Stephen Harper and the Canada Question.

Stephen Harper continues to speak about his low-tax plan and mandate to complete the economic recovery. Once again, his rallies consist of Conservative support that adore Mr. Harper as if he was some sort of famous celebrity, when in reality he is a Prime Minister with a lot to explain.

Now, I know you might think that this blog and my comments seem very anti-conservative and that I am simply a left leaning individual who cannot think of a Canada leaning toward the right. I know it may seem like this Harper bashing is unfair, but the reality is that when looking at many of Harper's rallies, when viewing his policies and his promises compared to what has physically occurred over the last 5 years a much different story arises. I am honestly a left leaning young Canadian voter, but Canada is a left leaning country and an example to the world, an example however that is still very fragile and could be destroyed if many of Harper's unlisted plans become a reality.

Harper is not a bad man, but he is a man right now who solely focuses on the numbers within our country. Yes, our economy and our country is important, but what he mentions in this video seems quite hypocritical when one views what he promises to the corporations, his mega-prison plan, his warplane plan, his overall stance on elections and health care. He is simply feeding you small concessions just to win you over, when in reality what he will pay out to his *friendly consultants* and CEO's will triple. Money that will stay concentrated at the top and never see the light of day at the bottom, where it needs to be invested right now during the recession years. There is no guarantee that the other parties will not follow suit upon their election into the PM spot, but that is a risk we have to take given the physical evidence we have seen from Harper's past choices and direction.

Every dollar we invest during a recession helps to improve our post recession growth and stability because when we invest in our people, our people invest in our country, which should be the focus. Harper preaches that taxes will not raise, but at what costs? He never mentions how he will prevent these hikes, which is scary considering that he once publicly praised the private health care system being used in the United States. Will we receive lower taxes, while having multiple programs cut in the health care sector? He mentions that he won't do what the Liberals did in the past, but what is his alternative? Big business already laughs at us, sure we receive extra profit from tax breaks and we CREATE a TON of jobs...mostly MINIMUM WAGE here and the rest we CREATE in CHINA. Do not believe me? Ask yourself why all these businesses that receive so much tax incentive end up shutting down and moving to China and Mexico? Labor sure is nice when you can run a workforce for the cost it takes to run one worker in Canada, plus nothing beats the policies of certain countries, which make their workforce essentially a slave force under the risk of death.

Canada before Harper

Above I have posted a picture that intrigued me, it is depicting a maple leaf and the architecture that supports it. I look at this picture and I envision how it supports our country. How it represents the system we live within and how it can function. Look at the shape of a maple leaf, the top is quite small and the bottom and middle make up the largest portions that essentially keep it balanced and make up the majority of the object. The lower and middle sections are what make the maple leaf exist.

Now consider this maple leaf was Canada, with the middle and lower portions representing our citizens and their daily hard work that essentially build this country and allow it to exist. Now think about the maple leaf only allowing small portions of water/energy to go to the middle and lower classes, while the majority of the power goes toward the top of the leaf. The middle portion, being one of the largest portions requires so much energy to exist, this energy will not allow it to grow rapidly, but allow it to remain healthy and vibrant, which in turn benefits the other sections that rely on it for stability. The lower section can barely survive with these new concessions, since the power is a little more than what they usually rely on. As this diverted power continues to remain though, the leaf begins to change...what was now a small top becomes bloated with over growth and monopoly. The power deprived middle becomes weak and nimble, making it shrink and weaken overall. Sure the maple leaf is still alive, but what was once a standard maple leaf, relying on all of it's parts is now a grossly perverted leaf, risking total destruction with every passing day and every new deprivation to its middle section, a section which before allowed the leaf to stand with a sound stability. As a result, the lower section has to compensate as it grows, sure it is receiving a little more than before, but since so much pressure is being placed on it due to the instability of the centre, it must expand.

Canada under Harper's *Economy* Policy

The sad reality is that Harper's promised plans may seem like they are helping Canada, which they are since our economy will benefit, but only in the sense that big business will receive greater support and in turn greater profits. Without more support, our middle class will continue to shrink and our lower class grow under the gross mutation of our upper class as government hand outs and incentives increase. Does the maple leaf still look like a maple leaf? More importantly, will Canada still look like Canada? You tell me!

To help answer Harper's question about "why another election?" His answer is that he does not think the opposition believe they have to win this election, simply that they can form a coalition and be done with it, while wasting tax dollars in the process. This greatly angers me, because it is simply more party politics being thrown down our throats, why do we have elections Mr. Harper? We have elections, because this is our country and we follow the rules of a DEMOCRACY and in a DEMOCRACY we have ELECTIONS! It doesn't matter if we have to complete 10 ELECTIONS within 5 years, we need to maintain this important factor because it defines our DEMOCRACY! Mr. Harper wanted to form a coalition in 2004 with the NDP when an ELECTION led to a Liberal minority. Without an ELECTION, Mr. Harper would not be in power right now.


 Looking at both the party bashing and the numbers and facts that have been thrown around, what do you think? How do you feel about the platforms that have come forth during the past few weeks? Which ones do you believe are possible and will support our country properly?