WE HAVE just come through Canada’s 40th general election. A recent survey I heard about showed that roughly three-quarters of Canadians were not happy with the experience. I agree.
Stephen Harper, lusting after a majority government, thought he saw his chance in September. Conservative popularity reached about 40 percent, enough to win a majority.
So Harper called the election, even though he broke the law on fixed election dates, which Conservatives had introduced, and which became law this spring. He said he needed the election because Parliament was dysfunctional, hoping people would forget that he was the one largely responsible for the dysfunction.
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We had a $300 million, five-week waste of time that brought no significant change in Parliament. The no-longer-progressive Conservatives still form a minority government. The Liberals are still the official opposition. The Bloc Quebecois is in third place. The NDP is fourth. The Greens still haven’t elected a member.
Some parties gained/lost seats, but not enough to change anything.
And the legality of the election will be argued before the Federal Court of Canada.
The most significant thing about the election is the loss of democratic activity. Two voters out of five did not, would not or could not vote. As well, Mr. Harper’s Conservatives enjoy the support of only one voter out of five, hardly a ringing endorsement.
What has happened to our political process? I’ve followed politics fairly closely for about 30 years. I’ve seen party policy conventions, election platforms and politicians’ actions.
In so many cases, those actions bear little or no resemblance to what grassroots people deliberated and decided at policy conventions.
Is it any wonder that citizens become discouraged by what they see as politics over principle or party over principle?
And what happens when the membership of a Parliament or provincial assembly bears no resemblance to the number of votes a party gets in an election? Further discouragement.
It seems that people are losing interest and confidence in our electoral systems and parties. This is an ethical challenge about what citizenship means to Canadians. It’s up to the politicians to address that problem, along with Canada’s people.
Will that happen? Don’t bet the farm on it.
I’m disappointed by Stephane Dion’s decision to surrender the Liberal party’s leadership, especially in light of Liberal history.
In the 1958 general election, when four out of five electors voted, the Liberals lost 56 seats. That’s more than double what the Liberals lost in this month’s election, but the Liberals didn’t sack Lester Pearson.
He continued as leader for 10 years, through three more general elections, of which two resulted in Liberal minority governments. Through most of that time the Progressive Conservatives were distracted by in-fighting over their leader, John Diefenbaker. That made things easier for the Liberals.
Where is the Liberal loyalty, commitment and teamwork? I think in-fighting will keep the Liberals in disarray and the Conservatives in power.
