A lot of labour for such a little mouse

Politics is a strange game and there are few rules. The same can be said for democracy.

Look at the recent Ontario election. Approximately 52.6 per cent of the eligible voters bothered to vote and, of those, 42.19 voted for the winning Liberals. The true percentage of all voters who backed the winner is approximately 26 per cent of the total electorate. Talk about minority government!

It was pleasantly reassuring that members of the Nova Scotia Legislature have appointed a committee of nine (three from each party) to examine the falling turnout in provincial elections. This committee, chaired by Michel Samson with Mark Parent as deputy chair, which expects to report by Sept. 1, 2008, deserves our support and input.

True democracy is when ALL citizens who have the right to vote go to their polling station on Election Day. We are far from true democracy in Canada today.

All of which leads us to Mr. Harper’s Throne Speech. Is our prime minister like the little boy who cried wolf? Never has the mountain labored and brought forth such a mouse given all the pre-speech rhetoric emanating from the prime minister’s office. Certainly there’s not enough meat in the Throne Speech to generate an election.

Want an election, but afraid to ask

Of course, the Conservatives would like an election, but are afraid to ask for one. Instead, they are trying to provoke the opposition into defeating them in a confidence motion.

The Liberals are in no condition to fight an election. The party is in disarray, short of funds and is once again being divided by the Chrétien-Martin fight. In his memoirs, Mr. Chrétien has done Mr. Dion few favours.

However, the Liberals have been in trouble for some time. An examination of recent national election returns illustrates that the Liberal percentage of the popular vote has been slowly but steadily declining. Quebec was their strength, but is now their weakest point. Toronto - known once as Tory Toronto - and Southern Ontario are now the Liberals’ strongest supporters.

In the past, the Conservatives in power have destroyed themselves as Diefenbaker and Mulroney as well as R.B. Bennett illustrated so ably. It would appear the Mr. Harper has learned from the errors of his predecessors. Thus, the Liberals who returned to office in 1993 and 1963 by default may not be so fortunate this time around.

It’s time that all members of the House of Commons, but especially the prime minister, realize that Canadians are not amused by all of this election posturing and turned their attention to governing rather than to continue to play the childish game of electoral politics. True, all sorts of things can happen during a campaign as the Ontario Conservatives have illustrated. Given the national polls, two things are clear: the first is that Canadians do not want an election; the second is no party would obtain a majority.

Hidden items

As for the Thorne Speech itself, there are a number of interesting items hidden among the excusive rhetoric of the document. One of these is the so-called federal spending power. Now please don’t go running to your copy of the Constitution Act to read about this power because it’s not there. The so-called spending power is the ability of the government of Canada to spend money as it sees fit, even in areas of provincial jurisdiction.

This is the so-called power that has permitted successive federal governments to introduce programs such as Medicare, hospital insurance, financial aid to universities and their students, and pensions.

What the Harperites wish to do is permit the provinces to opt out of any new national programmes that come under the provincial grant of powers. There is nothing new about this proposal for the Canada/Quebec pension plans are an example of this sort of thing. Still, the proposal will be well received in Quebec.

What’s new is the desire of the government to use the trade and commerce power to break down provincial trade barriers. This is welcome news because at the moment we may have free trade with Mexico, but not necessarily with British Columbia.

The issue of tax relief must await the budget before we know if this is serious or just window dressing. There is no mention of health in the speech, which is rather surprising given the importance of the Canada Health Act and the fact that Medicare is running out of money.

The stress on the Arctic is very important and a step in the right direction. Now if only the government would show as much interest in the well-being of the Inuit as it has in the land, we would truly believe in their new northern vision.

During much of the last century, the Conservatives, when in office, have been a ‘reform party’ while the Liberals, with a few exceptions, have been an ‘administrative party’ in power. The Throne Speech in many respects follows that tradition.

Nice speech, little maturity

What the speech has not done is to introduce a little maturity among our politicians. We, the voters, gave them a minority government and this was not an accident. The trust factor is still important in so far as the Conservatives are concerned. A significant percentage of the Canadian population does not trust Harper, or the other party leaders, for that matter.

There must be an attitude change in Ottawa. We expect our Members of Parliament to legislate and to check the government. We do not expect them to continue to play the game of electoral chicken.

Other countries, including New Zealand, Japan and Ireland, function quite well with minority governments, as does the Province of Nova Scotia. Unfortunately, our current national party leaders have yet to grasp the fact that minority government can work, as Lester Pearson demonstrated in the 1960s.

Pearson gave us the flag, Medicare and the Canada pension plan without ever having a majority. Is it too much to ask of our members that they show a little maturity and a concern for the people of Canada rather than their own self-glorification?