The Sixth Estate

First, the government asked their pet Speaker to “investigate” who is behind Vikileaks30. Now, they want the police to investigate everyone who is behind the Twitter attacks. (Lest you think that Toews will limit his investigation to people threatening physical violence against him, remember that this regime currently defines groups that are “publicly critical of government policy” as national security threats.)

Now, for the record, I don’t care who was behind Vikileaks30. Maybe it was an NDP staffer (though they wouldn’t have denied it if they thought it might be — much too embarrassing.) Maybe it was Elizabeth May. Maybe it was a Liberal staffer. Maybe it was me. Or you. Or the guy down the street.

I’ll tell you who I think it was, though: a Conservative staffer. Someone who doesn’t like Toews and figured this would be a good chance to ruin his career. Or maybe someone who does like him, and figured this would be a good chance to deflect attention from the Big Brother bill into a wild goose chase for mysterious dissidents, police state-style. Sound unlikely? Maybe, but the opposition parties don’t really have any better motivation for it. The surveillance bill stinks to high heaven without adding in any juicy stories about Toews cheating on his wife, fathering children out of wedlock, and cheating on his election expenses, all of which were already common knowedge among those of us who avidly follow politics in any case.

If I really wanted to dedicate a mysterious anonymous online persona to bringing down the government, I wouldn’t do it by attacking Toews. I’d do it by supporting him. Or, better yet, someone else — Peter MacKay? Jason Kenney? It doesn’t really matter who, as long as it’s plausible. Pick someone, and start building a leadership campaign for them. Allude to support within the caucus, who are afraid to speak up themselves because of Harper’s heavy-handed management style. Spread rumours. Create uncertainty. Suggest, for instance, that a new formation is being established by Stephen Woodworth and Brad Trost to support a palace coup by Jason Kenney, in exchange for a quid pro quo on the abortion issue.

The best part is, there’s probably a kernel of truth in it somewhere. This is still a political party, after all, and Stephen I isn’t going to be around forever. No amount of evidence will convince me that MacKay and Kenney, at the very least, haven’t been arranging for at least a few cautious backroom conversations over the last year.

This is the most paranoid government in Canadian history. The best way to knock it off course is to give it a thousand potential palace coups to worry about.

Unfortunately, unlike the government, I have a strict ethical code which prevents me from deliberately spreading false rumours about political opponents. So Sixth Estate will not be beginning the Jason Kenney for Dear Leader campaign just yet.