Andy's Political Punditry Takes a Pounding!

Full credit to the Conservative machine that shaped the strategy and also the mind set of Canadians.  I haven’t been right about much in this campaign but I did write that they were dammed good at what they do.  And now we get a chance to see if an unimpeded right wing government can really work for Canada.  The centre is gone and we are left with an American style two party system.  In seeking some ray of hope in all of this I can only grasp at the fact that there will be no opposition bogey man to blame for stalled legislation and unimaginative governance.  The Conservatives have pandered to target pressure groups all across this land and will need to keep the perks flowing if they intend to keep these folks loyal.  Most of us won’t have a problem with the boom that is poised to drop on a bloated and over-privileged civil service but what of the environment which will surely be left out of any action plan by these guys?  On other issues I worry less about a health care system that is in need of a pragmatic overhaul than I do about foreign policy.  Harper chose Israel’s position right or wrong and in doing so cost us our well earned and much admired reputation as one of few honest brokers on the international scene.   We are now more polarized as a society than we have ever been but are not alone in that regard.  Right wing governments are now in vogue in Europe and America.  I guess the election of Rob Ford was the harbinger of things to come.  We have given Harper a majority and with our system and his style of governance, that is tantamount to giving him dictatorial powers.  Let’s hope that he turns out to be of the benign type that many of us have talked of. 

AH