The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
    quinn esq's picture

    Rockin' In The Free World

    By quinn esq on Mon, 12/01/2008 - 10:59pm |
    Imagine you lived in California, and voted 62%-38% in favor of Obama, and even though he won... as a result of some split amongst your elected officials in the Electoral College, you ended up with a government run by... Dick Cheney.

    How would you feel?

    About the same as 33 million Canadians felt after their October 14th election, where the Conservatives (and their deeply distrusted - detested-by-moi - leader, Stephen Harper) won power - but with just 38% support at the polls.

    But then, hope lost, how would you feel if your elected officials (spread across 3 parties) pulled their heads out of their armpits, and decided to form a Coalition. Which meant, out of the blue, you got the opportunity to bring in what was, officially, the most progressive & most widely-inclusive government in your history?

    Yup. That's how a lot of Canadians are feeling today. 'Cause it just happened, up North.

    YEAH, BABY!  

    The Conservatives ran as the party of moderation, lots of "concern for people during tough times," non-ideological, willing to work with all parties... and their leader, the former Mr Nasty, showing up in ads wearing comfortable sweaters.

    But, first chance they got - and only with a Minority of 143 seats in a 308 seat Parliament - announced a seriously nasty set of political reversals. First, he abandoned all pretense of the need for fiscal stimulus, and in fact, brought in major budget cuts. Even though he'd just lined up with the G20 on the other side. Then, he announced he was eliminating public funding of political parties, whereby every party gets $1.95 per vote received (Harper's means to bring back in full private funding.) And for good - vengeful - measure, announced he was banning the right to strike for public service unions for the next 3 years.

    But in the last 72 hours, oh joy, oh bliss, the 3 opposition parties have found some backbone. Even in the face of internal leadership races, they've dropped their differences, and formed a governing coalition. The first government ever to bring the social democrats of the New Democratic Party into Federal Cabinet, and the first coalition between any two parties since WW I.

    The Liberals & the NDP have signed an Accord to cooperate for the next 2 & 1/2 years, and gotten the separatist Bloc Quebecois to support it for the next 18 months. And even though the Conservative bullies are now panicked & abandoned their nastier stances (already dropping the party funding & strike ban pledges), the Center-Left Coalition appears to have found their gumption.

    A Liberal (Dion) will be interim PM until May (when their leadership convention will select either Rae or Ignatieff); the NDP will get 6 seats of 24 in Cabinet; and the Bloc will support the Coalition on votes, but take no Ministerial seats. Giving them a 163-143 voting majority.

    And the Accord?  To give you a flavor, here's the first sentence of the Preamble to the Accord on a Cooperative Government to Address the Present Economic Crisis: "The new Government is supported by parties that share a commitment to fiscal responsibility and a progressive agenda...." 

    Gotta say, I am lovin' having "progressive" spelled right out, and an officially Left party actually at the table with the Centrist Liberals. The leaders coming into Cabinet from both parties, while far from perfect, at least have some intelligence, and some real progressive commitments. Dion studied in France & led the way on Kyoto; Layton also taught university & was a progressive, and very green, Toronto City Councillor; Rae took a Rhodes to Oxford & was then the NDP Premier of Ontario; (bloody) Ignatieff (cough cough) went to Harvard & Cambridge (and was/is a tosser); Duceppe of the Bloc was a trade unionist; and other Ministers likely to come from groups as varied as the steelworkers through NHL players like Ken Dryden of the Habs.

    Policy-wise they've put forward their initial proposals, including running a fiscal stimulus; expanding infrastructure investment in public transit, clean energy and water; a major expansion of child care & early childhood education; boosting employment insurance; reforming bankruptcy; adding income support for older workers who lose their jobs; support for a cap & trade system within the Kyoto framework; cancellation of the cuts to the Arts budget; more affordable housing & home retrofits; Universal Health Care is now safer; the commitment to Kyoto will get a bigt boost; and protections & budget items for immigrants, gays & Aboriginals will all increase.

    For Obama, this would mean a fierce supporter of helping the Big 3 and the Autoworkers, along with a major impetus to push them toward a green retooling; stronger support at the G20 and other international agreements; a continental partner to move with on Climate Change; a partner who agrees on getting out of Iraq, but who has a significant troop presence in Afghanistan & wants some a constructive solution; a neighbor who won't be working the backrooms with the GOP to undermine him; and which will hopefully continue to offer an example of how universal health care can work, while also testing other reforms.

    Is it a done deal yet? No. First, Parliament has to have a non-confidence vote (which Harper will try & avoid), and then the 3 parties have to vote down the Conservatives. And then, the Head of State - Governor General Michaelle Jean - will have to ask the opposition coalition to form a working government. Jean, by the way, is a female Haitian immigrant, who speaks 6 languages, and is an award-winning reporter, filmmaker and broadcaster. 

    And yes, the spine could still fail. The Conservatives still pull their fat from the fire. But right now, tonight, is for celebration. 

    And now... it's over to Neil. On behalf of those of us who walk amongst you, invisible except for our hoods, our walking sticks, and... our periodic shows of spine.

    Neil. Bring it.