PING!
Posted on 1/28/2006, 4:03:43 PM by GMMAC
Toronto Sun
Sat, January 28, 2006
The great divide ...
By MICHAEL COREN
Now that the spin has evaporated, we can perhaps state the truth about what happened this week. Canada found itself stuck in political mud.
Ignore the nonsense about "wanting" minority governments and Canadians being a middle-of-the-road people. Individuals don't vote for grand schemes but simply for whom they want to win. The fact that an election results in a minority government is pure chance.
In fact, this nation is arguably more divided now than at any time in its history. East and west, urban and rural, secular and faith-based, immigrant and Canadian-born. It's a mess and none of the parties have anything for which to be particularly jubilant.
The Liberals remain strong in urban Ontario, but may never recover in western Canada and Quebec. On top of this, they are in enormous debt. New laws transforming the way political parties are funded have hit the Liberals particularly hard.
Two-thirds of the party's income routinely came from corporations and major donors and neither of these will be permitted in future. It is no exaggeration to say the Liberals could face bankruptcy, especially with a costly leadership campaign in the near future.
The race will be nasty. Neither Belinda Stronach nor Michael Ignatieff ran to be mere MPs. Reverse those letters and we'll be closer to the truth. Throw in Frank McKenna and perhaps Brian Tobin and even Joe Volpe and wait for the fun to start.
John Manley, who has bowed out this time, would have been the best of the bunch, but don't write off Belinda, who has money, if not brains, to burn. It was assumed that she'd lose her seat this time, but she won fairly comfortably. The appeal may be bewildering and vulgar, but it still works.
Harper fought a reasonably good campaign and we're now being told a minority government will guarantee he governs in a moderate manner. But what is moderation and who defines it?
Canada redefines marriage, arrests people who try to operate private clinics, persecutes law-abiding gun owners and has the most permissive approach to abortion in the democratic world. There is nothing immoderate about questioning and countering this. Opposing extremism is not extreme.
Some people, of course, will not be happy unless and until the Conservatives resemble the red Tory mess of the Mulroney days. The absurdity of this is that the Progressive Conservatives failed.
Remember, at least one-third of the Liberal caucus are social conservatives and there is a chance of some crossing of the floor, depending on who becomes their next leader.
As for the NDP, their vote changed only marginally. By the end of the summer there will be screams of "We lost daycare for 10 stupid seats in Ottawa" thrown at Jack Layton. And if Stephen Harper fails to put a halt to the socialized daycare fetish, he will have broken one of his most tangible promises of the election.
Layton has to be careful about overplaying his hand. Nobody wants another election and he can only use that trick once. He is not the leader of the opposition and never will be.
The Bloc Quebecois performed terribly. The Liberal corruption scandal was the greatest opportunity they ever had and they failed to exploit it. Such gifts are not offered twice in a political lifetime.
The best thing about the entire process? Our new PM used the phrase, "God Bless Canada" after he won. It's been a long since that was said by this nation's leader.
PING!
Is this true? Are there people who vote Liberal but who are the Canadian equivalent of what we used to have in the US, Conservative Democrats? Where do they come from, and what are the chances they could come over to the Tories?
Thanks for the analysis, GMMAC.
" Opposing extremism is not extreme. "
We`re seeing the exact same thing as exists in the USA.
The big cities and their suburbs being neo-marxist voting
for the left-wing parties and the rest of the country
voting for common sense.
"anti-corruption and accountability" is,or should be,designed to indict and convict as many Liberals involved in Adscam,Option Canada and the inisider stock tips as possible.
We must prosecute as many Liberals as were directly or indirectly involved in all crimminal activity,specifically embezzlement kickback schemes.
This is have the effect of marginalizing the Liberal party for an entire generation.
*insider
*will have
Easier said than done as long as articles such as this
http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/01/27/weyrich-harper060127.html
are pushed by the Canadian Media, the chances of a long term Conservative majority are slim to none.
That is basically correct.
Many represent Toronto ridings though, which would make crossing the floor political suicide. The most likely to cross the floor IMO is Paul Steckle (Huron-Bruce, ON).
'The pessimistic view was that Harper, lacking a parliamentary majority, can do little to make Canadians "adopt a more reasonable view of the United States" and abandon Marxist principles "such as same-sex marriage and abortion on demand," Weyrich says.
He does not say how these things are linked in his mind to Marxism, a doctrine better known for concepts of class warfare.'
The marxists at the CBC have never read the Communist Manifesto,where Marx calls the patriarchal family "an abomination."
Yes, there used to be an entire Zell Miller wing in the Democratic Party that had to be taken into account by the lefties who plotted much of the strategy. That's no longer an issue. Then we had our "Reagan Democrats." And now maybe we see the start of a "Harper Liberals" phenomenon in Canada. I sure hope so. I'm enjoying all these warm and fuzzy sentiments toward Canada over the past few days!! It's the way it's SUPPOSED to be.
Great picture of Mulroney and Reagan. Those were the days. Despite the great age difference, they were obviously so comfortable together. Comfortable enough to do their rendition of "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling." He gave a wonderful eulogy at Reagan's funeral.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.