I am Canadian, and this is not my Canada: 4,001,665 letters sent to politicians in 2004

A group of Canadians are doing something about the erosion of Canadians' freedoms. Yesterday, in the National Post appeared an ad from this group. But there is MORE! Read on.

Quote to Note:

Listen Up: I Am Canadian! . . .

In the upcoming election, we as Canadians must take a somber look at what has happened within our Government over the past several years and what could happen following the election - depending on which party takes over Canada’s helm.

Every freedom loving Canadian should take a good hard look at these three statements:

Tax Me... I’M CANADIAN.

Waste My Money... I’M CANADIAN.

Take Away My Freedom of Speech... I’M CANADIAN.

Unfortunately, this is how millions of Canadians feel.

If these sarcastic statements seem hauntingly familiar, we invite you to speak out against them by sending off a letter to politicians to let them know that this is NOT what it means to be Canadian.

1millionCanadians.com

Before you turn to something else, saying, "I must look at 1millionCanadians.com" but you become distracted by something else, look at the excerpts below which will give you some idea of the content of the site. There are three sample letters that may be sent to politicians. I have copied excerpts for your information so you'll know what they cover, but do go to the site. You may send one or more of them from the One Million Canadians site, that is, join the 4,001,665 letters sent to politicians in 2004 or use them as ideas to write your own. Also, you may sign up to be notified of issues and petitions in future.

Letter: WASTE MY MONEY... I'M CANADIAN.

[. . . . ]There have been far too numerous Government financial scandals to cover in this email, but we will attempt to cover the "highlights".

1. $40 Billion in surplus unemployment fees. What happened to this money?

2. $6.5 Billion paid each year in consulting fees - going to whom?

3. $250 million going to who knows where for the Quebec Sponsorship scandal - it appears (after only a window dressing inquiry) that Government officials knew where this money was going.

4.The billion dollars lost in the HRDC (Human Resources Development Canada) scandal.

6.Canada Steamship Lines (CSL) and the so-called blind trust. (It was revealed that Paul Martin had a special arrangement allowing him to be briefed on matters of extraordinary concerns to CSL. He took advantage of this many times). Many of CSL's ships flew, and still fly, flags of convenience - they are registered in Liberia, Barbados, or the Bahamas. This facilitates the avoidance of Canadian wages, Canadian environmental prescriptions, and Canadian taxes. (A report prepared by the Bloc Quebecois says that CSL's international arm saved about $103 million in Canadian taxes between 1995 and 2002. CSL paid only $3.26 million in taxes in Barbados during this period compared with a projected tax bill of $106 million if it had stayed in Canada). Does this mean that patriotism is a foreign concept to Government Leaders? Is Mr. Martin not proud to fly the Canadian flag? Last year, in response to a question from the Canadian Alliance, the Chrétien government revealed that over the past years it had awarded contracts and loans worth $137,000 to CSL. However, shortly thereafter, Government House Leader Jacques Saade said that the true amount was $161 million - $46 million of which was awarded while Paul Martin was Finance Minister. Mr. Martin failed to correct the originally reported amount. In early February 2004, Mr. Martin stated in the House of Commons that he was simply too busy working on his leadership campaign to notice the discrepancies. The Canadian Taxpayers federation disclosed that a CSL subsidiary received a federal loan under Technology Partnerships Canada while Mr. Martin was a MP -which is strictly forbidden.

7.Grossly ineffective gun registry. The initial estimated cost to Canadians was $2 million. The actual cost is now over $2 billion.

8.Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson's expedition to Russia, Finland and Iceland last year with 59 artists. She spent $5.3 million of taxpayers’ dollars on this trip - only five times her original estimate.

9.Ottawa's culture of corruption and patronage. A report from the Public Service Commission (Vancouver Sun January 2, 2004 issue) indicates that in 51% of the placements, it was unable to conclude that competency and fairness were not suspected because key documents were missing. Continued bureaucratic patronage is affecting employee morale as well. When Jean Chrétien bypassed federal rules and procedures in three departments during 2002 in a rush to purchase two new executive jets for $100 million from Quebec’s Bombardier - aircrafts the government has no need for - Paul Martin was the Finance Minister. The Government knew that this purchase would force them to put two perfectly good jets into long-term storage with no prospects for a quick sale. How did they pay for the new planes? The money was raided from the Canadian Military's under funded tight budget. Senior Liberal cabinet ministers defended the Challenger 604 purchase by saying that they were needed to land on shorter airport runways across Canada allowing the Liberals to travel to more remote towns and cities. Auditor General staff that reviewed travel logs for the new jets found no such uses.

10.Public Works Minister Stephen Owen, a lawyer, broke Treasury Board regulations when he hired his chief of staff during his term as Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification. According to Parliament's Public Accounts' Committee, Owen hired a proprietorship as his staff - thereby allowing his staff to collect a salary and a pension from the government of Canada. As a result, Joanne Meyer was able to double-dip into the public purse. Meyer, a pensioned former Health Canada employee owned a company JM Enterprises. Owen approved two untendered contracts worth more than $180,000 to JM Enterprises thereby breaking the Treasury Board rules - namely exceeding a ceiling set to prevent former public servants from obtaining long-term employment contracts while collecting a pension. It also violated income tax law. Also under Owen’s stewardship, a federal loan of $2 million was granted to Jackpine Forest Products of Williams Lake (BC), owned in part by Prem Vinning, an active supporter and former candidate for the federal Liberal party. However, the company sought court protection from its creditors two months after the federal loan was granted. It was then found out that the company owes nearly $22 million to creditors.

TAKE AWAY MY FREEDOM OF SPEECH... I'M CANADIAN. [. . . . ]

The next sample concerns that freedom of speech--just legislated away by our present government.

Letter: Repeal Bill C250!

[. . . . ] Under C-250, it will become a criminal offence (punishable by two years in prison) to "incite hatred" against gays (and other groups already listed) if the communication is "likely to lead to a breach of the peace."

No excuses are allowed under this section (319.1) of the Criminal Code. It doesn't matter if your statements are true, honestly held, or based on religious texts.

(A religious defence is allowed for the following section, 319.2. But it doesn't help if you are charged under 319.1)

This means if any provincial crown prosecutor thinks your comments are over the line, and persuades a judge that your public remarks might (sooner or later) endanger persons or property in the protected groups, you're going to jail.

[. . . . ] Hugh Owen, a Saskatchewan prison guard, was punished for publishing Bible references in a newspaper ad. Scott Brockie, a Toronto printer, was punished for refusing on religious grounds to work for a gay advocacy group. B.C. high school teacher Chris Kempling was punished for mentioning the health consequences of gay behavior in a rural B.C. newspaper. I could go on.

Now it's true that these people were not charged criminally. But all of them, and many others, have been accused in strident language of "spreading hate."

And it isn't just gays. We are informed almost daily by self-appointed spokesmen for this or that "identifiable group" that any criticism leads their members to low self esteem, drug problems, suicide and crime.

Get it? Criticism equals incitement to hatred, which leads to any number of breaches of the peace. This is the new theory.

With Svend's new law in place, it's just a matter of redirecting "hate-mongers" from human rights commissions, which are bad enough, to the criminal courts, which are worse.

All it takes is one zealous prosecutor and a politically correct judge--hardly a rare combination.

Free speech is destroyed long before someone goes to jail. It vanishes the moment ordinary citizens feel exposed to arbitrary prosecution for voicing their honest beliefs.

If you have read this far, surely, now, you realize that citizen democracy--as opposed to our present government's authoritarianism--is an idea whose time has come. Go to 1millionCanadians.com There is more on the site; you may sign any or all letters and send them -- or just look and be inspired. So go!