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Over the past four days it has come to light that the highest levels of Canadian government were aware of the torture of detainees in Afghanistan. This includes the Prime Minister, Stephen Harper. Can we, as Canadians, continue to endorse his leadership of the minority government when he has taken action that has violated Geneva conventions, tortured hundreds, and humiliated us as a nation around the world?

Being Canadian is a nebulous concept; culturally we are one and we are many. There are few Canadians, however, who would agree that the use of torture is acceptable in any circumstance. The willful and cognizant transfer of prisoners to an authority we knew would abuse them makes use as bad as those who applied near-lethal force to those who had never know the justice of a court. There is nothing but shame in the actions of those who permitted this to happen.

The Harper government has always worked to control the message. The level of transparency of this government is next to nil. The level of control that Mr. Harper holds is dictatorial and it’s clear why: if we knew what was going on behind closed doors and if we were aware of the things that were being perpetrated around the world in our name we would see him (Mr. Harper) and his government for what they really are – the very worst kind of opportunistic politicians.

The Liberal party was brought down over a scandal related to the abuse of funds. This Conservative government must fall for the abuse of our fellow human beings. There is no forgiveness for this; that any one of us would send anyone – even someone who we think is a terrorist or an enemy – to be tortured is a crime that must be punished without reprieve.

This is a sad day for Canadians. There is a glimmer of hope, however, that this government will fall and a more transparent, open, government-for-the-people will arise. It doesn’t matter whether that government is Conservative, Liberal, or a coalition government with another party – a clean sweep and a new house is the only thing that can begin to wash away this stain.

Image of Mr. Haper from lillith e-zine

Jim Shaw, CEO of Shaw Communications says that he’s tired of CRTC hearings – and that he doesn’t think he should have to pay to carry local TV.

Dear Mr. Shaw: I’m a customer of yours and I’m tired of the rates going up. Since the cable industry was degregulated in Canada the rates for service have increased four-fold over the rate of inflation and you’ve pulled in record profits. Yet you seem reticent to pay for the local service that you insist has to be free. The hubris of this actually makes my head hurt. You, and your fellow providers, aren’t willing to dip – even slightly – into your record profits and pay for the programs that you carry, instead insisting that you’d have to pass the bill on to consumers. It’s clear, at the point, that there’s not nearly enough competition in Canada – if there were, we’d have at least one provider who was willing to do the right thing, and consumers could choose to buy their service there.

Mr. Shaw, I’m not just tired of the rate increases, I’m tired of the entitled rants of you, Mr. Nadir Mohamed, and the rest of the cable/sat CEO crew. You should indeed be held accountable when your company engages in anti-competitive activities like trying to stomp out smaller providers (Novus comes to mind). In the words uttered famously by the current governor of California: “STOP WHINING.” It’s your job to sit at the table like a big boy and negotiate. Is it any wonder that CTV CEO Ivan Fecan won’t come to talk to you if you insist that their problem doesn’t even exist?

The CRTC has decided that a fee-for-carriage will not happen; that’s something that should please you. They have, however, decided that there is indeed value in local programming – and that you should have to pay for what you use. Sounds a little like what you want your Internet customers to do, doesn’t it? So can it with the hypocrisy already and pay for the material you provide to your customers.