A Commentary by Doug Draper
As this Canada Day was approaching, I have found myself feeling distant from – and sometimes even a little angry with – this country I grew up feeling so proud of.
The relentless craving for more and more tax cuts, followed by the gutting of services around health care, education, public and infrastructure renewal and environmental protection ignited that feeling of distance.
Then there was that pig-fest of a senate, the muzzling of what is left of our publicly-paid-for scientists, the war on citizen activists and our aboriginal people – as if they are enemies of out state ot terrorsits – and the transformation of our nation’s role in the rest of the world from peacekeeper to warrior – bomb, bomb, bomb!
All of it left me thinking about flying my Canadian flag upside down on this Canada Day.
But I can’t do that to a flag, so long a symbol around the world for a kinder, gentler beacon of democracy and justice for all, and this is why.
It begins with remembering something that the late American activists Abbie Hoffman said when I interviewed him many years ago while he was in the Niagara area, meeting with the late Niagara-on-the-Lake environmentalist Margherita Howe on struggles to protect the Great Lakes.
Hoffman, who said he was often told to love or leave his country if he did not go along with the U.S. administration sponsored Vietnam War agenda at thhe time, told me that his response to those who yelled at him to leave was; ‘I love my country. The country is the people and the land. It is not the government.’
In that spirit, I will fly my flag upright this Canada Day for we the people and our country, and I all my fellow Canadians to remember that the best of our country is the people who live in it, and not a government that practices the politics of fear and of divide nd rule.
I also urge all of my fellow Canadians to remember that there is a federal election this coming October 19th, and it is an opportunity to take our country back from a Harper autocracy that has been fulfilling its promise to change this great nation to a point where we won’t recognize it.
So please celebrate this Canada Day with a vow to get engaged in this coming fall’s federal election – an election that may be our last chance to win Canada back from a Harper regime that is systematically destroying all of the decency our country has long stood for around the world.
(Niagara At Large now invites all of you care to share your real first and last name to respond to this post below.)
Niagara At Large 
Doug
Your article speaks to the truth of what this Canada once was, a nation with faults Yes …….but……… a nation that “was” truly admired and respected throughout the world….Not feared and distrusted….As it now seems under the dictatorial influence of a sociopath who somehow managed to grab complete control and is wielding this control with a total lack of compassion or concern for the will and rights of the people of Canada and the Peoples of the world.
I once met one of the sane leaders and was amazed by his honest hopes for this Nation and after hearing him speak I realized it was his persona of Honest deliberation that galvanized me into approaching him and speak these words “Sir! You are at this point in time and in my opinion the only “Real” hope for the future of Canada”……I still feel this …But…..I realize the damage that Harper and his Goons (Male and Female) have inflicted on we the Social Democratic people of this Canada ….and I also realize that damage will take decades if not centuries to rectify and reverse.
We have seen the CORPORATE CONSERVATIVE GOVERNMENT OF ALBERTA finally get booted out after 44 years of corruption and greed…. and…….. Alberta now have a very talented and young Premier who is intellectually brilliant, a young woman who grew up under the guidance and watchful eye her late Father Grant who was himself a totally respected Social Democratic MPP in Alberta politics.
Yes Absolutely Doug this garbage in Ottawa needs to be incinerated in the hell they built and as the rats rush to get off the sinking ship may they take their supporters with them to the pits of hell….so they might feel the pain they helped inflict on all peoples.
Thank You Doug
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PM Harper’s government (Harper wants to create his legacy) passes laws to which only non Harper supporters are subjected. Why are Harper’s friends exempt from his “Tough on Crime” mantra. As at least one of his friends stated, “The judge’s opinion doesn’t count”.
Harper, ignoring the rules for appointments to the Senate, rewards his party faithful friends to the Senate. As they abuse the privileges of Senate, Harper claims he “doesn’t know them”.
Harper’s latest “photo op” has him enjoying supper with Muslims. Are they not the people he claims to be terrorists? Hopefully these people see Harper as an opportunist.
Hopefully Harper’s “Ides of March” will be 19 October 2015.
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The next Canadian Prime Minister should undo every harmful law that was passed through the omnibus bills and overturn every one of them , as soon as he takes office. Bill C-51 would be a good start.!!
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