Many View Travers’ Last Article as a Reminder of Failure on the Part of Opposition Parties: It Really Should Serve as a Warning

Well, by  now,  Travers’ latest effort has circulated all over the blogosphere, Twitter, Facebook and no doubt other social networking sites since it came out last Saturday. Indeed Travers is bang on here. What is absolutely frightening is that this was all done under a minority government. Imagine that much power with a minority.  Commenter Simon has even said he’s printed the article and putting up on his fridge just to remind him of all the dastardly deeds the Harpercons have accomplished. Good.  More probably should do the same thing (unless, of course, you’re a blogging supposiTory, then you would be cheering and celebrating this, naturally).

Many of the bloggers are blaming the opposition parties, mainly the Liberals for this. They blame the Liberals for not voting down certain bills or motions or agreeing to a compromise regarding  Afghan Detainee documents or anything else. I hardly think that is fair.  We want them to vote down the Harpercons; for what? To get a Harpercon majority? The polling numbers out of all the polling firms suggest that we are not supporting our opposition parties (perhaps the exception would be the Bloc in Quebec), and that we wouldn’t support them in an election if one were held now due to a non-confidence motion or something like that.  In fact, in spite of numbers like 35% for the Harpercons;  once Canadians are at the polling stations, especially after reading how unproductive this past sitting of parliament really was, Steve’s attack ads would blame a minority government, thus the Timmy’s crowd, already shifted to the right, would vote for Steve in higher numbers.  They will do so because, not only will they see and hear the attack ads from Harpercons, but they would hear it even from those  who profess to be Liberal supporters or former Liberal supporters.

No, they won’t go to the NDP, their numbers don’t reflect that neither. No matter how they’ve centered themselves, they’re still known to the Timmy’s crowd as evul soshalists.  Socialism is much of a dirty word here in Canada as it is in the U.S. Besides, Layton and the NDP have also been receiving their share of criticism, although not as much, probably because everyone knows that they won’t ever govern.

Again, this bears mentioning, I don’t think the Liberals and the NDP have forgotten how violently Canadians reacted to Iggy when he threw the gauntlet down. All those crybabies whining about going to the polls. Just a side note, Canadians should really appreciate the fact that they can still vote for their leaders: many countries in the world don’t even allow for that; their leaders are appointed and no matter how terrible they are, they stay until either they die or tire of the job. Just sayin’.  Yes, Canadians are apathetic and try to wake them from it, well they react violently. Wouldn’t it be nice if they channelled that energy into participation in the future of their country?   Perhaps that is one reason why the opposition parties (except the Bloc; they vote based on the interests of Quebec, case by case; they have nothing to lose or gain) take turns keeping the Harpercon minority afloat.

Fellow progressive blogger, Owen Gray puts much of the blame on the opposition as well, and he’s bang on about Duceppe’s game:

How does one account for this startling and sad turn of events? Certainly a divided and inept opposition has something to do with it. Mr. Layton and Mr. Ignatieff have more difficulty cooperating with each other than they do with the Prime Minister. And Mr. Duceppe has skilfully exploited both Mr. Harper’s and Mr. Ignatieff’s ignorance of the way Quebec works.

Then, like myself, he also puts the blame on Canadians themselves for  allowing all this to happen in the first place.

But underlying everything is the public’s distaste for another election. And, given the pettiness of what passes for debate these days, that is — somewhat — understandable. Nevertheless, if the government has been allowed to subvert parliamentary democracy in Canada, it is because its citizens have chosen to look away and go back to tilling their gardens. They may soon be surprised by what they have sown.

I recommend you click one the last two links above and read Owen’s post; well worth the read.

What is astounding is that Canadians would rather allow pundits and the  Harpercon cheerleaders in the media steer them to the right rather than actually taking action. Hell, there are many  who even want to see the opposition parties go away, thus showing they have no problem with Steve getting his majority dishonestly so long as he gets it. Remember commenter Mary T? There are others.

All I’m saying is rather than continue to play the blame game or lambaste the Liberals for every little thing, let Travers’ column serve as a grave warning, as all of those deeds were accomplished under a minority government. This column should serve to warn us that we ain’t seen nuthin’ yet; just imagine if Stevie Spiteful were let loose with a majority.  We should be thinking about how to prevent this fate from occurring rather than ranting or getting pissed off at those who criticize their rantings.

And  entertaining a Harpercon majority would more than likely mean, “de l’action pas d’election”; easy for Steve to accomplish with a majority, given how polling-station-phobic many Canadians are.  If you thought the opposition was useless during Steve’s minority, think about when he has his majority; folks like Mary T would have their wish come true. As Pogge once pointed out:

If you want opposition politicians to support your positions, you have to make those politicians feel as though you’ll support them in return. Or they’ll shut up, too.

I daresay that is exactly what will happen once Steve gets his majority. In addition to cutting the per vote subsidy,  thus crippling the opposition parties from doing anything anyway, plus the fact that we did nothing but lambaste them or just stubbornly remain apathetic;  if there is an opposition of any kind, they will only serve as window dressing.

It will be too late to do anything then.   We will be referring to today’s situation as the good ol’ days.

So these are the choices, either we don more than rant on our blogs and start taking some kind of action or we allow a Harpercon majority to steamroll Canada. Many out there are members of these opposition parties; make yourselves heard, somehow.  Iggy was never my first choice for a leader, but it doesn’t look likely that a new leader will be put into place between now and the fall when Steve will surely call his election.  Singing the Iggy is incompetent blues doesn’t get Steve out of office or even keep him in minority, for that matter.  Either we make the best of a bad situation or we’re stuck with Steve for Gawd knows how long.  Not a price I’m willing to pay; what say you?

Most of all, cooperation (not merger; not coalition) between the NDP and the Liberals is going to be required. It’s how Trudeau and Pearson were successful and productive with their minority governments. Most Canadians want to see cooperation amongst the parties, without mergers and/or coalitions.