Election dreams

[vaneramos]

Icicles on Saturday afternoon


I woke in vague horror. Perhaps I had dreamt how Canada will appear under prime minister Stephen Harper and the Canadian Alliance party. But more likely I had been searching dim, unfamiliar rooms for my voter information card. What a ridiculous time of year to run an election campaign! Don't they understand the holidays leave people's lives in disarray? Perhaps that's why the opposition called a non-confidence vote, knowing our thoughts would be too scattered to think clearly. I've been sleeping since the election call. The campaign is a forgotten dream.

Tomorrow we'll wake to a nightmare government run by conservatives who would undo recent advances on behalf of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Fortunately they'll achieve another minority. The New Democrats will win a bigger chunk of the opposition, and none of the opposing parties want same-sex marriage overturned. We'll see how much damage an inexperienced party and leader can do with limited power. I foresee a dreary few months before the next inevitable poll.

I found my information card in a junk heap, and cast my vote before 10. Considering the Liberals will lose and Guelph-Wellington MP Brenda Chamberlain is out of touch anyway, I moved left.

Comments

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

My strategic vote was complicated by the fact that Guelph has a backbench Liberal who voted against same-sex marriage. With the conservatives set to take office, I don't want Brenda Chamberlain representing me.

[ironbark.livejournal.com]

We are getting info about your election but not detail analysis. Why is Canada shifting to the right. Is it a more a case of the liberals losing an election more than the conservatives winning. If so what did they do wrong. We had a very conservative govt (Howard) returned to office with a majority even not so much because people want him but the then opposition was in dissaray and was not a real alternative choice.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

I don't know what happened. The Liberals have been in power for a Very Long Time and had to defuse a significant scandal last year, but it didn't seem to improve the popularity of the Canadian Alliance until now. The Liberals were leading in the polls until a couple weeks ago, and the campaign has not offered any surprises, so I don't understand the shift. We probably need new blood. It's unfortunate that the way has to be paved by another minority under a political upstart. Since the demise of the Progressive Conservatives, we do not have a viable alternative to the Liberals. I hope Stephen Harper will show his true colours, leading to a quick disillusionment so Canada can move on. Without support in Ontario and Quebec he will not survive long.

[songdogmi.livejournal.com]

Canada can't go right. It's a shining beacon for those of us to the south (and west, of you at least) who yearn for release from the grip of conservative fear-mongering and rights restrictions "for our own good."

On the other hand, if it's a minority government, it probably can't last too terribly long or get too reactionary, right?

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Since the demise of the Progressive Conservatives, we don't have a viable alternative to the Liberal Party. It's unfortunate that we'll end up with a second consecutive minority government. I hope voters will be quickly disillusioned with Stephen Harper. Without support in Ontario and Quebec he won't last long.

[rsc.livejournal.com]

Further to this, my impression is that the Conservative Party as a whole is not what most USAns have come to consider "right-wing" -- certainly as contrasted with most of the current Republican Party -- but there are some serious right-wing elements, especially in the West, and Harper is one of them.

As to why the shift, somebody -- I think it was bjarvis -- suggested that Canadian voters don't like to leave any one party in power for too long.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

You're confusing the history of political conservatism in Canada with it's current manifestation, the Canadian Alliance Party, which arose from the ashes of the Progressive Conservatives and the Reform Party. We're not looking at the fiscal conservatism of the PCs, we're looking at more than a few serious right-wing elements. If Harper wins a majority, we'll see politics in Canada align itself much more closely with the US style, and a return to "family values," perhaps given another name. Don't be misled by his careful campaigning. The other day he accused courts in Canada of being the tool of the Liberal social agenda, and said his government would seek to keep judges in check. He quickly backpedalled on that threat.

[rsc.livejournal.com]

The very fact that he felt he had to backpedal on it shows that your conservative world is very different from ours.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Canada is different.

[missprune.livejournal.com]

Wonderful photo!

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[rsc.livejournal.com]

I foresee a dreary few months before the next inevitable poll.

Well, in that case at least the next one will be held in better weather!

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

There seems to be a lot of hypocrisy in his campaign. It will be interesting to see what he actually does. If he wins a minority, his leadership skills are going to be severely tested. If he wins a majority, well, let's not even think about it until tomorrow.