Categories: Deux Maudits Anglais

"One of the most incompetent and harmful governments this country has ever known"

André Pratte has an absolutely devastating editorial in today’s La Presse, in which he…

by Philippe Gohier on Friday, July 23, 2010 4:43pm - 0 Comments

André Pratte has an absolutely devastating editorial in today’s La Presse, in which he essentially calls for an anti-Harper mutiny by cabinet ministers he otherwise lambastes “for having such a poor handle on their files, they unjustly make the federal government look profoundly incompetent.” You really should go read the thing for yourself, but here are some translated bits:

The controversy surrounding the terms of the census is typical of the pillaging the conservatives have engaged in since coming to power. Not only is their behaviour dictated by simplistic ideology, the Conservatives impose their politics while displaying a exceptional degree of incompetence.

A competent right-wing government would have asked Statistics Canada to do an in-depth comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of mandatory and optional census forms. It would have then submitted the proposed solution to consultation, as is done with all modifications to the census. Instead, the government decided to change its approach in spite of the reservations of Statistics Canada on the sole basis of phone calls to MPs’ constituency offices. School boards are run more seriously than that.

[...]

Before this government does even more harm to the institution that is the government of Canada, the intelligent people within the federal cabinet have a duty to rise up and stop the pillaging. Otherwise, the Harper government may be remembered as one of the most incompetent and harmful governments this country has ever known.

I think it’s probably safe to say Pratte would like to politely withdraw his paper’s 2006 endorsement of the Conservatives.

Tags: André Pratte, census, conservatives, La Presse, Stephen Harper

More by Philippe Gohier

http://intensedebate.com/people/SeanStok Sean

"I think it’s probably safe to say Pratte would like to politely withdraw his paper’s 2006 endorsement of the Conservatives."

Heh.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Jenn_ Jenn_

Well, we shall see if they still feel that way come election time.

But am I dreaming? I don't know so much about endorsement, but did Le Presse predict it right every single time? Of course, I note 2008 wasn't mentioned, so they must have got it wrong that time.
http://intensedebate.com/profiles/saskboy saskboy

It's likely they'll endorse the Conservatives again next campaign. The media likes to pick a perceived 'winning team', and the polls will narrowly pick the Conservatives with slightly more support of 1/3rd of voting Canadians. The majority of people, non-voters, and other party supporters, will again be treated to a minority government that acts like it has a majority of seats.

Brian

2006 was a long time ago.
http://intensedebate.com/people/PolJunkie PolJunkie

Of course they will. They spent the past months mocking Ignatieff, that's after savaging the previous leader in their pages every chance they got (especially Andre Pratte). How can they possibly sing from another songsheet now?

La Presse isn't the only culprit. The Globe will do the same.

Emily

Ooooh Ouch!

However if they're looking for 'intelligent people within the federal cabinet' they'll search in vain.

http://intensedebate.com/people/OntarioTown OntarioTown

Problem is – Harper is cabinet and the others are puppets that fill the seats in the HofC
inge

Agreed!

Bob

Wish I could respond "one of the most ridiculous and hyperbolic headlines Wherry has ever used"… unfortunately, that's probably not true, but not because this headline isn't ridiculous and hyperbolic.

practical mom

This isn't from Wherry.
http://intensedebate.com/people/DerekPearce DerekPearce

Er, and this translated excerpt isn't from Wherry, it's from Gohier.

http://intensedebate.com/people/OntarioTown OntarioTown

Obvious that Wherry is on the Conservative hit list.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Gaunilon Gaunilon

I know it sounds like a Wherry headline, but the piece is by Gohier and the line is from Pratte.
Andrew (not P or C)

If you're going to be a hack, at least try not to be a lazy, incompetent hack.
http://intensedebate.com/people/Ottawa_Centrist Ottawa_Centrist

pwnd
http://intensedebate.com/people/PhilippeG Philippe Gohier

Here, I'll do it for you:

This is one of the most ridiculous and hyperbolic headlines Wherry has ever used. Shame on you, Aaron. Really. I thought you were above this kind of gratuitous nonsense.

Olaf

Haha. Despite the pretty solid arguments I've seen here, such as the fact that there's no concrete evidence that Wherry had anything to do with this post, I also still blame him. Wherry, for the last time, up your game, you hack! :)

knick

It never ceases to entertain me how Harper supporters continue to try to defend the indefensible.

http://intensedebate.com/people/TwoYen TwoYen

Many Conservative supporters are not backing the PM on this one.

http://intensedebate.com/people/tobyornotoby tobyornotoby

Telling the Harper Conservatives to quit wrecking things is a bit like telling rioters that they might break some windows if they don't stop throwing rocks.

sylvia ray

right on

http://intensedebate.com/people/psiclone psiclone

hahahahahah – I love it when pundits goes right over the top as they only supply feed into their own level and if anything turn the open minded off! keep up the good work here and the outcome will be more votes for us Tories.

http://intensedebate.com/people/DerekPearce DerekPearce

Nope, this is one of those little things like the prorogation– just when the Cons start to rise in the polls they do something dumb that brings them back down again.

http://intensedebate.com/people/s_c_f s_c_f

Back to reality: They've pretty well held steady for the last two years, and in fact they were at their peak just following the prorogation.

Keith in Brampton

"open minded" and "tories" in the same sentence? Now there's something you don't often see…

Jenn_

Ah, well that is Wayne's (EDIT: psiclone's) writing style. In spite of the lack of a capital letter, those really were two sentences. So you didn't see it here, either. :)

danby

and the outcome will be more votes for us Tories

Oh I dunno? It seems unlikely Mr Pratte is going to vote conservative again, and if I'm not mistaken, he does have a bit of a pulpit – and I hazard to guess, a few followers as well.
denialawareness

What are you really saying here, psiclone? Do you really love it "when pundits goes right over the top" (perhaps you meant "pundits go…")? Do you think that it is a good thing to "turn the open minded off"? Wouldn't it be better to increase your voter base by turning the open minded ON? As an open-minded person, I'm very confused by your message and I often find that Tories/Conservative-types use a great deal of sarcasm when responding to something with which they do not agree. This does not give a clear message.

Anon 001

When even the National Post thinks you're an idiot, you know the jig's up.

Bob

When did La Presse become the National Post?

http://intensedebate.com/people/DZulu Dave Z.

I'm pretty sure Anon 001 was referring to the editorial in the Post a while back criticising making the long form voluntary.

Anon 001

Kelly's article too, as well as a column by ex-PMO staffer, Keith Beardsley. Only SUN Media, which is really an extension of the PMO, is still supportive.

http://intensedebate.com/people/s_c_f s_c_f

Wow, the media tilts leftwards. In other news, the sky is blue.
http://intensedebate.com/people/charlesh Charles H.

Mark this in your diaries, folks. Somebody just accused the National Post of liberal bias.
http://intensedebate.com/people/s_c_f s_c_f

who?
Neil B

Um, you did. Just two steps above, when you said "Wow, the media tilts leftwards. In other news, the sky is blue" in reply to mentions of NP editorials by Kelly McParland and Keith Beardsley. You know that we can read, right?
LBS

But then you have to acknowledge that the Post is just an extension of the Fiberal Party.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Jenn_ Jenn_

It was also a headline of Wherry's, IIRC

http://intensedebate.com/people/charlesh Charles H.

Aaron's title was "When a Conservative loses the Post, what's left?"

Which was itself a reference to a Post column that ran the shortly before titled "When a Liberal loses the Star, what's left?"

http://intensedebate.com/people/OntarioTown OntarioTown

What is your problem? He was pointing out that the National Post is no in favour of Harper's census, etc.

Are you that daft?

Good grief – Bob can't seem to comprehend anything

http://intensedebate.com/people/lgarvin lgarvin

“Hope is the worst of evils, for it prolongs the torment of man” – Nietzsche

http://intensedebate.com/people/BGLong BGLong

Occasionally .. and shockingly … the NattyPoo lets something useful slip through …

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2010/07/22/jo…

http://intensedebate.com/people/Halo_Override Halo_Override

"Taliban Lawrence" just doesn't have the same ring to it, unfortunately.

Talking to the Taliban. I guess every time a Canadian soldier dies, it brings a smile to Lawrence Cannon's lips.

frobisher

Though 'Taliban Larry' kinda sings.
http://intensedebate.com/people/Halo_Override Halo_Override

You're totally right. I would order a Taliban Larry at a beach resort, if they confirmed there was no sambuca in it.
frobisher

Why do you hate our sambuca?
http://intensedebate.com/people/Halo_Override Halo_Override

It tastes like freedom.
LBS

That sounds like something that would come from a Liberal apologist or a NDP Sympathizer. After all the Liberals sent our troops there vastly unequipped for the job that they were ordered to do.

Calgary Junkie

What about the talk radio guys–Rutherford, Gormley, Adler, Lowell Green–they all think the "mandatory" defenders are a bunch of idiots. I guess they don't count, though.

Meanwhile, the early polls show that Harper is on the right track on the census (49 % agree) and the employment equity review(even CBC viewers agree with him 58 to 38 !)

You lefties gotta spend more time in other websites, freeping those polls, or your "arguments" fall flat..

Calgary Junkie

Ooops, I forgot to add, the Globe online poll on the employment equity review is 80/20 in favor of what this "incompetent" government is doing.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/globe-online-…

http://intensedebate.com/people/tobyornotoby tobyornotoby

I didn't realize there were so many underemployed Conservatives.
Anon Liberal

I thought the lefties were freeping those polls. I guess only when they produce results you don't like, eh?
http://intensedebate.com/people/charlesh Charles H.

Online polls = less than worthless. (And I've said this with polls that support my view as well, before you try that line.)

But then again, you've already displayed a shocking lack of knowledge of statistical methods in other posts, so I shouldn't be surprised.

http://intensedebate.com/people/OntarioTown OntarioTown

Excuse me – you are referring to the Rush Limbaugh's of the north. Not exactly well rounded guys there.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Gaunilon Gaunilon

" La controverse qui entoure ces jours-ci les modalités du recensement est typique du saccage auquel se livrent les conservateurs depuis qu'ils sont au pouvoir."

Pratte gets no argument from me that the census fiasco was handled incompetently, but he'd need to provide more examples to make the case that's it's "typique de saccage" since they've been in power. It actually struck me as a sort of unusual screw-up.

And I'm really not sure he wants to be making competence comparisons to previous governments (Martin?) or damage (the corruption under Chretien and Mulroney?) to the country. That seems like pretty over-the-top hyperbole.

Emily

Out of the country for the last 4 years eh?
http://intensedebate.com/people/NorthernPoV NorthernPoV

Emily,
I'm never sure if Gainilon is purposely disingenuous or simply obtuse.

Just like Ontario has yet to recover from the vandalism of the Harris years, if we ever get the chance to set things right in Canada again it will take decades to repair the damage wrought by these wretches…

http://intensedebate.com/people/s_c_f s_c_f

Might take centuries. Millenia. Hopefully, by the time that happens, the Conservatives will have fixed the damage caused by the Liberals that started with Trudeau.

Blacktop

And there is the root of all incompetence – Trudeau closely followed by Chretien when it comes to Corruption – Remember that is what plowed the ground so that the Conservatives could get in. Trudeau and his charter brouoght upheaval all around, and none of it pretty.

Gaunilon

"I'm never sure if Gainilon is purposely disingenuous or simply obtuse. "

Simply obtuse. Anything else I can help you with?
While we're on the topic (barely), what is the pattern of lasting damage that you've seen, beyond the census issue (already mentioned), the stimulus (you'd probably want more of it!) and the budget (you'd probably be against further cuts, yes?). My objections to the CPC tend to be from a different viewpoint (a different POV, as it were) than yours. Hard to believe, I know!

http://intensedebate.com/people/PolJunkie PolJunkie

"Pratte gets no argument from me that the census fiasco was handled incompetently, but he'd need to provide more examples to make the case that's it's "typique de saccage" since they've been in power."

He did. Read the article again.
James

You want more examples? How about spending over a billion dollars for a weekend summit, using the fiscal stimulus package as a giant barrel of pork, idiotic law-and-order legislation that accomplishes nothing but appeases right wing extremists, embarrassing the country at the UN and other international fora, lowering taxes to a level that puts us in a permanent deficit, screwing over pensioners and disabled people by killing legislation to give them their fair share in bankruptcies such as Nortel's, ignoring our commitment to reduce GHGs under Kyoto, stacking the Senate with political appointees to do an end-run around the elected House of Commons, proroguing the House in order to avoid a confidence motion, lying to the Canadian people about coalition governments being somehow illegal. The only thing "over the top" about Pratte's commentary is the phrase "one of".

http://intensedebate.com/people/BGLong BGLong

And, sharing the love ….

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/otta…
wilson

So how is Pratte's article any different than, oh say a Traver's or Well's article?
Say lines, same story, same same same….boring

James Connors

Say lines, same story, same same same….boring

Madame Wilson, I am not surprised to learn you live in a house with no mirrors.

It nearly makes me look kindly upon you.

wilson

Mr JC, it is the same crap we have been reading for years.
It is boring, it never changes.
Incompetent, destroying our institutions, destroying Canada's reputation, ideological, far right……

BORING

Jon Pertwee

shorter wilson: Its only interesting if I agree with it.

http://intensedebate.com/people/BGLong BGLong

It's in french ?
http://intensedebate.com/people/s_c_f s_c_f

It is rather boring. They post headlines repeating what each other has said. Journalist "X" says "A". Journalist "Y" posts headline: "X says A". Journalist "Z" posts headline saying "Y agrees with X who says A". And on it goes.

wilson

Exactly,
for example
G&M says all the provinces have come out against Harpers census changes.
They all copy paste and repeat it, Calgary Grit repeats it.

I find Nova Scotia, BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan Premiers are 'wait and see' , 'will work with the changes'.
Can't find one word from Charest or Danny,
so I quit looking.

Ontario squacked and Manitoba whined about having to pay for their own data.

The msm, which can not contain their contempt for Harper,
are in over drive, they are making things up.

http://intensedebate.com/people/OntarioTown OntarioTown

I feel sorry for you.

Wilson's motto: Agee with me or you are a Harper hater, Liberal biased and if you agree with me I'm going to the garden to eat worms.

Ariadne

And La Presse is noted for its intellegence?

http://intensedebate.com/people/Halo_Override Halo_Override

Well, they're a federalist newspaper in Quebec who endorsed Harper in '06 despite their "liberal leanings". So you tell me.
http://intensedebate.com/people/s_c_f s_c_f

Apparently not.
http://nottawa.blogspot.com Mark

That comment would have been a bit more credible had you spelled intelligence correctly.

http://intensedebate.com/people/NorthernPoV NorthernPoV

Bingo

http://intensedebate.com/people/OntarioTown OntarioTown

Are you?

Ariadne

I would like to ask Mr. Gohier and Andre Bratte, and Mclean a question. Supreme Court of Canada has just released a ruling that says any Canadian can be compensated if their charter of rights are violated/breached, even if there has never been a misconduct by authorities. Will this apply to mandatory census, you think? If so, how much do you think will the tax payers be in the hook? Your prompt answer is very much appreciated.

frobisher

Good question, Ariadne. So far the census has not been seen to be in need of adjudication at a constitutional level. Though who knows? This government may desire to have it adjudicated thus. Good luck with that.

By the way, having been judged by the the SCoC to have had his charter rights violated/breached, how much do you think Omar Khadr's claim is worth?

LBS

$1.49 would be too much for him and his family.

http://intensedebate.com/people/PhilippeG Philippe Gohier

"If so, how much do you think will the tax payers be in the hook?"

$0.00

Holly Stick

On the other hand, 1100 or so peacful protestors who had their civil rights trampled on should end up with a hefty payment. Could the taxpayers then turn around and sue the politicians for their stupid decisions?

wilson

Did McGuinty give orders the orders?

http://intensedebate.com/people/OntarioTown OntarioTown

Did Harper give the orders?
Holly Stick

Did Harper decide to waste one or two billion taxpayers' dollars on what was laughingly described as security for the G8/G20? Why yes, I believe he did. Did he choose to hold the G20 in downtown Toronto? Yes again. What were the exact orders he gave to his overpaid security forces? A public inquiry could look into that, if Harper had the guts and integrity to call one.

Did McGuinty pretend to pass some law or regulation or something purportedly extending the powers of police, without clarifying it for all concerned? Something of the sort does indeed appear to have happened. A public inquiry could look into that, if McGuinty had the guts and integrity to call one.
http://intensedebate.com/people/OntarioTown OntarioTown

I think we should have a "Federal" inquiry. We don't need to pay for two. The Federal inquiry should investigate all provinces involved (police), Federal agencies, and of course McGuinty, etc. would come in that inquiry.

Let's bring it all in in one inquiry. Why do you suppose Harper's puppets fillibustered the Committee Meeting on this issue
LBS

No the law was always there. The only one who circumvented it was the Toronto Chief of Police who admitted that he changed the law to suit his purposes. Once you entered the fenced off zone, you were open to be searched, but Blair changed it to anyone outside the fence that the police wanted to take3 down, even outside the 5 yard limit that Blair created.

http://intensedebate.com/people/tobyornotoby tobyornotoby

I think there should be more zeros in that answer …
Anon Liberal

Ha!

Loraine Lamonjtagne

The Constitution Act, 1867 could be found to be unconstitutional? Don't think so.

EFL

Vive le QC songeur!
Dee

I always liked Andre Pratte. And now I like him even more…
EFL

Lortie – 'Science, peur et statistiques' – Read it:
"C’est à cette époque quasiment moyen-âgeuse que j’ai pensé en apprenant que le gouvernement conservateur avait décidé de venir patauger dans le recensement. Cette époque où la science était mal vue, c’est apparemment celle qui est dans leur tête." http://blogues.cyberpresse.ca/lortie/2010/07/23/s…
http://intensedebate.com/people/Scott_Tribe Scott_Tribe

Stockwell Day strikes today – 'Even prisoners of war only have to give their name, rank and serial number.'

They also don't have to pay taxes, so whats your point? (The Globe and Mail is calling this "the Hogan's Heroes Defence".

http://intensedebate.com/people/doug_rogers doug_rogers

What he is saying is, that like Omar Kadr, Canadians can expect no help from this government.

http://intensedebate.com/people/BGLong BGLong

Well, we'll see who gets helped "home" first …. the confused kid or the corporate looter.
http://intensedebate.com/people/Sir_Francis Sir_Francis

What he is saying is that… Canadians can expect no help from this government.

More to the point, he's saying that a government should treat the populace the way it treats those with whom it is at war. Prrety much says it all about the CPC vision of citizenship.

frobisher

Zing!

http://intensedebate.com/people/Sir_Francis Sir_Francis

Heh. And thanks for not pointing out the typo!
frobisher

I wish I was smarts enough fer typos. But I's ain't. So yer welcome.

Anon Liberal

That makes me especially nervous given what we know about how this government treats prisoners of war.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Halo_Override Halo_Override

Oh, Doris.

NiceGuy

Oh, so NOW you're a part of the country? When you want to bitch? Feel free to get out then, and don't let the door hit you on the a$$ on the way out.

frobisher

Are you talking to those damn imaginary kids on your lawn again?
http://scottdiatribe.canflag.com/ Scott_Tribe

Does that apply to Nova Scotia too, where the Chronicle-Herald called for Tony Clement's resignation? Or does Ontario get kicked out, for the Globe and Star both again condemning the move in their editorials, and the Ottawa Citizen for saying the Conservatives have been exposed as ideologues?

You cant kick out everyone that disagrees with your guys in Ottawa – else the only part of Canada left will be Alberta.

http://intensedebate.com/people/s_c_f s_c_f

Back to reality: the last poll showed the Cons leading in every province except Quebec.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Sir_Francis Sir_Francis

Heh. The more important poll will be the next poll, pal. Expect to be disappointed.

I predict Harper will be back to the 30%-33% sinkhole he was in six months ago.

s_c_f

What a fearsome prediction. The last poll had them at 32.4%. That's still a 7 point lead, though.
http://intensedebate.com/people/Sir_Francis Sir_Francis

The poll before last had the CPC at almost 36%. Excellent! They're already starting to tank! Thanks for that, s_c_f…
s_c_f

Sorry to burst your bubble: Ekos polls always have them lower. If you stick with one pollster, their support has not changed.
wilson

Sir Francis,
you forget Harper isn't the only leader in the election campaign.
And SunTV will be up and running, if the govt falls on the budget.

Iffy gets to flipflop across Canada too! Luvin and hatin' coalitions, the oilsands and asbestos.
Jack's going for the #2 spot this time, more NDPers in a coalition government!
Duceppe's gotta be running his last campaign, so it should be a divisive on.
And then there's the unknown
http://intensedebate.com/people/Sir_Francis Sir_Francis

SunTV will be up and running…

SunTV? Oooh…You're bringing out the big guns now, Wilson. ;)

If SunTV gets even twice the Canadian viewership Fox News currently enjoys, it shall have about as much impact on the next election as the editorial pages of Pravda had on the Republican primaries of the 1980's.

Mark

No. It most certainly did not. They aren't leading in Newfoundland. They aren't leading in Nova Scotia (where they're in third) and they aren't leading in PEI.

BGLong

Whenever I'm in Halifax I take some time to go stand in front of the statue of Joseph Howe and
try to summon his spirit. On those rare occasions that he appears he just shakes his head
and says he tried his best but couldn't come up with the funds to buy enough rum.Sad really.
NiceGuy

If I could kick out all of eastern Canada I would, I would even throw in Manitoba.
LBS

I don't know about that, it took more than Alberta to elect them, while in the past it only took mainly Ontario and Quebec to elect the Fiberals. I hope they keep Michael around for another decade or Bob Rae as his replacement, so that our country has a chance to recover. With either of them running the Fiberals, we won't have to worry about a Liberal Government ruining this country some more. Remember there real Party slogan "We are entitled to our Entitlements"
The PIGS just cant wait to get back to the trough.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Halo_Override Halo_Override

Your ability to flail spittle at a newspaper that endorses federalism (in a region where endorsing sovereignty never hurts sales) is impressive in it's own way.
Anon Liberal

How about we just kick you out instead?

NiceGuy

Ha ha…your sorry little socialist state is coming unravelled isn't it?? Bwahh

frequent traveler

Why do you hate Canada?

NiceGuy

My Canada is frenchless.
http://intensedebate.com/people/DerekPearce DerekPearce

Your Canada is also apparently tasteless.
frenchCandadian

You're an idiot!

http://intensedebate.com/people/charlesh Charles H.

You do realize that La Presse is a federalist paper, correct?

Actually, let me back up a bit.

You do realize what the term "federalist" means with relation to Quebec politics, correct?

NiceGuy

Hmmm actually, how about this? I DON'T CARE. I couldn't care less if they are federalist, communist, sovereignist, florist, or tobacconist. Quebec needs to go…they offer nothing to anyone. They're just leeches on the Canadian body, a little like the maritimes, and increasingly, Ontario.

Holly Stick

Sounds like the leeches are collectively much bigger than the body. Conservative math again.
Anon

Time: mid 1980s
Place: Alberta

what happened?

bonneau

I am convinced, in the end, the true intellectuals will win over the Harperite zombie sheep. There are more 'smart' Canadians than there are hillbillies.

http://intensedebate.com/people/s_c_f s_c_f

There are more 'smart' Canadians than there are Liberal voters.
http://intensedebate.com/people/DerekPearce DerekPearce

Oh how naive you are, bless you. I would love– dearly desire really– to see Harper defeated, but it's not going to happen– not soon anyhow. The question is, how can he be forced to behave as a true minority PM? Because he's pretty much getting away with every last thing he wants as if he had a majority, and we're stricken with useless Opposition parties who can't seem to curb him. Even if we have another election– after which it's pretty clear he'll have another minority gov– he'll face weak opponents who don't have the money to force another election too soon. Hopefully rebellion will come within his own ranks as they get used to power and get sloppy about continual subservience to him. "Help us Bernier-wan, you're our only hope!" Gag.

knick

That makes sense, but since it's hard to know whether or not Canadians are paying attention yet, that seems to be the wild card. It seems to me that when the majority of eligible voters decide they've had enough, it's a simple matter for them to ignore all the polls, political posturing, punditry, and propaganda, and do two things: turn up on voting day, and vote for whomever is most likely to beat the Conservative in their riding.
Blacktop

Just make sure he stays a minority PM. Actually, apart from a few goofs from that famous policy wonk that Mcl featured last issue, I think he does a fairly good job as long as he stays away from his advisors. But then it's his responsibility to fire them – and wayward cabinet ministers also – even if they do save ladies in "les rapides". The latter is CATEGIRE: MAUDIT FRANCAIS

Mark

Before this government does even more harm to the institution that is the government of Canada, the intelligent people within the editorial ranks have a duty to rise up and stop endorsing them.

Mr. Pratte – nothing about this government, or its recent behaviour, wasn't easily predicted by anybody with half a brain four years ago.

Line Merrette

Exactly. And the funny thing is Pratte is supposed to work for a Liberal newspaper (Desmarais's son married Jean Chrétien's daughter). Maybe the Desmarais think they can make more money with Harper.

Very fishy this sudden gushing enthusiasm for the ReformaCons.

Angela Browne

I am worried about our country, not just about the Census but about everything this government has done to stomp on the Canadian people since it came to power, e.g. silence with respect to provincial infringements of the Canada Health Act, de-funding the Court Challenges Program, threatening an end to employment equity, reducing funding for the Canadian Human Rights Commission, spending billions for security for a G20 summit in the middle of Toronto, spending $18 billion on new jets when they tell the rest of us to tighten our belts and so on …

tedbetts

Actually – and I am really no defender of Harper whatsoever – but Harper actually increased the budget and the number of employees of the Canadian Human Rights Commission in the last budget.

I love noting that – and spending increases like record breaking spending on polling and a record budget for the PMO itself during a recession – because it puts huge hole in the false claim by hyper-partisans that Harper is still a fiscal conservative and has only been shattering spending records with every pre- and post-recession budget because he's been forced to.

And the fact that Harper has increased funding to the CHRC and added employees tends to cause the heads of far right supporters to explode. It makes a nice popping sound.

BJB

Ah yes. More deep thinking from la belle province. No ideologues there. Just intelligent folk given to rational discourse, never anything emotional or over the top. Pratte's "devastating" portrait of those yahoos in the Harper government is so refreshing. Time to take out a subscription to La Presse. Wouldn't want stand on the wrong side of superiority.

Mark

Deep thinking from la Belle Province… As opposed to the "shallow thinking" from the likes of Mad Max Bernier.

Edmund O'Connor

If Pratte thinks school boards are run more seriously than this, then he clearly has never encountered the TDSB.

ELIZABETH

HEAR! HEAR!

Brad Sallows

>Before this government does even more harm to the institution that is the government of Canada, the intelligent people within the federal cabinet have a duty to rise up and stop the pillaging.

That line of thought misses the point that people are more important than governments. The institution can manage just fine and would do so even if it were pruned more vigorously. The hyperbolic panic emitted from some quarters of the political map is ridiculous. The entire issue has become an excuse to vent among those whose vision of Canada doesn't include a come-and-go balance between the major political parties.

http://bit.ly/TheTwainShallMeet Kim Leaman

What typically simplistic drivel that is.

Walt the Duke

Even Conrad Black thinks that this government is inept and incompetent. He says that their "law and order' is inhumane and that they have no idea what they are doing! http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=30…
An excerpt::

United States.

As Michael Jackson and Graham Stewart point out in their excellent essay in the current Literary Review of Canada, "Fear-Driven Policy," this plan would fall especially heavily on native people, who already comprise nearly seven times the percentage of imprisoned Canadians than they do of the whole population.

The Roadmap is the self-serving work of reactionary, authoritarian palookas, what we might have expected 40 years ago from a committee of southern U.S. police chiefs. It is counter-intuitive and contra-historical: The crime rate has been declining for years, and there is no evidence cited to support any of the repression that is requested. It appears to defy a number of Supreme Court decisions, and is an affront, at least to the spirit of the Charter of Rights.
chet

The chasim between the political media (largely leftist) elite, and everyday Canadians couldn't be wider.

Some time ago I mocked the possbility that something as disiniteresting to the average Canadian as the Census would be used as another attempt to gin up a scandal. Prorogue was grasping at straws, but a Census issue??

I can't believe it's actually coming to fruition.

Remarkable.

ddd

Ah but it is about a sacred cow. How could giving very large amounts of personal information to the government under threat of prosecution be a negative?
tedbetts

I think the chasm between the political media and everyday Canadians is a heck of a lot smaller than chasm between any party and everyday Canadians.

Everything I read from the media indicates that – to the extent it is even possible to generalize – they aren't very impressed with any of the political parties/leaders and have been highly concerned about the many anti-democratic, law breaking acts of the government.

Pretty much every non-card-carrying ordinary person I talk to – no matter whom they voted for in the last few elections – tell me they aren't very impressed with any of the political parties or leaders and have been highly concerned about the many anti-democratic, law breaking acts of the government.

Jeet

Just another rabid left wing writer playing to the converted. Because he doesn't follow their own left wing ideology he will whine all day. No one is more competent, both in mindset and actions than the Liberals. Couple that with their hypocrisy and mean spirited nature and thank whoever they aren't in power now. Wait for the thumbs down from the mindless sheeple. Wouldn't it be fun to duke it out.

Blacktop

Actually, while you are right about left-wing, I would go further: wanabe pols, student lawyers, columnistsand ladies iwho know how to type. without makingerrores. .