Harper Propaganda Machine Swings into High Gear

Today the patchwork Federal Conservative government, formerly known as the Canadian Alliance and the Reform Party, has launched an advertising campaign intended to portray Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams's recent newspaper ads as incorrect and misguided.

Premier Williams’ ads, which appeared in papers across the Country, highlighted the broken promises made by the Harper government in its all out pursuit of vote rich Quebec at the expense of other parts of the Nation.

In response to the ads Harper, taking a page directly from the play book of the U.S. Republican Party and current President George Bush has launched ads of his own.

Harper’s propaganda campaign now appears to be in full swing and includes telling the Canadian public that provinces like Newfoundland and Labrador are actually better off under the new equalization plan. These ads, while intended to undermine Mr. Williams credibility instead serve to provide further evidence that the truth simply doesn’t matter to Mr. Harper or his elected officials.

Adding to the stench of his latest tactic, the Harper government has paid for these self serving ads with tax revenue gained from the people of Canada, including the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, BC and New Brunswick, provinces that all feel hard done by under the new equalization plan.

While the ads may indicate that Newfoundland and Labrador is better off under the new Harper equalization regime, what they conveniently do not mention is that in order to pick up a few million dollars in short term equalization gains, provinces like Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador are required to give up any future hope of reaping the full benefits of offshore oil and gas reserves.

If anyone can recall the fuss caused when the government of the day tried unsuccessfully to foist the National Energy Plan on Alberta a number of years ago they will likely have a full understanding of where Danny Williams and others are coming from over this issue.

The option presented by the Harper government, rather than truly improving the lot of these poorer provinces, would instead see them sell their future for the few dollars they need to survive today.

While oil and gas revenues are indeed protected in the short term by the Atlantic Accord, these accords are set to potentially expire in just a few years and signing onto Stephen Harper’s new equalization plan will mean trading away future benefits that could be used by the provinces to pay down debt and diversify their economies.

The ads also fail to inform the public that the new system includes an accounting of the property values in each province when calculating equalization. In other words, regardless of how much revenue a province does or doesn’t have available, no matter what the economy is like at any given time, if property values are high or even slow to drop the provinces can kiss millions in equalization funding goodbye.

As BC premier Gordon Campbell noted recently, “Property values in BC went up by 24% recently but our ability to pay taxes didn’t go up by 24%”.

While continuing to pour billions into Quebec to prop up business interests like Bombardier (nearly $1 billion dollars was announced for the aerospace industry yesterday) and to be used for tax cuts for the people there, Harper has essentially gutted any chance smaller provinces have of building strong, self sufficient economies and becoming fully contributing partners in Canada.

Harper may well be willing to flip the proverbial finger at smaller provinces in pursuit of his ultimate goal, a majority government and an iron fisted grip on Canadians, but where will that leave the nation long after he is gone?

Already since taking office Stephen Harper’s neo-republican party has gutted federal funding to the poor, women’s groups and more. He has refused to recognize native agreements. He has forced provinces like Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia into a lose/lose choice on equalization. He is unrelenting in his attempts to destroy the Canadian Wheat Board and he has cost Canadian investor’s billions of dollars by not keeping his word over income trusts while leaving these companies vulnurable to foreign take over bids.

The judgment of whether or not Premier Williams and others are misguided in their complaints rests solely in the hands of individual voters across Canada, but it appears Stephen Harper is not willing to let that decision happen without an all out attempt to distort the facts in his favor. If this latest attempt by Harper to increase his power of Canadians and the damage caused in just a single year of a Harper minority government doesn’t make people stop and wonder about the future then it may already be too late.

Time will tell.