To the Expositor:
I’ve had a terrible time getting to sleep these past few years. The Canadian government, self-branded as “The Harper Government”, has been having its way with our democracy. They’ve pulled strings like true puppet masters ( proroguing Parliament when things were rocky, selling off shares of GM at a loss to make it look like they could deliver a budget surplus). They’ve rammed through omnibus bills faster than cormorants can breed, making it impossible for our elected representatives to debate or scrutinize 400+ pages of sweeping changes. They’ve made our democracy silent by tightly controlling anything public servants wanted to report to the public (the number of media releases from federal science departments has dropped by over 50 percent since 2006). My slumbers were recently disturbed by the inking of the TPP trade deal that allows companies in 11 countries to sue Canada if they feel our laws and regulations limit their profits.
Canadian democracy and institutions are in shambles and the man to blame is still at the helm. Let’s all commit to putting this nightmare behind us and electing anyone but Harper.
Sleeplessly yours,
Dr. Neil Buie-Lawrence