I have been away for almost a month. Here we go again.
We all seem to forget that genteel electioneering is a product of the last half of the 20th century. In the 19th century scurrilous statements and cartoons about opponents were the norm. It was assumed that the electorate would filter out the hyperbole when voting for their man (and latterly woman) of his or her choice. When compared to electioneering in the the United States, even the negative ads in Canada seem tame. Words out of context and outright lies are circulated as authoritative comments on the other candidate. Why have ads gone so negative? Because, out pollsters say, they work. Unlike voters of old, it seems that modern voters are more included to believe the bumf. Whether incredulous or just plain dumb the modern voter seems to have been sucked into the slime. It may be that ever more scandalous reality shows and outright rudeness by almost everyone has carried itself over to the elections. Or, it may be that many of the voters, seeing through the bumf just don't vote. What is seriously lacking from any of these techniques is an honest discussion of the issues.
What I find most disturbing in all of this robocall posturing is the position taken by Her Majesty's government. When facts are inconveniently against them they call the Oppositions position a "smear campaign". This goes along with those who believe that the nearly passed criminal legislation is ill advised, they are called "soft on crime". These are but a few instances where the objector is attacked while any debate on the merits is stifled with Closure votes. It appears that, along with robocalls, Canada is now heading toward totalitarianism where one party dictates what is "good for the country" and to hell with anyone else's view. All this is commandeered by a Prime Minister who manages every piece of news, every statement by every Minister and tends to blame civil services when things go seriously wrong.
As if this was not bad enough, we are going to get, full force, what the Conservatives believe to be it's "going forward" policy. This will be brought down from on high in the next budget to be given at the end of March 2012. We have been given glimpses of what Canada will be like for the next several years. Pensions will be significantly reformed. This announcement was made by the Prime Minister while out of Canada. Our civil service, once the pride of the world as a politically independent cadre of public servants, is going to be seriously restructured. Scientific research is going to be reigned in in favour of applied (read business) research. Labour rights are a laugh. Any serious strikers are quickly legislated back to work. And on, and on, and on. All of this will little public debate and almost no parliamentary debate.
So robocalls are the tip of the iceberg. It is nationally unhealthy when reasoned debate is stifled and government rams through legislation based on what it thinks is right. While you might say that this, like all things, will pass the damage that would be done in the next 3 years could be inestimable. Lest you think that I am a Liberal mouthpiece let me point out that the last time this kind of fundamental change was undertaken was when Trudeau almost unilaterally decided that the whole country had to be bilingual. That nearly bankrupted Canada and caused a rift in Canada that is not healed to this day. Autocratic actions rarely work--even if they are coupled with the best intentions.
Bernie.
