So, it is to be the longest and most expensive election in Canadian history.
I knew even before the national media started to speculate that the election call was coming soon because our editorial email account was clogged with more federal government spending announcements than I’ve ever seen in my career.
There was even one from local MP Garry Breitkreuz for the Parkland College Trades and Technology Centre. I called up Brendan Wagner, the college communications guy, on the suspicion that this was just a re-announcement of money already promised, a favourite Conservative trick to make it seem like they are doing something. Wagner assured me it was new money.
New money when all indications are the economy is tanking and sending the Government of Canada back into deficit despite finance minister Joe Oliver’s assertions that all the experts are wrong and that everything is peachy keen.
Anyway, it’s nothing new for incumbent governments to go on spending sprees on the eve of elections to try to buy our votes with our own money. They claim, of course, that they have to because once the writs are signed they can’t anymore. Usually they are mostly empty promises, though, because whether the government is reelected or the opposition prevails, neither have to honour pre-writ promises particularly if they get a majority and don’t have to face the voters again for a few years.
I actually don’t mind the early election call. I am seriously excited about finally, after an extremely discouraging decade of radical Reform Party rule, having another opportunity to vote the reformers out of office.
I’m not even overly incensed about the wasted money. Increasing the cost of the election, even it ends up being $200 million, represents less than 0.1 per cent of the annual budget. It is, however, $200 million of our dollars and I hope people will take into consideration that Stephen Harper, the guy who constantly brags about how much he cares about taxpayers’ money, decided to spend another $400 million of our dollars to double the length of the election campaign based on new spending rules that he himself legislated.
As much as I loathe to admit it, I agree with Harper on one thing. It really doesn’t matter how long the campaign is. The parties have been campaigning for weeks, if not months, so why not do it under the election rules? I guess we are supposed to ignore the fact that Harper himself, under the guise of his grinning lackey Pierre Polievere, wrote those rules into the Unfair Elections Act to favour Conservatives.
Harper is also correct that the Conservative advantage exists whether we are under writ or not. Should I mention for a third time that he should know better than anyone because he wrote the rules?
Not that it really matters what the rules are since they probably would not follow them anyway. Can you say robocalls, in-and-out, Peter Panashue, Dean Del Mastro, Mike Duffy, Nigel Wright etc.?
To be fair, governments have always tried to rig the rules to favour themselves. But Stephen Harper was supposed to be different. He was supposed to clean Ottawa up, not make it worse.
What we have experienced for the last 10 years instead is the most secretive, deceitful, unethical, anti-democratic government in Canadian history. The Conservative Party ethic appears to be basically to do whatever you think you can get away with.
I realize it’s all about the economy, but theser things are important too.
I’ve always been both a cynic and an idealist—yes, I recognize the cognitive dissonance, it’s what makes me human. I have always taken a dim view of the games politicians play, but I always believed that we would slowly, but surely, progress into being a fairer and more democratic nation, that dishonesty was a trait that would dissipate with time. I never imagined I could be so wrong.
So, bring the election campaign on.
It is going to be painful to listen to Conservative candidates repeat the lies over and over again about how they have a great economic record even though they have the worst economic record of any government since World War II (that’s 70 years, folks).
It is going to be discouraging that despite all the evidence there is poison in it, at least 30 per cent of the population is likely going to drink the Conservative Koolaid.
It is going to be aggravating that even if the Conservatives lose, they will get more seats than they deserve because first-past-the-post is an anachronistic electoral system that favours vote efficiency over good ideas.
The great thing is that, as broken as our democracy is, we are, in fact, free to “throw the bums out.”
It is time to throw the current bums out. If the next ones turn out to be bums, too, we will need to throw them out, but right now change is more necessary than it ever has been in my lifetime. What we have been doing is not working. It is time to give the next group an opportunity to disillusion us.
The other painful thing about this election may be the dreaded split vote. Despite claims from the two (three if you count the Greens) progressive parties that they are fundamentally different than one and other, they must be held accountable for allowing the particular form of radical conservatism represented by Harper and his cronies to win for 10 very long years.
We, as progressive voters, must also hold ourselves accountable. First, we must seriously think about voting strategically. Secondly, we must insist that our Liberal, New Democrat, Green and Bloc MPs, whatever happens on October 19, barring another Conservative majority (God forbid), never allow Stephen Harper to form another government.
We must rehabilitate the word coalition. We do not elect prime ministers. We do not elect ruling parties. In each one of our ridings we elect an MP. Whoever is able to hold the confidence of the most MPs in the House of Commons may form a government. That’s how the system is supposed to work and we need to stop letting bullies like Harper convince us there is something wrong with that.
Despite Harper’s best efforts Canada is still a liberal democratic society based on equality of citizens and the rule of law. It is entrenched in our Constitution. It is upheld by our courts. And it is felt in hearts of the majority of our people.
