Canadian Elections Called for January 23

Just what Canadians wanted for Christmas, politicians begging for votes while they try to shop for presents. But the minority Liberal government of Paul Martin fell on Monday after months of being propped up by the fourth biggest party in Parliament, the New Democrats. The straw that broke the camel’s back was the PM’s unwillingness to avoid further privatization of Canada’s healthcare system. The real issue, though, is a corruption scandal going back to before the previous election. If polls are anything like accurate this far ahead of the January 23 polling date, Parliament’s 308 seats will be divided about the same as they are now, but one party will get a new leader.

The big kerfuffle concerns “AdScam” or “SponsorGate.” As Wikipedia describes it, the scandal “involved the misuse and misdirection of funds that were intended to go to government advertising in Quebec over the preceding decade. The funds were apparently allocated to advertising firms that were allies of the Quebec branch of the federal Liberal Party, and evidence suggests that in some cases few or no services were rendered in return. The Liberal party has thus been accused of committing money laundering and embezzlement with Canadian tax dollars. After opposition leader Stephen Harper went as far as to link the Liberal government with organized crime, a lawsuit was threatened if the allegations continued. Harper backed down.”

An inquiry by retired Justice John Gomery filed its first report exonerating the PM, who was finance minister at the time, former PM Chrétien (who still came in for some criticism), and Mr. Chrétien’s chief of staff Jean Pelletier (who received even more wrist-slaps from Justice Gomery). The second phase of the report is due in February; so quite why the opposition forced the no-confidence motion through makes one wonder. A March election would not have gone worse for them, but it might certainly have sunk the Liberal boat.

A Strategic Counsel survey conducted for The Globe and Mail and CTV found that, if an election were held right now, 35% of Canadians would vote Liberal (the Grits), 29% Conservatives (the Tories), 17% New Democrats (much to the left of the Clinton New Democrats south of the border), and 14% for the Bloc Quebecois (the French). Greens get about 5%, but may not take a single seat.

The former British PM Harold Wilson once said, “a week is a long time in politics;” so a 7-week campaign is an eternity, even if the voters tune out until January 2. The poll numbers could change, but if nothing happens to radically alter this, the 39th Parliament is going to be divided about the way the 38th was. That means the Conservatives will have blown a chance to end Grit-Rule, and Stephen Harper will have to bow out as leader. If he manages to top the Liberals, though, Prime Minister Paul Martin will barely have time to move out of 24 Sussex Drive before he ceases to be leader of the Canadian Liberals.

“When Canadians sit down to sip hot chocolate, the last thing they're going to want to do is to see a politician at the door,” said Prime Minister Martin. Well, perhaps Canada got this instead of coal in its Christmas stocking. It’s just hard to believe any country so civilized could have been so bad as to deserve it.

© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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