Acclaimed Canadian author Margaret Atwood faced censorship in the national press late last week for her satirical take on Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s hair. It might have been a rather amusing episode if it was not symptomatic of darker, Orwellian trends that have marked Harper’s nine years in office. Stephen Marche’s article in the New York Times mid-month does an excellent job of summarising how Harper has pulled tight the reins of power, stifled criticism and eroded the freedoms of Canadians.
But it is in the prime minister’s assaults on the most fundamental of democratic acts, a citizen’s right to vote, that Harper’s lust for control finds its most disturbing outlet. Not confident of winning re-election on merit in October, he’s pushed through a series of legal changes spearheaded by the perversely named Fair Elections Act. Harper’s front man for the task, the aptly titled democratic reform minister, Pierre Poilievre, brushed off critics, claiming the changes are “ common sense “.
But it is more likely that, after winning by an uncomfortably small margin in the last election and, after nine years, having the distinct honour of the lowest job creation numbers since World War II and least economic growth since the 1960s , Harper is making sure potential naysayers have a harder time accessing the polls.
The Fair Elections Act strips Elections Canada, the nonpartisan government body responsible for administering elections, of its authority to actively encourage citizens to vote — a matter, we were told, that is the responsibility of political parties to promote. And on voting day, incumbent candidates and not Elections Canada will appoint polling supervisors. This hardly smells like democracy.
Then there is the muzzling of the chief electoral officer, restricting the role to speaking publicly on just five ‘safe’ topics such as ‘how to become a candidate’ and ‘how to cast a ballot’. Specifically removed is the role’s power to alert the public to problems during an election and to raise awareness of the electoral process, particularly to “persons and groups most likely to experience difficulties in exercising their democratic rights” as previously outlined in the Elections Act.
No coincidence then that these very groups — indigenous people, the disabled, students living away from home and transients — are not traditionally Harper supporters. A serendipitous bonus has been a recent court decision declaring that citizens out of the country for more than five years are ineligible to vote this election. Again, not your average Harper supporters.
Harper also cut Elections Canada’s budget by 8 per cent, stripping it of $5.6 million (Dh20.59 million), forcing the group to abandon its intention to pilot online voting, which increased voter turnout by as much as 10 per cent in municipalities where it was tested. But cohorts with historically low turnout, which include immigrant groups such as the Latin American community, are not the ones likely to bring the far-right Harper back for a fourth term. So let us not make it any easier for them to vote, shall we? Discouraging voter participation is one third of Harper’s equation to win at all costs.
Another is to make it more difficult to investigate vote fraud and amendments, including cutting off Elections Canada’s investigations arm. It is no coincidence that, after the last vote in 2011, a Conservative political consulting firm and party staffer were found guilty of making thousands of misleading, automated phone calls directing non-Conservative voters to the wrong polling stations.
Looking to borrow from the American style of exorbitant electoral fundraising, Harper has loosened party funding regulations, hiking the amount individuals can donate by 20 per cent, a move critics argue will favour the wealthy’s ability to influence elections and make it easier for organisations to funnel corrupting donations through their executives and employees.
Finally, the 2015 election campaign is more than double the length — 11 weeks versus the traditional five weeks — and favours Harper’s Conservatives with their deep party coffers, about the only ones who can afford to maintain a significant on-the-ground presence for the full campaign. A lengthy election does not, however, mean voters will be able to see more Harper. Only people vetted by the PM’s team and in receipt of a bar-coded ticket will be allowed entry to campaign events. For the rest? “Turn on your television”, advises the Conservative party’s spokesman .
It is time to put a stop to this conscious attempt to mute the populace. Harper secured power in 2011 with 5.8 million votes, yet 9.3 million Canadians — 38.6 per cent of voters — did not cast a ballot. His ‘Fair’ Elections Act seeks to ensure that number only rises, making not just Harper but voter participation the greatest challenge to Canada’s democracy. It is time for voters to refuse to be cowed, push through the obstacles and ensure the electoral crown is claimed by a candidate with a mandate from the people and not won through trickery and manipulation.
— Guardian News & Media Ltd
Caroline Konrad is a former Brussels correspondent and currently a concerned Canadian voter in Toronto.
