Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Democracy Doomed

It has always been said that the wheels of democracy turn slowly in Ottawa. Well now it can be argued that they don’t turn at all, but political events are spinning out of control. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has managed to make himself a one-man show in the nation’s capital and controls all things political. Harper triggered a political crisis in the midst of an economic crisis for the sake of complete power and control over the opposition parties in the House of Commons. His government’s budget update, delivered by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, contained rabble-rousing and irresponsible intentions that had more to do with an outrageous attack on the opposition parties than it did with informing Canadians on the status of our nations economic crisis.

The political crisis sparked by Harper resulted initially in the opposition parties forming a desperate coalition to stop the ever-controlling tactics of Stephen Harper. It then turned into a power grab for the opposition parties without any consultation with Canadian voters. The democratic right of Canadians to choose their government was about to be denied crushing democracy in the process. This rightfully outraged Canadians and, with the separatist Bloc party in the mix, naturally tended to ignite the national unity question and the ever constant pandering to Quebec.

The coalition caused the Prime Minister to back down and forced him to run to the Governor General in a desperate move to save his government from sure defeat at the hands of the coalition. The Governor General granted Prime Minister Stephen Harper his request to prorogue Parliament until January 26, 2009 at which time he promised to introduce a full budget on January 27, 2009. He also promised to reach out to opposition parties in an effort to make Parliament work, address the economy and save Canadians yet another expensive election.

This caused the liberals to realize they were on the wrong side of political opinion and that the coalition and bunking with the Bloc was not popular among most Canadians. It also caused the liberals to realize a sinking ship should not go down without a rudder. The listless liberals continued to flounder as supporters continued to bailout and go overboard. To counter all this the liberals scrapped their leadership convention, their leadership contenders and democracy in a process that has anointed Michael Ignatieff as the rudder of their sinking ship and their leader when the House of Commons reconvenes on January 26, 2009.

Finally, I can conclude that Stephen Harper sparked all these events in the midst of an economic crisis the country has not seen in decades. The political parties are all more concerned with power and control than they are of the best interests of Canada or individual Canadians. 308 Member’s of Parliament failed their voters and their country when the country needed them the most. Canada is now considered to be officially in a recession thanks in part to our politicians. Think carefully how you vote at the next election.