Concerns have been raised about what the Conservatives are doing to investigate people. There are also questions about the RCMP, and how their screening process- completely LEGITIMATE- connects to the Conservative campaign. Are the Conservatives using data provided by the RCMP? Are the Conservatives independently monitoring the activities of people online? There are a myriad of important questions here, Harper doesn't get to sluff off anything, he is required to answer just what they are doing on this score. The issue was raised, accusations have been made as to criteria, facebook, bumper stickers, so Harper MUST CLEAR THE AIR, there is simply no alternative.
This goes beyond simple partisanship, it is now a question of our fundamental right to know just what exactly this Prime Minister is doing to screen people, what are the tools available to him, is he misusing RCMP information, does he have people who monitor individuals, based on political views? These are important questions, Harper doesn't get a "decline", he gets pestered everyday until he faces the problem like a leader must do.
16 comments:
A campaign is a 36-day job interview. Would you hire someone who declined to answer questions during their interview, or tried to limit the number of questions you could ask?
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadavotes2011/story/2011/04/06/cv-election-rcmp-rallies.html
Did the RCMP give the Cons information on people, or did the Con campaign search independently, then use the RCMP for muscle? This is very, very disturbing.
I don't know, I certainly here what you are saying and I most certainly agree that what happened to a young university student is deplorable, but after watching Harper get grilled about this for a second day in a row, I can't help but think this comes across as a media gang-up of something that many will look upon as trivial. I'd hate to see Harper benefit from the way his handlers screened potential rally attendees.
He's asked for the second day, because he still hasn't answered. With respect, I think people do care about this sort of thing, the reaction speaks for itself really.
After all the serious abuses of power this prime minister has shrugged off over the years, it almost seems surreal that a petty act of hyper-partisanship may become a tipping point in this election.
You won't think it, but the media are really running with this story. They were even making fun of Harper about this on London's FM96 rock station's morning show. That's something when it seeps into a demographic that normally registers next to no interest in politics.
Yet, as silly as it seems on the surface, there are indeed serious issues that have come to life. Exactly what is the relationship between the RCMP and Conservative Party at these political events.
Of course security must be provided for the PM, but this level of integration between the RCMP and CPC political staffers seems WAY TOO COZY for comfort.
We are not a communist eastern-bloc country where police and party were intertwined. Indeed, Harper MUST answer this question!
Why is the RCMP providing the Harper campaign with information about facebook photos? This story is mushrooming.
I don't disagree. I think it's disgusting and more than a little frightening. I guess where I'm more cautious is that I wonder about 'how many' people will care about this sort of thing. At the end of the day it was sad how few Canadians cared about the G20 arrests and detainments outside of the CCLA and a few million progressives. If the nation at large could not be moved by that unprecedented violent police uprising then I wonder about them being terribly concerned over this. As I said, I'd hate for this to turn into a 'poor Harper, look how unfair the media are to him' story.
Honestly Omar, my motivation isn't smearing or resonance, this has moved to a disturbing question of what the PM is doing with information and/or what the RCMP are doing in concert with Harper's people. I believe this is a big issue, but not just to score political points. We need some answers here and Harper simply can't "decline" to answer, he must own up and clear the air. Ignatieff just did with this bizarre candidate situation, that's what leaders must do.
It ties into Bruce Carson being vetted and approved by then National Security Advisor William Elliot, so ex-con fraudster becomes chief of staff, Elliots gets the RCMP, RCMP and Fantino orchestrate G20 rights fiasco, and now we get RCMP muscle for Harper.
I still think young campus Tories are doing the fingering and name compiling, in fact it sounds like something the Christian Conservative would enjoy handing to the PM and saying, see what I did for you sir.
Or NOT.
I'm not questioning your motives, I simply have little faith in what Canadians at large will be outraged by these days. After the G20 fiasco, Tom Flanagan went on Power and Politics and basically said, "So what? I don't think Canadians are concerned about what happens to protesters". While I don't like to believe that is true, I think we are living in different times where that type of sentiment has much more relevance then it did in the past. Harper is stupid for not answering the question, but you watch, he'll get away with it. I hope I'm wrong.
No, no, I understand that. I do believe, politically, this idea of Harper the control freak, bubble boy, is doing him no favours.
Jerry
The RCMP does seem to come up quite a bit.
Omar - Jim Travers (RIP) wrote several times about the concerning relationship between the CPC and the RCMP over the years since Harper's election win in 2006. Basically he called Canada a banana republic if the RCMP can interfere in our politics as they did with their investigation of the Liberal's income trust leak during that campaign. And he was laying blame with both the Liberals and Conservatives about this issue, in that no one seemed to care about investigating the matter.
This needs to be investigated, and it is sad that no one picked up on this matter now that Travers has passed away. He was the only one I know who was publicly asking about this, and I'm certain he would be writing about this again with this latest transgression from Team Harper.
We need to know what activities warranted removal and "flagging" from RCMP:
http://t.co/ODDldIR
To approach Omar's point from another direction Stephen Harper will continue to refuse to answer these questions until he starts to suffer political consequences for it.
That is just how this guy operates.
They just wait the media out, they get bored and stop asking.
See the debate question... Only difference here, it's a much larger theme, his chief achilles heel that has tripped him up for years.
Putin would be proud... but he'd still turn jelly-belly into a soft pretzel.
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