And so begins the day after. I can recall a time, not so long ago when Canadian federal elections actually decided something. Alas, that all seemed to go out the window with 12 years of virtually unchallenged Liberal rule in the Nineties, and early in the current decade. Let's face it; the landscape of federal politics has changed in this country. The minority that the Conservatives reached last night marks the third consecutive non-majority government in this country, a trend I see continuing. The fact is, voters are increasingly polarized and fragmented in this nation. We now have four national parties, and a fifth (the Bloq) that commands two-thirds of the seats in our second most-populace province. Things are fractured, simply put.
And thus, it irks me this morning to think that Stephen Harper and the Conservatives had the audacity to spend $300 million in a fruitless bid to win the elusive majority they so clearly crave. Forget the nonsense Harper spent the campaign spouting about how Parliament had become dysfunctional. The Tory minority that began in 2006 was actually both the longest serving minority we've ever had, and one of the most productive as well. Minority rule keeps parties and governments honest. It manufactures a spirit of cooperation, and compromise. Minority governments cannot force controversial legislation upon the Canadian public without it first passing a legislature that can defeat it at any time. Now, it is true that the Tory minority enjoyed considerable support from a Liberal opposition that was in disarray, and saddled with a puzzling and difficult leader in Stephane Dion.
Speaking of Dion, one major change did occur in yesterday's fiasco; you can bet your socks that Stephane Dion will not be leading the Liberal Party of Canada in the next general election. Last night's results represented the worst general election showing by the Liberals in Canadian history. If the Grits didn't already have the knives out for Dion, you can be sure that it was indeed the sound of multiple blades being sharpened that you could hear during Michael Ignatieff's interview with the CBC late last night.
The NDP made modest gains yesterday, increasing their seat total by seven from 2006. It was a bit of a disheartening result for Jack Layton, no doubt, but the New Democrats are nothing if not realistic. The slim chance they had to form the opposition made for good press for the party, but really this election was about making some strong gains across the country, while waiting for the waters to clear for the next election. Layton has almost assuredly maintained the support of his party, and will lead them into battle again next time around. The result wasn't as strong as what the NDP faithful had hoped for, but was still encouraging enough to grease the wheels for another solid push in the next campaign.
I must admit I am a bit surpised that the Green Party did not gain a single seat yesterday. Now, it cetainly wasn't the wisest of moves running leader Elizabeth May against Tory incumbent Peter McKay in a Nova Scotia Tory stronghold. If May is to gain a seat in the House of Commons, it will likely have to come via a by-election down the road.
The Bloq? More of the usual from Gilles Duceppe and company. They fought a skilled campaign as always, and again the leader's job is likely Duceppe's for as long as he wants it. Their roughly 50 seat take represents a full two-thirds of Quebec's total, so the Bloq have maintained their considerable presence on the Hill.
So what else did this election accomplish? Not much, really. It proved that Stephen Harper does not look anything but hokey in a sweater, that Stephane Dion for all his intellectual wizardry comes across as awkward and unfocused, that Jack Layton while arguably the most eloquent and polished of the federal leaders still can't get that elusive breakthrough the NDP have waited decades for, and that May will continue to be a bit player on the scene for the time being. Three-hundred million dollars spent to prove what many of us already knew; minorities are becoming the new norm in Canadian elections. In another year to 16 months, we'll likely get the chance to prove this theory true all over again. Boo-urns.
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When I heard the results of the election I hit the off button on my alarm clock and decided today was a good day to sleep in. I didn’t want to spend my early morning hours going over the latest news regurgitated by the internet like I usually did, even the thought of coffee could not rouse me from my slumber. I stayed up early into the morning watching real-time results pour in, but when I saw things taking a negative turn I decided to go to bed and hoped that good news would greet me in the morning like presents from Santa under the Xmas tree. No visions of sugarplums dance in my head I can tell you instead I had my usual page design nightmares with a political slant. Maybe nightmare is too strong a word but I seriously have dreams where I am stuck in an endless loop of editing and revision trying to get a story right.
All in all I can’t say I am really surprised things turned out like they did, it would have been nice had change finally come. The way politics in Canada is heading I think we will be stuck with minority governments unless we (…gasp…) see parties form alliances, gee what an original idea, they could call themselves oh I don’t know the Canadian Alliance. There’s a thought, we could watch leaders like Elizabeth May and Gilles Duceppe go the way of Preston Manning, fading into abject obscurity until all that’s left is a really creepy website (http://www.prestonmanning.ca) .
Personally I think elections Canada should be put in charge of voting for Canadian Idol and the people that run the show should be tasked with municipal, provincial and federal elections. Yeah I think if candidate has to literally sing and dance their way into voters hearts things would be a bit different and at the very least we’d have better voter turn out!
I was reading an editorial the other day from a pollster, who clearly stated that if he had 59 per cent sampling on a population on any given subject that he would be able to predict with uncanny accuracy the needs and wants of the population. He went further to say that the 41 % that didn't vote was a far more perplexing problem, because there is no accurate way to know why that group didn't vote. What is clear is that as a group our three major parties(the Bloc is regional party and the Greens' will continue to play on the fringe for a while yet), have been asked to play nice. Regardless of the relative philosophies of the three, Canadians have said in fairly clearly that the keys to the kingdom are best held in mutual trust, as opposed to letting one party thrust its agenda on the country. Minority governments are nothing new and in most of the rest of the world coalition governments are the norm. The important thing for Canadians to remind our re-elected Prime Minister is that a four-year term is what was agreed to, its his job to meet that mandate. How the other parties react is dependent on how the governing party is leading parliament, and the people obviously want it that way. Harper is of the mind set that he must rule absolutely, yet this parliament is going to need a strong leader with an appreciation of the group dynamics and the possibilities if he engages it correctly. If Harper can park his ego, and guide his party and the opposition he may leave a mark or two on history as important as universal health care or a new flag, just like Mike Pearson did with his minorities. As for the 41% that didn't vote its time that this group made it clear why they don't vote, it can't be simply be that they are pathetic citizens, or can it?
I was reading an editorial the other day from a pollster, who clearly stated that if he had 59 per cent sampling on a population on any given subject that he would be able to predict with uncanny accuracy the needs and wants of the population. He went further to say that the 41 % that didn't vote was a far more perplexing problem, because there is no accurate way to know why that group didn't vote. What is clear is that as a group our three major parties(the Bloc is regional party and the Greens' will continue to play on the fringe for a while yet), have been asked to play nice. Regardless of the relative philosophies of the three, Canadians have said in fairly clearly that the keys to the kingdom are best held in mutual trust, as opposed to letting one party thrust its agenda on the country. Minority governments are nothing new and in most of the rest of the world coalition governments are the norm. The important thing for Canadians to remind our re-elected Prime Minister is that a four-year term is what was agreed to, its his job to meet that mandate. How the other parties react is dependent on how the governing party is leading parliament, and the people obviously want it that way. Harper is of the mind set that he must rule absolutely, yet this parliament is going to need a strong leader with an appreciation of the group dynamics and the possibilities if he engages it correctly. If Harper can park his ego, and guide his party and the opposition he may leave a mark or two on history as important as universal health care or a new flag, just like Mike Pearson did with his minorities. As for the 41% that didn't vote its time that this group made it clear why they don't vote, it can't be simply be that they are pathetic citizens, or can it?
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