Showing posts with label #GOP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #GOP. Show all posts

Wednesday, 19 August 2020

Do the Conservatives Have a Platform?

 I see people often say the CPC/UCP/etc have no policy, only attacks against the Liberals/NDP... I think this is inaccurate. They cannot present their policy to the public because Canadians would find their vision for Canada so unpalatable as to relegate their RW movement to the scrapheap of history. Some basic tenets upon which the current conservative movement is built:


1. Universal healthcare is an abomination to capitalism
A blog about the UCP in AB, but with the history explaining why the UCP think this way.

2. Public education is an abomination to capitalism, and the Church, as well as a hindrance to continual conservative rule.
Andrew Scheer had, as one of his platforms, the funding of religious private schools and home schooling. But this is just one part.

Premier Jason Kenney had the "public" removed from public schools within Alberta and cut funding to post-secondary institutions, except private religious colleges.

cbc.ca/news/canada/ca…
cbc.ca/news/canada/ca…
Furthermore, in Alberta, the UCP has introduced the idea of non-funded home schooling which does not have to meet the provincial curriculum. In other words, people can now teach their kids any damn thing they want.
If you read that previous article, you will have noticed a push towards vocational schools. And not just high school. Lets get those pre-teens learned up on pipe-fitting and mudlogging. Oh, and don't forget coal-mining. The UCP has paved the way for more open pit coal mines...
And created a lower minimum wage for those under 18. We can get those kids out to work faster than ever!
Jason Kenney has, over the years, expressed his concern that schools are indoctrinating kids in collectivist thinking (learning to share & co-operate, one might assume) and all manner of harmful ideas (science?) that detract from basic numeracy & literacy.
Basic numeracy and literacy are to be the focus of the new UCP curriculum, with annual standardised tests beginning in grade 1 to ensure that teachers do not stray from making their students memorize the times table.
This is the brand new Alberta school outcomes model. "Critical" as in "critical thinking" appears once, in high school. "Literature" does not appear at all. Literacy is treated as a career tool.
education.alberta.ca/media/3402192/…
Indeed, the UCP wants to go further, tying post-secondary academic programs to the speed with which graduates get high-paying jobs. Essentially, eliminating the arts and humanities and focusing on engineering and business.
So, education is strictly for preparing Alberta's children for jobs to boost the bottom line of big companies. And if they can get rid of these secular public schools, workers will again be taught obedience to the church as well as to their betters.
3. Social programs are an abomination to the supreme authority of the church.
Charity used to be the exclusive purview of the church. Assistance was distributed according to the recipients' level of obeisance. Government social safety nets mean just anyone can get help.
Even sinners, like addicts. I believe there is a vocal element within the UCP who would like to go back to the old way, where everyone went to church and tithed, then the churches looked after the poor and sick as they saw fit.
Besides, social programs rob the government coffers of money which should properly go to the capitalist overlords.
4. Canadians, outside of the inner circle of the conservative movement, are only human capital to be exploited for the increased wealth of the very rich.
The CPC, under the rule of Stephen Harper and the direction of Jason Kenney introduced the temporary foreign workers program. There is a generally held belief that Canadians expect too much. Especially too much pay. This is why manufacturing went overseas. And the CPC...
Brought in the TFW program so employers could hire the same sort of cheap labour in Canada. Not as low-paying as jobs in their home countries, but lower than what a Canadian minimum wage worker would have to be paid. This not only exploited these workers, but also...
Depressed wages for Canadian workers. Because the common good of Canadians is far outweighed by the good of the corporations in conservative political minds.
Another aspect of this view of citizens as human capital is a disregard for human rights, except insofar as it it the conservatives' own rights. Thus, draconian punishments which amuse the mob mentality, stripping of rights from "sinners" like the LGBTQ2+ community...
5. The CPC deserve to govern forever.
Democracy gets in the way of this. Clearly God favours them and they should win every election. Therefore it is ok to cheat, mislead the public, suppress the vote, etc. Because power is their destiny. Or some such rot.
6. The media should broadcast the CPC message and no other.
Which most of them do, of course. They believe strongly in state-controlled propaganda media and would like to see other media shuttered.

It all comes together in a tidy package. Low education levels, poor health for all but the wealthy, low wages and lowered worker rights, theological laws, control of the media, and the freedom to determine electoral outcomes. And no one able to stand up to them, because...
everyone is poor, sick, uneducated, in prison, or dead. So, it seems the CPC vision for Canada is sort of pre-Magna Carta feudalism meets Industrial Revolution. No wonder they don't make it public. Watch what they do, not what they say.

They follow the GOP playbook, with co-ordination assistance from the IDU...

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Sunday, 27 October 2019

Where Are Our Journalists, Part 7 - The Death of the Fourth Estate in Canada

Buckle up. It's a meta-thread.
#cdnpoli #cdnmedia #WhereAreOurJournalists 
The first thing a conqueror does is take control of the means of mass communication. In modern times, this means mainstream media. The American right bought our broadcasters & newspapers. Because Harper changed the laws to let them in. Harper loaded the CBC with supporters. Even out of power, the right controls the message.  
This is why, throughout the recent federal election campaign and for a long time before, the CPC has only got softball questions from journalists and the Prime Minister has been put under a magnifying glass continuously.  
Political shows regularly have panels whose diversity includes the far-right, the centre-right, the Greens, and the NDP, and they all take turns saying what a terrible job Trudeau is doing and what a terrible person he is. 
The media does not do their job of explaining unfamiliar concepts to the public. Very little effort was made, for example, to explain what a Deferred Prosecution Agreement is. When Andrew Scheer and other CPC voices claimed that Trudeau was pressuring JWR to "let SNC off the hook" or "let SNC get away scot-free", no one corrected that by saying exactly why that was incorrect, and what a DPA actually is. 
I encourage anyone who thinks a Deferred Prosecution Agreement is "dropping all charges" to read this excellent analysis:

and also this one:

When Andrew Scheer or CPC voices make outrageous claims, no one counters them. It is offensive to journalistic standards and to the Canadian people, that our media are not fulfilling their central and most basic duty: to present the facts. 
Canadians deserve truth, instead we get spin from our media. We are seeing an abject failure to provide anything but click-bait and right-wing ideology. 
The field is getting very murky, as well. Outlets such as Rebel Media and Buffalo Chronicles are treated as real news sources. They are not, in case you have any confusion about that.
Here is an expose on the Buffalo Chronicle:

freethepresscanada.org/?s=Buffalo+Chr… 
And here is a discussion of what passes for journalism in the Rebel Media universe:

Unfortunately, mainstream media has been treating these sources as though they have something valuable to add to the political conversation in this country. 
Not unlike how our mainstream media has been treating organisations like the Fraser Institute, the Canadian Taxpayers' Federation & other right-wing operatives of the CPC as though they offered legitimate research.

Regarding the Fraser Institute:



The Frontier Centre for Public Policy is another American-funded right-wing entity that floats policy balloons for the CPC.

Regarding the Canadian Taxpayers Federation:

And the thing is, Canadian media, including the CBC, report these and other, similar, organisations as valid news sources. This is doing a grave disservice to Canadians. Where is the fact-checking? 
How can a legitimate news agency simply repeat what a "think-tank" funded by Aurea and the Koch Foundation as some sort of gospel truth? 
And the CBC's own pollster, Eric Grenier, does not have a degree in math or statistics. I am shocked. Not that someone without proper credentials set themselves up as an expert but that our national broadcaster has given such a person the credence of being their official political statistician.

Canadians, many Canadians anyway, trust the CBC. Or, used to. It is the mandate of the CBC to provide fair and unbiased news. They are meant to operate outside the market pressures imposed upon corporately-owned and advertiser-controlled media. So, what gives here? 
It is not surprising that all the PostMedia papers, which is most of the newspapers in Canada, are following the dictates of their American owners. For example, the pre-election editions of all PostMedia papers across the country: 
The compromised state of PostMedia publications has not gone unnoticed:

So, where can we now turn to for legitimate news? Why has our national broadcaster become a stenographer for what Harper, Scheer, and other CPC voices refer to as "the conservative movement". The euphemism is important. This is not just about the CPC in Canada. 
It is a global organisation, shepherded by the IDU (International Democratic Union), the president of which is none other than Canada's former PM, Stephen Harper. The IDU co-ordinates right-wing parties world-wide, helping them to win.

There is a "movement". It is not pro-democracy. It is Orwellian. 
The IDU is working very hard to install right-wing, authoritarian governments everywhere.  
There is foreign interference in our elections. There is misrepresentation or outright lies in the statements in our media. There is a concerted effort to turn us against one another. 
The media we consume changes how we think. You might think you are in control of your own opinions. Unless you are employing high level critical thinking skills and are keenly aware of the techniques being used to influence you, you are not.

This may seem anecdotal, but there are a number of longitudinal, large sample studies that demonstrate that the media you consume influences your world-view. The research confirms the premise of this film. 
Personally, I am not content to let this global conservative movement usurp Canadian values, identity, or sovereignty. 
So, what is the solution? We call upon the government to bring in laws to limit foreign ownership of our media. We give the CRTC real teeth to combat the overwhelming tsunami of American media influences in Canada. We put a cap on American programming available in Canada.  
Don't panic. There is brilliant programming from other parts of the world we could access. 
We fully fund the CBC and, at the same time, demand journalistic accountability. The current "ombudsman" complaint process is a joke. I have complained to the ombudsman many times about what I felt to be misleading headlines (which often echo the CPC attack lines). 
The response is always some variation of this: 
To summarise: "The issues are too complex to reflect accurately in a headline. We know most people only read the headline. We're going to use the CPC interpretation of the issue as our headline. It's easier for people to understand." Not good enough. Not by a long chalk. 
We demand that the CBC, our national broadcaster, fulfill their mandate to educate and inform to the highest standards of journalistic integrity. If they are fully funded and not dependent on advertiser dollars they cannot claim to be beholding to any external party. 
We crack down on rogue misinformation sites. We demand fact-checking of ALL political parties' statements. The media is supposed to hold the politicians to account. It appears we must hold the media to account to do this job. 
For long term success, we empower our schools to teach media literacy, critical thinking and Canadian civics from K-12. 
A misinformed, deluded, and ignorant citizenry is fertile ground for the end of democracy and the freedoms and privileges we enjoy as Canadians. We must stop it now. We must DEMAND better from our elected representative, and we must DEMAND better from our media.
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