Given that ProgBloggers are seeing fit to indulge in spasms of McCarthyism, it seems only fair to deliver a timely reminder about what Liberals can get up to, even in opposition.
My hed is a deliberate pun. Liberals, like their better halves now in government, favour corporations over people—especially brown-skinned people without votes—every time. Oh, not all Liberals, of course. Just the ones who matter.
The free trade deal Canada made with the genocidal narco-state of Colombia still rankles. Granted, Royal Prerogative would have permitted the treaty simply to be signed off by the Prime Minister, but in a rare flash of democratic softness, Harper put the thing before Parliament for approval. Maybe he knew the result in advance.
During the committee hearings on the treaty, human rights observers were heckled and bullied by Liberal Scott Brison. With strong support from Bob Rae, the treaty was quickly a done deal.
Have matters improved in the year since the Liberals and the Conservatives colluded to offer legitimacy to one of the world’s worst regimes? Not much:
Paramilitaries continued to kill civilians; threaten and kill human rights defenders and social leaders; recruit children; and carry out acts of “social cleansing”. These groups continued to expand and became organizationally more sophisticated. Collusion with the security forces continued in many parts of the country.
There have been a few cosmetics added to the face of the state, and some fall guys and gals were offered up, but the blood continues to flow.
Why did the Liberals join with the Conservatives in giving aid and comfort to Colombia—palling around with torturers and murderers? Three guesses. As always, follow the money.
Compared to this outrage, recognizing the likes of Free Dominion’s Connie Fournier for opposing Bill C-30, likely to be reintroduced in an even worse form shortly (and a reluctant h/t to you-know-who for the link), seems like pretty small potatoes. I mean, like it or not, we’re on the same side of the fence on this one. But saying that, of course, commits me neither to her crazy political views nor to those of the spiders, snakes and scorpions that infest her dung-heap.
Guilt by association, however, seems to be how the new leaner and meaner Progressive Bloggers, now firmly in the hands of Liberal operatives, chooses to roll. Truth be told, being a member of PG almost since I become a blogger back in 2005, I thought it would be a bit of a wrench to take my leave, as I did this past week. But I’m already feeling a lightening of the spirit.
