Prime Minister Harper’s prorogation of the 40th Parliament last December for the reasons he has given sets a dangerous precedent. And the op-ed piece by Paul Benoit in The Ottawa Citizen on January 15th failed miserably in its attempt to refute an earlier article written by 170 university professors who accused the Prime Minister of undermining our system of democratic government.

The Professors were right and Mr. Benoit reflects the problem we have with Harper’s bias towards American philosophies. He works with Hill & Knowlton, one of the largest public relation firms in the U.S. In 2009 Harper’s government paid them over $132,000 for their services as “Management Consultants”. Will that op-ed be part of their next bill?

Harper states the government needs time to recalibrate. He wants time to develop new policies and programs. But that is what Parliament and its committees are designed to do! Why send the MPs and Senators home when the government is looking for new ideas?

Read full article: 'Prime Minister Harper is acting like a ‘King of Olde’'

It is strange that the non-elected Senate in Ottawa appears to be a better watch dog today for our rights and liberties than the elected House of Commons.

The top down Harper government introduced a regressive Bill C6, The Consumers Products Safety Act , earlier this session.

The Bill provides for unprecedented levels of discretionary power to be wielded by civil servants.

Inspectors could search Private Property without a warrant and, without Court supervision, seize private property, destroy private property, take control of businesses and in some circumstances keep seized private property.

Read full article: 'Senate amendments to Bill C-6 aim at maintaining our rights and liberties'

The PC Party Prosperity Canada Programme focuses on building for the future. In retrospect over this last week while there will be update reports from the Government to the Opposition nothing of continuing collective interest to Canadians as a nation will be reported.

Read full article: 'The MACKENZIE RIVER PIPELINE'

Some say Prime Minister Stephen Harper has a hidden agenda. In fact, he has a very clear agenda. Harper is an ideologue who thinks in top-down terms. When he speaks to fellow believers, his audience consists of confirmed neo-cons who envision a promised land of unfettered capitalism with as little government interference as possible. This is the key group for Harper and his Conservative party.

But there is a second audience he and his associates speak to – the general public, the voters. Harper and his associates recognize that to reach their goal it is necessary to play to the parochial interests of groups such as Bloc Québécois supporters in the hope of winning their votes.

This creates a dichotomy for the Harperites, leading to their double-talk. This month we have had a good example of this phenomenon.

Read full article: 'CONSERVATIVE AGENDA'