The rise of Totalitarianism in Canada: A Time to Act

Letter from Bishop Dennis P Drainville Apr 26 2012

Dear Friends:

Excuse me. May I take a moment of your time to point out something which on the one hand is obvious but on the other hand makes the blood run cold? Do you realize that we have become a totalitarian state? I am not sure precisely when it happened. 

Was it at the election of May 2nd, 2012 or was it with the passage of the Omnibus Crime Bill, or perhaps with the unveiling of Bill C30 that would allow Big Brother to monitor the emails and private communications of any Canadian citizen. I suppose the timing isn’t as critical as knowing that democracy is on the way to being extinguished.

Hyperbole you say? I think not. With lightning speed the Harper government is pushing through its own legislative agenda with no attempt to honestly debate or discuss the implications of that agenda with the people of Canada. Provincial governments may demand consultations, municipalities may beg for opportunities to speak, experts in a multitude of disciplines, science, health, human rights, and many others may seek to be heard, but there is no hearing. There is no forum for the issues of the day or for proposed legislation to be thoroughly addressed beyond the rigorously enforced time allocations moved with impunity in parliament by the Harperites.

Lies can be disseminated by cabinet ministers without penalty, government funds can be misspent and mismanaged without recourse, governmental scientists can be gagged and officers of parliament can be threatened because they ask inopportune questions about the acts and decisions of the federal government. This is the age that we live in. No sense of governmental responsibility, no vestige of accountability, only the rapacious and predatory abuse of power.

It is certainly sad. But this is not the stuff of lamentation. This is the stuff of repudiation. The citizens of Canada can be bullied and beaten only so long. Already the voices of many are being raised up against the constant battering of our democratic freedoms. It is morbidly funny to see the once supposed proponents of the triple E Senate, the right to recall and regular referenda, and the promoter of free votes in the House of Commons morph into something more akin to soviet style totalitarianism. So much for the “window dressing” of being the great defenders of democracy.

If I have any advice to my fellow Canadian citizens it is this: To be silent is to be complicit. Democracy, if it is to mean anything, requires our active repudiation of this government and all that it represents. Mr. Harper, I reject your vision of Canada and your attempt to bully Canadians by altering the way our democratic traditions and governmental structures function. I commit myself to doing all within my limited power to stop you from the hazardous policies that you espouse and with other like minded citizens, I pledge to help and protect those people who will be hurt and diminished by your neglect and misuse of power.

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Dennis Paul Drainville is the twelfth Anglican bishop of Quebec. Bishop Dennis attended Trinity College, Toronto. Ordained to the diaconate in 1982 and to the priesthood a year later, he first served a rural parish in the Diocese of Ontario. He later served as executive director of STOP 103, a non-profit, multi-service agency responding to the needs of the poor and marginalized in Toronto’s downtown core. 

In 1990 Bishop Dennis was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. In 1993 he resigned from the government caucus to protest his party’s decision to introduce casino gambling to Ontario.

In addition to his responsibilities as diocesan, Bishop Dennis also sits on the Anglican Church of Canada’s Council of General Synod, and is co-chair of the Anglican-Roman Catholic Dialogue of Canada.

A lifelong social activist, and compelling public speaker, Bp Drainville has never hidden his commitment to social change and the creation of relationships based on the principles of justice and peace.