Question: What do you call a government that
1. refuses to defend the constitutional rights of a Canadian, imprisoned as a child and tortured by the Americans in Guantanamo Bay and refuses to repatriate another Canadian trapped in a kafkaesque nightmare in Sudan
2. refuses to allow war resisters to remain in Canada, despite two resolutions passed by the House of Commons to that effect
3. plans to bring back draconian national security laws including preventive detentions of people alleged on the basis of secret charges to be planning terrorist activity
4. continues to detain immigrants on the basis of secret evidence
5. imposes a no-fly list on Canadians that is compiled on the basis of secret allegations and against which there is no effective appeal
6. continues to fight a war in Afghanistan against the will of the majority of Canadians while barring critics and welcoming war criminals
7. shamelessly promotes an environmental disaster known as the Alberta tar sands despite the wishes of Canadians for environmental sustainability
8. considers its leader to be above the law, as demonstrated by the Cadman affair
9. protects former Tory Prime Minister from facing the Criminal Code of Canada with its flawed from the get-go Mulroney-Schreiber inquiry
10. prorogues Parliament to avoid facing a vote of confidence and certain defeat at the hands of a Parliamentary coalition representing two-thirds of Canadians who voted in the last election
Answer: Dangerous. Absolutist. Menacing. A subversive force that is undermining democracy in Canada. Thugs in blue sweaters. A government that must be defeated and sent packing as soon as possible.
Paul S. Graham 