If there was ever a time to bring down the Conservative government, it is now. First, we learn that the Cons are trying to push through a bill in the Senate that would give the feds the right to censor "objectionable" films if they are "overtly" sexual, violent or hateful. This one has gotten the attention of the Hollywood Reporter, one of the two major trade publications in LA, over whether it might affect location shoots in Canada. The problem is that often the tax credits are applied for well after principal photography is completed and a movie is into post-production.
Many of us may remember the sex farce Bubbles Galore back in 1996 and which was later broadcast on Showcase. It was a truly awful film, although also very hilarious. The controversy was over why an arms-length agency of the government would authorize funding for such a movie which barely skirted the line of soft-core pornography which Canadian rules forbid funding for.
Why wouldn't they fund such a movie? Many of the films "approved" by Telefilm Canada (99% in fact) have been a hundred times worse and only a hundredth as popular. It was probably one of the few films that actually made money for the feds.
The other, of course, is the affair that is becoming known as "Cadmangate." We now have three sources -- Chuck Cadman's widow, daughter and son-in-law all insisting the story about his being offered a million dollar bribe is authentic.
Harper, by his own words, said he let the two goons who made the offer go ahead and try although Harper himself said that they were wasting their time. If this was a leader who was crowing for weeks during the spring of 2005 about the perceived lack of ethics of the Liberals (as they were then constituted) and that things would be very different if he was running things, why in God's name would he have let them make the offer in the first place?
Doesn't Harper understand that one can't have two rules -- one for himself and one for everyone else? The concept of due process implies among other things, similar cases will result in similar sanctions. A bribe is a bribe whether it's money promised now or in the future. Making the offer is itself a crime, and agreeing to an attempt to make it would also be such; in the same way that hiring a hit man to commit a murder is the same in the law as doing the dirty deed oneself.
It's up to the Mounties, of course, to determine whether a crime was committed. This isn't just a failure of the sniff test, it's a backup of the RV sewer disposal unit at a trailer park or truck stop.
The Liberals in Ottawa have no more excuses. It's time to force an election, and let the people decide if Harper's test drive has gone on long enough. Drop the hammer, now -- and let the buffalo chips fall where they may.
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2 comments:
The chances of the Liberal Opposition bringing the government down anytime in the near future are somewhere between slim and none.
They know they cannot win a majority and anything less than a minority government (iffy at best)means a change in leadership - something they badly need IMO.
That, and nothing else, is what is guiding Her Majesties Loyal Opposition these days. What may, or may not, be good for Canada and Canadians is a distant second to party politics.
Bill C10, is in the 3rd reading in the SENATE.
Harper can't push thru anything in a minority govt, unless he makes it a confidence vote.
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