Posted on 08/25/2005 7:18:51 PM PDT by Heartofsong83
Nation needs majority government: Grits
Alexander Panetta Canadian Press
Thursday, August 25, 2005
REGINA -- The federal Liberals have begun a sales pitch to Canadian voters that what the country really needs is a majority government.
The party has recovered enough from its spring near-death experience in Parliament that it's thinking far beyond simple survival and taking that case to the public.
Much of the hallway chatter at a summer Liberal retreat that ended Thursday revolved around shedding the government's minority status -- and why that would be good for Canada.
Though he cautioned MPs to avoid sounding "cocky," Prime Minister Paul Martin took the opportunity at a closing news conference to sing the praises of majority -- Liberal -- government.
"Obviously with a majority government it's much easier to fulfil an agenda," he said after the four-day meeting.
"But our goal is to supply a good government -- whether it's a majority or minority."
Still, the goal of many Liberals is to get re-elected in a big way, in a vote expected this winter.
That talk was more than just hubris. Even one anti-Martin Liberal conceded prospects look good for the prime minister.
"He's going to win. And I think he'll get a majority," he predicted.
Several cabinet ministers argued that minority status has put a drag on the Liberals' attempt to govern.
Finance Minister Ralph Goodale suggested the partisan rancour in Parliament could kill any serious discussion on bank mergers.
Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew grumbled about international meetings he was forced to miss. He said Canada's place on the world stage is being hampered because the government fears it could be toppled when ministers leave the country.
"I believe Canadians want a majority government in the next election instead of repeating another season of extreme partisan politics," Pettigrew said.
Defence Minister Bill Graham said Canadians are waking up to the shortcomings of minority government.
"I think people have realized that while a lot of people felt that minority governing sometimes produces different types of results, they also have their inherent instabilities," he said.
But the Liberals have considerable obstacles in their path, starting with their poll numbers.
The latest surveys gave them a comfortable lead over the Conservatives but still had them under 40 per cent -- the traditional dividing line between majority and minority status.
The party's campaign boss David Herle told MPs at a closed-door meeting that Liberal fortunes could land anywhere between a cushy majority and outright defeat in the next election.
Liberal party finances are also far from ideal. MPs learned this week that the party has a $1.9-million debt.
Herle told them, however, that the party will spend the maximum limit in the next election campaign by borrowing.
The party's up-and-down, scandal-plagued year has hurt its ability to raise money, MPs said privately.
National director Steven Mackinnon also told MPs privately that the party lags "five years behind" the Tories in the sophistication of their Internet fundraising, one MP said.
Another potential problem is voter fatigue. The Liberals will be seeking their fifth consecutive mandate, a feat achieved only once in Canadian history and not in the last 50 years.
The Liberals will seek to do that by campaigning to the left and targetting NDP voters and so-called Red Tories, Herle reportedly said.
And then there's Quebec.
The party no longer seems on the cusp of annihilation there -- which was the case this spring -- but could fall short of a majority because of the continued dominance of the Bloc Quebecois.
"In no way are we envisioning a majority government without success in Quebec," Martin told the closing news conference in Regina.
© Canadian Press 2005
That's why I'm in sunny California now (while there's a lot of liberals here, there are also a lot of conservative folks, too, and a lot more meaningful debate. My Canada died a death by a thousand cuts starting with Trudeau's 'just society.' It took it's last breath in the election this past spring. Look at the new GG: the face of the 'new' (but definately NOT improved) Canada. The Trudeauistas have won. They'll be glad to know I didn't let the door hit me when I went out (after two peacekeeping tours in Cyprus and one on the Golan Heights, and having my paycheck raped for twenty years). Sigh.
What's wrong with minority government? Isn't that the way it works in countries such as Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, and in the old Saddam's Iraq? Those are well known 'people's democratic republics', so why not Canada too?
Oops. Sorry. I forgot that Saddam had 100% support in his last election; my bad.
GRITS = Girls Raised in The South >^..^<
As a matter of fact, an incredible amount was accomplished by minority governments in Canada in the late 50s and early/mid 60s, including the introduction of medicare, the St. Lawreence Seaway project (I think), the selection of a national flag and anthem (oh, don't start ;-) and the Bill of Rights. The promise of Canada was limitless during that time, but the Trudeauistas wrecked it all. Now it's no better than a corrupt, tin-pot banana republic, with the treasury being plundered by a defacto dictator. Sigh.
I love grits. :-)
If you get another Liberal majority government, this will be the first event leading to the establishment of the Federal Republic of the Prairies. Canada is done. Finished. Game over.
Just like New Zealand, with no future except as a scenic holiday destination.
Don't be sorry. I'm not a dreaded liberal (oh, the horror!). See my previous Post above.
But Canada has a very different history than the U.S., with a much smaller population, a larger land mass and a different political structure. It would take a long time to explain it all, but to sum it up, Canada has a fully publicly-funded system which is failing its citizens. I'm all for private health care (or, more accurately, a public/private system), but up there, you can't even TALK about private health care without being demonized. The crazy thing is, Canadians have access to employer-sponsored and individual pay supplemental health care, but it's only permitted for stuff not covered by the provincial health care plans.
The fact is, the state can't afford to do it all anymore (and never could, really).
Even here in the States it's a combination of public and private, and you know the debate that's been going on about that... :-)
One thing that strikes me is how completely government run Canada's healthcare is. Even in the touted welfare state experiement that was New Zealand we never fully disallow private elective surgeries when the welfare state raised its ugliest head in the 70s.
And Australia seems to have private emergency healthcare in addition to elective surgeries.
Here it is, briefly:
Control health care (and the billions of $ that goes with it, and control environmental policy (like Kyoto, etc...), and you have a reason (no matter how slim, but they don't need much up there) to control every aspect of people's lives. Your lifestyle costs the helath care system, so you must change it and do and eat what what the government says. Your lifestyle harms the environment, so the government will dictate to you what you can and can't do.
Personal freedom is WAAAAAY down the list up there (except for every goof-ball special interest/minority group. They get all the 'rights', everybody else gets the shaft and their pockets picked to pay for it. And the word 'Liberty' is virtually unspoken and unknown. Canada's deeply flawed constitution and so-called Charter of Rights and Freedoms does not even guaranty the right to own property, with or without eminent domain. Don't get me started. Wait, you already did :-) The country is fast becoming a socialist autocracy, dictating everything in the name of 'minority rights' and Internationalism. BIG FAT BARF.
By the way, how are the All Blacks doing?
Oh Bullshit. Where do you get this foolishness from ? Australia?
The All Blacks won the latest Tri-Nations against the Wallabies in no less than Sydney last week. They came from behind to win and the boys have done well (well there is one current All Blacks member in the squad that went to the same high school as I. He was even in the same Third Form class in one subject but we don't know too well with each other ;-)).
But it is an uphill battle - the All Blacks is slowly becoming the England soccer team that they are expected to excel and more often than not just not good enough nowadays.
You got to know we have a problem when Tommy Douglas is voted Canada's greatest Canadian.
Nothing. It's a ploy that the witless public will fall for.
Sadly yes, it is game over. We are already living in a liberal/Liberal theocracy - the religion being socialism. Canadians hate conservatism - that's why we (not me of course) will continue to put the Liberals in power again, no matter how corrupt they are.
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