A Student Speaks out about Guelph

A student speaks out about the Conservative attempt to discredit the 700 U of G votes.

Would it have been a bad thing for all the special university polls to have taken place?

For the sake of accuracy, I felt it best to update my blog-post regarding the 700 votes at the U of G.

The thing about twitter is, one can follow a story as it is evolving. It can be exciting and allows one to feel part of the process, a part of history unfolding before our very eyes, such as how Facebook and Twitter allowed us Lilly-white westerners to feel apart of the Egyptian Revolution. 

As an aside here, the Egyptians were revolting against as regime that was trying to suppress their right to vote much as the Con Regime was trying to suppress the Guelph student's right to vote.

But because Twitter is a collection of professional journalists,  along with people from all walks of life, it can sometimes be difficult to separate fact from theory and opinion. One of the "professional" theories yesterday was that the special polls were considered as not legitimate because of students registering and voting at the same time.  The thought process being, "what the hell is the Cons problem with this special poll"?

As it turns out, the special poll was in fact sanctioned by the Local Elections Canada Returning officer. A measure that was hoped (and quite accurately so) would encourage students to become involved in the election. It had apparently been done at Guelph before. The purpose being to accommodate students who would no longer be at school when election day rolls around on May 2nd.

Special polls are allowed by Elections Canada to accommodate various groups, such as seniors in nursing homes or aboriginals in isolated communities so that they may be able to vote. With this spirit in mind, U of G was allowed a special polling station. In fact, more than 20 universities across the country have arranged for the same kind of "vote mob" to take place. 

What a wonderful way to involve students in the democratic process. Make voting a social, festive affair. A collective right of passage, a celebration of their democratic right to participate in our government. Someone should have thought of this long ago. Make voting a "celebration" across the country. Make it a holiday, a joyous occasion.

But alas, despite all the pre-planning that had occurred regarding the Guelph polling station and the sanctioning by the local Returns Officer and it having been overseen by EC monitors, it was still not officially allowable under EC rules. The reason being apparently, there was not "enough" advance planning, like pre election. Though how one can plan for a special poll when one doesn't know the exact date the Government is going to fall is beyond me. Also, all parties have to be notified in advance of the special polling location, something which did not occur.

So it seems the rules around these special polling stations is not widely known. As I said, at least 20 other University "Vote Mobs" have been arranged across the country. I would imagine those Returns Officers weren't aware of the rules either. And as I said, this is not the first time Guelph has had a special polling station to accommodate their students. 

So chances are, if the Cons had not been frightened by the concept of students actually voting and tried to commit the federal offense of stealing an elections Canada ballot box, all these special polls would likely have occured and all the votes would have counted. Would that have been a bad thing?

One of the alleged Con concerns was that there was partisan material present at the polling station. However it appears that U of G was very careful to follow Elections Canada guide lines around the provision of political material at a polling station. As I understand it, there was none present on site or within 100 meters of the site. But eventually, all political literature was removed entirely from the campus except for the presence of signs, one for each of the parties, at a location far distant from the polling station.

Apparently, an allegation has been made that either the hit man, Michael Sona, (the guy who tried to intimidate students and abscond with the ballot box), or the Con candidate himself was seen filming U of G students in a line up as they waited to vote. If true, this is yet another federal offense. But somehow, I doubt that anyone is going to be serving any time like you or I would for the commission of these heinous federal offenses. This is after all, the Harper Cons we're talking about. They are above the law!

700 Guelph votes will count because the "cons" are such nice guys

 Ok, so it seems that, if the "Twitterverse" is to believed, Elections Canada has found that "special" polling stations such as U of G are not sanctioned and therefore cannot occur in the future. Mainly because students were registering and voting at the same time. Thought you could register at a polling station? 

So the Cons will "allow" the 700 votes to stand because they are great guys and all. And now they are "spinning" this as a problem with a sloppy EC official. And they are grinning ear to ear to be able to pin this fracas on Elections Canada.

Cons are at war with EC by the way because EC nailed the Cons for their "in and out" scam in 2006. The Cons consider this an "administrative dispute" much as they characterize contempt of Parliament as "Parliamentary bickering".

Apparently "Voting Mobs" can still place at advanced polls and on election day. But this does not take into account the students issue of not being on campus come election day. And how many of the 700 would have voted without the encouragement of the School?

This is NOT a student friendly decision. They are being discouraged from voting once again because students would typically not vote conservative. So the Harper strategy remains one of "vote suppression". 

No word on charges re: the attempted ballot box snatching. Seeing as the 700 votes are being allowed to stand, this attempted theft of legitimate ballots is a federal offense worthy of some serious jail time in one of those nice new shiny conservative super jails. But will this occur? Not likely. And will this heinous offense stick to Teflon Stevie? Also not likely.

Wanted, For Crimes Against the People of Canada

Join the Beaver Revolution

Ok all you Hosers, get out there and VOTE on May 2nd. This is STILL our country. Lets KEEP it that way.

Harper Wins the Coalition Battle

Well the 2011 federal election campaign was barely one day old when Stephen Harper had already fought and won a major battle, one that could ensure his return to power on May 2nd.

Harper's argument about coalitions being an illegitimate form of government, a government forged from back-room deals rather than the will of the people, is absolutely ludicrous. Ask Israel or England or Poland if they feel their governments are illegitimate. But Stephen knows this all to well. 

The Coalition "monster" that the Conservatives have been warning us about is strictly a product of the Tory Spin-Doctor machine. As they've learned over the years, all they have to do is put the "misinformation" out there, frequently and forcefully and throw in a few well chosen adjectives like referring to the Bloc as the "Separatists" and the NDP as the "Socialists" and they have a monster. At a speech given in Montreal to a number of business types, Jim Flaherty used the phrase "coalition" no less than 14 times, as though he were attempting to conjure up an evil spirit or control the minds of the audience through the power of "auto-suggestion" like some cheap vaudeville hypnotist.

So the monster doesn't actually have to be real. The Spin-Doctors just have to say it often enough and passionately enough, and it becomes real. Harper knows this. In fact, he explored the possibility of a coalition Government with the "Separatists" and the "Socialists" himself in 2004 while Paul Martin was still Prime Minister and no three-headed Hydras appeared.

So the auto-suggestion technique seems to have worked it's evil magic once again. The "suggested" theme, an "evil coalition of the damned" was thrown out there so often that the members of the media latched onto it and applied sustained pressure on the Opposition leader, Michael Ignatieff to articulate his stance on the possibility of his forming a coalition Government.

But prior to the fall of the Government of Harper,  all three opposition parties seemed to have simultaneously snapped their fingers and awoken the media and the electorate from it's trance by producing a 2004 letter to then Governor General, Adrienne Clarkson, signed by  Stephen Harper, Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe that seemed to be asking the GG to  consider the alternative of a coalition Government should Paul Martins fragile Liberal Minority Government of the time lose the confidence of the house.

That seemed to have rid us all of the Evil Coalition suggestion once and for all. Stephen Harper seemed to have no suitable comeback for this new revelation that he too had explored to coalition alternative. But the Tory Witch Doctors continued to perpetuate it's myth never the less. If nothing else, they are good at what they do. 

But then a funny thing happened on the way to the forum. The Government of Harper fell to a non confidence motion due to it's contempt for the House of Parliament. And the Coalition suggestion kicked back in as if Mr. Harper had rung a little bell from somewhere on the floor of the Commons. And the media immediately snapped into action, pouring unprecedented pressure on the leader of the opposition to give them an answer as to whether or not he would consider a coalition Government should the Tories win the most seats.

And Ignatieff finally relented and gave them an unequivocal "NO"! He would not, could not, should not form a coalition under any circumstances. And instantly, a very real and viable alternative to any future Tory minority was lost forever. There is no way the Liberals could go back on a statement like that and retain any shred of credibility, to be able to say they are more "honest" than the previous Government of Harper. Which means that the only hope that there would not be any future Tory minority Governments is that either the Liberals OR the NDP become the first party "past the post", meaning they get the most seats in Parliament. This is indeed, putting all our eggs into one very leaky basket, which is exactly what Mr. harper had hoped for. 

Mr. Harper has not been pressured to make the same claim regarding a coalition Government. He has promised nothing. If Liberals should gain the most seats but fall short of a majority, there is nothing what so ever stopping the Tories from attempting to form a coalition of it's own as it was considering in 2004. So unless Michael Ignatieff goes back on his promise, the only thing between the country and another Harper-Con minority is the Liberals winning a majority Government, which at this times seems to be highly unlikely.  

So while this war is destined to continue for a further five weeks, it appears that it's outcome may already have been determined as a result of the very first battle fought on the very first day of the campaign.

Change the Channel on Attack Ads

While I'm not necessarily a Green Party adherent, I do like Elizabeth May and agree completely with the sentiment here. Attack ads are completely out of control and they diminish the character of Canada and Canadian politics. In fact, there is nothing Canadian about them. A symptom of the belligerence which Americans have come to accept as the "norm" in their politics because they so slavishly adhere to their right to free speech.

Free speech is great, a right to be sure, but with rights come responsibility. I am entitled to my opinion, but in turn, you are equally entitled and have the right to not have to endure it. So in that same vain, Canadian political parties might "cling" to the notion of free speech when it comes to attack ads, but I also reserve the right to not have to endure such hateful negativity. It's un-Canadian and counter productive.

Canadian political parties have a responsibility to engage the electorate in meaningful dialogue. They have a responsibility as our leaders to model proper ethical behaviour and decorum. But in recent years, Canadian political parties, The Harper-Cons being the worst offenders, almost daily lowering the bar on civility and ethicalness, have chosen the "low road" when it comes to winning votes. It appears that the strategy now is to gain votes by lying and slandering the opposition rather than winning over hearts and minds. And quite frankly, any politician that can't do the latter, won't be getting my vote, nor should they be getting yours.

I switch channels now when a political ad comes on. And I am not inclined to switch back either. So TV networks should be paying attention also.