As much as I would LOVE to put Harper, MacKay and Smith in their place, I'm afraid that we're going to have a hell of a time stopping this at the legislative level. Fortunately, Canada is still a constitutional democracy (much to Harper's chagrin, I'm sure) and there are other means for us to seek justice. Engaging these three moralistic morons in public debate just serves their purpose - they want us to appear angry because that's what appeals to their base.
Instead, we will seek to rectify this situation through the courts. If the Conservatives were interested in a public debate, they would have held one BEFORE tabling the legislation; now, it's basically a fait accompli that the legislation will pass through the House of Commons, probably in the identical format as it is now. Wasting energy and resources now would be ill-advised.
Better to save our best arguments for the nine people in this country best-suited to evaluate them - the nine justices of the Supreme Court, with whom our industry will hang in the balance. While I do appreciate the faith that you all have in Emily and I, you'll have to forgive us for sitting this one out. We must pick the battles we can win, rather than exposing ourselves to more potential problems by fighting battles we cannot.
In the meantime, please continue to support us the same way you've been doing over the past few years - by spending time with your favourite MPAs and SPs. We need your continued support more now than ever, because we'll need to keep our doors open while the fight goes through the courts. If too many SPs or agencies or MPs are forced to leave the business, that will mean that Harper has won - he'll have damaged the industry in a way that would make it hard for us to recover from. Please don't let the threat of these laws stop you from hobbying, because that's actually the biggest concern that we're currently facing.
~Allegra
P.S. There's a LOT of manoeuvering happening behind the scenes as we prepare our response - I promise you, neither the public nor Harper's drones have the slightest idea how capable we all are. This fight is FAR from over!