Would you give $7 to stop Harper?

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Dear Ceasefire.ca supporter,

It’s time to expose the truth about Canada’s awful F-35 stealth fighter plan.

Harper and his Minister of Defence, Peter MacKay, have been caught red-handed misleading Canadians about the true costs of military spending. From the F-35 stealth fighters to the mission in Libya, Canadians need to know – what is Harper hiding from us?

But first, let me take a moment to thank you for your generous support and commitment to the work of Ceasefire.ca. We’ve held the Harper government accountable for years. We get a lot of media coverage. We’ve had some great successes. And it’s all because of the loyal support we get from thousands of people just like you.

Thank you!

Now, before we get too complacent, let me tell you about our plans to counter Stephen Harper’s ongoing American-style attack on the values of our country.

When we put all of the pieces together it’s clear.

Harper, his pro-war generals at the Department of National Defence, and his buddies in the arms industry can’t stand Canada’s traditional role as a peacekeeping nation. They scorn diplomacy as too weak.

And frankly, I think they show disdain for any and all peace efforts. Harper wants Canada to rally behind the American flag. I’m not making this up…

Remember, he was the one in Parliament champing at the bit, trying to get Canada to join the Iraq war. Today, it appears he’s doing all he can to support a looming war with Iran.

Sadly, some things certainly seem to be going his way.

But since day one, it’s Ceasefire.ca and supporters like you who have brought public attention to Harper’s plans, including the unneeded F-35 stealth fighter jets.

Peter MacKay tried to tell Canadians it would cost $9 billion, but it was Ceasefire.ca’s fact-finding research that proved him wrong.

We now know that the real cost for these war machines will be more than $70 million dollars each and will suck up at least $30 billion of hardworking Canadians’ tax dollars. Harper and MacKay were deliberately misleading Canadians. They didn’t want Canadians to know the real cost.

But it’s not over… with arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin in a tail-spin, facing all sorts of mechanical failures, the cost is going to keep rising.

We have to be vigilant about asking these questions, because we know the government and the media won’t do it for us.

In fact, the relationship between Harper’s pro-war generals and journalists has been getting even cozier.

When stealth lobbyist retired general George MacDonald was quoted in the papers saying the government needed to move quickly to replace Canada’s fleet of F-18s, no one mentioned that he works for CFN Consultants, the firm that represents Lockheed Martin.

Maybe this convenient omission isn’t surprising, given that The Canadian Press journalist writing this story was the same one who accepted a $2,500 cash prize from Conference of Defence Associations – a Department of National Defence–backed lobby group.

We’re always exposing the relationship between the generals and the journalists, so I wrote to the Montreal Gazette to update readers on retired general MacDonald’s connections. Thankfully, they printed the letter, but many people had already been misled.

Canadians also witnessed the cover-up of the real costs of the war in Libya. In May, we discovered that the mission cost more than $100 million and revealed that Peter MacKay, the Defence Minister, had dramatically under-reported those costs by $40 million!

And more wasteful military spending is on the way.

It was your support that led us to dig up the evidence and prove that Canadians are being misled about how much money our pro-war Prime Minister is really spending.

More than 400 Ceasefire.ca supporters have joined our Peacekeepers monthly donor club already. When you give just a few dollars each month you too will be helping us expose the truth about Harper’s military plans and deceptions.

I hope you’ll join Ceasefire’s Peacekeepers today, because Canada needs your help more than ever.

Our work has not gone unnoticed by Harper and the generals…

We gained access to secret documents from DND that prove they are monitoring me and Ceasefire.ca.

It’s clear that our tactics are getting to Harper and his pro-war lobby. We need to keep the pressure up, and dig up the real truth about the military buildup in our own country.

It’s independent funding from supporters like you that protects us from Harper’s financial attacks. We get no government funding or support.

We’re preparing for the next few months:

•    We want to bring US F-35 expert Bill Hartung to Ottawa, to expose the stealth fighter jets.

•    We are ready to do new research on Harper’s military spending and war plans.

•    We will launch a special Remembrance Day action to ask Canadians to remember peace, not celebrate war.

That’s why I hope you’ll join Ceasefire.ca’s Peacekeepers. A gift of just a few dollars each month will help stop Harper.

Thank you for everything you do for peace.

In peace,

Steven Staples
Ceasefire.ca

P.S. Please help us stop Harper by making your generous gift of a few dollars every month to Ceasefire.ca. When you join Peacekeepers you can check the box to get a free copy of Linda McQuaig’s book, The Trouble with Billionaires. It’s our way to say thank you and to expose the truth.

Tags: Bill Hartung, Canadian mission in Libya, CDA, CFN Consultants, Conference of Defence Associations, F-35, George MacDonald, Murray Brewster, Stephen Harper, The Canadian Press