Oh Canada....!

Sweet Jesus!! What a week. First off the Conservatives wreck my universe by pulling a takeover of the majority that I did not see coming. I feel slightly foolish about it...I mean sure – I don’t hang out with Conservative minded people generally but Harper's leadership is less than stellar....and he is downright sketchy...and this CLEARLY does not matter to 40% of the voters.

Things that ppl don’t seem to mind about Harper:

1- All that Contempt of Parliament business...no biggy right?

2- In 2009, Harper appointed a Minister of Science who refused to say whether he believed in evolution. (uhh duh!) Harper then cut science research funding by $138 Million (while the US invested $2.75 Billion). Since 2007 Harper has forced scientists at Environment Canada to get permission to do interviews, often screening their answers. As a result media coverage of climate change science was reduced by 80%. (I guess if we ignore it will go away right?)

3- The Alliance Church, to which Harper has belonged for decades, believes Jesus Christ will return to Earth in an apocalypse, won't ordain women, strongly opposes abortion and divorce, condemns homosexuality as the most base of sins and believes those who aren't born-again are 'lost.' (Yeah that’s who I want making laws in Canada)

4- In order to protect the profits of his friends in Big Oil Stephen Harper has purposely sabotaged global efforts to deal with climate change. He has been so destructive in this regard that in 2009 prominent politicians and scientists called for Canada to be removed from the Commonwealth. This mark of shame had last been used against South Africa when it was still under racist Apartheid rule. (Oh, nice affiliation...)

5- On April 3rd, 2011 Harper had his people lurk a teenager's Facebook page and then kick her out of an event because she had posed for a photo with the Liberal leader Michael Igantieff. This should come as no surprise from Harper - he tried and failed (4 times!) to create a law that would allow the government to obtain your personal information from an internet provider - without a warrant. (Paranoid much?)

6- Harper plans to double annual prison spending by 2015 (an increase of $5 billion annually), despite the fact that crime rates have been falling for a decade.

7- Since 2006, Harper has cut funding for women's advocacy by 43 per cent, shut 12 out of 16 Status of Women offices in Canada and eliminated funding of legal voices for women and minority groups, including the National Association of Women and the Law and the Courts Challenges Program. (Hmmmmm...)

8- Harper's economic 'recovery' favoured the extremely wealthy. Over 321,000 Canadians lost their jobs in 2008 and Canadians' average wages fell. Meanwhile Canada's 100 wealthiest persons became richer, reaching an average net worth of $1.7 billion each, up almost 5 per cent from 2008.

9- Stephen Harper turned our international reputation from 'Peacekeeper' to 'Torture-Giver'.
'We detained, and handed over for severe torture, a lot of innocent people.' in 2009 Canadian Diplomat Richard Colvin shocked the nation with these words. In Afghanistan, Canada captured 6x more prisoners than the British and 20x as many as the Dutch. Colvin explained that 'Many were just local people: farmers; truck drivers; tailors, peasants...the likelihood is that all the Afghans we handed over were tortured.' (Awesome work!)

10- The government cancelled Canada’s most important national energy efficiency programs and has allowed greenhouse gas emissions to increase in Canada.

11- The Harper government slashed funding to the Canadian NGOs that carry out our crucial development and aid work, including women’s groups; in their “signature” maternal health initiative, the government refused to support access to family planning and reproductive health services. (Holy backwards Batman!)

12 - The handling of his ousted MP and allegations made against her that were never substantiated...that was handled really poorly, embarrassingly so, very Jerry Springer...was sad to see she lost her Independent seat...

Drop in the bucket…ask Guy how his environmental work/contracts have dwindled to practically nothing since Harper’s been in office…No funding = No environmental monitoring/safeguards. Awesome…and I am sure he has done some ok stuff too…but that stuff is a given – that’s the stuff you expect from anyone running a country. I am not of the mindset that anyone can be in such a position and not appear to be a dirt bag but the right wing agenda here is a massive concern and should be for everyone.

Esther the Molester was over for dinner last night…I like her. She is young – yes – but she is interesting and entertaining without being a mindless twat. We had some good chat, food and hang out time…good night all around.

Booked my ticket for Ayla’s dance recital May 28…can’t wait. It is her last one since there will be no dance next year so I am going to enjoy the shit out of it. I actually (and oddly) quite enjoy the shows. Ayla is not on until after the intermission but I plan to go for the 1st half…mainly b/c I do find it enjoyable.

OH! Once thing Harper is good for! I was so mortified by the election it made my period come early so I won’t be DAY 1 HORRIFIC on Saturday (wedding in Parksville)…YAY! Thanks Stephen Harper for making my body abort!! You are awesome!

Right now I am on my lunch break and baked on T3’s to avoid crawling under my desk and rocking myself into a trance…it is gunna be serious stoner time up at Jenny’s house tonight for Survivor…these are the time I wish I was a weed smoker….