Canadians: Kick Harper Out Today!

Today, Canada is voting for their next president – and we hope they throw Harper out after 11 years of destroying the country’s reputation and environment.

Currently, the race is too close to call. The centrist Liberal party has a small lead, followed by Harper’s Conservatives, and then by the most progressive party, the National Democrats.

While there is one conservative party in Canada, the Liberals and National Democrats could split the progressive vote, keeping Harper in power.

From Left: Justin Trudeau, Liberal Party; Stephen Harper, Conservatives; Tom Mulcair, National Democrats:

"The [Conservative] party has been fined for breaking electoral rules, and various members of Team Harper have been caught misleading parliament, gagging civil servants, subverting parliamentary committees, gagging scientists, harassing the supreme court, gagging diplomats, lying to the public, concealing evidence of potential crime, spying on opponents, bullying and smearing. Harper personally has earned himself the rare rebuke of being found to be in contempt of his parliament," says The Guardian.

"No prime minister in history and no political party have been loathed as intensely as Stephen Harper and the Conservative party," John Ibbitson of the Globe and Mail says.

Harper has been quiet on his unpopular energy baron politics lately, focusing on social issues that could drive votes in his direction – such as pushing a ban on Muslim women wearing veils. 

Even his biggest priority – getting tar sands oil exported around the world – is a problem, because the downturn in oil prices has left many unemployed. His singular focus on tar sands has left Canada facing a recession – handcuffed to the volatile, increasingly unpopular industry.

The majority of Canadians want to be part of the post-carbon world and they want their reputation as an environmental leader back. 80% of likely voters say they want Canada to do more to cut emissions.

While the Liberal Party (which supported Keystone XL) pledges to move more toward renewable energy, National Democrats would create a national cap-and-trade program. It wouldn’t be hard – the country’s three most populous provinces have a carbon tax (British Columbia) or cap-and-trade (Quebec, Ontario).   

Prime Minister Harper has gutted Canada’s environmental laws, muzzled and fired top scientists, and threatened environmental organizations as terrorists. Government weather forecasters are prohibited from publicly discussing climate change.

Read our article, Canada Leads the World … On Forest Degradation.

Read this article to learn more about Harper: Stephen Harper: Master Manipulator: