Canadian Election Frustration

The last few days I have been at the point of tears, as well as near the point of breaking my roommate’ TV.

Yesterday I see this great article about Harper saying that if he wins another minority government, he will not tolerate opposition parties that block crime legislation. I don’t know why he felt the need to put “crime” in there. It is pretty clear to me that he is unwilling to tolerate opposition parties blocking ANY legislation that he cares about, hence why we have seen so many confidence motions in this government. Still, I don’t really know what he means by “will not tolerate”. If he is in a minority situation, he has no other method of compelling the other parties to vote his way other than making everything a confidence motion.

I think that the Liberals need to call this bluff. Dion needs to stand up and say that a minority government doesn’t give you the right to govern as if you had a majority, and that unlike the last time, Liberals will vote against bills they don’t agree with. A minority government should encourage compromise between the parties because Canadians themselves are divided. To try and dictate with a minority government seems to go against the spirit of our system.

No one wants another election in 3 months, but if this is the attitude that Harper is going to take, this will be the result. If we are back at the polls in 3 months it is because of Harper, and not the opposition parties. The opposition will be listening to a majority of Canadians, while the Conservatives will be clearly pandering to their base. I suppose this might encourage people to vote Conservative in order to give them a majority and avoid this situation, but I imagine that people with that desire will already be voting Conservative.

As much as every time a Conservative candidate opens their mouth, I think they are slimier and slimier, I cry often when I hear news about the Liberals. I saw yesterday that Dion has now backtracked on a previous statement and now takes the line that a Liberal government would not run a deficit. Call me Keynesian, but haven’t we been paying down the debt over the last decade? Sure, we don’t have a positive amount in the bank, but our debt to GDP ratio has been declining rapidly, and on that measure we have A LOT more “money in the bank” that we have had in the past, or pretty much any G-7 country has now. We should be using these “savings” in a time of economic downturn to cushion the blow on the Canadian economy.

I the conservatives hadn’t cut the GST to save you a couple cents on your morning coffee, the federal government would have EVEN MORE money with which to mitigate the economic fallout of the collapsing US economy. You know who spends a lot of their take home income on activities which generate jobs for people? People who didn’t used to have a job. As long as the increase in spending isn’t an entitlement program, and can be cut back when the economy is back on a solid footing, there is no problem. Dion needs to stick to his guns.

Dion needs to decide if he is going to run this election based on what he believes, or on what the back room party strategists have to say. In the immortal words of Rocco from Boondock Saints “This mix and match shit has to go.” It almost feels like people are trying to sabotage him enough that they won't win, but not so much that Harper will get a majority.