Release The Hounds
The Gomery Report is now out for the world to see. Given all of the public testimony, there weren't any real surprises. Paul Martin has turned the report over to the RCMP, and hopefully this will lead to some criminal investigations. But aside from offering up Chuck Guite's head on a platter, there is a stunning absence of accountability coming from the past and present leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada.
With regards to the treatment of Paul Martin in this report, it has all of the trappings of a whitewash. It's hard to imagine that as Finance Minister and Vice President of the Treasury Board - not to mention a senior member of the Quebec caucus - he didn't have any kind of clue about where the money was going. No matter what is in the report ("Exonerated from any blame"), and no matter what Martin and his supporters say about him, he will forever be seen by most Canadians as tarnished by this scandal. He would do the best service to both his country and his party by resigning, but I realize that's not going to happen. The Liberals need to purge themselves of everybody, from Leader right down to janitor, who was anywhere within a sniff of this scandal when it was happening. Unless they do that, there is no chance that they can regain the trust of the people.
What I find most disgusting is the refusal of anybody to step up and say, "Yes, I share in the responsibility of what happened, and I apologize for my failings." Jean Chretien would rather take Gomery to court than admit that the very position he occupied requires him to concede that the buck stopped with him. All the golf balls in the world won't blind us to the fact that the main players in the scandal were his cronies. The in-fighting between the Chretien and Martin camps is a national joke that has ceased to be funny, and will continue to be a cancer on the government as the Gomery saga goes on.
I have to confess that I have flip-flopped on my opinion of Jack Layton and the NDP in the midst of all of this. (Mustard Man will probably claim credit for this.) While I abhor the fact that they are willing to prop up a corrupt government and shield it from the Canadian voters, I accept the fact that they really have no choice. The NDP will never be a governing party in this country, nor will they be anything more than a fourth party in Parliament for the foreseeable future. It is understandable that they are willing to be the kingmakers while the Liberals have a minority government, so that they may have some of their agenda advanced. That's good, hard politicking. They are exploiting the Liberals' weakness, controlling the guillotine cord, while trying to make themselves an attractive alternative to the Liberals for the Canadian Left. (Not that the Liberals really governed from the Left, but that's another discussion.)
The Conservatives, on the other hand, seem to be on a hunt for power. They could just as easily cut a deal with the Liberals to pull the government to the Right, but instead chose to be confrontational to the end and align themselves with the Bloc Quebecois. They have every right to voice the fury that we all feel about what happened, but there's still a country to be run. To try to bring the nation's business to a halt in order to squeeze out an election a few months early is irresponsible. They will have their time to campaign pretty soon.
I've mentioned before that I feel like I'm a voter without a party to choose. The NDP are to the Left of me, but not pragmatic enough for my taste. The Conservatives are prohibitively to my Right. The Liberals, while to my Right, are close enough that I could tolerate them when clean of scandal. I haven't voted for them since 1997. Perpetual one party rule is killing us. If, by an unfortunate series of events, Stephen Harper were to step down as Conservative leader and be replaced by Peter McKay, I might consider writing my X in the CPC box. I can deal with a Red Tory - my first ever federal vote was for Brian Mulroney. That I should have fond memories of casting a vote for Mulroney tells you how bad things are now.
posted by Jaymeister at 11/02/2005 10:42:00 p.m.
4 Comments:
Jay!
I held out so much hope for you... until you said you'd vote for Peter MacKay!
Ahhhh! The man who said he'd NEVER merge with the Alliance, then reneged!!
Ahhhh!
You're right - Maybe McKay isn't the best example. He totally betrayed his agreement with David Orchard. I am thinking more in the direction of somebody like him, from the centrist side of the Conservative Party. If they had a leader from that pool, I would be more inclined to consider voting for them. But we can't afford more of the status quo.
Yes, but I think that you have fallen into the old trap set by the conservative right: that is, that lefties are the big spenders.
In fact, if you look at the history, it's always the right that leaves us in the hole.
Witness the deficits left by Brian Mulroney, Mike Harris and George W. Bush.
It's always the left that has to come in and clean up the financial mess. Ie: Bill Clinton and Jean Chretien (ok, he's not really left... but moreso than Mulroney).
NDP governments, with the exception of Bob Rae, have almost always been pragmatic - Tommy Douglas governed for 17 years without a deficit. Same for Romanow and Gary Doer.
The difference is that NDP governments balance the books AND provide us with progressive social programs. Conservatives just reward their rich friends with tax cuts.
Mustard, I think you are helping to illustrate what I think is the main problem with the federal NDP. Despite its successes on the provincial level, it continues to behave as a federal party that sees itself as an opposition party, rather than one that is serious about governing. (The deal with the Liberals, for example.) The public won't see it as a governing alternative until the party does.
In an ideal world, I'd like to see Liberal supporters flocking to the NDP, just as the PC Party was raided by the Reform Party in 1993. Having 2 seats left in Parliament would look good on the Liberals. But if the Liberal Party disintegrates, where will all of its corporate money go? My guess is that most of it won't go to the NDP. So the NDP MUST be strong in positioning itself as a party that will address the concerns of all Canadians.
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