Well, so we protested against prorogation. And the Pundits, busy chattering about the usual trivial court gossip in Ottawa, dismissed it. So maybe it was just the sleepy Canadian public opening its eyes briefly before rolling over in its usual slumber.

But meanwhile, our watchdogs have sniffed the danger. Very awake watchdogs. Public servants, academics, retired diplomats, a general, our best thinkers and people of integrity are warning us that we are in danger as a democracy. The very secretiveness and furtiveness of Harper’s government is a danger signal. What is he hiding?

Harper would really like those doggies to go back to sleep. He’s even started a slander campaign against “the elite”. The elite? He means the people who think for themselves.

Devious? Undemocratic? That’s not the half of this guy. We thought we had him, over prorogation. But he just used the fuss to hide behind, while he arranged a permanent and traitorous trade deal with the World Trade Organization, granting foreign access to provincial government projects. I know, I know, this economy stuff is boring and so we quit paying attention. That’s what he’s counting on.

But this affects our jobs and our sovereignty. Thanks to him, we get to pay our taxes almost directly to foreign corporations, through local government projects. Local labourers and businesses will sit on the sidelines when cheaper foreign bids and labourers are imported.

Strangely, you don’t see even the NDP awake enough to recognize that danger. Some doggies are still snoozing. And Harper would really like the rest of us to go back to sleep.

So why, really, did Harper prorogue? Sure, he ran from the embarrassment of the detainee scandal, but his decision had a lot to do with the polls, which at the time showed the Conservatives with a winnable majority. He sent all his MP’s home to do some electioneering, he’s busy writing a draconian budget, privatizing Canada’s assets and sovereignty in the name of trade and debt reduction, and he has stacked the Senate. He had visions of winning the election he hopes he can push the Opposition into giving him. That’s why he’s trying to steal some fairy gold from the Games, speaking in the BC Legislature. It’s not the Olympics, but his own games he’s interested in.

But it may not work out for him. There’s still a chance, if we stay awake, that we can save the Canada we grew up in. He’s hoping we’ll respond to an election with another adolescent temper tantrum, refusing to vote. Boy, that’ll get him! Sure it will. Right back into office, where he can be the CEO of the Corporation of Canada, our own homegrown dictator.

See a YouTube video of this article produced by Muriel Wiens and Paul Grignon at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVda0mf-OC4