Canadian villains: Newsmakers 2014

The people who shaped our year for the worse

Stephen Harper and the Conservatives

Our Bond villain of a prime minister continues to be up to no good, as he quietly tweaks laws, rejects landmark international rights documents, and silences environmental research. But this year was a particularly active one for the Harper government, with the Conservatives continuing to debate and delay the transgender rights bill, the introduction of anti-privacy and anti-terrorism bills that would give the government unprecedented access to personal information, and a new anti-prostitution law that puts sex workers at risk. Remember when Pierre Elliot Trudeau said “There’s no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation”? Well, Stephen Harper wants to be in your bedroom.

Capital Pride

It hasn’t been an easy year for Capital Pride, with the Ottawa-based organization declaring bankruptcy without community consultation, owing various suppliers thousands of dollars, and casting serious doubt on the future of the event.

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