Dear Editor
Stephen Harper, who has now appointed more unelected senators than any other Prime Minister in history, has just used these senators to defeat an environmental bill, the Climate Change Accountability Act, which was passed by a majority of our democratically elected Parliament. Once again, Harper has found a way to defeat the will of the majority of our elected parliamentary representatives.
Another example would be Harper's recent statement that he can extend our military commitment in Afghanistan without a vote in Parliament, even though Parliament had passed a resolution to withdraw our military from there in 2011. Since the Liberals seem to be on side with the idea of extending the Afghan mission (making such a vote close to a sure thing) it would appear Harper's decision to forego a vote just indicates his distain for the democratic process.
Unfortunately, it seems a lot of Canadians think of Harper as a strong leader. There can be no doubt that, for about four years, he has operated a minority government as if he had a majority and has gotten away with it, mainly because of the ineffective leadership of the Liberals. A strong leader with a deeply ingrained love for the democratic process would be a good thing. (Diefenbaker comes to mind.)
However, history can show examples of other strong leaders who were elected to leadership positions, and then used those positions to do away with the democratic process.
Russell Lahti
Battleford
