A Brief Comment from NAL publisher Doug Draper
Shortly after this past August 2nd’s federal election call, I made it clear that Niagara At Large was not going to do what most mainstream media outlets do.
I made it clear that NAL was not going to wait until the final days before people go to the polls to state a final position on the leader and party running for another chance to deconstruct all of the good things this Canada of ours has achieved and has yet to achieve as it approaches its 150th birthday of its confederation two years from now.
Some readers of this site have argued (and some no doubt will continue to argue) that I hear out everything Stephen Harper and his Conservatives have to say during this election before writing them off.
To that I can only respond that I have seen and heard enough during the last nine years of this Harper government eroding our rights and running our country like a dictatorship to write it off forever. In almost every way – economic, social, cultural, environmental, you name it – this regime has been a disaster at home and abroad where, over and over again, it has sullied Canada’s longstanding reputation as a voice for peace and compassion around the world.
In the final days of this coming November, representatives from around the world will gather in Europe for what may be the last great chance to collectively address climate change before we pass a tipping point (if we haven’t already) that causes irreversible destruction to the life-sustaining resources of this planet.
And for those who argue that they would rather “stay the course” with Harper than “take a risk” with one of the others, I say that I would rather see representatives of a new government that promises to at least try to address climate change go to that all-important gathering than continue with a government that, at the very least, sees climate change as a joke when it as a socialist plot against its corporate masters in the petrochemical industry.
On the climate change issue alone, the prospects for present and future generations of Canadians, and for people around the world grow darker every year a government like that of Harper’s remains in power.
So Niagara At Large is proud to do whatever it can – in whatever small way it can – to convince as many voters as possible to take advantage of this coming October 19th and what is arguably the most important election for Canada in our lifetime to vote for the NDP, Liberal or Green Party candidate that has the best chance of defeating the Conservative.
In that spirit, NAL is using the space below to post the first in a series of ‘Stop Harper’ signs by talented Niagara, Ontario artist Julia Blushak. In the days leading up to October 19th, look forward to more.
Julia Blushak is a communications and community developer with interests that range from
social change, creativity, recovery and mindfulness practices. Julia’s PaperFang editorial illustrations work in the corporate and not for profit sectors,
as well as for newspapers such as The Globe and Mail, The Hamilton Spectator, and numerous magazines and journals. For more information visit | www.paperfang.com | facebook – Julia Blushak
Visit Niagara At Large at www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary for and from the greater bi-national Niagara region.
(NOW IT IS YOUR TURN. Niagara At Large encourages you to share your views on this post. A reminder that we only post comments by individuals who share their first and last name with them.)
Niagara At Large 
I happily agree to a Stop Harper Zone. As a person with a disability, despite my higher education, my entrepreneurial abilities and personal commitments, I have not benefited one iota under this Harper Government, who is promising Canadians that if re-elected it will be more of the status quo, meaning: more tax cuts for wealthy people, more program and service cuts for the rest of us, more military involvement in the Middle East, more corporate welfare to companies that don’t need the help, more subsidies for the oil and gas industry and continued infrastructure development to support more automobiles and nothing for people with disabilities except for those that: (a) have lots of money; and (b) fall within their stringent definition for a disability tax credit, which most people with disabilities don’t.
It is not as though I expect any of the other parties to come up with more, but I do know for certain, that they would at least listen to more Canadians and put the needs of the 99% more in focus, as opposed to just the elite and corporate interests that have fed off the trough for the last 10 years.
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Here’s one who will vote ABH…Anyone But Harper.
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Unless you own shares in big oil or a large corporation, why would you vote for Harper? When that arsehole became P.M., he walked into a surplus – A SURPLUS! – and he now has us headed for record debt levels if we don’t have ’em already. He’s anti-environment, opposes universal health care, anti-union, LOVES corporations, refusal to sign UN declaration designating clean water as a human right, missing and murdered First Nations women “not on his radar”, cancelled the Kelowna accord, sabotages efforts to deal with climate change, the arrogant bastard renamed ‘The Government of Canada’ to ‘The Harper Goverment’ He started Bill C-51 — have you read what that friggin’ thing is about!?! SCARY! HATES science and has shut down many research facilities and has ordered the research which was already completed to be destroyed! He’s VERY sly – i grant him that – but is probably our pseudo-democratic society’s worst enemy to date. I have absolutely no problem calling him evil and if he’s not that he is a completely misguided child playing with fire.
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You’re right to call it a regime. Dick Tater – because that’s what he is – would make Machiavelli look like a poser. In little more than a decade, he has created the C.R.A.P. (their acronym which at least hinted at the Reform and the Alliance parties), and nearly ruined Canadian society, turning us against one another. That is his worst crime..
By hiding inside the “Conservative” label, he has pulled the wool over very many people’s eyes.
He is vindictive, petty, mean and very small-minded. He’s is mounted a vendetta against the Liberal Party and against Justin Trudeau, whom he loathes because he loathes Pierre Trudeau.
That one man could do so much damage to an entire country is staggering – tho we have staggered under their weight before, the ones in Italy, Germany, Russia and many many more.
What all these fascists had in common was the use of lies as truth – by repeating a lie again and again. He’s been lying so long, so artfully, that those who want to believe his agenda are firmly convinced he speaks truth and we – journos, commentators, CBC and all non-approved media – are conspiring against him.
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Let’s just hope that all Canadians who feel as we all do put their money (i.e. their vote) where their mouth is.
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We need to be especially careful how we vote when we do so we do not split the vote and let Harper’s candidates come through … this man has so far refused to ratify the International Declaration for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and has done not one iota for anybody … other than his wealthy friends.
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