Election Fever
Well, it's that time again, apparantly. The knives are out, and they're aimed
squarely at the beating hearts of Canadian Liberals, both in Parliament and
around the country. The Gomery inquiry has unearthed a slew of fairly unsavory details
of advertising executives foisting huge, fraudulent invoices on the Federal
Government, and then, in turn kicking significant chunks back to the Liberal
Party functionaries in Quebec.
This post isn't going to be about Quebec, nor is it about political ethics (some would
say, that would be a very short post, indeed .. ho-ho! Sorry, Ottawa Sun humour .. won't
happen again) It is, instead about how I believe the Canadian public
may be on the verge of doing something really stupid.
We have a minority government at the moment, which means there are more
members of Parliament who are *not* Liberals than there are who *are*
Liberals. Of the five main federal parties, the Liberals have the most seats, but
still less than 50% of the total seats. Thus, there's more of 'them' than there
are of 'us' (and yes, I consider myself a Liberal .. a moderate one, but a Liberal
nonetheless. If you happen to be a conservative and are reading this, and wish
someday to use the term 'liberal' as an insult towards me, well .. sorry. Ain't gonna
work).
With the questions of illicit funds and shady deals swirling, the opposition
parties have begun circling like sharks in a tank filled with fresh minnows.
Odds seem to be increasing that this spring, a snap election will be called, and
most people feel this will result in the Liberals losing power in government.
Which brings me to the mistake, I think the Canadian public is about to do.
The scandal (Adscam, as the local right-wing rag has nicknamed it) is certainly
a black eye, but one thing that has been abundantly unclear, is whether there
has been *any* link whatsoever between any sitting MP, including Prime Minister
Martin, and any illicit funds. There is a concerted effort to prove guilt by
association .. if someone is a Liberal, they must be corrupt, and thus deserve
to be tossed out.
Paul Martin, not one of the strongest Prime Ministers this country has seen, may
well be one of the most persistent. It's clear the past year has been a rough one
on him .. he's seen this scandal come out about a year ago, has seen a very
close, nasty election faught, in which his comfortable majority was reduced to a
minority, he's seen his government sued by cattle farmers, he's been battered
almost daily by scurrilous rumours and innuendo, he's been snubbed by
Dubya Bush, chastised by the Ontario provincial Liberals, by the opposition
by members of his own party, and has managed somehow to persevere throughout.
He's sued the various people and companies who siphoned the funds
away, he's opened the books to the party to the inquiry, and even in the
most ardent right-wing press, I have yet to hear of any obstruction
posed by the current Prime Minster towards the inquiry.
News reports often fail to identify what more, exactly, Paul Martin
could do to address and account for the scandal. He's fired every top-level
public servant that's been implicated in the testimony, he's allowed the
inquiry to operate with quite unfettered access to the highest levels of the
Liberal party, he's testified, himself, and he's gone on record as being 'personally
offended' by the kickbacks to the Liberal party. Most people seem to believe that
since Martin is a Liberal, he must, simply by association, be knee-deep in the
mess, as must every other Liberal. Guilt by association; indictment by brand-name.
Thing is, it's nonsense.
I worked for Nortel for five years. Recently Nortel has been scandalized because
of some very questionable, and illegal accounting practices. The CEO, and other top
executives were fired, and the books have been under review, now for nearly two
years. There was corruption, and kickbacks, which nearly brought the
company to its doom. To use the line of reasoning used by many of the Conservatives, and
local right-wing writers and radio personalities, since I worked at Nortel, I must
also be part of the corruption. Simply being part of an organization, no matter
how huge, immediately implicates one in all of its dirty laundry, and I would have
had to have been punished as hard as the CEO, CFO and the executives
who actually committed the crimes.
You see the problem, I hope.
There has been *no* evidence so far of any linkage to the Prime Minister,
any sitting MPs, or any *current* advisers or functionaries within the
party. To vote them out, would be to punish them for the misdeeds of
others, many of whom are now retired, or working in private industry.
And who, pray tell, would replace the Liberals should this election take
place? The Conservatives, such as they are, bear as much resemblance
to the Progressive Conservative party of Joe Clark and Robert Stanfield
and Jean Charest and John Diefenbaker, as a local radio station, called
CHEZ-106 has to the station I listened to incessantly while I was in
highschool. The current crop of Conservatives are an uneasy alliance
between the old PC party, and the Reform/Alliance party .. an odd mix
of moderate, small 'c' conservatives, and hard-core right-wing social
conservatives. Stephen Harper, the current leader, is a socal conservative
dressed in a moderate's clothing, and has never struck me as either much
of a leader or a statesman, both of which a Prime Minister must be, in order
to influence this vast, and varying country.
The NDP remains as they have always been, a left-of-centre voice .. probably
too liberal for most, but true to their ideals and principles. Jack Layton, the current
leader, is an articulate, and intelligent person, but barely represents a blip
on the radar screen outside of the major metropolitan areas of Canada.
The Bloc Quebecois is an odd amalgam of federal politics and radical seperatism.
The Bloc was formed in the wake of the 1990 failure of the Meech Lake accord,
which once again, failed to bring Quebec aboard as part of Confederation. Ironically,
this failure led not only to the creation of the Bloc, but to a referendum in 1995,
and, ultimately to the creation of the unity fund, from which many millions of
advertising dollars were siphoned off in the current scandal. The Bloc has never run
candidates outside Quebec, and never will, and thus will never hold the balance of
power.
In my opinion, it would be a grave mistake to get rid of the current government
without hearing a definitive linkage between the missing funds. The current
government has bravely soldiered through a difficult time, bringing a number
of controversial, and critical pieces of legislation .. same-sex marriage, national
daycare, increases to military spending, implementing the Kyoto accord .. all of which
was promised during last year's campaign, and all of which are now being
moved forward.
Such is my opinion. Will it make a difference? Who knows . If Paul Martin
reads blogs, drop me a line .. I'll buy you a beer, and we can talk strategy.
squarely at the beating hearts of Canadian Liberals, both in Parliament and
around the country. The Gomery inquiry has unearthed a slew of fairly unsavory details
of advertising executives foisting huge, fraudulent invoices on the Federal
Government, and then, in turn kicking significant chunks back to the Liberal
Party functionaries in Quebec.
This post isn't going to be about Quebec, nor is it about political ethics (some would
say, that would be a very short post, indeed .. ho-ho! Sorry, Ottawa Sun humour .. won't
happen again) It is, instead about how I believe the Canadian public
may be on the verge of doing something really stupid.
We have a minority government at the moment, which means there are more
members of Parliament who are *not* Liberals than there are who *are*
Liberals. Of the five main federal parties, the Liberals have the most seats, but
still less than 50% of the total seats. Thus, there's more of 'them' than there
are of 'us' (and yes, I consider myself a Liberal .. a moderate one, but a Liberal
nonetheless. If you happen to be a conservative and are reading this, and wish
someday to use the term 'liberal' as an insult towards me, well .. sorry. Ain't gonna
work).
With the questions of illicit funds and shady deals swirling, the opposition
parties have begun circling like sharks in a tank filled with fresh minnows.
Odds seem to be increasing that this spring, a snap election will be called, and
most people feel this will result in the Liberals losing power in government.
Which brings me to the mistake, I think the Canadian public is about to do.
The scandal (Adscam, as the local right-wing rag has nicknamed it) is certainly
a black eye, but one thing that has been abundantly unclear, is whether there
has been *any* link whatsoever between any sitting MP, including Prime Minister
Martin, and any illicit funds. There is a concerted effort to prove guilt by
association .. if someone is a Liberal, they must be corrupt, and thus deserve
to be tossed out.
Paul Martin, not one of the strongest Prime Ministers this country has seen, may
well be one of the most persistent. It's clear the past year has been a rough one
on him .. he's seen this scandal come out about a year ago, has seen a very
close, nasty election faught, in which his comfortable majority was reduced to a
minority, he's seen his government sued by cattle farmers, he's been battered
almost daily by scurrilous rumours and innuendo, he's been snubbed by
Dubya Bush, chastised by the Ontario provincial Liberals, by the opposition
by members of his own party, and has managed somehow to persevere throughout.
He's sued the various people and companies who siphoned the funds
away, he's opened the books to the party to the inquiry, and even in the
most ardent right-wing press, I have yet to hear of any obstruction
posed by the current Prime Minster towards the inquiry.
News reports often fail to identify what more, exactly, Paul Martin
could do to address and account for the scandal. He's fired every top-level
public servant that's been implicated in the testimony, he's allowed the
inquiry to operate with quite unfettered access to the highest levels of the
Liberal party, he's testified, himself, and he's gone on record as being 'personally
offended' by the kickbacks to the Liberal party. Most people seem to believe that
since Martin is a Liberal, he must, simply by association, be knee-deep in the
mess, as must every other Liberal. Guilt by association; indictment by brand-name.
Thing is, it's nonsense.
I worked for Nortel for five years. Recently Nortel has been scandalized because
of some very questionable, and illegal accounting practices. The CEO, and other top
executives were fired, and the books have been under review, now for nearly two
years. There was corruption, and kickbacks, which nearly brought the
company to its doom. To use the line of reasoning used by many of the Conservatives, and
local right-wing writers and radio personalities, since I worked at Nortel, I must
also be part of the corruption. Simply being part of an organization, no matter
how huge, immediately implicates one in all of its dirty laundry, and I would have
had to have been punished as hard as the CEO, CFO and the executives
who actually committed the crimes.
You see the problem, I hope.
There has been *no* evidence so far of any linkage to the Prime Minister,
any sitting MPs, or any *current* advisers or functionaries within the
party. To vote them out, would be to punish them for the misdeeds of
others, many of whom are now retired, or working in private industry.
And who, pray tell, would replace the Liberals should this election take
place? The Conservatives, such as they are, bear as much resemblance
to the Progressive Conservative party of Joe Clark and Robert Stanfield
and Jean Charest and John Diefenbaker, as a local radio station, called
CHEZ-106 has to the station I listened to incessantly while I was in
highschool. The current crop of Conservatives are an uneasy alliance
between the old PC party, and the Reform/Alliance party .. an odd mix
of moderate, small 'c' conservatives, and hard-core right-wing social
conservatives. Stephen Harper, the current leader, is a socal conservative
dressed in a moderate's clothing, and has never struck me as either much
of a leader or a statesman, both of which a Prime Minister must be, in order
to influence this vast, and varying country.
The NDP remains as they have always been, a left-of-centre voice .. probably
too liberal for most, but true to their ideals and principles. Jack Layton, the current
leader, is an articulate, and intelligent person, but barely represents a blip
on the radar screen outside of the major metropolitan areas of Canada.
The Bloc Quebecois is an odd amalgam of federal politics and radical seperatism.
The Bloc was formed in the wake of the 1990 failure of the Meech Lake accord,
which once again, failed to bring Quebec aboard as part of Confederation. Ironically,
this failure led not only to the creation of the Bloc, but to a referendum in 1995,
and, ultimately to the creation of the unity fund, from which many millions of
advertising dollars were siphoned off in the current scandal. The Bloc has never run
candidates outside Quebec, and never will, and thus will never hold the balance of
power.
In my opinion, it would be a grave mistake to get rid of the current government
without hearing a definitive linkage between the missing funds. The current
government has bravely soldiered through a difficult time, bringing a number
of controversial, and critical pieces of legislation .. same-sex marriage, national
daycare, increases to military spending, implementing the Kyoto accord .. all of which
was promised during last year's campaign, and all of which are now being
moved forward.
Such is my opinion. Will it make a difference? Who knows . If Paul Martin
reads blogs, drop me a line .. I'll buy you a beer, and we can talk strategy.
posted by xiz at 8:26 PM
1 Comments:
It is sad, innit?
I can proudly say, that I've voted in every provincial and federal (and almost every municipal election) since I was old enough to do so.
This is a double-edged thing .. on one hand, I like to stay informed about the goings-on in our government, and around the world .. and there are often some interesting stories and ideas that come about (recently, for instance, I heard a profile on CBC about re-vamping our healthcare system to something like the Japanese system, where funding for hospitals was directly proportinal to how well they served the public .. i.e. the better the service, the greater the dollars .. or yen, maybe).
The downside, is as you mentioned .. listening to the ignorant, biased and sometimes just blatantly *wrong* arguments put forward to justify a political opinion is enough to give me the screaming-meemees! Watching what the 'Swift Boat Veterans' did to John Kerry last year (who, I believed and still believe to be a brave, intelligent, if somewhat un-dynamic figure) was criminal. Watching how someone like Joe Clark or Bob Rae (when he was Ontario Premier) get kicked around by the narrow-minded media sets my teeth on edge.
Sadly, this tends to confirm my opinion in an earlier post, where I suggested that just as water tends to find its lowest leve, the nature of political discourse, and public opinion tends to be swayed by the most simplistic and inane reasons.
One thing I do know, if the election is called in the next few months, I'll do my duty to cancel ot at least one Conservative vote in my riding.
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