Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 13/3/2015 (2017 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Editorial

There was the Red Scare, the Yellow Peril, the Jewish Conspiracy, Reefer Madness and now the Terrorist Threat. The politics of fear is as old as politics itself. Unfortunately, it is still an effective tool in shaping or dividing public opinion, even in modern democracies, a sad comment on the state of critical thinking.

At the moment, it's the Harper Conservatives who are engaging in the worst fear-mongering. The legal and correctional systems are soft on criminals, illegal drugs are poisoning our children, the roof will collapse without a Tory government to prop it up and jihadi terrorists could attack your neighbourhood mall.

CP Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Such tactics aren't unique to the Conservatives. In the 1974 federal election campaign, then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau said the rights of individuals and businesses would be threatened if the people elected the Conservatives, who were promising to introduce price and wage controls to combat inflation.

A year later, Mr. Trudeau promptly introduced the very legislation he said would weaken liberty.

And Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau has regrettably likened Prime Minister Stephen Harper's policies with those that discriminated against Jews in the past, a grossly distorted comparison. It's also offensive propaganda, since it diminishes the real suffering of Jews. Fighting one distortion with another hardly elevates the discussion.

It is the nature of political campaigning that parties warn of dire consequences if someone else is elected. The Manitoba NDP, for example, routinely warns health and education will suffer, while Manitoba Hydro -- our so-called sacred birthright -- will be sold if the Tories are elected. The dastardly Conservatives, remember, are the ones who sold the government-run telephone system, although no one today seems to lament the decision.

Conservative Leader Brian Pallister will assuredly run his own scary movie.

There is a difference, however, between propaganda about the economy, jobs, services and leadership, and emotional appeals that have negative consequences for individuals, families and entire groups of people.

Instead of allowing judges to sentence offenders based on facts and precedents, the Conservatives have increasingly imposed statutes that mandate certain minimum sentences for some offences. It's not a prescription for justice.

Worse, Mr. Harper's wars on crime and terrorism have created the false impression of a country under siege, where a criminal or terrorist lurks behind every dark corner.

This is not to suggest there are no threats, but Mr. Harper has exaggerated the perils. He claims, for example, "jihadi terrorism is one of the most dangerous enemies our world has ever faced," which is demonstrably false and ridiculous.

The government has stirred up war fever in the country and done very little to respect the negative impact such propaganda has had on Canada's Muslim population. Many Muslim-Canadians have friends and relatives who were killed or are suffering in the Mideast wars, yet Mr. Harper has yet to utter a sentence of regret or support for their loss. It's no wonder some Muslims have been made to feel like outcasts and terrorist sympathizers.

The prime minister may well believe all the shibboleths he espouses: Muslim women should show their faces when swearing a citizenship oath; the justice system is soft on criminals; tough security legislation is worth the risk to civil liberties because the sky is falling.

He's entitled to believe all that, but he's also obliged to manage on the basis of facts and to exercise his authority to reduce fear and prejudice. Mr. Harper, however, has been strangely dismissive of ideas that might inspire broader confidence, not fear, in his leadership. It's time for him to set a new tone and elevate the debate beyond the politics of fear.