Timely Article in Worrisome Era

An excellent and timely article from Prof. Byers. The study of fascism, and its causes, is critical in failing democracies. Hitler's autocratic regime has been (rightly) linked forever with the Shoah, but similar lessons can be learned from 1930's Italy and Spain, (had the Shoah not occurred, many of Hitler's antidemocratic policies would have been downplayed over time). We are seeing the renewed rise of fascism around the world, including right here in Canada (and the US). As George Soros has warned,

"The global economic system could collapse and riots on the streets of America are on the way." The 81-year-old said he’d rather survive than stay rich as the world faces an ‘evil’ period and Europe fights a ‘descent into chaos and conflict’.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2091190/George-Soros-predicts-U-S-riots-insists-Euro-saved-global-economy-collapse.html

Many, many tolerant people around the world are deeply concerned about the trajectory of the rise of corporate rule and autocratic rulers like Stephen Harper. For good reason.

Great coverage from BC's most progressive media!

Warnings ...

I must thank Michael Byers for his "heads up" re: the Harper government. He has quite rightly mentioned the proroguings, contempt, and closures, along with the Wheat Board ruling. But he could have also pointed out Harper's general disdain for the laws and customs of Canada ... We can't forget Odagate, Carsongate, InandOutgate, Kenneygate, etc.,and the many public servants he has silenced (including scientists). Again, Byers is right to pass along the concern, even warning, of Germans. We can't let Harper become even a mild version of Hitler, even though their names differ by only three letters!

Is Canada free of institutionalized racism?

"...this country is free of the institutionalised racism and violence that dominated and defined the Nazi regime"

What about the genocide of indigenous people, the Indian Act, laws against customs and traditions, etc.? Whether or not the Indian Act still reflects institutional racism is debatable, but there is no question that there is still a deep strain of racism in Canadian society towards the First Nations, and that racism is sometimes reflected in political attitudes and policies.

I agree with the rest of this article though. I see Harper as an anti-democratic enemy of the people.

Perry beat me to it! We very

Perry beat me to it!

We very much have institutionalised racism with the Indian Act.

And like Perry, I want to thank Michael for the rest of his article. Succinct, warning us through clear examples of Harper's proclivity to break conventions and the law, and otherwise act as totalitarian as he can.

Indeed, his Conservatives won

Indeed, his Conservatives won a majority in the election that followed, which suggests that most Canadians were not particularly bothered by the finding of contempt.

=======

39% is most? Strange arithmetic...

Thanks for the concise read

It should be obvious to all that the parallels between Nazi Germany and the USA are eerie. Also obvious is Harper's contempt for everything Canadian, including its people. What motivates a man to be so destructive?

Great article Michael

I wonder how many of that 39% that did vote for Harper actually know about the contempt ruling. The more important issues seem to get lost amongst the lesser ones, aided by big media, so voters don't make educated choices. I guess this is how the wrong people get elected. Well worth tweeting.

Vielen Dank....

Playing the Hitler card is as

Playing the Hitler card is as low as a so called professional journalist can sink. Although I don't always agree with the Tyee I respected the Tyee. I always thought the Tyee had more integrity than this, but boy was I wrong. This article is bush league.

Right On Comparisons

Some very startling comparisons here of how a naive, unsuspecting, more likely complacent (or better yet those who don't have time to think about the future ...and don't bother voting)ELECTORATE have allowed Canadian society to be HIJACKED!!!

Better we should have heeded a hand-held poster by a young parliamentary page; Bridgette DePape when she warned against trusting this government- particularly it's "manager".
I was alarmed to read today;how Harper says he is going to "transform" his country and deal with the Old Age Security part of the pension to Canadian citizens. He tells the Swiss/European and invited world economists that OAS would bankrupt the pension system.

Interesting!!! Go after the low income pensioners in this country NOT folks in the 1% category or foreign corporations using our primary resources to their own benefit.

Now I understand why he has been so determined to build more prisons when crimes are in amazing decline. He has decided that environmentalists are radical thinkers and speakers who would interrupt his Gateway Pipeline plans have become the enemy.

As an older pensioner AND an environmentalist; I believe I am a canary in the B.C. coalmine demographic.

I don't believe we can leave it to the First Nations chiefs to save us from oil spill disasters.We all have to rally against this declared dictatorship.
Don't we still live in a sort-of-democracy?

With Harpers speech today in

With Harpers speech today in Davros, he has declared war on Canadians who disagree with him.

Pretend Democracy

Until the law is changed and we stop pretending
corporations are "persons" and they
are no longer allowed to fund elections
and only people who are registered to vote may fund them this farcical democracy is only going to get less democratic.

Some day there will be a kicking in of the rotten door by the dispossessed.

Fragile

Germany proved how fragile democracy and civil society is - I am sure sure if you told most Germans in the early 30's their democracy, legal system etc - the bedrock of their civil society - was about to suffer a catastrophic failure, no one would have believed it.

Look at the USA - who can believe how quick and easy it was to disabuse American citizens of their constitutional rights, legal protection etc - they have lost it all - Patriot Act, Military Commissions Act, Home Grown Terrorism Act, NDAA. For Americans, Habeas Corpus and Posse Comitatus is gone, indefinite military detention is in since the NDAA was signed 01-Jan-2012 while Americans were hung over and not paying attention.

It's surreal, we are only waiting for the other shoe to drop - the POTUS has appropriated supreme power so -- what's up? History tells us when a coup d'etat like this takes place, a great deal of foreboding is in order... surely, something wicked this way comes.

And the kicker is, Harper opened the doors wide open and invited all this dysfunction/evil in to Canada with his Perimeter Security agreement and all the other un-holy 'arrangements' (NORTHCOM Civil Assistance Plan) he has made with the American military. Who knows what Harper has signed on to. I shudder to think - the Straussian plutocrat holds Canadian citizens and parliament beneath contempt and does everything in secret. At this point, nothing would surprise me - absolutely nothing.

Fritz

We don't know where you live but if you are Canadian we would like to draw your attention to the fact that corporations' donations to political parties is unlawful at the Canadian federal level.

If you have any information that this law against corporate donations to federal political parties has been broken, it is then your responsibility as a citizen to advise the appropriate law enforcement agencies.

Further information can be learned here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_political_financing_in_Canada

Michael Godwin ....

In the British and Canadian parliamentary systems, the legislature is typically prorogued upon the completion of the agenda set forth in the Speech from the Throne, called in the UK the legislative programme, and remain in recess until the monarch, governor-general, lieutenant governor, or governor summons parliamentarians again. "

For What it's Worth.

Parliament has been prorogued 105 times in its history.

That works out to about every once every 15 months.

Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chretien prorogued government four times between 1993 to 2003, while Stephen Harper has prorogued Parliament three times since 2006.

We presume that you explained all this to your anonymous German Law Professor friend. Just so as he could have a perspective and all the facts.

Proroguing of parliament the 21C equivalent of burning...

Since the second prorogation, from my corner I have seen Harper’s use of prorogation as the 21st century equivalent and am well pleased that people of a higher public profile like Michael Byers have now come just short of seeing our PM as being without cloths!

Of an otherwise excellent article, I offer one correction. Its to our collective disservice when when we perpetuate the half-truth lie that Harper has a majority. From Elections Canada data, the Haper clan of MPs, all together were only supported by less than 30% of all Canadians who voted in 2011 and as pointed out earlier, that going forward with all provincial and federal elections, we the 99% have the democratic power to occupy the election outcomes and stop stop the divide and conquer process made possible by the single-mark ballot, if we but mainstream the model outlined in www.vote123.ca

For those who are quick to call Harper Fascist I would remind them of Benito Mussolini’s words as a better proactive understanding of it’s origins: "Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the merger of state and corporate power." - (cited by Lewis Lapham in Harper's, January 2002)

Lastly, I much appreciate as well, judycross, Kathleen O'Hara and Perry beginning the process of compiling Harper’s record.

Proper parliamentary use of proroguing defined...

Correcting the record of someone putting matters into perspective, thanks for stating succinctly that the parliamentry system routinely prorogues parliament "upon the completion of the agenda set forth in the Speech from the Throne". That qualifier was entirely missing in Harper's first two abuse of process applications.

Going back to the last federal election...

It is extremely difficult to teach old dogs new tricks as the saying goes. It is also nearly impossible to convince an old voting citizen (and I would guess these to be in the majority of voters), to change their minds once they have been made up, after all, you don't want to appear gullible. The problem where I live in BC is that there are a lot of old retirees from Alberta living here, and having voted Conservative all their lives, you couldn't get them to change their minds even if you lit a fire under their rear ends.
As an example, I wrote a letter which was published in all the Okanagan papers last April 22 regarding the "crimes against the people of Canada" committed by the Harper government. I listed categorically the most important of those from the website: www.shitharperdid.ca. I was rebuked in those same papers by Harper voters, suggesting I should be ashamed of myself. For what? Telling them the truth? "crh" suggested that voters don't make educated choices. I would go one step further and quote from a British letter-writer to the Guardian who said: "There are a lot of stupid people out there." I'm sure I'm not the only person here who has attempted to educate the BC voters. And what have we got for it? Nothing but s**t and abuse.

realisticman

get real.

Here in Germany, we sometimes learn our lessons too late.

...sometimes?

I'm German. So I may ask this.

I'm too young (61er) to respond to things regarding Hitler (who was an Austrian guy) - but see that there are still things going on that ways out in the world.

It is clear that governmental parties in one or more ways, especially if they are loosing ground, trying to focus and enhancing their powers. One basic thing we should all have learned from the history: Give the last decision taking power - to the people. Not the least one. It should be possible for the majority to decide AGAINST things, if they are not good for the people.

This is a major point I saw grinning when I followed your fighting against HST during last year. That things cannot and will not happen here in Germany. Possibly this is true for whole EU, that we are not in the position anymore to refuse.

During the last two decades several laws against the people manifested. Big discussions followed but laws came yet. Some went to far (like a general 'preventive' surveillance law). The sad thing: Just our local administrative courts were able to stopping it. Seeing it positive: There are 'still' some possibilities that making it hard for some parties to getting more power. Power concentrations are always a bad thing.

Our Dear Leader

Even 10 years ago it would have been unthinkable. A Dictator in Canada? The resemblance to the late Adolf is uncanny. Elected democratically, promised full employment, order in the streets. Even the the same methods: Employment via the arms industry (fighter planes), public safety via prisons (concentration camps) rewards for the chosen ($70K for trips to meetings from fishing camps vs $3K for more junior colleagues). Fiscal responsibility achieved via inheriting $15B from the previous Government and spending another $50B before the recent election for a total of $70B. A Record to be proud of - Woe Canada.

This article is a crock.

I could be wrong but it seems to me that at some point the editor of this on-line rag requested people to back off on making references to the Nazis or Hitler. Why this garbage?

The paranoia that shows in a lot of the comments is mind numbing.

Certainly there are individual events or thoughts that could be pointed out as being similar to what is perceived to have happened in the past but collectively they are a long, long, long way away from peoples irrational fears ever becoming the truth.

I'll ask again as I have done in the past, why would someone who supposedly aspires to take over the world for a 1000 year reign want to abolish the gun registry.....and destroy all the collected data? Doesn't sound very megalomanic to me.

This is probably one of the reasons Canada will never attain true greatness. Too many people are prepared to offer nothing but destructive criticism.

Rolling Coups

What happened in Germany in the 30's can be described as a "rolling coup": incremental erosions of liberties and rights. History might not repeat but it sure is rhyming. I believe this is what is happening in post 9-11 USA.

This article furthers my suspicion that the relationship of Canada to the USA is in an analogous to Austria and Germany in the '30's. Has an amerocanuck Anschluss already happened? NAFTA is a strong step in that direction.

Limited Mainstream Reporting

If we had an unbiased media in Canada people would fully understand the economic failure of Harper and the other Cons.
Imgaine the arrogance of a party that plans to massively increase privatized prison spending, while crime rates are decreasing. The press could have a field day with these incompetents and Harper would be laughed off the Hill. Instead we have the kook in Davos telling the world how to act. What a joke!
In addition, corporate taxes in 2006 were 22% and they are now about 15%, for an annual revenue loss of around $11B. This is why the Cons have to cut, they created a financial crisis to implement their far right agenda . Crisis capitalism by the book!

How comforting! In Harper's own words!

Statement by the Prime Minister of Canada on International Holocaust Remembrance Day

January 27, 2012
Ottawa, Ontario

Prime Minister Stephen Harper today issued the following statement to mark the United Nations’ annual International Day of Commemoration to honour the victims of the Holocaust:
“On this solemn 67th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the largest Nazi concentration camp, I join Canadians and the international community in commemorating the millions of men, women, and children, who suffered, died and lost loved ones during one of the most heinous chapters in human history.

“Through indescribable atrocities, the fundamental and universal principles of freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law were desecrated during the Holocaust.

“As we mourn those who were murdered by the Nazis more than six decades ago and honour the legacy of those who survived, let us use the lessons of the past to remind us of the importance of tolerance, and inspire us to take a stand against hatred and discrimination, including anti-Semitism in all its forms.

“We must never allow the crimes of the past to be repeated or forgotten.”

From the Prime Minister's Web Site (http://www.pm.gc.ca/)

igbymac

If you think that there is something unreal in what I wrote then please advise us.

The brevity of your comment seems nothing more than a heckle.

It's also worth advising our European friends and professors that the ending of the Wheat Board monopoly was actually the removal of government powers over the one region of Canada that it strangely existed. This was the lessening of state control and the leveling of the playing field. Farmers that wished to not sell their barley to the state monopoly will no longer risk being jailed. There also was a vote by farmers in March 2007, where 62% voted to end the wheat board's barley monopoly. It's worth noting that this 75 year old operation was created during the Great Depression of the 20th Century. Australia created a similar state monopoly during the Depression and disbanded it in 1999.

So Mikey. How's that Contempt thingy goin' for ya?

On March 25, 2011 the opposition parties coalesced to end the Stephen Harper government of the day, with a vote of no confidence led by Michael Ignatieff of the Liberal Party.

In the subsequent election Ignatieff lost his own seat in the Liberal Party's worst showing in its history. He resigned on May 3, 2011.

The leader of the Bloc Quebécois also resigned following that party's collapse in the same election.

Stephen Harper, the leader of the Conservative Party was re-elected, with a larger vote than he had ever before received.

Canada continues to economically outperform all other members of the western world and unemployment levels remain low, with labour shortages in Alberta and Newfoundland.

Many Canadian prisons that were built well over a hundred and fifty years ago will gradually be replaced with modern facilities, even though many opposition members seem to have a nostalgic preference for the primitive relics.

The Canadian F18 aircraft fleet will eventually have to be replaced and, although the previous Liberal government entered into a contract for Lockheed F35s, this program is under review and no substantial firm contract has yet been signed.

JIm

I call BS. You've been around the Tyee as long as I have, and from those very first weeks on all you've ever done is complain about what the columnists here have written.

So don't suddenly pretend you're shocked and appalled, you're always shocked and appalled.

Besides

Lots of us find right-wing politics pretty much same-old same-old. Both the ideology and the fist-pounding hasn't changed much.

For example I don't see a lot of difference between the right-wingers in the 1930s that thought Roosevelt was a communist and the right-wingers today that think Obama is a communist.

Nor do I find a big difference between Canadian right-wingers today saying environmentalists are anti-Canadians and funded by foreign interests with right-wing Germans in the 1930s that believed everyone who wanted a better society was a Bolshevik serving foreign interests.

it is a heckle, realisticman

I know it's been explained and documented to you numerous times before about prorogation of Parliament and the distinction between what Harper did and its typical use. I know because I've explained it to you myself.

You ignore the facts and the law - including its spirit, making you subject to heckling.

Again, get real.

igbymac

You ignore the facts. I just copied and pasted them from experts more knowledgeable than you or I. The Canadian parliament has been prorogued 105 times in its history, about once every 15 months. In the last parliament the opposition parties made a big stink of it and many Canadians heard about prorogation for the first time.

It was played up as something extraordinary and the opposition thought they could topple the government. Where were those three leaders a few weeks later?

Why this constant petulance over a failed strategy and complaint? Do you want another election now?

Frank as you probably know I

Frank as you probably know I rarely comment anymore but I have been reading the articles none the less. Like I said I don't agree with much from the tyee but playing the Nazi card is bush league no matter what your ideological preference is. the fact it came from a law prof makes it even more absurd. You could even compare this propaganda piece to............

Judy Cross: Now you know what the Occupy movement is about.

There is a terrific little 1978 movie called "Power Play". It is also known as "Operation Overthrow" and "State of Shock".

The cast included Peter O'Toole, Barry Morse, David Hemmings and Dick Cavett. The plot was that a small group of disgruntled politicians staged a coup d'etat, only to find that one of their group was staging his own counter-coup.

"Those are not OUR tanks out there. They are MY tanks", says Peter O'Toole to his fellow conspirators.

Stephen Harper IS behaving like a pocket dictator. Suspending parliament was a sinister move and he is behaving like Adolf Hitler in many respects. The scariest part for me is that CANADIANS DON'T CARE.

I have lived here for almost 40 years and the similarity between the acquiescing Germans and acquiescing Canadians hit me like a brick - 39.9 years ago. It manifested itself in - of all things - the way we behave at traffic lights. We tend to obey the "do not walk" signs. The only other nation that does that in my experience is the Germans. Other countries use common sense.

The other way it shows is in our response to ambulances. It is absolutely right that we stop to allow ambulances to pass us on the highway, but not when they are going the other way on a divided highway.

The latest police tactic of blocking the right lane of a road to write a speeding ticket is purely a show of force. Police in other countries are required by law to only stop vehicles in safe places. In England, traffic is too dense for the RCMP to stop the world like that. They get killed by passing cars if they try it.

canadians have too much respect for the law and for the cops. In any other country, when the cops kill a teenager in a minor crime, thousands of people riot. In BC, it happens every month.

I suggest that if you added up all the people who have died in police custody over the last 20 years, you would find that the VPD and RCMP in BC have killed more people than Robert Pickton. Sadly, I am not joking.

r'man

"the opposition thought they could topple the government"

No, the opposition KNEW they could topple the government on any money bill or confidence motion.

More similarities

Of course Harper claimed the Reichstag was on fire or a coup was in progress or something and got an ex-CBC staffer to agree with him.

I expected him to start wearing a general's outfit with lots of medals and dark sunglasses after that.

realisticman

1. You know nothing specific about my expertise so it's best you restrain your comments to the substantive issue we are discussing.

2. Prorogation is used routinely, but Harper's specific use of it (x2) was anything but routine. There wasn't even some viable explanation that coincided with it, as when Chretien prorogued to usher in the Martin government while it timely avoided the tabling of the first report on the Sponsorship Scandal.

Your lack of political and legal understanding regarding the subtleties on this matter are glaring. In short, Harper's implementation was abusive though not sufficient to bring down the government. But one would hardly expect a transgression of this magnitude being used for anything more than political talking points considering Parliament itself condones the war crimes going on under Harper (as it did with Chretien ...).

I am completely neutral regarding a federal election. They are meaningless political pageants which offer no effective outlet for the will of the people at large. I'd go so far as to say the people themselves no longer even know what they want, their brains so bombarded with propaganda by the powers that be.

However, I would welcome the strict application of the rule of law of our Constitution which would usher Stephen Harper et al, for various unspecified matters, to jail. But I am not holding my breath.

Jim

Perhaps you could be more convincing if you delineated just why the similarities between the Harper-led Canadian government and the rising Nazi regime are not important? On the face of it, there is nothing bush league about juxtaposing the current events with historical ones and perhaps learning from it in the process.

Your outrage, or whatever it is?, seems like a PC comment made on something controversial or socially taboo. The argument, or so it goes, is nothing can compare to the atrocities of Herr Hitler so it is patently unfair to draw even the most tangible correlations of act.

View from the Reichstag

I really resent people abroad being told or being allowed to think the imposter in the PM"s seat received a majority from Canadians, that Canadians actually were stupid enough to choose him. He got 39%. That is not a majority. It is interesting that Putin in the recent Russian elections felt 50% was required for an authentic display of support for his party. He had to cheat to get it, of course. In Canada it is not necessary to cheat because 39% is a "majority" unter this antiquated electoral system. What we have in Canada is a thin veneer of pseudo democracy whose main purpose is to delude and shut up the majority of the population, and even that thin veneer is too much bother for the current government. At least in Russia people had the guts and awareness to protest.

Janice

I wouldn't worry too much about what people abroad are being told. Neither would I try and control what they be allowed to think, especially when it's really semantics.

Majority: from French majorité, from medieval Latin majoritas, from Latin major.

The greater number.

A party or group receiving the greater number of votes.

The Conservatives did win a major proportion of the votes.

The age when a person is legally considered a full adult, in most contexts either 18 or 21.

Strictly speaking, majority should be used with countable nouns to mean ‘the greater number’: : the majority of cases. The use of majority with uncountable nouns to mean ‘the greatest part’ ( : I spent the majority of the day reading), although common in informal contexts, is not considered good standard English. 2 Majority means more than half: : fifty-one out of a hundred is a majority. A plurality is the largest number among three or more. Consider the following scenarios: If Anne received 50 votes, Barry received 30, and Carlos received 20, then Anne received a plurality, and no candidate won a majority. If Anne got 35 votes, Barry 14, and Carlos 51, then Carlos won both the plurality and the majority.

In British usage: The number by which the votes for one party or candidate exceed those of the next in rank.

The same usage is used in Australia and other places.

Perhaps we should change our system to the more American description and use the word 'plurality'.

ORIGIN late Middle English : from Old French pluralite, from late Latin pluralitas, from Latin pluralis ‘relating to more than one’.

Proroguing parliament shows contempt for democracy

Doing it twice in one term of office smacks of fascism. It is the kind of tactic used in wartime.

I think Realistic Man is speaking English, but it could be Granola-talk too. First past the psot is first past the post. (S)he who gets most votes wins the election.

igbymac

I do not ignore the facts and we all know that the prorogation was routine and was tested in law at the Federal Court. Democracy Watch didn't like it and we can assume that neither did you, perhaps because you didn't like the spirit of the convention. The Court ruled that nothing was illegal and if any parliamentarians wish changes then the Constitution must be changed to enshrine any new rules.

Aside from that any complaints have been considered. Other comments regarding what you describe as "unspecified matters" are, in this case, diversionary and, to paraphrase you, are not germane to the substantive issue under discussion.

Citation:
Conacher v. Canada (Prime Minister), 2009 FC 920, [2010] 3 F.C.R. 411
Date:
September 17, 2009
Docket:
T-1500-08

"Held, the application should be dismissed.

(1) The Prime Minister’s power to advise the Governor General to dissolve Parliament can be seen as a prerogative because it is discretionary, it is not based on a statutory grant of power and has its roots in the historical power of the Monarch. The justiciability of a prerogative depends on whether its exercise affects individual rights or legitimate expectations. The Prime Minister’s advisory power at issue herein was not reviewable because no such rights or expectations were affected. It was a matter of policy reviewable only on Charter grounds. However, because prerogative powers must be exercised in accordance with the law, the Federal Court did have jurisdiction, pursuant to paragraph 18.1(4)(f) of the Federal Courts Act, to consider whether section 56.1 had been violated. The same could not be said about the Federal Court’s jurisdiction to hear arguments concerning the existence of constitutional conventions. While the Federal Court has jurisdiction to consider constitutional issues on applications for judicial review, constitutional conventions are not law. As such, paragraph 18.1(4)(f) does not give it the authority to determine their existence. Here, the matter of convention was political in nature and was outside the jurisdiction of the Court. ..."

http://reports.fja.gc.ca/eng/2010/2009fc920.html