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Posted on 04/13/2013 12:52:36 PM PDT by Squawk 8888
It is often stated as conventional wisdom that the United States is a right-of-center country and Canada, with its state-supported healthcare system and greater state-run operations, is left-of-center. In real life, it is far more complex—as we saw when U.S. President Barack Obama handily won reelection last November while the right-wing Conservative Party of Prime Minister Stephen Harper has won the last three general elections in Canada.
Occasionally, a book surfaces about a new political paradigm, leading many to question existing conventional wisdom. One such book has just hit the newsstands in Canada. It is called The Big Shift, co-authored by the CEO of Ipsos Public Affairs, Darrell Bricker, and the respected Globe and Mail newspaper columnist John Ibbitson. I happen to personally know both authors and can attest to their impeccable professional credentials. Their book covers new ground, challenges existing conventions and offers a highly provocative treatise about the new politics in Canada.
The book’s basic thesis deals with an emerging new coalition of voters—anchored in resource-rich western Canada and in suburban Toronto—who share more conservative values and views about the role of government, the economy and law and order. Using recent census data, they point to a fluid demography where many new immigrants are arriving in Ontario and western Canada from East Asia and South Asia. Ibbitson and Bricker speak of an immigration inflow that is equivalent to the size of Canada’s largest city, Toronto, every ten years. The result is a new, more Pacific-oriented Canada that is more polarized along the conservative-progressive divide than ever in its recent history.
(Excerpt) Read more at americasquarterly.org ...
As a Yank who has lived most of the last two decades in Ontario, I think that Canada has moved somewhat to the right fiscally and somewhat to the left socially while the rest of the world has stampeded left. I do appreciate Canadian electoral integrity, though the absolute power of party leaders over candidates nauseates me.
The demographic and immigration mix is quite different than the US. The Asian (primarily Chinese and Korean) immigrants are certainly more resourceful on average than Mexican immigrants. We also do not have the legacy of a large urban black underclass that has strangled your major cities. On the negative side, we still let in far too many illiterate third world immigrants who are susceptible to politicians promising goodies, and we have far too many muslim immigrants from the middle east who are fertile ground for jihad.
Canada hasn’t really moved to the right. The Conservative party in Canada is still generally more liberal than the Democrats here. It hasn’t really changed political course too much in the recent past.
It is true that under 0bama, we have moved far more to the left.
When are Canadians going to get their right to arm themselves with rifles and handguns without registration back again???
The long-gun registry was abolished a couple of years ago. Handguns are still restricted, though.
I expect Canada to close their border with the USA once the Canadian government realizes that Americans have collectively lost their minds, (i.e. electing Obama twice, homosexuals marrying, trillions in debt, mass murders, millions of illegals, confusion about how to act in the world, etc.)
Give the US a few years of full fledged Obamacare, and we might well see Canada abandon its NHS..
I've read that American immigrants from Asia tend to be liberal. That surprised me. The article claims that the immigrants to Canada tend to be conservative. Do you know anything about this? Where are the Canadian Asians coming from?
What do they think of the national health? Have they had any major medical issues?
No medical problems so far. They been there about 6 months, I’m estimating. They have an 8 year old and 7 yr old twins. I doubt if any of them have even seen a doctor since they got there.
This was a transfer husband works for Conoco Phillips—and they may even have their own doctors................
The Canadian immigrants from Asia are primarily from India, Pakistan, China and Korea. They are all from traditional cultures and tend to be more conservative on family issues and the economy. They are more entrepreneurial than other immigrant groups and multi-generational Canadians, so they are sensitive to government regulation and tax policy. The Conservative Party had to break through several decades of Liberal Party control over the immigrant vote, as the Liberals had portrayed themselves as the party of the immigrant and the Conservatives as anti-immigrant. The CPC did this by promoting skilled immigration, while attacking illegal immigration, by promoting issues that resonated with these communities, and by recruiting candidates in areas with large immigrant populations. It didn’t happen overnight, but the last federal election showed significant numbers of ethnic voters moving to the Conservative Party. The Republicans could do the same, but they have to do a much better job of reaching out to those immigrant communities that are naturally conservative and making it clear that they are welcome, while continuing to take a principled stand against illegal immigration. Much more difficult to do than in Canada, because Canada doesn’t have a single ethnic group such as Mexicans, with such an overwhelming influence on elections and an insatiable appetite for government programs.
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