The Harper Government

The Harper government, elected in 2006 and defeated in 2015, was one of the longest serving governments in Canadian history. Starting as the smallest minority government to ever be formed in Canada, it expanded, becoming a powerful majority serving nine years. The Harper government ended with the loss of 67 seats for the Conservative government and the gain of 150 seats for the Liberals. This rapid change was not surprising, as the Harper government alienated many. Harper himself was known to be temperamental and a control freak. While Harper was disliked by many, however, his government led Canada through a period of change and created many of those changes. Some of those changes were extremely controversial, such as the tough-on-crime agenda

that was imposed. Some were outright disastrous, such as marginalizing Aboriginals. Most of all, people disapproved of the Harper government for the cutting of funds everywhere, from science programs to arts funding to assessments regarding environmental safety.

However, the majority of the policies that caused criticism all had one thing in common: it was done to balance the budget. An economist by trade, Harper knew how to be fiscally responsible. However, the means by which his government did this had a negative impact on Canada.

The Harper government had policies that marginalized Canada’s most harassed people, the First Nations. Of course, Harper did apologize for the injustice of the residential schools, but there was little action to prove he wanted better relations with the thousands of people who were so willing to put their maltreatment behind them.1 In 2005, the Paul Martin government worked with provincial and territorial governments to develop the Kelowna Accord. The idea was to close the gap between the standards of living of Aboriginals and non Aboriginals. The agreement was a major step forward for partnership between the First Nations and the government. Even so, when the Harper government replaced them and outlined their 2006 budget as a minority government, there was significantly less funding towards the Accord.2 The Harper

government was able to do this easily, but they did have difficulty with some of their other policies as a minority. Once the conservatives gained majority, however, they were free to do much as they pleased. Previously, the Harper government had been unable to pass many bills through Parliament. Four of these bills that were passed after gaining majority were displeasing to First Nations. The First Nations Accountability Act, The Matrimonial Real Property Act (MRP), The Safe Drinking Water for First Nations Act and the First Nations Elections Act were all said to be very paternalistic. This caused relations with the Aboriginal people to regress and was trademark of how the Canadian government treated the First Nations back at the time of residential schools. The Harper government passed the following modifications without consulting the Aboriginals: “the removal of protections for all but a few navigable waters, changes to the definition of the Aboriginal fishery, and amendments to how land might be surrendered under the Indian Act.”3 This would pose problems for the Harper government, as the First Nations had significant control over resource governance. The Harper government was very pro energy and it was a very shortsighted move to act towards the Aboriginals the way they did.
The Harper government’s crime agenda was criticised by many people for its overly punitive methods.

It was also said to be flawed, ignoring what has been proven to reduce crime. As a minority government, they promised harsher sentences. Some of these included mandatory minimum sentences, higher incarceration rates, and a transformative policy to corrections.4 There were many concerns with these policies. Experts said that the higher incarceration rates were unfair, sending the wrong type of people to jail. The people who were being targeted, it was argued, were either substance abusers who would be better off sent to detoxification facilities or mentally ill.5 The Harper government ignored these concerns, showing their unwillingness to take advice. Furthermore, crime had been declining in Canada for decades. Over the years, according to experts, our policing strategies had become more effective, sociological and economic conditions had changed, and there had been a demographic change.6 Even with these changes, the policies enacted under Bill C-10 had put more people in prison. This was an issue because studies had been done showing that other methods such as addressing poverty and providing services for mentally ill had been more effective than the tough on crime agenda imposed by the Harper government.7 The Harper government’s laws were overly punitive. The conservative government, during their time, made it extremely difficult to obtain pardons. Offenders had to wait

longer to apply, had to show proof that they were law abiding citizens, and were charged higher fees for their pardons. Without a pardon, getting a job that requires a criminal record check is near to impossible.8
The Harper government was known for their conservative spending habits. Yet, their crime agenda defied this custom, being incredibly expensive. When more people were put in prison, it meant prisons were reaching their capacity.9 When prisons reach the extent of their space, new cells and jails need to be constructed. Cells were incredibly expensive to build, and the Parliamentary Budget Office estimated the cost would be just over one billion in 2011 for cells alone. For jails, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews predicted that 9 billion dollars would be spent.10 The government found ways to circumvent this, though it was criticised as well. The government, instead of creating new jails as it had originally promised, closed three federal prisons and built 2700 cells in existing prisons nationwide. The remainder of prisoners that were arrested were then placed two or three to a room, which was dangerous and inhumane.11 To make matters worse, helpful programs such as the Lifeline program received budget cuts. Lifeline was a rehabilitation program that was highly successful, but deemed costly. After evaluation, it was found it was not producing results that improved public safety.12 There were many reasons the Conservatives decided to pursue the agenda they did. It gained the votes of families, made the country safer in their eyes, and put dangerous people in prison. However, it made no major effect on the rates of crime in Canada. It was a waste of valuable money and resources, especially as many of the propositions such as mandatory minimum sentences were dismantled by the Supreme Court of Canada.13
The Harper government, as a conservative government focused mainly on the wellbeing of the economy. To do this, they cut many programs related to environmental safety. They also spent much of their time disregarding the warnings and advice of scientists. The Harper government believed Canada should be an energy superpower, and focused mainly on the production of the oil sands. One way this was done was by heavily deregulating the petroleum industry. In Bill C-38, one of their infamous omnibus bills, their budget plan for the year was outlined. Of the 425 page bill, more than 150 pages were devoted to replacing the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency. The Harper government argued the replacement was to streamline the bill. In reality, all it did was reduce the CEAA’s budget and lead to the dismantling of environmental assessments. In this bill, there were also no grants given to review panel support and Aboriginal consultation.14 To environmentalists and activists, this was an outrage. There was numerous studies showing that climate change was having a dangerous effect on the Earth and the Harper government blatantly ignored it. In 2008 the federal Standing Committee on Natural Resources called on the government to “step up public research.”15 This did not meet the agenda of the Harper government. In 2014, much to the alarm of scientists, the government dismissed over 2,000 research related jobs. To add insult to the injury, many of those scientists were researching oil spills, water quality and climate change.16 The research being done was extremely important because it was bringing light to issues like the Athabasca River pollution. Athabasca had the regrettable fate of being near to a tailing pond used in the production of the oil sands. Researchers at the University of Alberta revealed that the area around the oil sands had been polluted.17 It was found through study that there was a 6.5 million liter leakage per day into the ground and the River.18 This was causing dangerous pollution and measures were placed in effect to prevent wildlife from drinking the contaminated water. Even with these preventative measures, however, wildlife had been dying. At the same time as the Harper government released their budget plan, they also decided to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol. The protocol was an international agreement to cut greenhouse gases that Canada signed in 1997.19 Over the years of the Harper minority government, Canada had been consistently short of meeting its commitment.20 Year after year, the Harper government would explain why it could not reach its Kyoto target as opposed to actually trying to reach it. Finally, in 2012, the government decided to stand against it. They said the Kyoto Protocol undermined Canada’s economic interests, as the United States and China were not included in the agreement. Therefore, Canada was unable to compete economically with these global superpowers.21 While the argument was completely justifiable, it lowered Canada’s reputation with the rest of the world, showing that the safety of the environment was not high on the Harper government's priority list as opposed to under previous prime ministers. Brian Mulroney was known for being one of Canada’s greenest prime minister's, and under Harper’s government, that title was lost. 22

The Harper government was an extremely conservative government that faced condemnation from many Canadians. They stepped on the toes of minority peoples who had a way of life that had been threatened and periodically abused. As a political move, they could not have been more shortsighted. Aboriginals had massive sway over the projects that were put into place regarding resource development. The Harper government ignored their input and tried to diminish their role. As a majority government that had the power to push bills that should have had the support of First Nations, he neglected to consult with them. This practice was continued by Harper’s crime agenda. Many experts disagreed with the way the Harper government enforced tougher legislation. There were many experts who said being tougher on crime did not mean being smarter on crime. Harper disagreed, and as decisive as he was, he forced this legislation through. This would cause more criticism as the Harper government would try to cut expenses by having inmates bunk together, as it was cost effective. Cost effectiveness was all the Harper government wanted, as one could see with their handling of environmental issues. Many important programs were cut with the justification that the budget must be balanced. These funds were important to the wellbeing of the people and the environment, but with the economy placed first on the Harper government's agenda, the ecology and environment became threatened. Pulling out of the Kyoto Protocol diminished Canada’s reputation on a global scale and in Harper’s time as prime minister, Canada lost much of what it had been known for as a nation. With all of Harper’s policy changes, marginalizations and fascist tendencies, Canada will be forever changed and will take a long time under new governments to be restored.