A Brief Comment from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper
In the final hours of this federal election, as I watch television news clips of Stephen Harper standing before audiences of mostly older Canadians, greeting them over and over again as “friends” as he performs this this game show shtick – all of it designed to scare us with phony claims about how Trudeau’s Liberals would steal thousands of dollars through taxes from our pockets, I can’t help but think of those snake oil salesman from the ‘Old West’.
I can’t help but conjure up an image of Harper standing on the back of one of those wagons the Professor Marvel xharacter peddled around
Harper stirs up fear as he peddles his Conservative Party’s tonic in final hours of federal election
in The Wizard of Oz and saying: ‘Gather rounds friends while I introduce you to a tonic that can cure all that ails you.”
“Not only will it grow back your hair and cure erectile and postmenopausal sexual dysfunction in old stock Canadians who do not engage in acts the state may judge to be perverse or barbaric. Just one one bottle of this, my friends, and you can go to bed at night never having to fret again about a knock on the door from a woman wearing a niqab, or some guy named Mohamed wearing a dark mask like one of those jihadists, or from enemies of the state like David Suzuki and his environmentalist hordes, or from anyone suffering from ‘Harper Derangement Syndrome, or from the CBC’s Rick Mercer, Rosemary Barton and Michael Enright – or most of all my friends, from that taxman Trudeau or Mulcair would send over to take what’s left of your food money!”
“So my friends, I urge you to buy my tonic. It’s called ‘Smoke & Mirrors’, and I want you to swallow every last drop in the bottle before you go to the polls this coming Monday.”
Of course, the one thing the snake oil salesman left out of his pitch was a promise from Harper (and one his Conservatives never showed any interest in introducing in more than nine years in government) for a universal pharmacare system, meaning that many of the people he’s making the pitch to never be able to afford to buy the tonic.
It may be just as well that they can’t afford to buy it for the moment.
My pitch to you is this. Don’t drink the Harper Conservatives’ tonic or any Kool-Aid for that matter.
This October 19th, go out and vote for the Liberal, NDP or Green Party candidate in your riding that has the best chance of beating the Harper Conservative
Visit Niagara At Large at www.niagaraatlarge.com for more news and commentary for and from the greater bi-national Niagara region.
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A little off topic but I thought Hurricane Hazel McCallion’s ad for the Liberals was a hoot. It revealed a direct Harper lie about ending income splitting for seniors, made evident the intention of returning the retirement benefit entitlement to 65 from 67, made obvious note of the politics of fear being used by Harper (“Do I look afraid Stephen?”) and used the same ploy as Harper by calling Harper “Stephen” to make it known that it could be utilized in reverse against him. NOBODY messes with Hazel. The Libs pull out Hazel. The Cons pull out Rob and Doug. Hahahaha! Now Harper ads say the election is “not about him” which means he knows damned well that it IS! Otherwise, why bring it up?
A Footnote to this comment from Niagara At Large – If you want to see the ‘Hurricane’ Hazel McCallion ad click on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtrMViODsVY .
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