Harper wanted to undo damage with Hudak win in Ontario Election



Cynics predicted Layton would soon be forgotten and that may yet be true. But the political landscape does seem to be changing, and there does seem to be a connection. The reasons are not clear and differ from place to place. Conservatives were notably quieted by the Ontario election where they -- and almost everybody else -- were sure that the Hudak Barbarian Party would join its civic and federal counterparts. Stephen Harper mused at a barbeque for Toronto's right-wing populist mayor Rob Ford that with three right-wing governments in place, they could rapidly undo the "damage" the NDP (and other left-wing miscreants) had done. And they would have made quite a team -- only three horsemen but apocalyptic nonetheless.

But it seems that Harper, as he often does, got ahead of himself in his fantasy world of "Conservative Canada." He mused after the election that Canada was, after all, conservative, and Canada's party was the Conservative party. And while the Ontario Conservatives did gain at the expense of the Liberals, so did the NDP, engaging people successfully for the first time since Bob Rae's unfortunate reign.

Harper won by suppressing vote

It was never true that Canada was "conservative," and the Ontario election wasn't the only proof of that. Harper got elected with just under 40 per cent of the vote -- and barely 60 per cent actually cast ballots. That does not add up to declaring Canada conservative. Harper should know -- his voter suppression strategy worked, and a huge number of non-Conservatives stayed home. They were the very people who cared enough about democracy and the country that they found the vicious politics of the PM too much to bear.

Canada remains, in its values, much more social democratic than conservative, if by that we mean they support government intervention to ensure a level of fairness, equity and economic security. When Harper burbled on about undoing the NDP's legacy, he reminded a lot of people that he wasn't an ordinary politician. He is a politician with an ideological (and un-Canadian) agenda. Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's Harperesque contempt for democracy and for anyone with a differing view also served to remind Ontarians that they actually had stuff that needed protecting from the likes of Hudak. This was especially true of Toronto which did not give a single seat to the Conservatives. When you go zero for 23 in the big city, it's hard to make it up in rural parts.

Internet site reference: http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2011/10/10/Harper-Misread-Canadians/


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