01-24-2006, 05:12 AM
Well...
While I am pleased by the fact the Conservatives and Stephen Harper will form the next government, I have to say I'm disappointed by the size of the mandate. I wasn't expecting a majority... that would be pie-in-the-sky thinking... but I thought a 140-seat type minority was not out of the question. It amazes me how the Liberals manage to hang on to so much support... after their numerous scandals and broken promises, and combined with the very positive and moderate platform of the Conservatives, you'd think the Liberals would have been absolutely crushed. I guess I just don't understand why anyone would vote for them this time around... I mean, historically the Liberals have been a party of great leaders and achievements, but this version is so morally bankrupt that they needed to be sent a message that their actions cannot be tolerated. And while they did lose, the message was not stern enough for me, in my opinion. By the way, skippy does make some real good points in why the Liberal campaign failed. There are easy things to point to (i.e. "beer and popcorn", terrible attack ads, etc.), and they all had an impact. But in the end, all Martin could say is "Harper bad!"... he could never offer voters a compelling reason to choose his party. In some ways it's an interesting reversal of the 2004 election... that time it was the Conservatives who could not do much more than attack the Liberals, and so it was difficult for many people to decide why they should have chosen the Tories that time.
As much as some people like Paul Martin, it has to be said that his term as PM was a huge disappointment. And while he won't say it himself, his previous statements bear this out to be true... he said himself a couple years ago that he'd consider his term a failure if he didn't alleviate western Canadian alienation and if he didn't improve US-Canada relations. It's clear on those terms alone he was an abject failure. But I should save some words of praise for him... he did serve his country for a long time, he had success as a finance minister (though with help from good economic times, of course), and he is doing the right thing in stepping down as leader of the Liberal party. If the Liberals hope to recover, they need to really think about what direction they need to take as a party, they need to heal the huge rift between the Chretien and Martin camps, and they need to try and find a new generation of leader who comes from outside those two camps. I don't know much about Michael Ignatieff, but he comes with a big repuation... who knows, maybe he's the guy.
But I should be looking at the bright side, overall... after all, my preferred party, the Conservatives, did win. Harper has a very difficult job ahead of him... the numbers in the Parliament look difficult to handle. But I think Harper will surprise a lot of people and be an excellent PM... much better than many expect. Many of his main policies will find favour with other parties (i.e. Accountability Act, reducing GST), so he should be able to have some notable achievements to point to when it comes to defending his record next election. In the end, I guess Canadians overall are saying, "Well, we don't want the Liberals in, Mr. Harper, but we're not yet 100% sure about you, so we'll give you a minority government 'test drive' to see what you can do, and if you do well, then maybe we'll consider a stronger mandate." I can accept that, and from Harper's acceptance speech, it's clear he has as well. Now, for him, comes the hard part... and I have faith that he'll live up to his end of the bargain.
One thing's for sure... while there were some very dry periods in the 90's, Canadian politics have been very interesting in the 2000's, and that trend will definitely continue in the near future.
While I am pleased by the fact the Conservatives and Stephen Harper will form the next government, I have to say I'm disappointed by the size of the mandate. I wasn't expecting a majority... that would be pie-in-the-sky thinking... but I thought a 140-seat type minority was not out of the question. It amazes me how the Liberals manage to hang on to so much support... after their numerous scandals and broken promises, and combined with the very positive and moderate platform of the Conservatives, you'd think the Liberals would have been absolutely crushed. I guess I just don't understand why anyone would vote for them this time around... I mean, historically the Liberals have been a party of great leaders and achievements, but this version is so morally bankrupt that they needed to be sent a message that their actions cannot be tolerated. And while they did lose, the message was not stern enough for me, in my opinion. By the way, skippy does make some real good points in why the Liberal campaign failed. There are easy things to point to (i.e. "beer and popcorn", terrible attack ads, etc.), and they all had an impact. But in the end, all Martin could say is "Harper bad!"... he could never offer voters a compelling reason to choose his party. In some ways it's an interesting reversal of the 2004 election... that time it was the Conservatives who could not do much more than attack the Liberals, and so it was difficult for many people to decide why they should have chosen the Tories that time.
As much as some people like Paul Martin, it has to be said that his term as PM was a huge disappointment. And while he won't say it himself, his previous statements bear this out to be true... he said himself a couple years ago that he'd consider his term a failure if he didn't alleviate western Canadian alienation and if he didn't improve US-Canada relations. It's clear on those terms alone he was an abject failure. But I should save some words of praise for him... he did serve his country for a long time, he had success as a finance minister (though with help from good economic times, of course), and he is doing the right thing in stepping down as leader of the Liberal party. If the Liberals hope to recover, they need to really think about what direction they need to take as a party, they need to heal the huge rift between the Chretien and Martin camps, and they need to try and find a new generation of leader who comes from outside those two camps. I don't know much about Michael Ignatieff, but he comes with a big repuation... who knows, maybe he's the guy.
But I should be looking at the bright side, overall... after all, my preferred party, the Conservatives, did win. Harper has a very difficult job ahead of him... the numbers in the Parliament look difficult to handle. But I think Harper will surprise a lot of people and be an excellent PM... much better than many expect. Many of his main policies will find favour with other parties (i.e. Accountability Act, reducing GST), so he should be able to have some notable achievements to point to when it comes to defending his record next election. In the end, I guess Canadians overall are saying, "Well, we don't want the Liberals in, Mr. Harper, but we're not yet 100% sure about you, so we'll give you a minority government 'test drive' to see what you can do, and if you do well, then maybe we'll consider a stronger mandate." I can accept that, and from Harper's acceptance speech, it's clear he has as well. Now, for him, comes the hard part... and I have faith that he'll live up to his end of the bargain.
One thing's for sure... while there were some very dry periods in the 90's, Canadian politics have been very interesting in the 2000's, and that trend will definitely continue in the near future.