International Award A Joke

The Appeal of Conscience Foundation of New York had awarded Stephen Harper with its Statesman of the Year award.  The award was honouring Harper as its statesman of the year for his work as "champion of democracy". What a sad joke for the Canadian people as this Prime Minister is without doubt the worst person to ever hold that office when it comes to protecting democracy.

It is a sad reflection on the foundation when it "believes that freedom, democracy and human rights are the fundamental values that gives nations the best hope for peace, security and shared prosperity" and award this man the honour.

Since Harper became Prime Minister he has systematically assaulted democracy in Canada, overlooking and in some cases condoning clear cases where our democratic institutions and traditions were undermined. Harper's record of assault on democracy and rights is well documented.

I will list a number of direct actions which stand out to make my case. The government killed the Center for Human Rights and Democratic Development. This group monitored human rights around the world. In 2010 the government slashed the funding for Human Rights Commission. In 2009 the government cut funds for Cairo after they criticized Israel for bombing a Gaza health center.

The Harper Government chopped funding to the Status of Women, the Court challenges commission and at the same time propagated parliament twice in less than a year. Harper is the only Prime Minister to be found guilty of contempt of Parliament and approved the distribution of a handbook which explained how Tories could disrupt committee hearings by barring witnesses with damaging testimony.

The Harper Government has ignored freedom of speech and information by muzzling senior bureaucrats, withholding and sometimes altering documents, making personal attacks on whistle blowers, and lying to voters. These are only a few of the items I read in our news media but sufficient to cause concern when awarding such an award to such a unsuitable person.

It would appear that this body used a narrow criteria when making this award. I would suspect that since this group was founded by a New York Rabbi back in 1965 that Harper received this honour for his strong support of Israel and his strong criticism of Iran. There is some confusion why Canada closed the embassy and recalled its workers leaving Canadians unsupported while working in or visiting Iran.