18 April 2011
The Right Hon. Stephen Joseph Harper, P.C., M.P.
Prime Minister of Canada
Langevin Building
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa ON K1A 0A6
Dear Prime Minister,
I am writing today, in the midst of what is quickly developing into the most exciting federal election this country has seen in months, to commend you for your own excellent campaign and to apologize for any slights that I or any of my fellow fiction writers might have directed against you in the past. Many of us fictionists had initially assumed that Mr. Ignatieff, as a novelist in his own right, would be our man in this election, but what your campaign has amply shown is that where fiction is concerned, the Harper Conservatives are without rivals.
Nowhere is your mastery of fiction more evident than in your decision to run on your economic record when you don’t actually have one. Smart of you to take credit for Canada’s financial stability in the current global recession when it was exactly neoconservative policies like yours that unraveled the economy south of the border, and shamefacedly socialist ones, put in place before your party even existed, that protected our own. (I don’t know if you remember, for instance, a certain Liberal decision back in 1998 to pull the plug on some major bank mergers.) Then, instead of decrying the blatantly Keynesian stimulus package your minority government was forced into passing, one that has racked up deficits not seen since the days of that notorious closet Trotskyite Brian Mulroney, you have brilliantly managed to embrace this left-wing travesty, one that betrayed every principle for which your party stands, as a triumph of neo-conservatism.
Perhaps I misspeak myself, however, when I talk about a betrayal of principle. That is to imply the existence of an actual principle to betray, and hence to overlook how deeply fiction informs every aspect of your political project. Your Keynesian flip on deficit spending, for instance—and this from a finance minister who once swore he would rather spend a month on a desert island with Jack Layton than run a deficit—takes on a Proustian elegance when seen in the light of the fiction of policy that has marked your party since its inception. We all remember your boldness in throwing out years of work on setting up a national childcare program of the sort they have in developed countries and instead offering families cash for their kiddies to let the grandparents look after them or the unlicensed pedophile down the street. “Family values,” you said, with your smile (okay, the smile still needs work), cleverly suggesting the fiction of social policy for what was actually vote-buying on a scale even Sir John A. Macdonald would have envied. And of course the great beauty of a fictional policy as opposed to a real one—a point the other parties do not seem to have cottoned onto—is that it requires absolutely no effort on the government’s part, and entails absolutely no risk. Instead, every year families send money into the government in the form of taxes, and every month the government sends a tiny bit of it back, the only cost being the massive bureaucracy required to keep all this machinery in motion.
Over the past five years you have employed strategies of this sort on every front. For vote-buying-masquerading-as-policy, nothing has beaten your GST reduction—why don’t the other parties think of these things? why are they always going on boring rants about health care and the environment and education as if these mattered more than extra cash for a new flat screen TV?—while your law and order campaign has taken fiction to heights even Dan Brown has not dreamed of, employing tax dollars you don’t have in amounts you don’t know to achieve results that are unproven against a threat that doesn’t exist.
A recent study into corporate tax cuts showed that, contrary to your party’s view, corporations tend to hoard tax savings rather than create jobs with them. Confronted with these facts, your finance minister, Mr. Flaherty, admitted they made your tax policy a “tough sell,” but said he would stick with it because corporations and the experts liked it, and, “most importantly, because it’s a confidence builder in Canada, and a way of branding Canada.” Clearly, Mr. Flaherty has studied the art of fiction at the feet of a master, showing, here, how even logic is no obstacle to the expert fictionist. Branding, indeed: I can almost feel the pleasant burn of those cuts in my flesh, along with the pride of knowing that in Canada, at least, fiction reigns, and what matters is not whether a policy works but only if people believe in it, or at least believe that they can make others believe.
Politics is nothing if not the art of making others believe. So kudos to you, Mr. Harper for sparing us in this campaign any view of the real Stephen Harper, in all his nakedness—and the mind balks at such a notion even as mere metaphor—and giving us the fictional one, infinitely more complex and convincing. In so doing you have given inspiration to all of us for whom fiction is a way of life. Let me end, then, with my own fiction, namely my hope that on May 2nd you get the majority we all believe you believe you deserve, and we can look forward to the spectacle of five more glorious years of the Harper Government (formerly known as the Government of Canada).
Sincerely,
Nino Ricci
What did you learn in school today? Sharing.
Michael Ignatieff has held senior posts at the the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford, Harvard University and the University of Toronto and has written several books on international relations and nation building. He is respected around the world for his work as a historian, journalist, author and diplomat.
Stephen Harper shut down Parliament twice, has lied repeatedly to Canadians for five years and has nothing but thinly-veiled disdain for the voting public, as evidenced by his refusal to answer questions about his government’s record, or rather, lack thereof. Moreover, he introduced Republican-style ‘smear and fear’ campaign tactics into the Canadian political landscape.
If you’re considering voting for Harper, you’re obviously just as stupid as he thinks you are.
For the love of Canada, rise up.
Thank you Nino!!! You speak for many of us.
Brilliant letter. Thank you for that!
Perhaps too brilliant? I don’t think the average Con voter understands either sarcasm or satire. They probably think you are praising Harpo.
Yowz Nino… well written and well said!! I guess the sad part is he likely will achieve a majority.
Dave.
Nice letter Nino. I’m not sure if you remember me, I interviewed you a few years back at your home for TLN. Anyway, just wondering if you knew why so many older Italo-Canadians seem to be pro-Conservative all of a sudden? My district of Vaughan for instance, traditionally a Liberal stronghold has turned blue and many of the older Italians are for some reason in love with Julian Fantino… It’s crazy to me.
Take care,
Gina.
It is so refreshing to read something that is actually articulate in this horrendous campaign. Thank you for highlighting some of the issues that Canadians should know. My mind boggles that anyone would actually vote for this deceitful bully.
Hi Nino —
another writer sent the link to this letter to the CANSCAIP website (Canadian Society for Children’s Authors, Illustrators, and Performers) — I think it takes a fiction writer to see the story of the “Emperor’s New Clothes” under Harper’s rhetoric (even in his interview last night on the National, where was never asked about contempt of Parliament or the cuts to childcare and aboriginal programs, to the long-form census, even the deficit. I think the “Harper Government” (formerly the Government of Canada) says it all — and I hope enough Canadians realise this by May 2.
Wonderful!
I only wish the country’s editorial writers were as insightful and penetrating in their reviews of this government’s “achievements.”
And eloquent.
Thank you, sir, and good luck to us all,
Ted
Liberals equals Surplus, Conservatives equals deficits, any other questions?
Hey Nino,
A friend posted your article on facebook and I feel the need to tell you how good it is. Amazingly written. Here’s hoping Canada has had enough!! Keep up the blogg!
All the best, thank you for sharing,
Deanna
let us not forget what the liberal party has left us with going back to 1980. it would seem to me that it has been left to a public that doesn’t care about thier children or grandchildren when we don’t stand together as canadians to refute the lousy policies made by people that really don’t give a shit!!!
we need to vote whats right for our kids and thier kids which in my opinion is none of these sniffling weiners.
ken black blue collar workers of this great canadian
country.
I don’t entirely disagree with you about the Liberals, but what about Mulroney’s 9 years? If I recall correctly he wasn’t a Liberal.
Too much is made of the $300 million spent…. It does not disappear into the ether. Most of that money goes to people who really need to supplement their income whether because they are retired or unemployed or between work… So in fact most of that money recirculates immediately back into the economy and goes back to the government pretty fast in gst or gas tax or to pay the rent.
I hope that you are being sarcastic in your last few lines please please when you ask for a harper majority government
let us be perfectly clear that man is a creton
Yes, he did start the sentence by saying he was ending with his own fiction…
It’s a sad state of affairs. Who do you vote for? At times I feel like I am watching kids in a playground throwing slurs at each other and grabbing for the big prize. Can we believe any of them? No wonder the voting numbers in Canada are so pathetic. People have become apathetic because we don’t trust any of them. History tells us not to. So what do we do? Too bad David Suzuki isn’t running for PM.
We had the NDP once in Ontario. That was a disaster. They’re supposed to be socially conscious, doing good for us all. I don’t know about that. Who pays for all that goodness. I do and then I have no control over where all my money is going. I laugh when the politicians talk about government funds for this and that. Well it is the people’s money not government money as it is referred to. Where do you think the money comes from?
The Green Party has good intentions but they have no experience. I can imagine the mess if they came to power. But I like a lot of what they say. I want to save the planet for our kids and grandkids too and I don’t want to sell all of Canada to the rest of the world.
Ignatieff and the Liberals, I don’t see any bright new ideas or wonderful solutions. I haven’t been impressed after all these years with McGuinty in Ontario.
So we are back to the Conservatives and Stephen Harper. Is it better the devil you know than the devil you don’t know? So we will probably end up with another minority government with checks and balances coming from the Liberals and the NDP and the Bloc. What really makes me mad is that we are spending $300 Million dollars for all of this nonsense. Do you know what you and I could do with $300 Million dollars? That is the tragedy of all of this, paying $300 Million to watch all the posturing and mud slinging of 3 grown men. They could have helped a lot of people in the country with that money and used it in so many different ways.
Come May 3rd, according to the polls, things will be pretty much the same in Ottawa, except you and I will have taken $300 Million out of our bank accounts to pay for all this power grab.
$300 million to have an election – the real question is what could the Harper Government do with it? Based on last June’s G20, they could organize part of a one day meeting with a handful of political leaders to provide the PM with a photo op. A full day meeting would require additional funds.
Robb in Alberta, I think your point is moot, because this party has never had a majority. The Progressive Conservatives have. Mr. Harper’s party is not the Progressive Conservatives and has therefore never legislated any of the checks and or balances to which you refer.
Oh thank you I have sent numerous “angry” emails to the PMO and do get the occasional reply Form 350 I believe it to be. Any way with both fiction and fact you hopefully have made some impact and supported all those who feel exactly the same way in our so far protected and hopefully not to be destroyed democracy !! The “Contemptuous King ” must go Vote well for the future Canada
Paul Martin should come back
you illustrate just why politicians are the ultimate recyclable; it sadly brings to mind the reason behind the well-known phrase “lest we forget”.
It seems that the Paid Conservative Blog Disruptors are out in full force, spinning their own fictions. The philosophical underpinnings of Harper’s economic agenda — deregulate, privatize, reward the already-rich — are a lot harder to warn Canadians about than the bumper-sticker fear tactics employed by the right wing. Kudos to Ricci for doing a damn fine job.
Didn’t Nixon say, “If you give a million dollars to every poor person, it will be in the hands of the rich by the next day.”
I think this letter . . . is absolutely brilliant! Sorry, but anyone that doesn’t ‘get’ the sublime sarcasm so fantastically described; is probably also missing out of just how much trouble we are truly in; under the current government . . . and the appalling things that are happening to the working poor, people on disability – heck; anyone who isn’t stinking rich.
My God. That was an absolutely brilliant evisceration. Kudos, sir.
I take exception to many of the points raised by the writer. I will try to keep my comments short, devoid of emotion and pointed for the sake of brevity.
The Conservative Party does to a point believe in the “Free Market” economic structure, however, thankfully a number of governments over the years both Liberal and Conservative have initiated many checks and balances often referred to as regulations. These same regulations have proven both wise and prudent in helping Canada survive a world wide recession better than many other nations.
Our federal government, whether Lib or Con have no power to control what happens economically on a global basis and to believe and or state otherwise is pure fiction, to use the writers terminology. Due to the global economic circumstances, the federal government acting in the best interests of the country MUST change its strategy to fit the situation. Had Mr Harper and his Finance Minister remained true to the Conservative ideology for the past 3 years, I doubt we would have been as successful in riding out this global economic storm. By the way, there are many in the Conservative party who have openly shown concern that Mr Harper did NOT remain true to the traditional Conservative financial platform. I applaud them for having the courage to adapt to the situation as needed. Let’s remember what Belgium, Spain, Greece and many other countries are currently going through before crying the blues about Canada’s current economic situation. We have done very well, thank you very much.
As to the argument about a national child care system. Let me state I am for it to a point. The system suggested under a past Liberal Government was to give money to operators of child daycares ONLY. What about the mother who wants to stay home with her children, or the father for that matter. I think the only fair thing would be to give a tax credit to those parents who wish to raise their children at home instead of being FORCED to give their children to strangers. Why would you give money to a child care “business” and not to the parents? Are not the parents the ones responsible for raising their children in a manner which they believe is best?
I now refer to the following statement in the above letter: “employing tax dollars you don’t have in amounts you don’t know”. I could use the same argument when discussing the promises of the Liberals and the NDP when it comes to health care and education. What puzzles me is that both of these issues are Provincial jurisdiction. Mr. Layton has said more money for health will mean more beds, more doctors and nurses, the same argument comes from the lips of Mr. Ignatief. Have they signed a secret document with the provinces to ensure their boistorous promises will be followed through?
The federal government according to our constitution cannot specify to the provinces how they use the transfer payments and the provinces have fought the feds at every step in the past when the federal government has attempted to put “conditions” into place.
The same applies to “educational” funding. The federal government has no constitutional right to tell the provinces how to spend this funding. When the Liberals and the NDP make all kinds of SPECIFIC promises regarding beds and doctors and nurses and cutting tuition etc. I get very nervous. Our constitution will not allow the federal government to influence these areas of the Canadian mosaic so why are they saying it?
Also, from where will this money come? Is Mr Harper right when he states the Liberals and/or NDP will raise taxes? So far, from what I have heard, the Liberals and NDP have not stated they will NOT raise taxes. Does this mean they intend to employ tax dollars they don’t have in amounts they don’t yet know? Even if they have promised no new taxes, from where will the money come? I have not heard either party tell Canadians the amounts they intend on spending for these promised programs. Can this be considered witholding information from the Canadian people which would be classified as undemocratic?
As to the corporations. Just who do you think most Canadians work for? My “corporation” pays for my mortgage, my vehicle, my vacation, my food, my gas, my childrens tuition, shall I go on? IF my “corporation” choses to leave this country because they can get better financial considerations outside of Canada where am I going to get the money to pay for all these new programs promised by the Liberals and NDP?
We have one of the strongest economies in the world, a terrific standard of living (yes, I know we have homeless people and always will no matter how good the economy is) and we are recovering faster than 98% of the rest of the world including our cousins to the south. of course there is room for improvment and we do not live in a perfect country and we will never all agree, however, I think we will all agree we would not live anywhere else (except for the weather, that may change my mind as I get older).
I guess we will agree to disagree, but, at least your arguments have not gone unchallenged.
I am happy the comments of Robb were ‘kept short’
Most Canadians are employed by small business.
The majority of jobs are created by small businesses.
Small businesses do not ship jobs overseas or force workers to take low paying temp positions for months before hiring them (or not).
I don’t agree with you Robb and I have not left your “arguments” unchallenged.
Thank you Robb for your reasoned rebuttal. I don’t understand why there has to be so much nastiness in the original letter and in many of the responses. It seems that many of those who oppose the current government can only express themselves using oh-so-clever sarcasm or downright insults. Why is that I wonder? I wonder too where on earth the Liberals and the NDP are going to find the money for all the programs they’re promising. I’m pretty sure they’re empty ones, as are most election promises.
Empty election promises? Like those from Harper on more accountable government, not stacking the Senate?
The subliminal message from both Liberals and the NDP tend to scare me more than anything else. The NDP can promise all they want because they know they haven’t got a chance of actually forming a government and I believe the Liberals are the same.
When someone promises a balanced budget, and subsequent to their getting elected start cutting corporate welfare checks and running 50 Billion dollar deficits… I vote them out.
BTW, Don’t start with the “but they paid it back” malarkey, yes they paid the cash loan portion back, but Canada still owns 10% of GM… while retaining less than 6% of its workforce… Essentially, Canada is employing 20,900 GM workers and only 12,000 of them are living in Canada.
Hopefully Chrysler will be able to pay off the loans in June as the company hopes. Governments should be run like a business, they shouldn’t be running businesses.
(My “corporation” pays for my mortgage, my vehicle, my vacation, my food, my gas, my childrens tuition, shall I go on? )
Wrong
You pay for the CEO’s big bonus.
If not a rant like Rob says than it’s crap!!
I am voting Conservative!!
Yes. A prime minister cannot enact an autocratic dictatorial rule without a clear majority. Every senator Harper has appointed says so.
Thanks for the illumination.
Screed it is .. I rant .. and i disagree with everyone who disagrees with you… i think it is a fine jaunt into the whimsy and farcical alice in wonderland obliqueness of this campaign .. we all know that Mr. Harper means well .. that he needs a majority to fully entrench his mega jail / law and order / close Insite clean injection site / pro gun/ pro prorogue methodologies
we need to trust this man / his coiffe says it all / he has a television network / he follows facebook / he instills confidence in that baby blue cashmere / he plays piano / he tinkers with syntax / he makes beautiful election ads/ he hires five time felons / who in turn hire stepdaughters to bureaucratic posts / he supports his cabinet minister’s pro active pencil edits / he is .. in toto a man we need in the driver’s seat .. c’mon mr ricci is just sayin what we all know .. harper is god .. Iggy is just another dime a dozen harvard prof … and where would he and layton take canada with all those liberal/democratic/and populist goals .. health care?? single moms? old age security? bah humbug .. I’m with harper .. let’s get this money away from social services and back where it belongs .. Exxon, GM / Ford / big lumber/ oil barons / tar sands / and agri business .. okay now rob!! that was a rant! just so’s you knows! gav . just south of Mao.
Actually, now that everybody has a left wing rant, this stood out as a good and possibly even accurate report card of our so called leader. The problem as I see it though, is not that Harper is guilty of all these things (he is, I’m almost sure of it) its that the Liberals and the NDP would do exactly the same type of stuff (and have in the case of the Liberals ) to stay in power. Honesty and transparency are no longer differentiators and the party platforms are all over the map.
“…run on your economic record when you don’t actually have one.” What? No mention in your “screed” of the fact that Canada cruised through one of the worst economic melt downs since the “Great” Depression? The advantage of having a trained Economist at the helm instead of a pure politician, ex-lawyer, academic, etc. Lucky we’re not Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Spain, etc, etc. Of course e’re going to run a minor deficit through those time, be realistic (no fiction there). “Many of us fictionists” … Fictionist? Is that a new name for Liberal? This screed belongs in the Toronto Star editorial section (although too long for their format). It belongs there with all the other Harper-bashing, Liberal rah-rah-rah tripe.
Dezi,Dezi, it was Paul Martin, liberal PM who insisted on regulating banks while Harper and his Party squealed for deregulation.It was the liberals who left the budget in the black, before the trained Economist burned his way through it into one of the worstdeficits in Canadian history.For God’s sake man, pick up a book, a newspaper, educate yourself.History can be fun.
… and just what exactly would, or could, a government of any other political stripe have done differently in that position? Your comment seems to indicate that there was a somehow ‘magic’ solution to the global problem and that it simply escaped the sitting government. The thing is, whichever government is in power at any time, the advisers within the bureaucracy would be giving virtually the same advice, and we don’t get to elect them. So what’s your solution? The problem comes when you choose to simply politicize the economic situation created by a global crisis rather than recognize it for what it is and address it from a non-partisan perspective.
The point is that Harper takes credit for what the Liberals accomplished under Paul Martin as Finance Minister.
Harper lies every time he takes credit for the good fiscal position Canada finds itself in. For 9 years the Conservatives under Mulroney talked about cutting the deficit (Harper was part of that government). They managed to cut the deficit from $30 billion to $40 billion–that’s right, they increased the deficit. The Liberals inherited a $40 billion deficit and converted it into a $13 billion surplus. Yes they made some cuts that hurt–when you are spending $3 for every $2 income received it is impossible to get out of deficit spending painlessly. The Liberals lowered taxes by more than $100 billion. Canada did well through the recession because every other country was running deficits before the recession. Everything the Harper Government takes credit for comes from the Liberals making some hard decisions.
Nino Your letter has an elegance I can only dream of. Perhaps it’s the season or the spring air but I wrote to Steve too:
Prime Minister Harper
You and I have a shared interest in new Canadians. Mine is as a result of being an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teacher. I wanted you to know about the contribution you make to my classes. I use a picture of you to teach my students about the meaning of the verb ‘to lie’ and the concept of dishonesty. There is simply no better public exemplar of this than you.
You and the trained seals that you call a Cabinet seem to have a compulsive need to lie:
You lie about citizens objecting to the long-form census.
You lie about why we don’t need a task force on salt, an industry-led body will do.
You lie about the incompetent puppet you hired as “integrity” commissioner.
You lie about the increasing threat of crime and the need for more prisons.
You lie about how and why you tried to destroy Rights and Democracy.
You lie to Parliament about decisions made to cut off CIDA’s funding of Kairos.
Pattern recognition is a key part of learning. So I explain to my students, when you appear on the television screen, that they should watch closely because the words coming out of your mouth will not be true.
You lie and you lie and you lie. There is simply no finer tool to teach the meaning of the verb ‘to lie’ and the concept of dishonesty than a picture of you.
Bob McArthur
There is a well known truth: if a lie is repeated often enough it will begin to seem like the truth, and even the liar will come to believe it. I suppose the only and best cure is to continue to repeat the real truth. I’m afraid that the Liberals seem to be fighting against the lies in a way that gives them (the lies) more credence. All the opposition parties should stop repeating the lies, even when criticizing them (leave that to non-politicians, people like Ricci and Atwood and others, to skewer) and instead repeat their own truths; let the voters hear their policies.
Why wasn’t this letter published in the Globe and Mail alonside MArgaret Atwood’s article. It captures Harper perfectly. Please do what you can to make sure many other people see this letter.
I shame myself for all the professional non-conservative politicians for not seeing so clearly what N.R. just described and to raise their voices on these matters. They do not have the courage to admit that they supported the Harper government until it did budgets on Liberal principles, therefore they leave the arguments open why they have let Harper to govern for 5 years. It is time for the change, but these weak politicians in oppositions do not give much hope for us, Canadians.
Thanks for the article, I hope it’ll reach many of us.
Nino: if u want to go at the Conservatives why not go at their obvious contempt for Parliament. U know the 2 times they perogued it rather than deal with issues of contempt for it. Or perhaps the diversion of Election funding into individual ridings or the Pork Barreling of funds allocated for the G whatever meetings or ????? The real problem here is that the people who elect these jokers do not appear to be all that concerned that the Conservative party is corrupt.
Wonder what the Progressive Conservative wing of the party thinks of all this stuff. And many of us are (still) left with a bad taste in our mouth that a sitting Conservative PM accepted money for favours and “forgot” to declare it for a couple of years and never once thought about apologising to the Canadian people for it. Keep some distance from that guy Steve, he might give u a bad name.
I guess I might mention my personal malaise about Parliament in general and that is sounds most days (when there are actually people there) like the floor of a nasty name calling stock exchange rather than an institution where respect for your opponents should be a given…..I have digressed from your note. Brian Mulroney as a Trotskyite…hmmmmm I hope he wears a red dress and heels with it.
I stopped reading when you wrote “or the unlicensed pedophile down the street”. You lose all credibility when you stoop to obvious sesationalist trash.
Brilliantly written and well conveys what a lot of us think about Harper’s political record. I have passed this on to my FB friends.
The problem with Canadian politics is our political SYSTEM. We are a party system. We do not elect our head of state because our head of state is ‘HER MAJESTY’! Our system is a hold over from the 1867 BNA Act. We are not a ‘true’ democracy. The parties elect their representatives to the Queen- not us. Funny how none of the ‘leaders’ ever mention creating a true country and divesting ourselves of ‘Her Majesty’. And so we have no actual democratic power to influence our ‘leaders’.
Yawn.
I 100% agree. And I’m really tired of watching Stephen Harper lie and telling half truths to Canadians. I’m even more tired of seeing Canadians buy what Harper is saying.
and by the way Rob – where’s your argument? Got any rebuttal?
Huzzah!
You have expressed everything I feel, and expressed it brilliantly. Of course, you will not be able to sway those die-hard conservatives who care not who the candidate is, as long as (s)he is conservative – better to not even try. As a life-long protector of the democratic process, I have voted in every election (municipal, provincial and federal) since I was old enough to do so. I have also encouraged my children and grandchildren in this. “As the years went by and the pain, it grew” there has been a noticeable lack of quality in the governments voted in to office. If you know the answer, I would dearly love you to tell me … if so many of us are disenchanted, yet continue to exercise the right and the privilege to vote, just who the hell is voting for these people?
… a lot of people who feel too intimidated by the “liberated masses” to reveal their true preferences are actually voting for their ‘druthers rather than the pie-in-the-sky machinations of the ‘enlightened’ ones. There are obviously more of them than we can actually recognize. Don’t you ever wonder why that may be as it seems?
To a well respected literary hero. Thank you for your words. Only slightly masking the disappointment or outrage that alot of Canadians feel, it is good of you to put this message out on the internet. I don’t know that the Harper Government can hear you, but I did. Thank you very much.
Bravo Nino!
A marvelous letter!
Mr. Ricci, that is brilliant. “employing tax dollars you don’t have in amounts you don’t know to achieve results that are unproven against a threat that doesn’t exist.” ranks with some of the best writing I have ever read. It could almost be a quote from that grim documentary of political process, “Yes, Minister.”
My only quibble is that I know you as a serious, writer of lofty purpose and intimidating diction. Are you actually allowed to be this funny?
for what it’s worth, corporations don’t hoard the tax cuts. they DO make investments that create jobs.
in China. in India.
everything else is executive bonuses. and these extremely rich executives DO stimulate the economy.
in the Cayman Islands. in Switzerland.
RIGHT ON!!!!!!!
Nino,
Brilliant skewering — hope you sent it directly to Calgary Conservative MP CANDIDATE Stephen Harper’s campaign office — as well as PMO office, in case he drops in there to prepare to progrogue Parliament should he lose on May 2nd and before Governor-General has chance to strip him of “PM mantle” (believe Globe & Mail already cited pundit conjecturing possibility Harper trying this or like manoeuvre) …. As well as e-sent it to every major media outlet, including rabble.ca, and to all leaders of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition — a.k.a., Party Leaders & Election MP candidates Ignatieff, Layton, Duceppe — plus Green Party Leader May, il va sans dire!
CC’ing Yann Martel for obvious reasons … Tho’ given that Harper apparently doesn’t read fiction, you probably already know he won’t be reading your critique of his “performance”. But we both know that won’t prevent him from criticizing you!
Merci bien!
Mary C. Kelly
Toronto Centre riding
Thank goddess for writers! Thanks so much Mr. Ricci, this made my (admittedly dreary and rainy) morning. It’s so good to know that some of us still have memories beyond last night’s installment of whatever mindless sitcom is gracing our airways.
“to achieve results that are unproven against a threat that doesn’t exist.” – Governing is as much about “preventing” problems from manifesting as it is about dealing with the ones that have, regardless of all the things that were done or not done to prevent them as well. It can be shown that, over time, popular stances have wrought far more problems than the more difficult and reviled ones. In my humble opinion, it takes much more principle and discipline to make the difficult and unpopular decisions than to give in to the temptations of the quick-fix and commensurate popularity that brings with it. I always have to grin when I hear or read comments that imply the absence of a problem proves that the measures to prevent it were unnecessary; how naive that seems. South of the border, we have seen the evolving difficulties spawned by the government’s pandering to an oblivious population that seems to crave only the quick fix and perpetually dismiss any preventative measures. “ignorance IS bliss” is one of the phrases that comes to mind after reading your open letter. But then, authors of fiction do dwell in a nether world themselves so this is not a total surprise. You may mean well, but you also don’t quite “get it”.
What a ridiculous rant. Yet another knee-jerk, jump-on-the-bandwagon diatribe that sounds credible, but isn’t. Grab some real perspective, people. Don’t let idiots do your thinking for you.
With all due respect, I must object to Rob’s description of my letter as a rant. The dictionary definition of “rant” is “to talk in a noisy, excited, or declamatory manner.” I believe a letter, being written rather than spoken, would more properly be a screed, say, than a rant.
An awesome letter, and a perfect response to this commenter. I’m forwarding this to everyone.
Once again, Nino replies to a well thought out and accurate comment with flippancy.
Speaks volumes about his initial diatribe, doesn’t it? Instead of defending the indefensible (and let’s face it, it’s sheer nonsense wrapped in pretty words designed to fool other fools) he makes a flippant comment.
Yeah, keep up the good work Nino, the more you squawk, the more people realize that the liberal party is a sinking ship…
Peter, perhaps you could explain HOW Nino’s letter is “sheer nonsense wrapped in pretty words designed to fool other fools”. You know … aside from just declaring it to be so.
Why don’t you try actually debating the points he’s making with actual rational, cogent, evidence-based counter-arguments?
It might help your own position to actually back it up somehow.
Any chance you actually have a rebuttal for any of the points put forward? As it stands now it seems the attack ads have made you blindly disagree with anyone sharing a view different than your own.
Ridiculous rant … Rob, where have you been living these last few years. Blogbot has it right. The “reconstituted Conservatives” decry coalitions and I am not sure what or who they really are, but they certainly are a “coalition” of parties that could not make it on their own. The “Harper Government” has gone so far as to prorogue government to avoid scrutiny. The “Harper Government” has used this twice when the party has been in trouble. With no thanks to the “Harper Government”, Canada has not had the debilitating and demoralizing effects of government mismanagement that has hit most of the world in recent years. Canada’s banks have been the top in the world for the past two years and in a speech Harper stated this was because of “Harper Government” policy (an outright lie). It was the opposition Conservative/Alliance/Reform “coalition” party who wanted to deregulate the Canadian banks so that Canadian banks could be competitive worldwide, just like the American banks. Thanks to the stand by the “Canadian Government” we did not allow deregulation and our Canadian banks have not required bailouts or faced bankruptcy like their “competitive” American counterparts.
This is to say nothing of the many “Harper Government” scandals and the outrageous, fear mongering, Republican styled ads running against their opponents instead of informing the voters of what the Conservatives will accomplish if elected. The “Harper Government” has clearly adopted the back alley style of political campaigning from the American Republican party.
Jack
Anyone who claims Nino Ricci is an idiot is really hard up for a basis for a comment. This letter reflects Harper’s character perfectly.
Rob – Given your resounding critical rejointer, who is thinking? Why not try some of your own medicine and really try to critically unpacked Mr. Ricci’s argument. On the other hand, it’s easier to dismiss it with something that sounds credible, but isn’t.
Oh dear, Rob what a mix-up. I think if you wrote that note to yourself it might be more helpful. Do have a good think about this.
Why are all of the opinions teeming with specifics and facts dismissed with some variation of “no it isn’t” by Harper-ites.
I particularly like that I’m supposed to take the posters “but isn’t”
at face value and ignore the letter above (and all other analyses that point to the same conclusions).
On one part we agree, don’t let idiots do your thinking for you.
Thanks Rob, your impression of a mindless neo-con is off the hook! It even had the irony of someone *actually* having their thinking done for them.
It was exactly what I needed on my April 20th!
Rob, you are not only an idiot, you are a humourless, disingenuous and delusional idiot. Probably one of those tits who trolls the web looking for any signs of intelligence to then take a partisan dump on. So, taking your advice, we are not letting idiots do our thinking for us. Toodle pip.
The opinion expressed in this comment is that solely of the writer, who happens to be thoughtful, worldly, politically nuanced and has a rich sense of humour. Please dont remove it.
other than hate, does Harper’s political strategies have any semblance to one of our earlier, although of Austrian heritage, secretive world leaders.
I never thought a right wing Christian believer could adopt such a kill’em anyway policy.
Really? You’re comparing Harper to Hitler? Wow. Please go immediately to your local library and actually read up on both men. Then, go and talk to a European WWII survivor (Jewish or otherwise), share your thoughts with them and see if they agree. Finally (and this is for everyone – it should be mandatory), GO overseas (to first, second, and third world countries) and actually experience first-hand how most of the rest of the world lives. You will come back to your home country of Canada with an entirely different perspective on just how good we have it here.
I do not support everything the Harper government has done, not by a long shot. ALL parties in power have at one time or another been guilty of ALL of the kinds of back-room deals and questionable ethics described above. The same “letter” could have be written about dozens of different leaders in Canadian history, from all varieties of political persuasions.
What we’re missing in this campaign is any focus and interest on how well the country is actually doing! It’s become all about personality, and alleged methodologies and motives. Don’t be so naive as to think any and ALL parties don’t operate in exactly the same ways! Again, look to history. Politicians are politicians. To think that a Liberal government will operate any differently is laughable.
Vote for the party that will do the best for Canada. Period.
Thus ends my rant … ah excuse me … my “screed” …
So you’re saying it’s a PLUS to live in, or even work in, other countries? You’re saying we might actually LEARN something by traveling to other countries and experiencing other cultures? It’s a pity Harper himself didn’t do any such thing prior to becoming PM. His Alberta-centered, white-privileged-male perspective has obviously led him to believe that Canada and Canadians don’t actually “have it so good” here. Lucky for us, this demented egotist is going to “fix” our country by modeling it after the remarkably sound socio-economic policies of the US. Wow. We sure will “have it so good” after 4 years of Harper rule. And we won’t have the ability to say one way or another whether we prefer “Harper’s Canada”, because all of our basic rights and freedoms will likely have been tampered with by then as well. I can hardly wait.
Yes Rob, I agree, they are all the same so we need to choose who is most likely to actually “govern” with some direction. At this time I believe it is the Conservatives, like it or not the other two (one actually) aren’t even close to being able to “govern” and keep this country one step ahead of falling into the pit the rest of the world is trying so hard to get out of.
Rob and Rob T. Right, the Conservatives are the only ones who can govern … as if. It was Harper and his group that wanted to deregulate the banks … which would have put us ion the same barrel as the Americans. It was Harper and his group that blew threw our surplus even before the downturn in the world economy. It is Harper and his group who are purchasing new jets (yes we need them) without competative tenders … no fixed price … they cost what they cost … lets give our head a shake. It was the Liberals who refused to deregulate the banks and it was the Libersls who brought in the surplus that Harper spent …
“Instead, every year families send money into the government in the form of taxes, and every month the government sends a tiny bit of it back…” You forgot the part about how the Child Tax Benefit is a taxable benefit – so they send me $100 a month for my kid, but claw back $30 of it. I want to know how many civil servants are employed to oversee that process.
Heather, if you are concerned about the number of civil servants in the Conservative government the Lliberals will blow you away.
Well said!
That wasn’t the point, Jim. It’s not the number of civil servants overall, but the number employed to oversee a program of such dubious benefit.
What, like the gun registry???? Liberal job.
Mr. Ricci, Thank you for expressing everything and more I feel about Stephen Harper, his Office and his authocratic regime. In all my 44 years in Canada and in another country prior to coming here, I have never seen anything like this man’s twisting of everything Canadian democracy and law of governing stand for. Lies and secrecy, underhandadness, disrespect and disdain for the nation and its people, and an actual show of looking down on us as if all of us are unintelligent mob, too stupid to think on our own. To look directly into camera and lie about everything that has actually happened in his years as PM!!!! And he has a degree in economics? Taking a huge surplus and spending it like a lottery winner going nuts with the windfall, even before finnancial crisis hit!!! Apparently he thinks we don’t remember and he can feed us his drivel without a second thought about truth. Emperor without clothes, indeed. How can any thinking people ask “Why do we need election?” It’s not about a few dollars you are promised to get after 5 years IF THE BUDGET IS BALANCED THEN, it’s about the future of Canada. And where do you think everything that makes the country run comes from? Taxes!!! We would be without most of great things we take for granted if there were almost non-extistent taxes. Rich guys got a break and will get more, so they can keep more for themselves as all the financial experts are confirming. He panders to rich corporations and individuals and does not care where you and I will get means to support our family and get help when any of us get sick. He does not care by whom or how your children are taken care of while both parents must work to barely make it every month. He is destroying and deconstructing everything all the good men before him have done for the people, the country, and, yes, also for the corporations, to bring Canada to world stage. The world loved the emerging Canada, not much known before. Now the world looks upon us and wonders “What happened?” I know, I’ve been all over Europe this year and have heard hte talk. Stephen Harper happened to Canada, folks. Don’t ask, why the election, go vote to save the country. If you don’t, you have no right to complain after and demand all the things we’ve had but will have no more, if he prevails.