Conservatives should face the voters
Predicting the downfall of the Conservative government has become one of the most popular games in Canada since the last election. But given its minority position, its intractability on corporate tax cuts and poll results showing it is nowhere near majority government territory, those saying an election over the next budget is inevitable might very well be right. And it might be time for Conservatives to face Canadian voters, given its track record over the last three years.
The major sticking point in the upcoming budget prepared by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is a proposed corporate tax cut, a budget item that already has elicited the wrath of the Liberal Party and the NDP. It's also proving increasingly unpopular ó a Leger Marketing poll shows only one Canadian voter in 10 favours cutting corporate taxes, while four in 10 want them hiked. The Bloc Quebecois supports the tax cut, but only on the condition Stephen Harper and Flaherty give Quebec $5 billion in compensation for adopting the harmonized sales tax in the 1990s, changes in equalization payments and for the 1998 ice storm.
The Conservatives are polling at 37 per cent ó hardly majority territory, but the Liberals are still eight points back. An election will likely resolve little and create a House of Commons resembling what has governed the country since 2006. But given the Conservative track record, Canadians might favour an election more than the government believes.
The Tories seem to have steered Canada through the worst of the recession with little significant financial tomfoolery and appear capable of running the country on a day-to-day basis, a positive asset given the growing loathing of the increasingly cantankerous nature of Canadian politics. But the Conservatives are not above punching below the belt, as the out-of-context ìYes, yes, yes,î attack ads demonstrated.
There are myriad issues Canadians want to chime in on using their ballots and pencils. The extension of Canada's commitment to Afghanistan, the multi-billion-dollar purchase of F-35 fighter jets and the near-censure of the government over its refusal to hand over documents about possible detainee abuse in Afghanistan are just a few examples. Internationally, the government's inability to land a seat on the UN Security Council last year was another crippling blow as Harper was rejected by the very institution his Canadian predecessors did so well to define.
On the home front, there is plenty of fodder on which the public can feast. Multi-million-dollar investments in prisons to cope with the Conservatives' law-and-order campaign could be top of voters' minds, but so too might be sponsorship cheques stamped with the party symbol, the arrogance and contempt with which they treat other parties and the press and the continued clawbacks of military capital funds. The environment, which has not been a priority for the party for some time, the elimination of the census long-form and subsequent turmoil and the failure to substantially invest in health care to cope with growing numbers of seniors in need of care also could be a key issue for voters.
So while the debate in the House of Commons might focus on an unpopular tax cut, the rest of the country might have its own reasons for wanting to go to the polls. The Conservatives appear election ready, having just appointed their senior campaign team and with Flaherty's speculation that the odds of the budget triggering an election are ì50-50.î The Canada of today is so different from the Canada of just five years ago that voters might need the opportunity to catch up. Elections are expensive, but sometimes they are also necessary.
- St. Albert Gazette
