Nostalgic For Leaders of The Past

For several days I have been adding to what will be my last post before we go to the polls. The predictions that have been submitted have been well thought out and entertaining. Obviously none of us could have foreseen the “Orange Surge” and at this point it’s not clear what effect it will have on the outcome. Certainly it is not good news for my Liberals but whether it will help or hurt Conservative aspirations for a majority is difficult to predict. I agree with Dorsal that many of us are so disgusted with what we have seen in Parliament and in this campaign, we have decided to punish both the Liberals and the Conservatives so that they are forced to make changes in their leadership. These are not the parties of Diefenbaker and Pearson; they have morphed into shallow caricatures of their former selves. However, I do not agree with him that a greater NDP influence in Parliament would lead to a fiscal disaster. Governments of every stripe and composition do what has to be done when faced with the realities of having power and being responsible for their actions. Ontario’s experiment with the NDP is held up as evidence of its fiscal naivety but the strategy adopted by its Finance Minister, Floyd Laughren, of spending more in the face of a severe recession and budget deficit is now accepted economic wisdom. I would also argue that the introduction of “Rae Days”, while they may have been largely ineffective, at least showed evidence of a party that would take a position unpopular with its own power base. When Stephen Harper came to power I was ready to give him a chance and I won’t argue that it is the policies and competence of his government that has so turned me off the Conservatives. More than any political force before them they are the party of division. With their boutique tax cuts and practice of catering to smaller groups with appeals to local interests, they have turned Canadians against each other. They are a party whose fixation with power and control has turned them into secretive back room operatives whose penchant is for spinning facts, taking credit for the accomplishments of others and steadfastly denying any short-comings of their own. But what really pisses me off is the fact that they are so good at the game that they play.


AH