Conservative Party of Canada policy shows a disconnect with Canadians

The past few months in the House of Commons have demonstrated what many have thought for years: the Conservative Party of Canada is completely out of touch with Canadians.

The actions of Conservative members of parliament (MPs) could be described as nothing less than despicable. Firstly, the Conservatives have passed horrid, degenerative policy and, secondly, the behaviour of numerous MPs has been disgraceful.

In terms of policy advancement, the Harper government has been able to push forward any policy initiative they like. Unfortunately, for all of us, the Conservatives have relied upon the passivity of all Canadians, and so far, it has worked brilliantly. Bill after bill has been passed, while Canadians have sat back and taken it. Finally, their most recent bill has caused uproar amongst the citizens.

So far, the Tories have pushed bills which destroyed the gun registry, created an omnibus crime bill, taken Canada out of the Kyoto protocol, banned veils during citizenship ceremonies, created ridiculous anti-piracy laws and most recently a bill which would police the Internet. A pretty wretched track record if you ask me.

These are bad policies in general, but the most puzzling aspect of the Conservative’s policy agenda is the glaring contradictions. Ironically, the Harper government passed the bill to destroy the long-gun registry, an action that experts have suspected to reverse many positive effects since the registry’s introduction, citing that Canadians should be free from surveillance.

Why is this true with lethal weapons but not with the Internet? It would seem the Conservative Party has numerous agendas, granting a small amount of leeway to some groups, while consequently attacking the liberty of all other Canadians.

Considering that Harper would like the world to regard Canada as a world leader, I hope for everyone’s sake that the world does not follow this precedent.
I would also like to speak to the actions of numerous Conservative MPs within the House of Commons. Every MP has the responsibility to be a respectful representative of their riding.

However, numerous Conservative MPs do not seem to have gotten the memo. Three particular incidents stick out in the past few months, those being the actions of Jim Hillyer, Larry Miller and Vic Toews.

You may recall the actions of Conservative MP Jim Hillyer. Early in November 2011, Hillyer celebrated the abolishment of the gun registry with “finger guns.”

While Mr. Hillyer has the right to celebrate his party’s “victory,” his actions show a lack of respect towards shooting victims. Perhaps Hillyer has yet to suffer the negative impact of a crime involving firearms, but such an experience would likely influence his opinion. It disgusts me that one of the leaders of our nation would be willing to act in such a manner.

Likewise, MP Larry Miller’s offence relates to the gun registry. Miller compared support for the gun registry as akin to Nazism. Additionally, he directly compared former Liberal justice minister Alan Rock to Adolf Hitler. Not only is this claim ridiculous, but more importantly, it is incredibly insensitive to the millions that died under the Nazi regime. While he later apologized for his statement, the fact remains that he chose to demean the dark legacy of the holocaust.

Finally, MP Vic Toews has also been a disgrace to Canadians in his advocacy of a bill requiring Internet service providers to police the usage of their clients.

Earlier in the year, Toews stated “[you can] stand with us, or with the child pornographers.” This is typical of the Conservative, you are either with us, or we are against you mindset. To compare the majority of Canadians to child pornographers is despicable, but in Toews defense, seems to follow the precedent of his fellow MPs.

The Conservative Government has been a disgrace to Canada since they were elected almost a year ago. Personally, I’ll be glad to see them go, I’m just hoping we still have the freedom to vote them out.