My Election Thoughts

Well, a very long election campaign has come to a close. And I think that it is in many ways a bittersweet ending.

In some ways I feel this is the best possible outcome. It was time for the Liberals to leave. They, like any other venerable organization (in all senses of venerable), can only carry forward so long without a break to regroup, re-equip and regain focus on the values that matter. They also needed to escape the albatross of Gomery.

The most important coverage on election nights is of the speeches. Only in the speeches do you get the true measure of the leaders.

I think that Paul Martin gave an extremely gracious speech. One that will be remembered. I think he’ll join Joe Clark in our hearts as a man who had a lot to give, but for whom the circumstances were not propitious. Not a smooth political operator, but one who was — like Joe, and perhaps unusually — genuine in office.

I was disappointed that the CBC did not play all of Duceppe’s speech. His 51 seats sound like a victory, but the popular vote tells a different story. With 42% of the popular vote in Quebec (only 6% more than Harper’s minority across the country) he did not gain the support of what many expected would be a majority of Quebeckers for his separatist agenda.

The greens, whom I dislike, did OK for themselves with a small increase in national support. Our local candidate, who is an honourable man, did extremely well for himself, doubling his support.

On to my party of choice: Jack Layton and his NDP are the second success story of the night. With 10 new members (as I write this) coming to Ottawa, and an increase of many votes across the country, the NDP is riding a wave of energy. Still, they again narrowly missed the balance of power. That’s a bit of a disappointment, but 10 more seats is great. What’s interesting, though, is that they garnered 10 more seats with only a small increase in the popular vote, suggesting that they edged into seats that they were edged out of last time. I hope the NDP is able to work hard and honourably in the next parliament to solidify those tenuous gains by continuing to set the example for the other parties; it will be tough work this time around.

The NDP under Jack Layton is finally more than the angel on Canada’s shoulder. It has proven to have fresh new ideas, a spirit of compromise and that it is worthy of trust. And millions of Canadians have shown their agreement and support.

And now to the victors. For the last time (well… except for special occasions) I’ll call them Reform Conservatives. The new Conservative party has re-established itself across the country in this election. It now can be called a national party, with seats from coast to coast. This is a good thing.

You may think the last paragraph strange for a socially liberal NDP supporter like myself. But that wouldn’t be considering the big picture.

We cannot continue to operate this country as a people who vote for the status quo to keep the lion at bay. We cannot have a one-party Liberal system that governs through fear and intimidation, belaboured under the weight of a stale vision and impractical, unconvincing and poorly orchestrated suggestions that languish from one prorogued parliament to the next. We cannot be Liberal forever. Kim Campbell appeared on CBC’s coverage and made this point forcefully, convincingly and in decidedly unpartisan tones. A national Conservative party has a chance, in future policy conventions, to broaden its narrow viewpoint. It is good for Canada to have a strong opposition, even if we have to take the bitter pill of enduring them in government to get it.

Harper’s speech was prime ministerial. Point final. It was worth waiting until 1:30am for. The exhilaration of victory even made him look human. For the first time, I saw a man who could be a leader.

You all know how much I disagree with Harper’s personal views and political positions. Many of you share my distaste at the prospect of a Conservative government running backwards in time with a regressive social conservatist, pro-war, pro-business, weak-Canada agenda; to say nothing of the separation of church and state. I fear all of those things. But I had started to fear the Liberal complacency too — it is impossible to overstate the danger of a stagnant political process for a country that wants to lead the world in innovation and peaceful influence. It’s a bittersweet election result, one that I view with great trepidation for the immediate future, but with great relief in the long term as we restore the vibrancy to our multi-party system.

We have unleashed Harper upon ourselves, but in a measured way with a minority mandate. (Thank God that the Liberals were not decimated like Kim Campbell’s Conservatives.) Minorities are good for Canada. They have brought us public health care, old age pensions and even a Canadian flag. I do not expect this parliament to achieve on this scale (but of course would be happy to be surprised). Harper’s government will have to keep its nose clean, and its social conservative elements in check if it hopes (as it must) to get a majority mandate the next time around. If it can do this, more power to it. I suspect that Canadians will see through Conservative vote buying and will be treated to some questionable foreign policy, I hope it will not be too painful.

We had to do this sometime; we had to give the Conservatives with their Reform foundation some rope; let’s watch to see what they do with it.

ETA: I cross-posted this to the LiveJournal political community I’ve been following. There’s more discussion over there.

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