the daily snivel
Another conservative loses the popular vote
Take that, Mr. Harper.
For those of you unaware of Canadian politics, I should point out (if it wasn't staggeringly obvious) that our federal election took place yesterday on June 28. The governing party of the past 10 years, the Liberals, had been struggling under the erosion in public confidence caused by a number of spending scandals, while the Conservative Party (a coalition formed between the old Progressive Conservative Party and the more socially conservative Canadian Alliance Party) was making huge inroads in popularity as an electorate tired of the same old same old yearned for change.
I for one felt horrified at the prospect of a Conservative government, because I felt that the continuing remarks from Alliance (and now "Conservative") Members of Parliament regarding homosexuality and same-sex marriage, the Supreme Court, bilingualism, social spending, taxation, health care, and the constitution betrayed an otherwise hidden agenda of radical far-right ambitions that were smoothed over by the careful speech and repeated assurances that "Statement X by Member Y is not our Party's policy" by Mr. Harper, leader of the Conservatives. The cards were played so closely to the party's chest that all the rhetoric about change and trust and accountability couldn't divorce me, and most Canadians, of the distinct impression that something sneaky was afoot. In fact, 70.39% of Canadians voted for a party other than the Conservatives, indicating a resounding rejection of that ideology. I feel an extra bit proud of my country for that.
I think there is a place for rational discourse around contentious political issues. My ideas and beliefs aren't so sacred that they cannot be challenged. I think that it's only natural that people feel differently about complex social issues and I'm not saying I distrust and dislike the Conservative Party simply because it espouses a great many values that I do not. But while recognizing that candor is seldom even possible for a political party, I think politicians must be clear about their reasoned positions and not simply circle the wagons whenever a member of the caucus publicly states something that most Canadians don't really agree with. More likely than not, it just gives the impression that the party is saying "Not yet, stupid!"
There's a policy void that prevents voters from comparing such inflammatory statements against clearly outlined principles. The other alternative is to look at influential conservative think tanks and academics, such as the "Calgary School" of policy wonks largely responsible for the rise of Mr. Harper, and their record says little that is in any way encouraging because again all you see is hostility to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, homosexuality, same-sex marriage, public medicare, social justice, multiculturalism, and regulation of industry. The old PC party used to win large voter appeal because it balanced fiscal conservatism with a generally socially liberal policy outlook.
A crazy conservative Canadian blog says this about people with attitudes like mine:
[emphasis mine]
As the election results more properly indicate, it's clear that most people of my generation are very liberal, and an awful lot of them vote. While it's a sad fact that only 60% of Canadians voted on June 28, only 29.61% of those voted for the Conservative Party. Every other major political party in Canada is socially liberal. Conservatives may be a minority in the population, but a lot of them couldn't be bothered to vote for the Conservative party either.
Last night, I nipped to the polling station between work and client intakes and marked my X for our local New Democratic Party candidate (Ric Dagenais). The NDP is considered a very "lefty" party (in contrast to the successful centrist stance taken by the Liberals), and I have few delusions that they would ever form a majority government, but the power a strong opposition party can wield over a naturally centrist governing party is great. Many of Canada's most prized social traditions were adopted by Liberal governments making use of the best ideas of the NDP and its forerunners. And given that we were almost certainly headed for a Liberal minority government (lacking the 155 out of 308 seats required) with the Conservatives as the opposition, a strong NDP presence would be a badly needed counterbalance by providing enough seats for the Liberals to form a governing coalition between the two parties.
My sister, some friends and myself went out last night after intakes to drink and keep a wary eye on the live CBC coverage, and the CBC obliged by displaying up-to-the-minute seat counts and pie charts showing which party was ahead. I don't think I was surprised by the result (it's essentially what I predicted when the election was called) though I was surprised by the level of punditry and poll-watching that saturated the discussion and predicted an imminent Conservative victory. You could almost see Mr. Harper licking his chops at the thought. It was a relief to go to bed knowing that I wouldn't wake up to a Conservative government that was ready to outlaw same-sex marriage, prohibit abortion, slash taxes beyond any workable threshold for the planned spending, and tinker with the constitution that we hate to see tinkered with so dearly that the last two attempts to amend it utterly collapsed. Not to mention that the Conservatives would have sent Canadian troops to Iraq when the public sentiment against doing so was, and continues to be, so high here.
I like the idea that at least the NDP will help keep a minority Liberal government honest and perhaps pulled a little more to the left -- assuming the government doesn't collapses in a wave of non confidence such that a new election has to be called anyway. It will be interesting to see how the government works -- I hope enough progress can be achieved in terms of passing the bill for same-sex marriage and decriminalizating possession of small amounts of marijuana. Now mind you, I didn't vote Liberal, but it really is one of those "devil you know" situations. The Liberals have a lot more reason to be honest and upfront in their dealings with public money and public trust given that they almost lost it all last night. I mean, I really want to believe better of the government than that it will walk away from this election concluding that it's managed to fool us all again.
Anyway, given how much in favour of Republican values the Conservatives are, what we have now is at least a government I think I can continue to be generally non-ashamed of.
For those of you unaware of Canadian politics, I should point out (if it wasn't staggeringly obvious) that our federal election took place yesterday on June 28. The governing party of the past 10 years, the Liberals, had been struggling under the erosion in public confidence caused by a number of spending scandals, while the Conservative Party (a coalition formed between the old Progressive Conservative Party and the more socially conservative Canadian Alliance Party) was making huge inroads in popularity as an electorate tired of the same old same old yearned for change.
I for one felt horrified at the prospect of a Conservative government, because I felt that the continuing remarks from Alliance (and now "Conservative") Members of Parliament regarding homosexuality and same-sex marriage, the Supreme Court, bilingualism, social spending, taxation, health care, and the constitution betrayed an otherwise hidden agenda of radical far-right ambitions that were smoothed over by the careful speech and repeated assurances that "Statement X by Member Y is not our Party's policy" by Mr. Harper, leader of the Conservatives. The cards were played so closely to the party's chest that all the rhetoric about change and trust and accountability couldn't divorce me, and most Canadians, of the distinct impression that something sneaky was afoot. In fact, 70.39% of Canadians voted for a party other than the Conservatives, indicating a resounding rejection of that ideology. I feel an extra bit proud of my country for that.
I think there is a place for rational discourse around contentious political issues. My ideas and beliefs aren't so sacred that they cannot be challenged. I think that it's only natural that people feel differently about complex social issues and I'm not saying I distrust and dislike the Conservative Party simply because it espouses a great many values that I do not. But while recognizing that candor is seldom even possible for a political party, I think politicians must be clear about their reasoned positions and not simply circle the wagons whenever a member of the caucus publicly states something that most Canadians don't really agree with. More likely than not, it just gives the impression that the party is saying "Not yet, stupid!"
There's a policy void that prevents voters from comparing such inflammatory statements against clearly outlined principles. The other alternative is to look at influential conservative think tanks and academics, such as the "Calgary School" of policy wonks largely responsible for the rise of Mr. Harper, and their record says little that is in any way encouraging because again all you see is hostility to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, homosexuality, same-sex marriage, public medicare, social justice, multiculturalism, and regulation of industry. The old PC party used to win large voter appeal because it balanced fiscal conservatism with a generally socially liberal policy outlook.
A crazy conservative Canadian blog says this about people with attitudes like mine:
See, even though we’re outnumbered among the population as a whole, social conservatives have one great advantage. Think about it for a second. When you picture a “social conservative”, who do you picture? I see a woman like Elise Wayne or a man like Stockwell Day. Middle aged, gainfully employed, and generally reliable. When I think of a social liberal, I think of a twenty-one year old community college student reading the latest issue of Maxim Magazine in a dilapidated basement somewhere. Which of the two is more likely to vote if properly motivated? The ranks of the social left are greatly inflated by a vast collection of largely useless debris who, in many ways, are more of a liability than anything else.
[emphasis mine]
As the election results more properly indicate, it's clear that most people of my generation are very liberal, and an awful lot of them vote. While it's a sad fact that only 60% of Canadians voted on June 28, only 29.61% of those voted for the Conservative Party. Every other major political party in Canada is socially liberal. Conservatives may be a minority in the population, but a lot of them couldn't be bothered to vote for the Conservative party either.
Last night, I nipped to the polling station between work and client intakes and marked my X for our local New Democratic Party candidate (Ric Dagenais). The NDP is considered a very "lefty" party (in contrast to the successful centrist stance taken by the Liberals), and I have few delusions that they would ever form a majority government, but the power a strong opposition party can wield over a naturally centrist governing party is great. Many of Canada's most prized social traditions were adopted by Liberal governments making use of the best ideas of the NDP and its forerunners. And given that we were almost certainly headed for a Liberal minority government (lacking the 155 out of 308 seats required) with the Conservatives as the opposition, a strong NDP presence would be a badly needed counterbalance by providing enough seats for the Liberals to form a governing coalition between the two parties.
My sister, some friends and myself went out last night after intakes to drink and keep a wary eye on the live CBC coverage, and the CBC obliged by displaying up-to-the-minute seat counts and pie charts showing which party was ahead. I don't think I was surprised by the result (it's essentially what I predicted when the election was called) though I was surprised by the level of punditry and poll-watching that saturated the discussion and predicted an imminent Conservative victory. You could almost see Mr. Harper licking his chops at the thought. It was a relief to go to bed knowing that I wouldn't wake up to a Conservative government that was ready to outlaw same-sex marriage, prohibit abortion, slash taxes beyond any workable threshold for the planned spending, and tinker with the constitution that we hate to see tinkered with so dearly that the last two attempts to amend it utterly collapsed. Not to mention that the Conservatives would have sent Canadian troops to Iraq when the public sentiment against doing so was, and continues to be, so high here.
I like the idea that at least the NDP will help keep a minority Liberal government honest and perhaps pulled a little more to the left -- assuming the government doesn't collapses in a wave of non confidence such that a new election has to be called anyway. It will be interesting to see how the government works -- I hope enough progress can be achieved in terms of passing the bill for same-sex marriage and decriminalizating possession of small amounts of marijuana. Now mind you, I didn't vote Liberal, but it really is one of those "devil you know" situations. The Liberals have a lot more reason to be honest and upfront in their dealings with public money and public trust given that they almost lost it all last night. I mean, I really want to believe better of the government than that it will walk away from this election concluding that it's managed to fool us all again.
Anyway, given how much in favour of Republican values the Conservatives are, what we have now is at least a government I think I can continue to be generally non-ashamed of.
