A Lesson on Liberalism

I stole this from a web forum I frequent and changed things around to make it more Canadian. This obviously isn't a true story.

I was talking to a friend's little girl, and she said she wanted to be Prime Minister some day. Both of her parents, long time Liberals, were standing there, so I asked her, 'If you were to be the Prime Minister, what first thing you would do?'

She replied, 'I'd give food and houses to all the homeless people.'

'Wow - what a worthy goal.' I told her, 'You don't have to wait until you're Prime Minister to do that. You can come over to my house and mow, pull weeds, and rake my yard, and I'll pay you $50. Then I'll take you over to the grocery store where the homeless guy hangs out, and you can give him the $50 to use toward food or a new house.'

She thought that over for a few seconds, 'cause she's only 6.

And while her Mom glared at me, the little girl looked me straight in the eye and asked, 'Why doesn't the homeless guy come over and do the work, and you can just pay HIM the $50?'

And I said, 'Welcome to the Conservative Party.'

Her folks still aren't talking to me. Even children understand.

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Liberal Coalition Backfires According to Polls

I had warned the Liberals that their plan for forcing an unelected coalition would backfire on Canadians. I guess they underestimated the resolve of the Canadian public as well as the huge insult to their own supporters that allying with the separatists was.

From the Ottawa Citizen, Saturday December 12th, 2008.
"TORONTO -- Canada's ruling Conservatives would win a strong majority in Parliament if elections were held today, according to a poll showing the new leader of the opposition Liberals has done little to boost public support.

Canadians favor the Conservatives over the Liberals by 45 percent to 26 percent, an Ipsos Reid poll showed. The New Democrats (NDP) had the backing of 12 percent."

Ok, so these polls aren't exactly reliable but the news doesn't bode well for the coalition and its plans to govern. It shows that the Liberals popularity hasn't budged one bit despite Dion being kicked out. More interesting is the substantial loss the NDP has suffered, down from approximately 18% of the vote in the last election. When will the lefties learn that their unethical and elitist tactics for gaining power (more than what's normal for politicians anyway) don't win votes. It's nice to see them taken down a peg. Looks like Canada's left is going the way of the PC party in the 1990s.

Source: Ottawa Citizen

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Liberal Holiday Blowout Sale: It's Rae Days Nation Wide!

Well, it's finally become apparent who is pushing the Liberal-NDP-Bloc Coalition. A man who knows a thing or two about weaselling his way into power through less than ethical channels. Yep, you guessed it: Bob Rae. Back in 1985, his NDP joined up with David Peterson of the Ontario Liberals to form the coalition that wasn't a coalition to oust the impotent Frank Miller Conservatives. It was notable for ending the "Big Blue Machine" that had ruled the Ontario Legislature since 1948. In 1985, neither the Conservatives or Liberals held a majority at the time, though the Conservatives had been the ones elected to office. The Accord Rae signed with Peterson, which he (Rae) stressed wasn't a coalition, gave the balance of power to the Liberals. Through NDP support, the Liberals gained power through a motion of non-confidence without being elected. This proved unpopular. Ontarians, fed up with the Liberals and the PC voted Rae in as premier under a majority government in 1990. Things wend down hill from there. The early 90s were a period of tough economic times for Ontario. Jobs were being lost left, right, and centre. In response, Rae took a tax and spend approach and quickly racked up a $10 billion deficit. Realizing the mistake he made, he tried frantically to cut back spending. He attempted to roll back civil servants' salaries and instituted the now infamous Rae Days, unpaid "holidays" for public employees. The public service unions, the biggest supporters of the NDP, lashed out at him. In response to the mess, the PCs were elected to power in 1995 under Mike Harris, who promised to clean up the huge amount of debt that the Rae NDP had left on Ontario citizens' door steps.

Skip forward 18 years after Rae was first elected premier. Now a Liberal, Rae is pushing for a coalition with the NDP and the Bloc to try and oust the "impotent" Conservatives under Steven Harper. Neither the Liberals or Conservatives hold a majority of seats in the House of Commons. The country is in a period of tough economic times. Jobs are being lost left, right, and centre. Wait a minute, this sounds familiar, doesn't it? It came out on Friday that the coalition seems to be the mastermind of Rae. After all, he seems to be the one pushing for it the most. He's also considered the most likely candidate to head the Liberal Party and would be Prime Minister if the coalition got its way. Ignatiff has already declared he is uneasy with it. Isn't it funny how history seems doomed to repeat itself. Once again, we have Bob Rae using unethical tactics to gain power, while in a period of economic crisis. Has he learned from the mistakes he made as Premier of Ontario? Obviously not. Mr Rae is nothing more than a prostitute. More shocking was yesterday's demonstrations with him parading about in Toronto in front of a crowd of tunnel visioned left wing idiots who are nuts for such a coalition. All they see is getting the Conservatives out while not looking at the big picture, including Rae's past history and the dangerous constitutional precedent such a coalition would set. To paraphrase Sideshow Bob, "your guilty conscience may force you to vote Conservative, but deep down inside you long for a corrupt Liberal to raise taxes, brutalize the electoral process, and rule you like a king." I'm sure this must be what's going through Bob Rae's mind right now. If the coalition gets in, I wonder how long it will be before we're $100 billion in deficit and have Rae Days nation wide. Maybe Mike Harris should run for the federal Conservative leadership. Help us Mikey baby, you're our only hope.

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GG Suspends Parliament, What Should Come Next

This week, I find it vary difficult to be proud to be a Canadian. Our Parliament has threatened to tear the country apart over $28 million, which is peanuts in the grand scheme of things. It represents a historical low for responsible government in Canada, in which none of the three major parties has acted with dignity and decorum, more like childish shouting and personal vendettas. Today, Prime Minister Steven Harper visited Governor General Michaelle Jean and asked her to suspend Parliament until the new year. He was granted this wish. Right now, I believe this is the best thing for the country since it gives both Parliament and Canadians a much needed cooling off period. What is happening in Canada now is unprecedented and nobody really knows how to handle it. It was done in Ontario with a Rae/Perterson coalition in the late 80s but then, there were only three parties and the NDP and Liberals held the majority of the seats. It is not the same in the federal case, where a localized separatist party that the majority of Canadians cannot vote for now holds the balance of power. I've already discussed my feelings on that at length. The big question now is where to go next.

The right to form an opposition coalition if non confidence is declared in minority government is constitutionally legal in Canada and has been since 1867. The question we should ask as a people is whether this law still applies today. We inheritted out constitutional law from the UK, and like theirs, there are numerous unwritten traditions, norms, and conventions within the Canadian constitution. One such convention is that the governor general only acts on the will of the Prime Minister, despite her power to do otherwise. If this were broken, it would lead to a constititional crisis despite it being unwritten, as happened in the King-Byng Affair of the 1920s. A norm is how we elect our representatives. Canadians expect that in our first past the post parliamentary system that the party that has the most seats is the ruling party. They also know that there are three federalist parties. The Bloc is usually left out since they are only focused on Quebec interests and not Canada as a whole. Now that they hold that balance of power, it creates another crisis as interests that would undermine the entire country are now rolling the dice. This is why a substantial majority of Canadians oppose this coalition. I believe that since this is what Canadians expect, we should amend the constition to remove the right to form coalitions at the fedeal level. Canadians expect one party to form the government so our constitition should reflect that belief. This does not mean that opposition parties could not band together and declare non-confidence, it would simply mean that the final decision of the motion would automatically be transfered to the citizens of Canada via an election. Opposition rights to coalition opens up the doors to backroom deals without public consent and is far too paternalistic. If parties want to run in an election as a coalition, that is fine with me. However, the final word on who rules Canada should be up to the citizens, and only the citizens of this country. People may tire of the elections but it is far better than the alternative, which is authoritarian in nature, especially in this particular situation. The idea that voters are incapable of voting in ther best interests is an archaic one, born out of the imperialist 19th century, and should be put to rest for good.

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Canadian Parliament Risks Crises of Legitimacy

I blasted the Liberals for their highly undemocratic actions in my previous articles. Indeed, their plans for a Liberal-NDP-Bloc coalition are a slap in the face to the Canadian electorate who just gave the Conservatives another mandate to govern. Coalitions are perfectly legal within Canada though that does not make them right, especially at a time of great economic turmoil. Aside from the potential catastrophic problems I mentioned about such a coalition, there is another issue at steak that could have far greater repercussions on Canada's political system. The October 2008 election saw the lowest voter turnout in Canadian history. Most politicians like to pat themselves on the back by saying that the public likes what they're doing so they see no need to vote. The voting public accuses non-voters of being lazy and apathetic. However, one reason is often overlooked. Many Canadians feel that none of the three major national parties support their needs and concerns. This opens the door up to a crisis of legitimacy.

What if a majority of Canadians suddenly felt that the Federal Parliament was no longer legitimate. A lot already do, which low voting numbers, radio and TV talk shows, and various opinion polls clearly show. The current song and dance being played in parliament has thoroughly disgusted many Canadians. We are in a time of economic crisis and Canadians are asking why politicians are wasting their time on this sort of politicking. Canadians view it as highly inappropriate and irresponsible, which it is. All four parties in the house are equally guilty of this action, though the three left wing parties have taken it to an extreme, and crossed the line over what Canadians will tolerate. The particular sticking point amoung Liberal supporters is the alliance with the Bloc Quebecois, since the Liberals and NDP do not have enough seats to form a coalition on their own. The Bloc, being a separatist party, obviously will not sit well with the federalist public in the rest of the country. The Liberals after all have always been a staunchly federalist party. One commentor in the National Post asked what Pierre Trudeau would think about his Liberals (indeed he molded the contemporary Liberal Party) joining with the separatists that he fought with tooth and nail. He would most likely condemn such action, even if it meant letting the Conservatives rule. Ironically, his son is now one of the party's rising stars, yet Justin has been quite mum on the subject. To Canadians, such a deal is a deal with the devil. The problem with the Canadian left is that they continue bury them further and further into the hole they've dug for themselves. Ironically, coalition talks will only serve to strengthen Harper's position with the Canadian public, since he was given the democratic mandate to rule. Canadians already see the coalition as illitigimate even before the deals have been finalized.

Canadians need to have faith in their government. In a time of crisis, all this political posturing needs to stop and they need to start working together to get things done. All the arguing and back room deals are not sitting well with Canadians. If this sort of bad behaviour continues, Canada will have a crisis of government legitimacy on its hands the likes of which we've never experienced.

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