We cats have frequently averred that the Conservative government of Stephen Harper has, for years, taken multiple pages from the Karl Rove book of Screw Your Enemies. In fact, we've always suspected that Harper has a direct-dial line from his offices on Parliament Hill to Rove, to the Worst Person Who's Ever Lived, and to all the repulsive reprobates of the Cheney-Bush Administration.
But now we know he does. What more proof do you need than the "Citizen Voting Act" — which would force Canadians living overseas to vote absentee solely in the riding (district) they last lived in, no matter how long ago that was, and which requires new levels of ID to "prove who they are, where they live"?
Gee, sound familiar? From allowing his fellow countrymen living abroad to simply prove that they are Canadian, Harper and his Tories have decided to put them through hoops that only an American of color, intending to vote for Barack Obama, would have to jump through.
This is a Tory attack on Canadians on active military duty. And on career diplomats and Canadians in the foreign service. And on those who choose to work for an NGO like the Red Cross. In fact, it's an affront to uber-patriot Don Cherry, who like all right wingers champions the Canadian armed forces every chance he gets.
Will Mulcair and Trudeau call Harper on this? That would make us PURR. In the meantime, Canadian Conservative (and American conservative) attacks on voting rights continue to be attacks on the essence of democracy. Which make us HISS.
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