I know that a lot of people have made up their mind to vote for Stephen Harper, and I know their reasons. There is no disputing that Paul Martin’s leadership of this country has been ineffective and in cases downright incompetent. There is also no disputing the fact that the Liberal Party has suffered tremendously under his watch. What amazes me though is that people are marching straight into the Conservative groupthink so eagerly, as if they will be some sort of panacea for our good-government crisis.
I read a lot of boards, blogs, forums and emails (not to mention newspapers) and one thing that amazes is that nobody wants or cares enough to defend Harper’s policies: policies which I know for a fact some people who are voting for him reject outright. Lets review a few of the things he is proposing:
- Handing over our sovereignty for strategic missle defense. A costly program which doesn’t work, won’t work, and has no legitimate prospect of working to defend us against any forseeable threats… naturally we should sign up right away.
- Reneging on a desperately needed aid package for First Nations. Anyone who has spent five minutes studying Canadian history knows that the First Nations of this country have gotten one raw deal after another. While some noble attempts have been made to correct past injustices over the years, the true crime has been the constant renegotiation and deliberation which prevents anything from getting done in a timely and helpful manner. The Liberals finally get off their butts and make some real progress on this front, then Harper comes along and says “we need to renegotiate these deals.” It’d be funny if it wasn’t so pathetic.
- Withdraw from Kyoto. Now I know Kyoto isn’t popular amongst the Conservative base, but those people aren’t the ones who will be responsible for him winning a majority. Amongst non-Conservatives Kyoto is a very popular program, even if it has been handled poorly.
- Did I mention that he is going to run a deficit? I mean, he could just be lying somewhere, but my gut tells me that he can’t increase spending, cut taxes, and promise not to cut social programs. Of course what isn’t being said is that deliberately creating deficits is chapter one out of the Conservative playbook. Every right-wing conservative party that has come into power in this country (and most of their American counterparts) have deliberately manufactured deficits through this same approach (cut taxes while spending increases) so that they are “forced” to make cuts, and eventually eliminate programs which conflict with a conservative ideology.
Now this probably won’t come as a huge shock to anyone. But once, just once, I’d like someone who has decided not to vote for Paul Martin provide a cogent defense for these wildly unpopular and dangerous initiatives. I won’t hold my breath though.
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