Is Canada ready for a majority government?
Everyone this week has been asking, “Is Canada ready for the Tea Party Movement.” (The answer is YES by the way.) The Ottawa Citizen though is asking if Canada is ready for a Majority government.
After four-and-a-half years of governing with more seats than any other party, but less than half of the total available seats in the House of Commons, Prime Minister Stephen Harper may need to make a bold move in the next election to get the extra 11 seats he needs to have complete control of the federal government. The alternative? A government lead by a Canadian who lived outside the country for 34 years returning only to run for office, a socialistic who thinks terrorists are just misguided freedom fighters, and a man who hates Canada so much that he wants to pull the second biggest province out of confederation. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that Stephen Harper isn’t perfect. He’s passed some policies that I personally disagree with. However, he’s a heck of a lot better than the three stooges on the other side of the aisle. Actually, the two don’t even compare.
The Tea Party Movement in Canada is not a mouthpiece for the Conservative Party of Canada. In fact, it’s a mouthpiece for the citizens of Canada, and I sure hope that government will take the Tea Party values of limited government, greater liberty and individuality and start to insert that into policy. Some people fail to see that liberty is not a fringe value. Liberty is a God-given right shared by everyone. The government doesn’t give us freedom, government by nature limits freedom.
So, how can Harper get his majority? According to Tom Flanagan, former Harper aid, he needs to contrast him versus the opposition without ever uttering the word ‘majority.’ Oddly enough, where majority governments used to be common, Canadians seem to be scared of them now. In the two-party United States system, there’s a majority party and a minority party. Nothing else. In the recent British election, the voters had no idea what they would do when the winning party failed to win the majority of seats. As a response, the “conservatives” got into a coalition with the socialist Liberal Democrats. Critics of Prime Minister Harper assume that he’s only riding out the wave until he has a majority then this miraculously conservative hidden agenda will be implemented.
If he were prepared to hold out for almost five years before putting forth those policies, I imagine they wouldn’t be that important. Just as it’s time for Canadians to make a bold move, it’s time for Harper to. If the Prime Minister continues on this path, he’ll lose support from the right that he won’t gain from the Left. He needs to tell people he wants a majority, and tell them what he’ll do with it.
Tags: Canada, Conservatism, House of Commons, Liberty, Stephen Harper, Tea Party
September 1st, 2010 at 7:04 pm
I have my doubts about Harper as a leader, but I agree that we need more action from the “conservative” government. After all, if there IS a hidden agenda of conservative values that he’s waiting to implement, I would LOVE to see them. They obviously aren’t getting majority support now, so they need to take the risk and regain the base.
September 1st, 2010 at 9:07 pm
Agreed Rick. I’m more of a libertarian anyway so I dont go for the fed conservatives usually…but if they could cut the extra spending and stand up against deficits, I’d definitely support them.
September 2nd, 2010 at 8:16 am
I don’t know what to think of Canada’s government situation. As you all might have guessed from my occasional postings on here, I am definitely not a Conservative backer, though I’ll admit that Harper hasn’t really rocked the boat since he came to power; probably as a result of not having a majority government. In any event, I really wouldn’t want to see a Conservative majority. That said, I don’t trust Michael Ignatieff as far as I could throw him, and though my allegiances probably lie closest to the NDP, they a) have no shot at winning, and b) are not the right sort of government for our continually-evolving financial climate.
It’s a pickle.
September 11th, 2010 at 12:57 am
I hate how hung-up Canadians get over majority/minority governments. Ditch this unwavering party discipline and have MP’s vote according to their consciences and the party numbers don’t matter. In Canada, every vote for the next four years is made up on election night. The U.S. House of Representatives is actually EFFECTIVE
September 14th, 2010 at 10:50 am
Harper deserves a majority. he’s been governing well..anyone who says he’s right-wing is crazy. He’s governed as a moderate, he’s played it safe, and Canadians ultimately shoudln’t have too many bones to pick with him.