I was having lunch with a young friend who has become a national authority on digital media. The conversation got around to why the issue of the Conservative ethical lapses in Parliament and outside did not seem to have legs with the electorate. No one but Ignatieff seems to care. Not even the usually self-righteous Jack Layton. A recent article excoriating the Conservatives appears to be fall on deaf ears. A recent poll conducted by the Globe and Mail shows Harper well ahead of even a coalition of the Liberals and the NDP. In the US there would be a national cry of “Throw out the bums”. And they would. But not here. Why, he said, do you suppose that is?
There are several reasons, the best of which is that, unlike the US, we don’t vote for the leader. The House appoints the leader. When the leader loses the confidence of the House the result is usually an election. As I said in a previous post Canadians are unlikely to cast a protest vote penalizing the local member for transgressions of the leader.
However, there may be a deeper explanation. Canadians with the English and Scottish backgrounds are more given to negotiation than to confrontation. When Wolfe defeated Montcalm the result was a treaty where the loser gained considerable rights. The English did the much the same thing right across the Commonwealth. India negotiated its independence and the Maoris were given considerable rights in New Zealand though the islands were “conquered” by the Brits. Canada negotiated its independence was content to wait until 1982 to repatriate our constitution. We are, in Canada, not given to revolution. In fact, the only revolutions that come to mind are Louis Riel and, possibly the FLQ. Both were roundly squelched and the population went on as before. Notwithstanding the considerable flexing of vocal chords by the Quebecois the only proposed solution is one of negotiation. There was no thought of a unilateral declaration of independence and the strife that might follow. It’s not the Canadian way.
Peter Gyzowski once remarked that when a Canadian died and went to heaven he found a fork in the road. The right fork road said, “Heaven”. The left fork said “Parliamentary Committee on Heaven”. The Canadian took the left fork.
So, what’s this all have to do with calling the Conservatives on their scurrilous behavior? To do so would cause a confrontation that, I believe, Canadians find distasteful. Time after time, no matter what political stripe the party might be, Canadians confronted with scandal seem to turn the other cheek. It’s like having a wayward relative that one doesn’t talk about. They are prepared to let the law take its course and have faith that the guilty will be punished.
The Conservatives are betting on it.
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