On the eve of this week’s pre- Parliament Liberal caucus meeting in Nova Scotia, two rural party MPs were daring to dream of a rural revival.
On a CBC Radio political program Aug. 28, Cape Breton MP Rodger Cuzner and Yukon MP Larry Bagnell professed to see a turnaround in Liberal fortunes because of the good vibes flowing from leader Michael Ignatieff’s summer bus tour.
“I think the momentum is shifting,” said Bagnell, citing interest in Liberal rural policy proposals and decent crowds out to listen to Ignatieff in his Farmer Mike mode complete with blue jeans, red meat meals and a visit to the Quebec house that once was part of his uncle’s dairy farm in Richmond, Que.
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The caucus in the rural Nova Scotia town of Baddeck will feature lots of talk about Liberals becoming competitive in rural ridings.
So far, public opinion polls aren’t showing that but for the sake of Canadian politics and rural voters, let’s hope it is true.
It is unhealthy for a political system to have close to one-fifth of House of Commons seats almost certain to go to a Quebec party dedicated to breaking up the country. It means the other parties must try to win a majority by capturing 60 percent of the remaining seats, an almost impossible task in most election years.
It also is unhealthy to have large swaths of the country presumed to be one-party areas – much of rural Canada a Conservative preserve and much of the three largest cities a Conservative wasteland.
Voters who can be taken for granted often receive little serious attention from politicians. A country with predictable political cleavages is a country divided.
One of the reasons for optimism out of the last election is that the New Democratic Party re-established itself as a force in many parts of rural Canada, with the general exception of the Prairies. It has made the party a more national, more nuanced political force.
The Liberals, meanwhile, have lost much of their rural base outside Atlantic Canada over the past decade, becoming increasingly the voice of urban voters.
This time, they really are trying. Ignatieff regularly proclaims himself the Liberal leader who will bridge the rural-urban gap. He does not want to be a prime minister representing downtown big cities.
And the party has come up with some interesting rural promises including a financial break for health professionals willing to settle in rural areas, a tax break for volunteer firefighters and a promise of more farmer- friendly agricultural policy.
But is rural Canada really listening, willing to give the Liberals a second look? There is much evidence that rural Canadians have simply tuned out the party.
For the sake of the country and its rural areas, let’s hope not.
A Liberal caucus with at least a sprinkling of representation from rural areas across the country and a Conservative caucus that married rural, suburban and urban viewpoints would be good for Canadian politics.
The current political configuration reinforces regional and demographic divides.
It could be the death of us.
