Canada Has Voted - Haven't We?
Well, we threw the bums out. Isn't that the formula? Give the incumbents enough rope to hang themselves - alternately to rule the country intelligently, and if they come up short - throw them out. They did it (they didn't do it) ergo: we did it. To our great puzzlement. Let's hope it is not, ultimately to our great detriment. Did we have a choice? Other than to toss them in the dustbin? Nope. Did we have other choices? Debatable.So now Canada has, sigh, a new Conservative government. Make that a Reform/Alliance/conservative government. There's the rub. Now the question is: what can we anticipate from this unholy alliance of right-thinking collectives?
Much has been said of the "natural governing party" of Canada, that it has always been, will always be the Liberals. And didn't they muck things up, didn't they just! Enough said of the shortcomings and outright misery of the Chretien governance years. Paul Martin was to be the great white hope of the Liberal party, so Martinite hacks would have it. Let's say, for the sake of argument that Paul Martin hadn't been irreversibly tainted by his own financial conservatism on behalf of Canada, that same conservatism that had him, as Minister of Finance gut Canada's social programs, beggar the provinces who in turn shunted responsibility off to the municipalities causing everything to come to a sad and shuddering halt. Let's say that this is a man of deliberation, a calm decision-maker, not a smoke-and-mirrors clown who could make deficits disappear and fiscal year-end surpluses of immense proportions miraculously appear. This wouldn't mean, of course, that Canadians have been seriously over-taxed, of course not. This might not be one of the reasons that Canadians' disposable income actually declined over the past several decades.
Not that Canadians mind all that much paying taxes, even those on the high side. Not if we're assured that the money is soundly allocated for services that matter most to us: health services, education, affordable housing, urban infrastructure, child care, elder care, affordable utilities, workable crime prevention, that kind of stuff. Oops! Hey, we're talking federal government - oh but, don't transfer payments and trickle-down look after this? Yep, yep.
All right, the federal government interacts with its international confreres, and, we would suppose, in a helpfully fraternal manner. The federal government looks after federal institutions, right? like the military, to make certain that they're in reasonably good shape? The federal government decides how to forge ahead with international relations, how to commit Canada's resources in peacekeeping services. The federal government tries to keep a handle on our primary resources from metal extraction to forestry resources, to farming, ensuring agreements are in place to protect and promote Canadian industry, culture, and our standard of living. And the economy is booming! So big corporations, banks, manufacturers are doing all right, thank heavens. But what about the ordinary man and woman on the street, why is their spending power declining? Why do we have more homeless people, why do we continue to appeal for more assistance for food banks? Nuisance problems, all - aren't they?
So we have these enormous surpluses, and the overall standard of living is in decline? Hit me with a hammer, it makes no good sense. Ah, the surplus is doled out in ways we cannot hope to understand. Of course. Of course. Good thing there's no waste and mismanagement because if there's one thing almost everyone hates to see in government it's waste and mismanagement. We've got to find some other reason for the breakdown of critical services to the public. Probably our fault in one way or another. It's only human nature to become arrogant and unresponsive when you've got the power and other guy hasn't, nah, nah. And you've got to acknowledge and pay off debts to friends and colleagues and sometimes that takes a back-alley approach and big bucks.
So we threw them out. Now what've we got? Wonder if the ultra-right evangelical set in the world of American politics is right now high-fiving all over the place. Finally, a government next door with whom we can genially do business. Big time. Reform-Alliance, after all, share the same fundamental background whether in Canada or the United States; we're one big continent when it comes to that. Our new prime minister is prepared and ready, oh so ready, to take the helm of the ship of state. And we put him there, we certainly did, minority or not. This is a man who disdains the necessity of giving a helping hand to welfare types, the working poor, those whose ideas of social justice don't conform to his. We knew that once and shunned him, but he's become shrewdly clever in opposition - and he's got us!
Now it's God Bless Canada.
posted by Pieface @ Tuesday, January 24, 2006
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