In Canada, The Conservative Party of Canada is getting ready to pull the plug on the current session of Parliament and put the country through an election almost precisely a year after the last election. (That’s the beauty of Canada, we can have elections any old time we want.) The Tories are hinting at a June vote and that sounds like the perfect time….at least for the Conservatives.
The catalyst for this vote is the Gomery inquiry which is digging up the shady deals, payoffs and general corruption that has become the Liberal Party of Canada since Jean Chrétien became Prime Minister in 1993.
Consider the following the FAQ (“Frequently Asked Questions”) for why Stephen Harper should trigger an election in June, rather than waiting until the fall, or even next year.
“Shouldn’t we wait until the Gomery Inquiry is finished? Isn’t it irresponsible for Stephen Harper to force an election and campaign on unproven allegations by people facing criminal charges?
Yes, in a perfect world, we should all wait for the Gomery Inquiry to plow though all of the evidence, testimony, sift fact from fiction, and produce a comprehensive report on just how big this scandal is. All sides could then objectively analyze just who exactly should be punished and how. And then all Parliamentarians could hold hands, sing Coombaya and govern the country responsibly.
So I agree, it IS unfair for Stephen Harper to call an election and run against a “tired and corrupt” government without knowing all the facts. Too frigging bad! It’s quite likely that many of the people being accused of crimes today may not even be charged by the police tomorrow because of a “lack of evidence.” They might even be acquitted. Don’t tell me that Paul Martin won’t then look you in the eye and with a straight face declare, “See – The police aren’t even laying charges! THERE IS NO SCANDAL!” Even though he, and anybody with an ounce of common sense darn well knows better. I recall a Liberal television ad last year that threatened me with a gun if I voted Conservative. If the Conservatives “play fair” the Liberals won’t return the favor.
“Wasn’t this all Jean Chrétien’s fault, not Paul Martin’s? Jean and Paul hated each other so doesn’t it make sense that he was out of the loop when all of this criminal activity was going down? Hey, Paul Martin is responsible for the Gomery Inquiry and stuck with it even when other Liberals wanted to shut it down. Would he have done that if he didn’t want to root out corruption himself?”
It’s entirely likely that Paul Martin didn’t know to what extent the Liberal Party of Canada defrauded citizens. The Prime Minister assumed (or hoped) that a serious inquiry would uncover a few scapegoats and he could get credit for rooting out the evil within.
But again, it’s just as likely that he did know about the bribes and kickbacks but within the Liberal Party of Canada, and based on the information coming out now, only the most Liberal-loyal could assume Martin was totally in the dark. The point is Paul Martin called the inquiry not because he thought it was going to root out evil, but because he feared that the political fallout of not calling such an inquiry would be worse. Maybe he was wrong.
Regardless, even if Paul Martin is personally disgusted with what was done in the name of the Liberal Party, oh hell, in the name of Canada, if re-elected, Paul Martin will want to get this whole messy business behind him and “go about doing the job Canadians elected him to do.” The parliamentary committee that looked into the sponsorship scandal last year was a farce.
Had Prime Minister Paul Martin really wanted to get to the bottom of the affair, he had his chance before he had his back to the wall.
Either Paul Martin knew what was going on and did nothing to stop it before or after he became Prime Minister, or he had no clue what was going on which would mean that the Liberal Party and the Canadian Government is structured in such a way as to facilitate the theft of millions of dollars out from under the finance minister’s nose. This won't change unless we as voters demand it.
“All politicians are the same. Didn’t Mulroney rob us blind when he was in office?”
The short answer is “no”. Sure, there was patronage and favoritism during the Mulroney years, and a certain $300,000 apparently paid to him after he left office, but at least the Conservatives under Mulroney generally played by the rules and the scale of what is alleged against Brian Mulroney and Conservatives past doesn’t come close to what the Liberals have been doing. There were no bundles of money in brown envelopes being handed over in the backrooms of restaurants to help the government of the day. There were never any party workers on the payroll of private companies whose salaries were paid for by rigged government contracts. Out of the Reform and Canadian Alliance traditions come these outdated notions of “honesty,” “integrity,” and, shall I risk typing it, “morality.” If Stephen Harper allowed even a fraction of the sleaze the Liberals have tolerated and encouraged, there would be almost as many Conservatives with torches and pitchforks screaming for blood as Liberals. And even if the Conservative Party is every bit as corrupt as the Liberal Party, if we as Canadians consistently throw out politicians when they steal, maybe they’ll steal just a little bit less.
“If we elect the Conservatives, especially without any representation in Quebec, won’t that help the cause of Quebec separatism? Mulroney played footsie with the separatists didn’t he?”
Canadians have kept the Liberal Party in power pretty much non-stop since the 1960s and where are we today? Quebec separatism is as strong as ever with The Bloc Québecois poised to win 60 of Quebec’s 75 seats. Western separatists are gaining momentum, and even 12% of Newfoundlanders want their province to secede. I don’t think this country can take much more saving by the Liberals. If and when another referendum threatens to break up the country, it would be nice if the Prime Minister of Canada had as much credibility and integrity as possible. Recall that Stephen Harper supported the Clarity Act, while Paul Martin brought into the Liberal Party Jean Lapierre, founding member of the Bloc Québecois, who called the act “useless." Who’s playing footsie now?
“What if I’d rather re-elect the dishonest Liberals than Adolf Harper and his gang?”
