Bob Rae    MP for Toronto Centre

Why U.S. war resisters deserve refuge in Canada

Source : The Toronto Star
July 11, 2008 The Toronto Star
by Bob Rae

The struggles through Canadian courts and prisons by young American soldiers opposed to the war in Iraq has naturally raised the memory of another time, the arrival in our midst of thousands of young men resisting the draft and Vietnam War.

We're in the middle of a fascinating clash of interests, values, and generations. Corporate and private interests are desperate to assert their power in the digital age. And so the old chestnuts in the corporate cupboard are thrown into the mix - intellectual property, rights of the creator, patent protection - and applied willy nilly to the world of downloading, free access to the internet and the universe of instant sharing of information, talent, and ideas that is now the air we breathe.

Two separate Harper initiatives are trying to circle the wagons around the old world. The first is a promised, and fortunately much delayed, revision of the Copyright Act. The second is an American pushed treaty titled ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) that will go even further in making certain kinds of internet access and use illegal, and make it possible for customs officials to seize iPods that contain "illegally" downloaded material. It augurs a ridiculously intrusive national and international apparatus to police practices that are as common as eating and breathing.

These last few weeks I have been going to funerals. Not a cheery topic for a blog you might think ! As it happens, they have been celebratory occasions, saluting great public servants after long and productive lives.

Simon Reisman and Jake Warren were architects of Canada's postwar trade and economic policy, men of great talent and forcefulness not afraid to let Prime Ministers or Ministers know their views, challenging others with their unique combination of patriotism, energy, loyalty and candour.

The most frequent comment I get after being sworn in as the Member of Parliament for Toronto Centre last Monday is - besides "welcome back" ! - is "how have things changed ?"

First off, to everyone who knocked on doors, drove cars, dropped leaflets, made food, gave money, telephoned, gave advice, helped - THANK YOU !!

Hardly adequate - the news shows one person temporarily in the spotlight - but in reality every election is about hundreds of people in a riding, almost all volunteers, working their hearts out for a cause.

The candidate's main job is to keep encouraging people to remember the cause - this is how I put it on election night:

There's been much debate in the Barack-Hilary contest about the impact of "going negative". The Clinton campaign has hit Obama very hard a few times, and he has clearly been reluctant to hit back in the same way. He's drawn a distinction between arguments that contrast positions, and arguments that ridicule an opponent or question motives, or grossly mislead.

There is the famous story about Lyndon Johnson being asked why he was saying things about his opponent that were obviously untrue. "I just want to see the look on his face when he denies it".

When Stephen Harper came to Toronto to speak at the Royal York Hotel he made a point of taking a swipe at me. You know the riff "Bob Rae bankrupted Ontario and now he's going to do the same to Canada for the Liberal Party".

I wrote last week about the smear on Senator Obama by a Harperite leak to CTV Washington reporter Tom Clark.

It gets worse. It all started, apparently, with a conversation between a Canadian official in Chicago and an economics professor who has been an economic advisor to Senator Obama. That conversation led to a memo, which went to the Canadian Embassy, which went to Ottawa, and Tom Clark's ear.

Some Americans are dumbfounded - someone asked today "what are they playing in Canada, some kind of gotcha ?"

The Conservatives have put out two leaflets in Toronto Centre, one on crime, one on taxes.

These are not local leaflets put out by the candidate. These are head office specials, from Conservative central.

So we know the Republican takeover is top-down, tightly controlled. Readers will remember how Mark Warner, the former Conservative candidate. He didn't want this material in the riding, he wanted to run a local campaign based on local issues.

He was dumped as a candidate. The reason is simple - he refused to play the game.

Many film makers have been in touch with me about the Harperites' plan to limit the granting of film tax credits to those movies that meet the approval of a small, Harper appointed committee.

And well known political evangelists are taking credit for it, and pleased that Ottawa is "listening".

This is all part of the Bushification of Ottawa. The Harperites are the Republican Farm Team. What we've seen in Washington is what we'll get in Ottawa.