emperor said.
“That is to put as many of the resources as we can into actually having less elections. That’s where we put our investments going forward.”
We are talking about a distorted carpet bagger from Toronto.. a mail room clerk.. who stands with a deep fried American import Tom Flanagan, Ken Boessenkool et al .. calls himself 'an Albertan'.. and is dedicated to extinguishing First Nations Treaties, separating Alberta from Canada, attacking The Charter of Right and Freedoms and because gawd or some invisible evangelical friend is on his pudgy side.. thinks he can trash legislation to plunder the environment due to some bizarre colonial divine right or royal entitlement ..
Give him a chance and he would shoot buffalo from a train.. or caribou while perched on a shining pipeline to China .. or toss strychnine laced meat to the boreal wolves.. or shoot them from helicopters.. just as Peter Kent has proposed & legislated as 'a solution' to the disappearing elk near the tar sands
Sahib Steve .. the great pudgy white bad whisky bwana ..
Damn .. the First Nations must look at him and wonder what bad dream colonialist century he was vomited out of
He's focussed on learning to speak Chinese .. not Huron, not Inuit, Cree, Mohawk, Haida or Salish .. Any clue there ?
Your critiques are always brutally honest, salamander. What they boil down to is this: Mr. Harper is a phoney, a poseur who speaks with Orwellian eloquence.
He really is a throwback to a dark age.
Post a Comment