The plight of the undecided Canadian voter

Many Canadians including this blog writer are still undecided voters. Many of us can’t decide whether to join the NDP surge, toss a lifeline to the drowning  former Liberal juggernaut or simply throw a ballot at the Greens to make certain of registering a vote.

Taken one at a time the Harper Conservative party is probably a Danny Williams famous ABC choice for at least 60 to 65 percent of voters. The Teflon man might have overstepped the cool calculating persona of an acceptable bully. Maybe voters aren’t enthralled with the idea of our political leaders and parties bashing the ideas, suggestions, and family background of opposition politicians. It has always been a strange scenario when discussed by people attending Tim Horton morning coffee sessions.

The polls collapsed once Michael Ignatieff’s team took a page from Stephen Harper’s meanness book lashing out at the opposition and initiating change in Liberal election tradition. Most Canadians must be having a difficult time considering a return to Liberal support after deserting voting in general while at the same time turning away from the party in 2008. The new Liberal strategy of trashing the opposition’s character is uncharacteristic. Attacking a policy or even a program suggestion is legitimate but whoever dreamed up the Ignatieff campaign strategy seemed to forget Canadians are polite to a fault around the world and even more so at home. How can the electorate vote for a party that decides to dispense with ingrained traditional values?

The New Democratic Party is riding a wave of unadulterated optimism. Leader Jack Layton’s dreams, or maybe prayers, are on the verge of becoming reality if the current polls rolling out virtually every day are in the least accurate. Maybe this is the time the polls purportedly accurate 19 times out of 20 are that one time inaccurate. If the polls are correct voters might be about to dictate change and Canada will head in a new direction.

Let’s review voter options. Vote for the Conservatives and get dictatorial reform and a brand new Canada aligned ever closer to the American Republican party ideology. The stock market and corporate profits will probably soar for a time but  likely crash in the near future due to global uncertainty. 

Cast a ballot for the Liberals and get more of the same old, same old, centuries old politics that most municipal and several provincial voters changed in the most recent elections. 

Voting for the NDP will definitely bring about change. It might be disorganized change that will not last more than a year or two. It will undoubtedly cause turmoil leading to change in all political parties from top to bottom including some of the current leaders and fellow candidates.

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Maybe it is time to ignore all the rhetoric and look closely at the local candidates. They are after all the people that will represent us before election #44 raises its ugly head.  Each successful candidate will follow party dictates. The voter’s decision is to determine which one will serve your riding best individually and as a representative of his or her party. It might be worthwhile to try determining if the reason for running is personal or principled.

   

The majority of Canadians  after all that reasoning are likely still undecided  and probably will be until standing in the voting booth with pencil in hand.

    

Election 2011 means birth of the New Democrat Liberal Party

Some things are becoming clear with a week to go until the May 2, 2011 vote. The most glaring is the mired in the past traditional media analysis predicting the outcome. Like the politicians trying to grab one of those faucets (to be polite) that will lead to a comfortable living and retirement after surviving for six years as an elected party faithful, the media is predicting like it is late 20^th or early 21^st century. There seems little doubt that change is the byword for this Canadian federal election.

Ontario municipal voters reflected desire and in many cases instituted change. Provincial elections over the past couple of years found past administrations depending on traditional party politics rejected by voters. That trend should be a sign the voters want something other than the same old, same old federal politics.

Stephen Harper must have known traditional campaigning was on dangerous ground by using fear tactics to discourage voters from considering a merger or coalition of opposition parties in an effort to claim a majority government.  

Michael Ignatieff for all his scholarly intelligence did not realize the old Liberal party is outdated and issued a red book while offering a red door as opposed to a blue door for voters to consider. Unable and unwilling to promote top to bottom change in the way the Liberal party was considering the future will probably lead to the demise of both Ignatieff and the staid old Liberal party.  

Jack Layton appears to have struck a chord with the electorate as NDP numbers soar ahead in pre-election polls. The surge in social votes confused scribes and analysts trying to predict the vote outcome. Layton’s NDP are likely temporarily benefiting from voter disgust with attack ads, elementary school style bullying tactics and attempts to manipulate voters by other parties. Voters by telling pollsters votes are changing seem likely sending a message for change.

The most likely outcome will be a series of changes. The media will undoubtedly decided  the army of bureau chiefs, senior reporters, pollsters and analysts on payroll can be replaced when election results are far different than the steam of election information offered the viewing public.

Another change will undoubtedly be the several decades old, and in some cases century old,      party system. Whether the Harper Conservatives win a majority or minority of votes change is coming to opposition parties. Canadians will probably witness the merging of a New Liberal Democrat party from the ashes, with the Bloc Quebecois dying a slow political death. The Conservatives must either become a part of the new structure or disappear as changes take hold.

Why would Canada be immune while the entire world is witnessing unexpected and unheralded change? China, India and the developing world are driving change as industrial nation try to diversify and remain affluence in the face of the revolution. Canadian voters recognize the need for planning, research and development while politicians seem to be trying to keep the status quo while holding back that needed change.

It is like reading a good novel that doesn’t divulge the ending until the last chapter is over. That final chapter will be the May 2, 2011 election results.  

  

Vote for whom in the Canadian election?

All the independent uncommitted voters attending a candidates meeting last night in our riding discovered every candidate regardless of party affiliation would follow the party line. All the hopefuls boasted that if elected, or in the case of the NDP reelected, the party line and party decisions will be influenced by the federal party  policies. Every candidate answered the question of whether the constituent wishes or party direction would take precedents when voting on issues affecting local concerns. Each claimed indignantly that the wishes of constituents would come first with reservations. It was at least a mass admission that party politics has and always will trump local concerns.

Now with less than three weeks to Election Day pundits and analysts wonder why voter turnout is so low in Canada. The reason is obvious. Elections, particularly the 2011 campaign, is that after spending another $300 million, or probably more, politicians can fight a campaign meant only for politicians. The inconvenience of having to cater to voters does stand in the way to a small degree. For the most part, though, dedicated party supporters together with a few angry activists are the only people attending and listening to the rhetoric at these so-called public meetings.

It is difficult to understand how a man like Jack Layton after leading the NDP for almost a decade as the third party opposition leader can claim to be expecting to become Prime Minister. The conversation must be different behind closed doors of the party war room. Party politics is so secretive the NDP could be working to close in on the Liberal seat numbers, and then propose a merger where NDP members hold some cabinet posts. That is one scenario if the two parties are part of another Conservative minority government. It would be a simple matter early in the new session to upset a CPC minority and ask the Governor General to give the NDP/Liberal merger an opportunity to govern. Maybe that is the reason Stephen Harper seems so terrified of a coalition upsetting his bid to remain Prime Minister. The Bloq Quebecois or BQ might not become a factor thereby ruling out the coalition factor.

The Liberals seem to be flailing around in political confusion. The years in power, charges and disclosures of frauds and political favoritism for friends, seems to have annihilated the party as a serious contender to return as the ruling party. Michael Ignatieff seems like an intelligent, likable, educator but shy on the ability, as today’s political leaders must, to insult, degrade and accuse opponents of wrongdoing. Ignatieff would probably have been better as a Governor General than the leader of a major opposition party in serious decline.

The Canadian Conservative Party led by Stephen Harper is everything Canadians traditionally abhor. Accused and often proven an untruthful government with the tenancy to superimpose ideas on the opposition, public service and the public, the Harperites appear as a frightening new identity on the political scene that most Canadians fear. The Conservatives can so far win a large enough portion of the votes to win minority government status. They bully, threaten, employ secretive tactics, manipulate parliament, destroy the careers of civil servants opposing their direction, and keep losing the respect Canada forged on the world stage. For the 60% TO 65% of Canadians that either do not vote or support other parties, the Harper Conservatives are a frightening new dimension in Canadian politics. Many and probably a majority of voters will likely shy away from giving Stephen Harper the coveted majority needed to implement monumental irreversible change.

So as voters where do we caste that all-important vote? Not one eligible voter should refuse to take the time to vote as television screens fill with people rioting, protesting and dying for just an opportunity for a free vote. On May 3, 2011 will Canada have more of the same bickering and political name-calling, a majority Conservative government or a merger of the left leaning Liberal/NDP candidates governing for the four or five years? The choice is up to you the voter.

The lethargy of the 2011 Canadian election.

I seldom write ‘My Canada’ on Bob’s Blog as a first person essay. Most articles are hopefully balanced issues with the content well researched. That is not to say each essay will be to the liking of every reader. I am at different times accused of being anti-Conservative, anti-Liberal, anti NDP, ignoring the Bloq or Greens and even anti-God I suppose if the reader’s God happens to be a political leader or supporter of the military.

I don’t believe in irrational political support or war. I do support defending my home, family and way of life from attack even it means supporting police or military action after all negotiating for a solution is exhausted. I do not believe in preemptive military strikes such as the US invasion of Iraq, continuing conflicts in Afghanistan and Libya. I believe there are better solutions to both than creating a living hell for the people affected using bombings, missile strikes and clandestine military action by both sides.

It is easy for North Americans to feel sympathy in the short term for the millions affected before turning off the realization that many are dying needlessly while letting others take care of the problem.  Most important, those surviving these ‘wars’ are learning to hate and will turn that hatred against the ‘enemy’ regardless of which side appears to have won the conflict  after some sort of solution is finally reached.

That brings us to a loving and forgiving God. Really?

The theme of this essay is not to preach the benefits of military actions that are undeclared war. It is to discuss the current political turmoil generated by some politicians trying to retain or gain the power to rule Canada on behalf of a political party. Like 85% of Canadians (according to one statistic I read) the current election is a waste of $300 million not about to make much of a difference regardless of the outcome. The cost is only one-third that of the country’s recent G-8/G30 chaos creating the arrest and imprisonment of innocent bystanders simply for viewing the proceedings.

The two main parties are unprepared to discuss issues, change, or plans for the future aside from the same old recycled promises. Is it any wonder half the eligible voters don’t turn out to vote when the minority government is defeated after the majority toppled the ruling party with contempt of parliament charges that didn't become a major election issue.

Why would voters be interested in rewarding any politician with something as cherished as our vote to support a political party using the national police force to keep young people with opposing political views from attending a party rally? That all-important vote should not support any party allowing a white supremacist or a person stating publicly sexual abuse is not serious under some circumstances.

For Canada’s political system to survive major change must happen. Worldwide television viewers are beginning to see change happening in provincial, municipal and international jurisdictions. The Provincial Wildrose party surfaced recently In Conservative Alberta. The traditional Liberal/Conservative political slugfest for the small majority of voters coming out to the polls In Ontario will probably encounter problems and maybe even challenges during the upcoming October election. Quebec politics are undergoing the biggest change since the 1995 referendum. Recent municipal elections in Ontario began giving an entire new slate of candidates a mandate to reverse the hallmark old-man style politics of previously elected councils.
  

All over the world from Great Britain, to Russia, China, Africa, and the Mid East to mention only a few places where people are massing and in some cases sacrificing lives to protest traditional governing. Can Canada be far from seeing the same major upheaval heralding change of its outdated political system where the rich want to hold on positions of often-unearned property and prestige?