Well, it's not perfect. But it's hard to decide a realistic 'perfect' outcome. Our system seems flawed. I heard/read it a lot tonight: It's the left's fault for splitting the vote. Balderdash. There is only one right-wing party and several left. Not all those left parties want the same things. They are different parties for reasons. The Cons pooled together to form the cons we know today, but I genuinely don't believe that we have to create a two party system in order to feel fairly represented. So incredibly far from it. We can clearly see how a two party system does not serve the United States. Why on earth should we emulate their broken examples? There are many that Harper wants to take on, privatizing health care and lying on the news to name only two. I do not mean to offend my American friends. American people are lovely. But facts are facts - truth is not protected or even required on American airwaves, and health care in America is beyond any sane person's very worse horrific night terror.
Forgive me for not wanting that sort of thing in Canada.
We don't ostensibly vote for our Prime Minister, but we still do. We call it strategic voting. We don't vote for people, we vote against them. Over the last seven years, there have been four elections and the popularization of social networking. Our obsession with the internet has led to the development of tools to keep tabs on the other guy. There are websites into which one can type one's postal code to discover if it is a hotly contested riding or not. Whether it is okay to vote with one's heart, or if one should apply one's vote strategically to keep the unwanted candidate out of the PM position. These tools were pushed via Twitter and Facebook, and against Stephen Harper. However, it did occur to me as I perused them that they could just as easily be used to help Harper. There seems to be an assumption that Conservatives are not connected online, and that is patently untrue. Tonight those fears were validated when I read that right-of-centre Libs voted for Harper to keep Layton out. As if anyone really believed he'd get in. I have been an NDP supporter for years, but I freely admit that I have strategically applied my vote against the Cons, and never seriously envisioned a major NDP presence any time soon. I voted for NDP in the last election, because my overwhelmingly Conservative riding was sure to swallow it. I voted NDP this time, because walking around my neighbourhood, I was delighted to observe, based on lawn signs, that Andrew Cash showed a very realistic chance of winning. Not to mention it was low-risk, since the incumbent was Liberal and this riding has voted solidly Liberal for over twenty years.
So, with some consideration, a Conservative majority with a Liberal opposition would be worse than our current situation. It's true that Harper does not respect Canadians, or the law, or Parliament, but Ignatieff aided and abetted him on many occasions. I want to believe that the NDP, and tenacious Elizabeth May will not. They do not like Harper, they stand nothing to gain by abetting him, and they don't believe in his policies. I'm really glad May is in there. I'm sorry to see Duceppe go. I am staunchly anti-separatist. I love Canada in all its diversity - I don't want to lose the French, I want to please them enough for them to be okay hanging out with us. Sounds like an abusive relationship, doesn't it? Be that as it may, Duceppe is smart, a good politician, and the cleverest of all the candidates. I can't explain his fall from popularity, because I can't pretend to understand Quebec. Maybe the French think the NDP will please them enough to keep hanging out with us. Dare to dream.
I still think we all have an individual responsibility to keep the Conservatives in check. They may have a majority of seats, but 60% of Canada did not vote for them. We need to seriously examine electoral reform (something both Layton and May support), we need to keep close watch on Parliament to make sure they are transparent in their dealings, we need to hold both Parliament and the media accountable to us, and we need, more than anything, to take personal responsibility for protecting what makes Canada Canada.
Don't give up.
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