Je Me Souviens

I remember. In Quebec, the phrase has always captured a sense of grievance, which goes back to the Plains of Abraham. But, stamped on the bottom of Quebec license plates, it has come to stand for more than that. It speaks to the uniqueness of the province. It is a testament to the power of memory.

Michael Harris wrote this week that Stephen Harper hopes you will forget what happened in Ottawa over the last twenty-four hours. He hopes you will forget a lot of things:

Mr. Harper hopes you forget the F-35, an unprecedented fiscal, military, and political fiasco brought to you by a corrupt military procurement system in the U.S. and a rogue DND in this country unchecked by the civilian side. Too many zeros on the cheque is the government’s best defense; that, and the availability of robots like Julian Fantino, who will apparently read anything that is put in his hands. The public money about to be wasted is unimaginably staggering and on that account meaningless – or so the government hopes.

He hopes that you will forget about the Accountability Act:

that dress rehearsal for better Tory governance that never went into production. Other politicians give you their word, Stephen Harper gives wording. His gift as a rhetorical trickster has rarely been more in evidence than in the voluminous charade known as the Accountability Act. Duff Conacher, the founder of Democracy Watch, has graded this piece of legislation appropriately – a belly-flop from the high-diving board of political BS. It features a commitment to language and an aversion to acting on the language that conjures up the PM’s greasy undermining of the Atlantic Accord. Best forgotten.

Harper hopes that it will all be forgotten. It strikes me, however, that Je me souviens has taken on a pan-Canadian meaning. It speaks to the sense of grievance that most Canadians feel, and will feel, towards the Harper government. It speaks for Canadians who work in the fishery, and who will no longer qualify for Employment Insurance. It speaks for a whole generation of Canadians who will not be able to retire when their parents did. It speaks for women who can no longer fight for pay equity. It speaks for Canada's first nations, whose lands will be befouled by the toxic sludge polluting their lands and waters.

As for me and my house, we agree: Je me souviens.

A Full Frontal Assault

Bill C-38 is no ordinary piece of legislation. It is a full frontal assault on Canadian institutions and Canadian workers. That point is made this morning by two men from opposite ends of the political spectrum. Andrew Coyne writes that Parliament is defending its vital interests:

It should be noted it is not only the opposition’s interests that are being defended here. It is Parliament’s. Were MPs on the government side more mindful of their responsibilities they would be as vigilant in its defence as the opposition. So while there is a strong element of partisanship in all this, there is also a vital question of principle; though the opposition parties may be accused of past acquiescence or even participation in some of the abuses of which they now complain, that does not preclude them from discovering their backbones now. It may look tedious, even inane — all those MPs bobbing up and down in their place as their names are called, hour after hour after hour — but let us not succumb to cynicism: They are bobbing for democracy.

However, the opposition parties are defending more than democracy. They are defending working Canadians. The bill, writes Ed Broadbent, shows that Stephen Harper is no pragmatist. He is a radical who has Canadian workers in his sights:

So what is Harper up to? Why does Flaherty say any job is a good job? The message to Canadians is that you are lucky to have a job and don’t expect too much. The message to employers is that you can continue to drive down wages, even more so for women, racial minorities and foreign workers.

The Conservatives have reinforced those provisions by attacking the fundamental right of workers to strike in areas of federal jurisdiction. This right is recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the two principal Covenants to which Canada has committed itself. It is a right fought for and won by an earlier generation of Canadians. Canada is being reshaped in an ideological direction reminiscent of the 1920s.

Th Conservatives claim that their budget is about "Jobs and Growth." It is about neither. It is about concentrating power in the cabinet. And, in the Harper government, that means concentrating power in the hands of one man. Stephen Harper can only do that if he cripples the institutions and the people who stand in his way.

Let The Bells Ring

The Harper government is intent on passing its 421 page Budget Implementation Bill in seven days. If Stephen Harper were the Leader of the Opposition, he would be up in arms. In fact, as Leader of the Opposition, he was. "In the interest of democracy," he fumed,

I ask how can members represent their constituents on these various areas when they are forced to vote on a block of such legislation?”

But that was then. This is now. And now Harper knows that his program runs so deeply against Canada's core values that he must accomplish his mission by stealth. Tom Walkom outlines the significant details in the omnibus budget act:

One section of the bill, for instance, repeals the entire Environmental Assessment Act.

It replaces it with another that gives cabinet the authority to press ahead with mega-projects that it wants, regardless of their environmental effects.

The bill also includes seemingly minor amendments to the Fisheries Act that would remove federal protection from a great swath of environmentally sensitive wetlands.

Another unadvertised section would repeal the federal Fair Wages and Hours of Labour Act. That act requires contractors working on federal projects to pay reasonable wages. Its elimination has been lauded by non-union shops.

Yet another so-called technical amendment would reduce the number of jobless who get Employment Insurance. The mechanism here is complicated, but the net effect would be to give cabinet the authority to override the courts in determining who is eligible for EI.

Harper has known from the very beginning that his mantra, "Conservative values are Canadian values" is patently false.

That is why he doesn't want to debate the details of the budget bill. That is why parliamentary committees meet behind closed doors. That is why there was a centrally organized campaign to suppress opposition votes during the last election.campaign

And that is why the opposition parties must stand up and collectively say no. They must refuse to vote on the budget bill. Let the bells summoning Members of Parliament into the House ring for months if necessary. Canadians have had enough.