Free Trade of the Americas (FTAA) was given a death blow by the massive protest and police brutality in Quebec City.
A long time ago -- back in April -- the Bilderbergers had a little confab in Turkey. The items of interest were Canada and Turkey. The Canadian Prime Minister is cleverly NOT going to these parties as he knows that progressives and radicals and his other political opponents are watching him. Last year, the meeting was held outside Ottawa and even the mainstream media reported it because Canadian security forces slipped up and arrested Alex Jones of 9/11 fame and held him captive (looking for porno they said) for 15 hours. This gave the media time to come and have a look at the heavy security the Canadian taxpayer was footing for the high and mighty hanging about the place.
Since then we've been perusing papers and ‘net sites to guess what they confabbed about THIS spring. The US fleet is now in the Gulf. Turkish troops massing around the Kurds. Turkey’s playing hanky-pankying with Russia. These things get reported.
But eh? How is it Canada has been slipped in among these world hot spots?
This couldn’t be more alarming. We’re supposed to be in an economic boom! All hunky AND dory! Harper and the RCMP graft (our major source of intelligence gathering) notwithstanding, every little thing is ship shape (even with the coming "investment" in six icebreakers capable of cutting through one metre of ice). Russia has declared parts of the Arctic (read: Arctic oil) as THEIRS, but there’s no way to protect it without the assistance of the US’ Northern Commnand …
The media honeymoon with Harper has been fey from Day One. It’s plain that Harper used his western Canada oil money backers to buy a political position that no one envies. Who’d want to be PM of Canada today? Strategically, logistically, and politically we’re in an international hot seat.
Does Canada have a plan for its future? Is it even likely to get one?
Nope. Years of graft, corruption and lethargy have left the Liberal Party inert to deal with the future now upon us. The Conservatives couldn’t pull together under Preston Manning. The complacency got so rusty and cruddy, the Liberals got the boot only after the Gomery report on corruption.
We Progressives prayed Harper’s days be shortened to a few months. God proved unbountiful here, though Harper had booted the press sufficient to be targetted and skewed daily in the press for all to see.
Worse, there is no one in place to assume leadership. We do have a damned fine opposition, but insufficient numbers for a coalition government. Instead the NDP (New Democratic Party) gets hauled out in a crisis to do deal making; then we get just a dab of progressive legislation and budgetary discretion to let off some political, budgetary steam that should have been released years ago. It’s the Canadian way to not get too riled about things ….
Harper has successfully dodged calls for a new election. To the progressive way of thinking this is surprising. Our press is practiced at investigative journalism; the press corps aren’t prudes when it comes to exercising a bit of rumpy pumpy in the editorial and analysis pages. Why, we even have GOOD military and political commentators on privately held TV stations, who are just plain folks like us wanting social spending that no one is seeing. Why are all now being so kind about the boiling cauldron Canadian Government is preparing to toss us into? I think the trees have blinded them to the forest and they can't see the inner ecology of things as they are now, although cries for a reduction in warmaking troops falls on deaf ears.
Canada's true problems stem from complicated relations with the crank “New American Empire” with Prince George Bush and Cardinal Dick careening intoxicated at North America’s steering wheel these seven years. Inherited headaches from bastard parentage of the BritishEmpire, to boot, don’t help. We have a myriad of issues from this un(w)holy family system.
Unsettled land claims with First Nations peoples grow more difficult, day by day, to negotiate as aboriginals become increasingly unwilling to take money for land maculated with uranium runoffs and dirty water. Plus, the refusal by the goverment to ratify the UN agreements on aboriginal peoples is being attacked by the Liberals, who spent years themselves ignoring them ... providing them with an excuse to not ratify UN proposals.
There are the headaches about regional variations on taxation and transfer of tax payments to the Provinces. For years, rich Provinces were paying to support those less fortunate. This was bad enough, but now as the western Provinces pipeline precious resources into the US -- and they get provided to Israeli fighter jets -- people take to the streets. Why SHOULD Atlantic Canada be importing oil ..? Why are there no gas and oil reserves there? Harper's own party has been shouting at him and his paper-thin coalition of Conservative forces are at each other and him.
It's a paper thin coalition because it only exists on paper . these guys have never worked together before, it's all ink, no controlling the back benchers who are only too willing to get up and walk out and try to start their own little power ploys against the West all over again. Being a Conservative backbencher is the most thankless job in Canada and totally frustrating. They are expected to be a chorus line to Harper's stoic dance which no one fancies.
Then there is the headache of being mired in Afghanistan. This is not a popular conflict. And most importantly, we like to think of our troops as . gasp! .. peacekeepers, not pawns in a bloody US imperialist game to gain more oil resources in the Middle East.
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