In 2009, International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda rejected the renewal of a Government grant to Kairos (a church-based group) and claimed the rejection was a Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) decision. But top CIDA officials had signed a memo recommending approval for the funding. The memo was altered — after it had been signed — with the word ‘not’ penned-in before the word ‘approve’.

Ms. Oda told a House committee that she did not know who inserted the ‘not’, but admitted afterward that she had ordered the modification of the document.

Prime Minister Harper stood behind Ms. Oda, and perhaps she was not being deceitful (we’ll never know for sure); whatever the motivation, her actions were completely unprofessional, and I believe she should have been dismissed.

Since then, the Conservative Party itself was found to be in contempt of parliament (a first for a ruling party in Canada), and the Party presented a spurious budget that hid the true reason for the election yesterday (the Conservatives contended that the oppositions rejection of their budget caused the election, but it was a non-confidence due to the Conservative’s contempt of parliament).

The Conservative Party seemed to be doing everything possible to force an election. Why they would want an election was unclear to me until yesterday.

The Conservative Party now has a majority mandate from the electorate of Canada; furthermore, Ms. Oda has been re-elected.

Are people paying attention to what is going on?