Morrison was a Reform party MP from 1993 to 2000, when he retired from politics. He lives in Calgary.
The vanity election is over with and, as generally expected, we have another minority government.
The Conservatives gained 16 seats, at a cost to taxpayers of almost $17 million each. With only the Liberals’ convoluted Green Shift plan as a significant policy issue on the table, the exercise generated resounding disinterest. Only 59 percent of voters managed to drag themselves to the polls, a new Canadian record low.
Apparently, Canadians are blasé about the economic meltdown that has gripped the western world since midway through the campaign.
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Any influence that economic worries had on voters probably benefited the Conservative party thanks to Stephen Harper’s image as a competent, take charge guy, although he did step in a cow pie with his off-the-cuff remark that there are now some good buys in the stock market.
He was right, of course, and the “let them eat cake” implications of his gaffe probably did no significant damage to his campaign.
The new government is less vulnerable than the previous one, which could have been defeated by a Bloc + Liberal combination. The stars are now so aligned that, to bring down the government, all three opposition parties would have to combine.
The probability of a dispirited and financially strapped Liberal party joining a posse to hang the government any time soon is virtually zero.
For at least two years, skilled tactician Harper will be able to govern almost as though he has a majority, all the while complaining mightily that Parliament is dysfunctional.
The post-election airwaves are overloaded with a cacophony of NDP and Green party whining about the unfairness of our Canadian electoral system and the urgent need to adopt the losers’ delight called proportional representation.
On the basis of popular votes, bosses of small parties would then get to choose a gaggle of party hacks as MPs unconnected to constituents or constituencies. (And you thought that the appointed Senate was bad news.)
At first glance, the NDP appears to have successfully set the stage for bigger and better things in the next election. It waged a disciplined and expensive campaign, mostly with public funding, thanks to the poisonous legislative legacy of Jean Chretien, and gained seven seats.
However, its popular vote barely increased from 2006. Having lost much of its traditional blue collar support years ago, the NDP has become the preferred party of the politically correct elite – a demographic with little growth potential.
With the global warming mania still infecting large numbers of Canadians, the strong (6.8 percent) Green party showing was a worrisome development. The party’s 8.8 percent share of the vote in, of all places, Alberta, is clear cause for outright alarm since it gives the Greens a strong lobbying base and the ability (already evident with Harper’s endorsement of carbon trading) to influence government policy.
Greens flourish in the biggest cities, and Saskatchewan voters gave them only 5.6 percent.
In spite of two years of ardent courtship, Quebec again rejected stolid Stephen in favour of debonair Gilles Duceppe. The Conservatives’ hopes for a breakthrough in Quebec were dashed partly for the flimsiest of reasons, a proposed $45 million cut in federal funding for the arts, and Harper’s sarcastic jibe about pampered elites swanning around taxpayer-funded galas.
Both the cuts and the jibe were well received by Conservative stalwarts but Duceppe leaped upon the issue as a nefarious Anglo plot to stifle distinctive, federally funded Quebec culture.
The successful quixotic crusade of Newfoundland and Labrador premier Danny Williams against the Conservatives may cost his province dearly.
He was lucky that his efforts didn’t help to expedite the election of anti-oil-industry Dion but, with no MPs on government benches, he will be effectively frozen out at the federal level.
Unlike Quebec, Newfoundland doesn’t rank high in the hierarchy of voting blocs that have to be placated.
A day after the election, Williams extended an olive branch, and Harper expressed a willingness to let bygones be bygones. Anyone who takes that seriously doesn’t know Stephen Harper.
Williams and Duceppe together cost him a cherished majority. Duceppe holds a lot of cards. Williams holds none.
And Harper never forgets.
In any event, the unnecessary and unwelcome trip to the polls is over. Pundits are vociferously decrying public irresponsibility, and the public is back to the day to day routine of earning a living and paying taxes.
