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July 14, 2015

On October 19 vote NDP, Michael Keefer urges Canadians

The Canadian Charger

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"I would propose that there are, or should be, three decisive issues in the upcoming federal election: (1) electoral fraud; (2) Medicare; and (3) Bill C-51," said Michael Keefer in a recent interview with The Canadian Charger, "Consideration of these three issues leaves us, by a process of elimination, with two choices in English Canada: the New Democratic Party and the Green Party. I would urge Canadians who live in the two ridings held by the Greens to support them. Elsewhere I would recommend supporting the NDP, which has a realistic chance of forming the next government--perhaps even with a parliamentary majority."

Dr. Keefer, a Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Guelph, is an author and a frequent public speaker on Canadian issues.

He explains:

(1) Electoral fraud. The Harper Conservatives have shown contempt for the principles of democracy in many different ways--perhaps most importantly, by cheating in each of the three elections they have won (in 2006, 2008, and 2011). In all three elections, Conservative candidates violated the Canada Elections Act by spending much more on their election campaigns than they were allowed by law to do. And in 2011, the Conservative Party organized a nationwide campaign of vote suppression through telephone fraud, involving more than a million fraudulent calls.

Canadian voters who value free and fair elections should vote for parties other than the Conservative Party.

(2) Medicare. The Harper Conservatives refused last year to renew the existing federal-provincial arrangements for funding Canada's healthcare system. They have made it plain that they prefer the disastrous and inefficient American private-insurer system to our own efficient and humane public system.

Canadian voters who value a decent and just healthcare system should vote for parties other than the Conservative Party.

(3) Bill C-51, Harper's Anti-Terrorism Act. Let me quote what Canada's leading constitutional lawyer, Rocco Galati, said at a recent demonstration against Bill C-51:

"With respect to Bill C-51, basically there are five things. One, it takes all your private information and shares it with all government agencies, including foreign governments. And for some Canadian citizens, that becomes an eventuality of torture and/or death when they're traveling abroad. Secondly, it restricts arbitrarily who can travel. Thirdly, it makes freedom of expression and political criticism with respect to 'terrorism' and the government's role a terrorist offense in itself. So words and thoughts become an act of terrorism under this bill. It allows CSIS to disrupt covertly constitutionally protected rights of association, expression, and protest. And lastly, it does all of this by taking away all and any transparent judicial oversight. What this legislation creates, and make no mistake about it, is a modern-day Gestapo. No exaggeration, that's what it creates [...]. It chills, censors, and criminalizes free speech, free association, and constitutional rights of assembly. This legislation is not new. German and Italian versions were passed in the 1930s in Europe, and they looked very much like C-51. Very hard to distinguish them. I'm not politically partisan, but I'll say two things--that any MP who voted for this bill should not get any Canadian citizen's vote; and any candidate who's running for a party who voted for this bill should not get a Canadian citizen's vote. This is quite clearly a fascist and dictatorial piece of legislation, and appeasement of it is unacceptable." (See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AhhC0sngPo&feature=youtu.)

I would add that Bill C-51 violates fundamental principles both of democratic Canadian jurisprudence and of international law. It seeks to legitimize practices of state terrorism and torture. It is designed, in particular, to intimidate and disempower Canadian Natives and Canadian Muslims. And it is clearly intended to criminalize Canadians who seek (as I do) to protect and advance the rights of Palestinians through peaceful and constitutionally protected forms of political expression and action. Rocco Galati advocates not voting for the parties that supported this bill: I agree with him.

Canadians who value democracy and free speech, and who want to prevent this country becoming a police state, should vote for parties other than the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party

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