Posted on 12/01/2005 11:25:31 AM PST by GMMAC
Winnipeg Sun
Thursday, December 1, 2005
Not often we get a second chance
By JOHN GLEESON
The Mulroney Conservatives went down in flames because they failed the country. In the early '90s, Canada's economy was in a bitter recession and all Brian Mulroney could do was try to win a constitutional pact to "get Quebec into Canada" -- and, not incidentally, to get Mulroney into the history books as the prime minister who made it happen.
The pragmatic virtues of free trade can be disputed but there was no mistaking Brian's failed obsession with Quebec or his legacy to every Canadian consumer -- the GST.
Mulroney bailed, but the 1993 election cost the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada its very life.
Two seats. That's what Canadian voters gave Brian. One for each cheek.
Prior to last year's federal election, Auditor General Sheila Fraser made it shockingly clear that the Chretien Liberals had failed the country. She revealed that a criminal enterprise defrauding tens of millions of tax dollars had been operating for some seven years out of the Prime Minister's Office, breaking "every rule in the book," with the booty in some cases flowing directly into Liberal party coffers.
One can debate the Liberals' secular-socialist values, their policies and positions -- but there was no mistaking the corruption that flowed downhill from the highest office in the land, polluting the public service at the topmost level, or the still unmeasured legacy it created in the form of resurgent Quebec nationalism.
Chretien bailed, and then Canadian voters did something inexplicable.
Rather than letting go with both barrels, as they did in '93, voters actually re-elected the same party to continue governing the country and to "get to the bottom" of the very kickback scandal that party had perpetrated.
Quebecers know their Liberal party well -- and they know that whatever "differences" exist between Chretien and Martin are minor compared with the common bond of both being at the helm when the plundering was going full-tilt.
More easily duped, Anglo voters, particularly those in Ontario, swallowed the party spin -- still being put out there even by "defectors" like Sheila Copps -- that Chretien and Martin were sworn enemies.
As predicted in this column prior to the 2004 vote, Martin's primary purpose after assuming leadership was to do a cleaning job that would clear both him and his former boss of any legal culpability for the massive fraud of Canadian taxpayers known as AdScam. Martin hand-picked a Liberal appointee from Montreal, Judge John Gomery, whose first report laughably portrayed Chretien as morally but not criminally responsible and of course found Martin innocent as a lamb.
Even so, the testimony heard during the Gomery inquiry was damning enough to the Liberal party as a whole -- kickbacks, bagmen, collective amnesia -- that all three opposition parties were perfectly within their rights to bring down the minority Liberal government this week.
What was the message Canadian voters gave to politicians in the June 2004 election? It was this. You can steal untold millions of our dollars in the name of "national unity" and we'll let you not only get away with it, but we'll put you in charge of getting to the bottom of it, too.
All you have to do is lie convincingly, look like you care, and dip your toes in two oceans.
Canadian voters now have that rare thing in life: a second chance.
They can tell politicians that they want, expect and demand honest government -- and that if a political party fails to deliver, they will be heaved from office like a sack of rotten meat.
Or they can be had all over again.
In 1993 Canadians wisely deemed the Mulroney/Campbell Tories to be screw-ups of epic proportions and obliterated them accordingly.
Maybe now, maybe just enough Canadians will judge the Chretien/Martin Liberals as something even more objectionable than screw-ups and give them the electoral beating they so richly deserve.
We've got 54 days left to hear 8,000 lies.
Be careful and vote honest.
John Gleeson is the editor of the Winnipeg Sun.
He can be reached by e-mail at: jgleeson@wpgsun.com
Letters to the editor should be sent to eletters@wpgsun.com
Thats the spirit!!!!!!!!
ROFLMAO! Are things looking good for Harper, or will the Liberal party stay in just under new leadership?
I can't vote, but I'm praying for Harper. Just read something on CBC about his proposed tax cuts. Keep 'em coming!
Apparently Martin took off to Cornwall, Ontario and left the media behind. I guess he didn't want bad press when he meets up with the laid off mill workers. Should be interesting to see how the MSM spins it. If Harper did that, he'd be tarred and feathered by the media.
If that's brash then let them get brasher!! THIS Liberal Government deserves to be obliterated PERIOD. The corruption is endemic and it is the WORST in our entire HISTORY. Ontario MUST do it's job and vote these bums OUT. The West, minus a few ridings, will do it's job.
You can tell by Martin's attitude that he is SHAMELESS.
I KNOW Stephen Harper - HE'S A GOOD MAN!! He's smart, and he's principled. I too am praying for him. Just put him and Martin side by side - Is there even a question??? Martin is so evil, and so proud. He's THE danger to this country NOT the Conservatives. I don't understand HOW anybody can keep voting for people WHO HAVE PROVEN THEMSELVES CORRUPT OVER AND OVER. That kind of mindset totally confounds me.
I don't mean for conservatives to 'tone down' or get soft about getting the LIEberals out. Sometimes I wonder if the way things are worded in papers like the Sun (I have the same thoughts on the Washington Post here too) turns more people off than it turns on. Be something to consider when it comes to 'middle ground' voters.
How I wish you and GMMAC worked in my office at school!
I really like Harper as well, and I agree with you that he is very principled. I found it very strange (in a good way) for a politician, after the RCMP shooting with the killer having a huge marijuana grow-op, to come out and say 'Despite this incident, the killings should not have an effect on the legalization of marijuana debate'. IMO, Any other politician would have used that as political capital. I gave him big points for that, and I think it is a big test of his character. (Personally, I think that it should be up for debate. 'De-criminalizing' is merely riding in the gray area. It is still an illegal activity that financially supports big time criminals like the wacko who shot 4 officers)
I can't vote here, but I'll keep praying and keep my fingers crossed!
Another thing that I find interesting here is how the media really plays up all the 'alleged conspiracies', 'indictments', etc. of American politicians and issues in the US. Especially the CBC (read: liberal mouthpiece).
I have heard from many people, many times things along the lines of: 'Sure, our politicians have pulled some bad stuff, but when you hear the stuff about the US, it pales in comparison'. I usually respond: 'Most of what you hear in the US is alleged, i.e. not 'proven guilty' and our legal system is based on the presumption of innocence. You can't change issues in the US, and does it make it right for your pols to "pull bad stuff" and keep them in office??'
I don't understand that mentality either.
You got to be kidding. The US is run like church coffers compared to Canada. We are a laughing stock. Even Mexico raises and eyebrow.
friend I'm not sure there are a lot of "middle of the roaders" in the Province of Ontario. The Conservatives that are in Ontario are great Conservatives but it seems to me that the Liberals, no matter what they do, have a real stranglehold on people's minds. Perhaps that is just the Greater Toronto area. I have to believe that the folks in the suburbs are getting a little sick of being robbed.
You know Martin reminds me a lot of Clinton, no matter what they are CAUGHT doing, they act like nothing happened. It was bizzare to watch Martin and the rest of his party standing there clapping at their OWN DEFEAT?? I think one of the posters said it best - False bravado!!
I wouldn't mind working at your school btw. CO
That's great kanawa!
I met him at a rally once.
It's too bad his charisma doesn't transfer well to TV or print, but even that is getting better.
Will you please ping me to the pictures as well?
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