Stephen Harper is despotic by design. That much is apparent in an excerpt from a letter Harper wrote in 2001 while head of the National Citizens Coalition, known as the "jackasses letter." Harper used the epithet to castigate bureaucrats of Elections Canada whom he ridiculed as "out of control."
In this letter, Harper wrote eloquently of what happens to democracy in a government that tightly controls information.
“Iron-fisted bully tactics have no place in a free and democratic society. Information is power. The less control the government has over the flow of information, the less control it can exert over its citizens."
It's almost hard to believe the Harper of 2001, then supposed champion of free and democratic society, is the same Harper who today maintains such an iron-fisted grip on the flow of information between the government of Canada and the Canadian people. Harper has gagged both the public service and the armed forces, insinuating commissars from the Prime Minister's Office to impede communications between government employees and the public that pays them. These commissars decide what public queries shall be allowed to be answered and then "craft" the responses to conform to Harper's policies. In doing this, Harper transforms both the public service and the armed forces into political agencies of his own office. It's pretty obvious that this tinpot tyrant realizes the more control he can exert over the flow of information, the more control he can exert over the Canadian people.
It's bully-boy Harper who has no place in a free and democratic society. And that's why he subverted the one we used to have.
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