From: brewnoser2@gmail.com   
      
   Harper, Serial Abuser of Power: The Evidence Compiled   
      
      
   The Tyee's full, updated list of 70 Harper government assaults on democracy   
   and the law.   
      
   Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper: His government has piled up dozens of   
   abuses of ethics and the law since coming to power in 2006.   
      
   Stephen Harper and his Conservatives have racked up dozens of serious abuses   
   of power since forming government in 2006.  From scams to smears,   
   monkey-wrenching opponents to intimidating public servants like an Orwellian   
   gorilla, some offences are    
   criminal, others just offend human decency.   
      
   Last week we published 59 examples in two parts, and asked our readers to   
   suggest any we may have missed.   Among the many suggestions we gratefully   
   received, we concluded that 11 more meet the criteria for "abuses of power."   
      
   Today we compile all 70 items into one omnibus of abuse by the Stephen Harper   
   government.   
      
   Thanks, once more, to friends of The Tyee who help with this list.   
      
   SECTION I. ABUSING PARLIAMENT: SABOTAGE, SCANDALS, CORRUPTION AND CONTEMPT   
      
   This section includes examples of willful misgoverning by the PM and his team,   
   31 times they have lied, flouted rules and stymied democracy to achieve   
   political and ideological ends.   
      
   ~  PMO Tied to Senate Hush Money Scandal   
      
   An RCMP affidavit reported widespread involvement by PMO staffers in a secret   
   payment to Senator Mike Duffy to try and make a political problem go away.    
   The Senate expenses scandal brought on allegations of a cover-up, a breach of   
   the public trust, and    
   a whitewashing of a Senate report.  The PMO was found to have a hand in the   
   altering of a damning Deloitte audit.   
      
   ~  Harper Found in Contempt of Parliament   
      
   For refusing to disclose information on the costing of programs to Parliament,   
   which Parliament was entitled to receive, the Harper government became the   
   first in Canadian history to be found in contempt of Parliament.   
      
   ~  Against Court Order, Refusal to Share Budget Info   
      
   Even though it lost a court case and was ordered to comply, the Harper   
   government nevertheless refused to share 170 times reasons and impacts for   
   cuts with Canada's independent budget watchdog, mocking Parliament's right to   
   control the public purse.   
      
   ~  Conservative Cabinet Staffers Granted Immunity from Testimony   
      
   A PMO edict absolved political staffers from ever having to testify before   
   parliamentary committees.   
      
   ~  Conservatives Falsify Reports and Documents   
      
   Among documents deliberately altered in the writing or the quoting by the   
   government: CIDA document by Bev Oda's office on Kairos; the Senate Committee   
   Report on the Duffy affair; a report by former auditor general Sheila Fraser   
   on financial management.   
      
   ~  Repeated Duplicity in Afghan Detainees Controversy   
      
   Among the abuses: Parliament was misled and denied documents.  An inquiry was   
   shut down.  Tories attempted to discredit diplomat Richard Colvin whose   
   testimony diverted from the government's line.   
      
   ~  Repeated Duplicity on Costing of F-35 Fighter Jets   
      
   An auditor general's report revealed serial deceptive practices used by the   
   Conservatives in misleading the public and Parliament on the projected cost of   
   the fighter jets.   
      
   ~  Harper Minister Lies, Blames Statistics Canada for Killing Long Form Census   
      
   Under fire for Conservatives killing the long form census, Industry Minister   
   Tony Clement falsely stated that StatsCan backed the idea and assured the   
   voluntary substitute would yield valid statistical data. Neither was true,   
   outraged StatsCan sources    
   confirmed.   
      
   ~  Conservative MP Admits He Lied to Parliament   
      
   As opposition members claimed the Harper government was out to rig election   
   rules in its favour, Conservative MP Brad Butt rose in the House of Commons to   
   say why the bill was needed -- all the voter fraud he had personally   
   witnessed.   Weeks later he    
   rose again to say his statements were false.   Delivering his strained   
   apology, he failed to explain why he lied in the first place.   
      
   ~  Conservative House Leader Admits to Mockery of Question Period   
      
   Criticized far and wide for farcical answers in question period, Paul   
   Calandra, parliamentary secretary to Harper, made a tearful apology for abuse   
   of the democratic process.   
      
   ~  Harper Maligns the Supreme Court Chief Justice   
      
   The Prime Minister took the unprecedented step of alleging inappropriate   
   conduct by Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin. Facts undermined the credibility   
   of the PM's position.   
      
   ~  Conservatives Engage in Abuse of Process with Omnibus Bills   
      
   Harper's party pushed legislation through Parliament via omnibus bills, the   
   scale of which Parliament had never seen.  Such bills are widely condemned as   
   an abuse of the democratic process, because they blend and bury so many   
   controversial laws within    
   one dense package.   
      
   Harper himself once railed against them, and his born again love for them made   
   his own MPs queasy.  Referencing such bills, former auditor general Sheila   
   Fraser said that "Parliament has become so undermined that it is almost unable   
   to do the job that    
   people expect of it."   
      
   ~  Harperites Deliberately Sabotage, Stymie Committee System   
      
   Conservatives used tactics such as barring witnesses, closure, time   
   limitations, and in camera sessions to an extent rarely, if ever, witnessed in   
   Canada.   In their early days in power, top Conservatives prepared a handbook   
   instructing committee    
   chairpersons how to obstruct proceedings.   
      
   ~  Harper's Own MPs Protest Muzzling   
      
   In a caucus known for his tight discipline, in 2014 some members finally rose   
   up to contest being censored at question period by the Prime Minister's   
   Office.   Former Conservative backbencher Brent Rathgeber turned independent   
   and published a book,    
   Irresponsible Government, decrying anti-democratic practices.   
      
   ~  Conservative Bill Rewrites History to Protect Mounties from Potential   
   Criminal Charges   
      
   To protect the RCMP, the government retroactively made an old bill come into   
   force before it was passed by Parliament.   
      
   ~  Harper Minister Caught in Advertising Scam with Public Funds   
      
   The Globe and Mail revealed that Harper's chosen Minister for Democratic   
   Reform Pierre Poilievre commissioned a team of public servants for overtime   
   work on a Sunday to film him glad-handing constituents.   The vanity video on   
   the taxpayer dime was to    
   promote the government's benefits for families.   
      
   ~  Corrupt Conservative Cronies   
      
      
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