Stephen Harper is facing the end of his short lived term as Canadian Prime Minister thanks to his naked attack on the Canadian democratic system.

Opposition leaders Stephane Dion (Liberals), Jack Layton (NDP) and Gilles Duceppe (Bloc Quebecois) signed an unprecedented agreement today to form a new coalition government and oust Harper's Conservative's from power in the wake of their move to strip political parties of federal subsidies.

The proposed coalition emphasizes Harper's failure to address the current economic crisis as the prime reason for their actions, but the real catalyst in forming the coalition was Harper's move to consolodate his overhwelming financial edge over his rivals by stripping them of a key source of funds.

The federal political subsidies are a balancing measure put in place to ensure that the narrow interests of any one party cannot unduly sway the direction of the country. If Harper could successfully remove this balancing measure, it would likely be the decisive edge that would have allowed the Conservatives to spend their way to a majority government in the next election. They would then be free to begin their real work of changing the Canadian political system to an American model where spending and money dictate policy.

This has been the explicit goal of the modern conservative movement in Canada since it was first created a few short years ago, a fact outlined in startling and disturbing clarity in the 2004 National Post article by Adam Daifallah titled "Building a conservative Canada -- from the ground up":

The only way to affect such a (conservative) change is through an overt campaign to shift the Canadian political goalposts to the right. Redefining a country's national attitude of mind is not easy. But the American experience has shown it can be done.

U.S. conservatives have, over the last four decades, built a powerful institutional infrastructure. Well-endowed foundations, funded by various titans of industry, were established to erect think-tanks, underwrite conservative publications and promote a greater appreciation of conservatism in the national discourse.

The success of this experiment has been astounding. Conservative ideas, once thought to be on the extreme fringe, were popularized, beginning with the 1964 presidential candidacy of Republican senator Barry Goldwater. The result has been a tangible shift in the American Zeitgeist that made possible the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980.

If conservatism is ever to take hold here, the U.S. model must be replicated.

As a matter of political policy and ideology, the Harper Conservatives are not interested in the opinion or values of the Canadian people. They have an explicit agenda to change those values to match their own, and they realize that the shortest route to attaining that end is changing the political institutions that represent Canadian values, beginning with the federal government itself.

It won't work this time. Meanwhile, Harper will try to frame the opposition move as a political game, forgetting (as only the right can once they begin to lose) that it was he who set this playing field to begin with.

Well, here we go again. Despite the overwhelmingly progressive values of Canadians, and the general unpopularity of the Conservative Party, Stephen Harper is back in the saddle for another minority term as "our" PM.

Opposition leadership has never looked shakier with Stephane Dion heading out the door tomorrow, Elizabeth May failing lead her party to Ottawa despite a modestly bigger share of the popular vote, and Jack Layton failing to make greater gains in seats because he doesn't realize that attacking the Conservatives, not the Liberals, is the NDP's ticket to success.

In offering some solutions I'd like to go back to a post I wrote back in August of 2006 - Why the Green Party Loses - as it's even more relevant now than it was then. Specifically the following passage:

The number one priority of every Green Party in Canada, both provincial and national, is to ensure that the upcoming referendum on electoral reform is passed in BC. The referendum date is set for the next provincial election in 2009, and if passed it would put BC on the road to electing a proportionally representative government in the election to follow. Based on current voting patterns, that would mean almost 10% of the seats in government going Green. If electoral reform is successful in BC, it is very likely that similar initiatives will take hold in other provinces, clearing the way for the Green Party to become a genuine political force in Canada and for progressive values to gain a stronger voice in Canadian government. But that all depends on the success of this first step.

The date of that referendum is May 17th, and in the wake of a disastrously unrepresentative results from our Federal Election I renew the call that this needs to be the top priority for our country. Progressive organizations and individuals nationwide - first and foremost the federal and provincial Green parties - need to work to ensure that this referendum gains the public support it needs to pass.

Electoral reform is an idea that is gaining traction, with papers across the country beginning to call for serious discussion. BC can give that process a massive boost this spring by being the first in the country to start down the road.

Question period in Canada's Parliament resumed on Monday but quickly descended into an all out Point-a-thon as the parties engaged in a spirited debate over who was the most concerned about the environment.


Environment Minister John Baird made a strong case through sheer intensity, while Stephen Harper preferred to stickwith his bread and butter - pointing heavenward to his personal source of inspiration in all matters spiritual and political.



Meanwhile, NDP leader Jack Layton took a more understated approach that left many MP's, including Stephane Dion, wondering if he was talking about his party's environmental platform or indicating where the NDP sat in the current polls.








You can read the full run down of Monday's environmental action from Parliament Hill here.