Policy debate surpasses political passion
Published Monday October 6th, 2008
Electile Dysfunction.
That phrase, currently whizzing around the Internet by e-mail, was recently coined by an anonymous cyber-cynic to describe "the inability to become aroused over any of the choices for Prime Minister" in the forthcoming federal election.
The term and its tongue-in cheek definition suggest that, unlike the outcome of the Obama-versus-McCain hand-to-heart combat (they like to out-patriot each other down there) in the U.S. presidential race, whoever emerges as our own national leader is unlikely to have won the top spot wholly, or even partly, as a result of their warmth and charm. Unlike the United States, Canada does not select its leaders, generally speaking, on the basis of personal popularity. (Pierre Elliott Trudeau was the exception that proves the rule).
No, Canada needs weighty matters to ponder, and it votes its collective conscience only after having carefully deliberated upon them.
At least, so we hope.
What momentous issues of critical importance to the Canadian public at this time, then, have spurred Prime Minister Stephen Harper to call a general election for Oct. 14 next, only slightly more than two and a half years into his government's mandate?
Parliament is unable to function properly with a minority government in place, says Mr. Harper - albeit there is not a shred of evidence that any of Parliament's activities have been hampered because the Conservatives lack a majority. Quite the contrary: solely to avoid precipitating another election, the opposition parties have been leaning over backwards to avoid bringing down the Harper government, as they could have done on numerous occasions since it came to power.
In fact, Mr. Harper enjoys the dubious honour at this time of having led the longest-serving minority government in Canadian history. If it had not been functioning, it would have been brought down long ago.
It is no secret, however, that Mr. Harper is much closer ideologically to the Bush administration in the United States - and, per se, to Senator John McCain, whether or not the latter would care to acknowledge it - than he is to Senator Barack Obama.
Furthermore, Canadian embassy officials - on Mr. Harper's watch, so to speak - publicly embarrassed Senator Obama earlier this year by leaking allegations to the media that he was simply playing to the protectionist gallery among his own supporters when he questioned the value to the United States of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Regrettably, this led to outraged accusations by the Obama campaign of Canadian interference in the U.S. electoral process.
Consequently, given that Senator Obama may soon become the next President of the United States, Mr. Harper cannot be blamed for attempting to lock in a new four-year mandate in advance of the November U.S. Presidential election, and of the possible chilling of Canadian-American relations which may follow if Senator Obama wins.
Above all, though, Mr. Harper has called this election because he believes he can win it. He is technically in violation of the law fixing federal general election dates every four years, which was passed by Parliament as recently as 2007 and which supposedly fixed the date of the next election for Oct. 19, 2009. However, the law does not remove the Governor General's constitutional authority to dissolve Parliament, and Governors General have rarely, if ever, refused the request of a sitting Prime Minister that they do so.
In other words, Mr. Harper has calculated that his odds of winning are better now than they would be a year from now, and has acted accordingly.
He may be right.
Realistically, Mr. Harper's only serious competition is Liberal leader Stéphane Dion. Despite having other valuable policy initiatives in his electoral portfolio, however, Mr. Dion has allowed discussion of his much-vaunted "Green Shift" policy centrepiece to dominate his party's pre-election strategy, to the virtual exclusion of anything else, until now - during the shortest election campaign permitted by law.
Granted, the "Green Shift" policy initiative is a winner - every knowledgeable non-partisan commentator who understands it says so. The trouble is, too few people do understand it; and, in any event, the average voter, regardless of political preference, still sees the "The Environment" as a philosophical issue when compared with the urgency of a shaky economy and job losses which have been higher in Canada this year than at any time since 1991.
We will find out on Oct. 14 whether or not the current financial crisis will persuade voters to listen to Mr. Harper's message that now is not the time for new taxes, or for the fundamental societal changes the "Green Shift" and how it is financed will bring.
Whatever the outcome of the election, though, it will not have been determined on the basis of the electorate's passionate vascular response to the charisma of its leaders.
Desmond Morley is a lawyer who practices personal injury and insurance law in Woodstock, New Brunswick.
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