But will they listen?

Post election time.  Big news, (yawn), Liberals down 20+seats, Conservatives up 17 seats, NDP up 8, no green MP’s.  Only 59% got out to vote. Are majority governments only a dream?  So what has changed? A lot if you really think about it.

Each of the parties should read the messages they’ve been sent.  There are some major changes required by all of the parties:

All parties must get their ducks in a row to have a chance at a majority

1.  The Conservatives:  Stephen Harper has had 3 kicks at the can and the Canadian People refuse to give him a majority.  He was considered the best of a mediocre lot.  Rather than be a far right party, they need to continue to move more to the centre and they need to groom and promote more leadership from within the party.  It can’t remain the Stephen Harper show.  A strong Quebec Lieutenant might have been able to answer the musings of the Block.  They need to showcase a capable front bench to provide comfort to Canadians.  An alternative to Harper might be able to get that majority if they can get their policies and directions closer to what the majority of people want.

2. The Liberals:  The Liberals are out of touch with the people.  They still believe they are the divine right to govern party.  They promoted a policy called “the Green Shift” which was complex and not understood by anyone.  A green tax might work in stable economic times but in the current world financial crisis, the last thing we need is a tax redistribution plan.  The Liberals have moved too far to the left.  They haven’t heard the messages from the people given over the past 3 elections.  They haven’t cleaned up their act-they papered it over but forgot to use glue.  They have a number of people who want to be the leader of the party but they have a lot of negative baggage.  They attack other leaders histories while hiding their own.  There are some quality people not currently members of parliament who offer the best chance of reshaping, rebuilding and redirecting the party towards the centre.  They need new leadership, they need significant change, they need to modernize their thinking to get back in touch with Canadians.

3.  The Bloc:  The Conservatives gave life back to the Bloc because of Stephan Harper, his mis-steps and failure to respond to their statements in a timely fashion.

4.  The NDP:  This party will forever be a 3rd or 4th place party in Canada.  It’s policies don’t make much sense in the real world.  Jack Layton talks big talk for the 4th party in parliament.  They take credit for anything they are involved with rather than saying they supported something.  That demonstrates insecurity and a need to be loved.  The people of Ontario have the Rae government to remember what an NDP government could do to the province and current policies are the same as then.  They will always be also rans.

5.  The Greens:  They have to become a bit more pragmatic.  Their leader should run in a riding where she has a chance to win a seat.  Her decision to run against Peter McKay was a vanity move.  If she really wants to be taken seriously she has to be in parliament.  Their policies are quite left wing and therefore extreme.  If they could mix environmental action with centralist policies for other areas they might be a serious contender but as it stands they will be fighting to exist for a long time when they should be fighting for the environment.

They just don’t get it-so we’ll pay in the end

I am getting tired of all the parties just dumping on their opponents and not explaining to  me what they are going to do if they win the election.  Maybe if the negative statements were based upon truth and the spirit of the truth rather than the hint of something like the truth.  I have major concerns for every one of the announced platforms and yet I do not hear any details or potential implications should they be implemented.

As I understand it:

Conservatives:  Maintain current policies and provide targeted stimulation.  They have done things over their time as the government yet they can’t explain what their actions have done to mitigate the economic crisis in Canada.  They should explain what tools they have to address the problems with the economies of the world and what they can do if something happens.  If they lose this election – they did it to themselves.

Liberals:  Implement the Green Shift (Carbon Tax) – they say they are going to tax the polluters, they say they are going to give me a large tax refund.  Now I’ve gone to their website to see what my refund would be and it is about half of what they are claiming.  Their claim that the companies that pollute will pay leaves me with the question of passing on of operating costs.  It is going to affect the cost of everything that is taxed but they don’t admit to that truth. I think it will increase inflation.  Didn’t the Liberals say that the prices would go down with the GST which wasn’t even close to the truth – companies grabbed the extra money with the removal of the Manufacturers tax?

NDP:  Jack would pull us out of Afghanistan immediately which would create a strategic problem for our NATO allies who are still there.   They would cancel the corporate tax cut which companies have already been factored in to their plans, these are the same companies that we need to get us out of any recession.  The NDP believes that corporations are the enemy and that the average working family are the only ones that matter.  It’s a symbiotic relationship and you can’t have one without the other and the NDP would destroy our basic economy just like they did when they were in charge in Ontario.  I think it will destroy the industrial foundation of this country.  Most of their hot button issues are minor like ATM fees or caps on credit card interest rates (credit would likely dry up).

Greens:  It was difficult to get much information about their platform and policies beyond the huge carbon tax that they are proposing.  The way it appears is that the Greens would destroy the economy to reduce our carbon footprint.  If you remove the tarsands from the equation I think that we could shut everything else down and our impact would be negligible in the world totals. I think they should just tax everything and plant more trees.

None of the Parties get it.  They would all rather crap on their opponents than tell us the truth about their policies.  Whoever wins this election will have a very difficult problem to deal with and I have no faith in any of the policy options being present – mainly because we can’t get an honest assessment of the impact of their proposed policies.  Truth is the first victim and we the people are the second victims.