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March 6th, 2015

Overheard this week: Conservatives breaking their own law?

Stephen Harper’s Conservatives exploited terror for partisan purposes

‘’It's the job of the Prime Minister to try and reduce fears of Canadians, instead Harper is trying to fundraise on fear and that's shameful. ‘’ –Thomas Mulcair, March 5, 2015

‘’Stephen Harper is selling the politics of fear’’ – Ralph Nader, US consumer advocate & former presidential candidate, on Evan Solomon’s PnP, Feb 18, 2015

"They are a hateful party. It's the party of fear. It's pure politics, that's what it's all about." –Mubin Shaikh, former CSIS and RCMP operative who foiled the Toronto 18 plot, The Tyee, March 3, 2015

Ironically, their ad may be breaking their own proposed Bill:

"They made a shareable meme out of terrorist propaganda and launched it out there into viral world of the Internet. And they did this in the name of outlawing terrorist propaganda! This is a rich vein of irony the Conservatives are mining. " –Edward Keenan, Toronto Star, March 6, 2015

‘’The use of such language, experts argue, is in violation of the legislation that the Conservatives are trying to promote.’’ –CTV News, March 5, 2015

Even Conservatives are speaking out:

‘’To actually put fear in people’s mind and drive tourism down is just not cool and I won’t stand for it’’ -Thomas Lukaszuk, Progressive Conservative MLA for Edmonton-Castle Downs, Metro News, March 4, 2015

"It touches on capitalizing fear -– that's just not what I would do." -Thomas Lukaszuk, March 4, 2015

‘’I would not have posted that if I were in charge‘’ –Lawrie Hawn, Conservative Member of Parliament for Edmonton Centre, March 4, 2015

And they aren’t just exploiting fear of terror for partisan purposes…

According to the government, the measure is needed “to keep Canadian families and their communities safe” from “heinous” (that word again: has it ever been used except in front of “crimes” or “criminals”?) criminals, those “whose actions mean we cannot risk permitting them on the streets.” The suggestion is that Canada’s streets are menaced by a wave of elderly jailbirds, released on parole after a scant 25 years in the slammer. This is — does it even need saying? — nonsense. –Andrew Coyne, The National Post, March 4, 2015