Wow!
I think that is the only word I can use to describe the way I’m feeling right now. I feel like common sense received a right fist between the eyes, jostling loose the proverbial third eye of Canadian society, only to have it fall into the hands of a Stalin-esk dictator who will cash it in for chump change to buy a dusty textbook on domestic policy from the U.S. government.
I assume you get the idea that I’m not pleased with the outcome of the election. Well, that is partially the case, but I am willing to accept a political defeat if it is a true defeat, but the reality is that the majority of Canadians don’t support the Conservative agenda. Only 42% of voters actually voted for the Conservatives, and another 39% of Canadians didn’t vote at all. We can’t assume that the non-voters would have all voted against the Conservatives—that would be naive—but it is safe to assume another 9,251,160 people casting votes would have shaken up the polls a little, and likely changed the outcome.
But the real issue weighing on me right now is how a political party who was found in contempt of Parliament (a first in Canadian History), prorogued Parliament twice to avoid accountability to the public, is secretive on “border security” agreements with the U.S., is trying to pass crime legislation that mountains of evidence shows will actually increase crime and cost Canadians billions of dollars, and is leaning towards privatizing our Health Care, can somehow convince a huge part of the population to vote for them. My guess is that many of their voters have something to gain by having a Conservative government, many were voting without an educated decision, and the rest thought he was a good guy because he butchered a Beatles tune at a gala dinner.
The reality is that we have a Conservative majority government, and that is what we have to deal with. All we can do is make this as painful for them as it for us. We need to call them on everything they do wrong, keep letters flowing into newspapers, keep their office phone lines ringing, protest every public appearance, and—most importantly—get yourself and everyone you know out to vote in four years.
May sanity replace the isotopes raining down upon the Canadian people. Peace for all Canadians!