If, as the polls suggest, Stephen Harper will be toppled tomorrow, the first thing the next prime minister must do is to free our government's scientists. Release them from the shackles and the gags that silenced them throughout the Harper era.
Take them outside. Show them the sun. Let them mingle with the people, reunite with their colleagues across Canada and around the world. Help them get caught up and back to their posts.
Above all else, let them be heard. Let us hear from them about what this past decade has been like for them. Let them shed light what they wanted to tell us and warn us about but couldn't. Let them tell us how they were gagged, intimidated.
We have a lot to learn from those scientists and, from them, we'll see the true face of Stephen Harper.
8 comments:
Nice idea, but I think we need to take some pretty big steps to reverse the damages that Harper has done, beginning with a full investigation of Stephen Harper, the election issues in the past and anyone linked with his doings.
It's time to put the man behind bars.
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@ Anon 9:45 - I agree that Canadians deserve to know just what in hell happened but that surely takes a back seat to getting our scientific services up and running.
@ Anon 10:07 - "please share this link." Ross, I think you already have. Thanks.
That freedom for our scientists is difficult to envisage is a mark of the damage Harper has done though his relentless suppression tactics, Mound.
Quite frankly Mound with this bunch of naive lib leadership being led around by the nose by Wynn's backroom with a couple of old time bagmen, who have long links (some of them Adscam) I hope you are right but this bunch of backroomers will be quite pleased that Harper has done the heavy lifting for them. Trudeau has never said just how much Harperlaw he will repeal - C51 (I will modify it) C24 no mention of repeal just a dislke of it and other despicable laws. How many rivers will be re-protected, how much of Statscan will he renew.
Perhaps the best part of a Lib government will be the stampede to the patronage trough with a different way of thinking, problem is that Harper has filled all the spots available and not many are now empty.
So I wait to be convinced that change is possible.
His departure will leave wounds to heal, Lorne. Let's hope the scars won't linger.
@ Ben - I would hope that your team uses this as an opportunity to recalibrate. The Canadian people will need a strong voice of the Left over the next few decades as they never have in the past.
This election was Mulcair's to lose and he did just that handsomely. British Columbians are all too accustomed to this from the NDP.
I would be the first to admit that the NDP backroom has now gone three elections without a win, most of them zooming from first to last. However no matter how good the NDP team will be in Ottawa, the Ruling party will be be hard pushed after this voctory to be magnanimous. Hence my fears about the old nasty entitled ways coming back very quickly.
Ben, unless I missed a vote in the course of my lifetime, the NDP has gone more than three elections without a win. That,however, isn't how the success of the NDP should be recognized. The party really was the 'conscience of Parliament' and championed a good many issues that, but for them, would have been ignored. They had many lesser wins that, taken cumulatively, were vital to the country.
Should the Liberals prevail they'll have to work with the NDP. Too many of their supporters will expect it of them.
If we're lucky tomorrow we'll oust Harper but that doesn't mean the fight against movement conservatism is won. There's a long way to go to right Canada's political keel.
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