Joy in Washington

George Bush must be rubbing his hands in glee now that his Canadian soul mate will become Prime Minister. Stephen Harper managed to pull the wool over the eyes of enough voters by covering his right-wing ideology with a mask of reasonableness and moderation. And they bought it. "It's time for a change" was the cry, no matter if the change brings in the devil. Harper, who will govern with a parliamentary minority, 124 seats against a combined opposition of 184, will have to keep up his moderate act so that he can garner a majority next time around He's clever enough to do it.

Paul Martin has had the grace to resign - if not he would have been turfed. He divided the Liberal party with his war against Chrétien, our former PM, who must be taking some satisfaction in all this, while deploring the result. His resignation will allow the party to rejuvenate, put the scandals behind it and emerge stronger.
The Liberals have governed the country reasonably well over the past century - largely due to having legislated social issues formulated by the left-wing CCF and NDP, such as Medicare, old age pensions, etc., etc. Conservative governments over that period have been little more than interregnums, sometimes damaging and ineffective.

There is an historical parallel. In 1957, as a result of the Liberal scandal over the trans-Canada pipeline, Diefenbaker and his Tories won with a parliamentary minority. Dief the Chief, as he was called, enacted good social legislation which enabled him to win a large majority the following year. Harper is no doubt aware of this. But for Dief, it was all down hill after '58. He is remembered as a blustering old fool - "The last of the 19th century prime ministers" as some wag put it.

Dief, however and to his credit, was no right-wing ideologue. There is another type of Consevative known as Red Tory. These are people with "their heads on the Right but their hearts on the Left", fiscally responsible but socially progressive. Names that come to mind are Joe Clark, former PM, Peter Lougheed, former Alberta premier, Robert Stanfield, Dalton Camp - and surprise! - Charles DeGaulle. Stephen Harper does not abide Red Tories.

We'll be living through interesting times.

Democracy, Canadian and Otherwise

We are suffering another election. Last night the four leaders debated on TV. Unfortunately I slept through it, but judging from comment and "analysis" on the Web this morning, there was no winner, no knock-out blow, to quote the pundits.
If the polls are right, we face the unholy prospect of a Consevative government led by Stephen Harper, the classic wolf in sheep's clothing. He is now espousing policies that he vigourously opposed in the past, and a large number of Canadians are buying it. What little memories they have! Here is the guy who would have sent our troops to Iraq. Here is the guy who would bring U.S. Republican philosophy to government.
The main problem is not really Harper, or Bush in the U.S., it is the uninformed, apathetic, lazy and easily taken-in electorate. This is the Achilles' heel of democracy. That is why democracies of the past have yielded to demagoguery and tyranny. The U.S. seems to be going down that path. (The Brits seem to have the most solid democracy at the moment, as do the Nordic countries.)
Speaking of apathy and laziness, too many voters take the view that "they're all corrupt, they're all the same." Perhaps I should have said non-voters. Well, they may be all bad, but some are worse than others and while I don't like Prime Minister Martin, Harper is worse. For me it's either the devil we know, Martin, or the NDP. I'll think about it.