Good Bye John

In Canada, politicians are often given a second chance in order to prove themselves. Party leaders are often given two kicks at the can before they are turfed. Even Bob Rae has been given an opportunity to recover from his brutal run as NDP Premier of Ontario, to become I high ranking member of the federal Liberal party. On the flip side leaders who fail miserably on their first attempt are quickly removed from ever having that second chance. Joe Clark, Kim Campbell and Stephane Dion are the prime examples of this second group.

John Tory should have also been placed with the group of one time failures. It speaks to his honesty, integrating and generally sense of caring that allowed him for this rare second chance. He seemed to have all the qualities we claim to want in a politician. During the provincial election, while McGuinty pre-screened every person he made contact with, Tory had camera crews follow him on door to door campaigning not knowing what issues he would be forced to confront. It took 18 months until he finally had his oppurtunity to regain a seat at Queen's Park. Despite running in a safe Conservative riding that won the election by over 10,000 votes, he fell short on his second chance. He has done the right thing by stepping down from the party leadership.

Tory was a succesful businessman, before venturing into politics. He lost the bid for Mayor of Toronto, he was an advisor on the Kim Campbell campaign where the Conservative Party was left with only Jean Charest and Elsie Wayne to rebuild the party. McGuinty and the Liberal Party were vulnerable and he failed to take the oppurtunity.

Tory has the qualities of a good legislator. Unfortunatly they are not necessarily the same qualities for winning votes. Hopefully he will be able to find a home in the public sector where he can contribute to society, without the drawbacks necessary to be popular enough to win.

Canadian Political Parties Respond to War in Gaza

On Saturday the Israeli government finally took action to defend it's citizens from the barrage of rocket attacks launched by Hamas towards civilians.

The Canadian Government was quick to respond to Israel's military action on Saturday. They said that Israel has the right to defend it's borders and it's innocent civilians that have been targets of Hamas rockets. The support from the Canadian and US Government was reassuring for those living in Israel and dealing with the consequences of Hamas aggression.

The opposition parties decided to wait until after the long weekend to respond. Press releases were sent out yesterday commenting on the situation.The next few posts will deal with their statements.

Celebrating Obama

There is a presumption that during the American election the Liberal party was supporting Obama while the Conservatives were supporting McCain. On pure ideology this may have been the case for many people. In Canada the Conservatives Party are the big winners in the wake of the Obama victory.

One of the most lingering complaints directed at Harper is that he makes decisions to line himself up with Bush. It was convenient way for opponents to attack the government without the bothersome task of evaluating the policy. Government policy will now need to be evaluating on it's own merit as opposed to how it alligns with US policy. The classic example is that Harper was accused of being against Kyoto because Bush was against Kyoto. Obama is also against Kyoto.

This is a major shift in Canadian political discourse. Not much has changed in how the Conservatives are going to govern. A lot has changed in how their policies will be perceived by Canadians.

Missed it by that much.

The Conservatives fell 12 seats short of securing a majority government in last week's election. The question being asked is how will the Conservatives respond to the new mandate. Anti-Harper supporters fear that the Conservatives are going to act as if they have a majority government. Some have called for Harper's resignation. If Harper can't beat Dion how is he going to beat a more competent Liberal leader.

Bill Casey has been re-elected after being thrown out of the Conservative caucus last year for opposing the budget. He will likely support most Conservative bills and there is a possibility that there may be room for reconciliation in the future. The Conservatives did not field a candidate in order in a Quebec riding which helped the incumbent independent get re-elected. Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams has offered reconciliation after running a successful ABC campaign to drive the Conservatives out of Newfoundland. The Conservatives lost 3 seats in the Province.

Harper learned some important lessons. Michael Fortier who was appointed to the senate in order take on a cabinet post was defeated. Wijad Khan the Liberal MP who was Harper's special advisor on the Middle East before being drawn into the Conservative caucus was also defeated. All the other MPs who faced heavy hitting from the opposition from former Environment Minister Rosa Ambrose, from Defense Minister Gordon O'Conner were re-elected as well as the rest of the current cabinet. The Conservatives also made a breakthrough by electing journalist Peter Kent in Thornhill just north of Toronto. These results send a clear message that Harper needs to stick to a more tradtional governing role.

There are a number of open cabinet positions and around 35 rookie MPs at Harper's disposal. This gives Harper a deep talent pool for improving his government. He now has enough man power to prevent opposition parties from taking over commitees to rewrite entire pieces of legislation to their own partisan views. It will be more difficult for comitees to focus on partisan witch hunts instead of focusing on preparing and reviewing legislation to benefit all Canadians.

Some people are afraid that Harper is going to use the lame duck Stephane Dion to continue to bully the oppositon parties to push through his agenda. Harper will spend the next 2-3 years focusing on capturing 12 more seats. Such an attack will not be to their benefit. This year will probably not have very much controversial legislation to allow the Liberals time to choose their new leader. They will try to offer stable fiscally responsible government to navigate through tough economic times. If they prove they can weather the storm Canadians will be ready to deliver a majority government.

Conservatives to help forgotten self employees

In the last election one of the central planks in their election campaign was replacing universal child care with $100/month per child under the age of six. It was a popular promise for those who would not have access to the child care due to regional demographics or not working a regular 9-5 work shift. It took until near the end of the Liberals 13 years in power to finally follow through on the long time election promise. The Liberals further bungled when an advisor suggested that Canadians were not capable of deciding the best way for the money to be spent. The Liberals have admitted defeat as they have offered to increase the amount provided by an extra $29/month.

The Conservatives have offered an equally credible election plank. They are going to allow self-employed workers to opt in to the Employment Insurance system. This will allow working from home mothers to get the same maternity benefits as everyone else. It may also take some of the sting out of applying for credit, as banks often don't treat self employment income as real income for application purposes. With 100,000 manufacturing jobs disappearing in Ontario and more job losses expected across the country, people are going to be looking at starting a business to get back on their feet. At least they have the comfort of knowing help in cases where the business does not succeed.

The best part of this promise is it will not cost the government any money. Any costs associated through the newly qualified people can be made up in insurance premiums. If successful their contributions could bring down the overall premiums for everyone else. This will be one plank that the other parties will have difficulty criticizing.

Tory stays on for now

This weekend was the first time John Tory had to formally face his party since the embarrassing election loss in October. Normally having your party blown out in an election and losing your own seat is an automatic sign step down. After a long campaign and a promise to never, ever bring up the faith based school funding issue again, Tory managed to garner 66.9% support to stay on.

The Conservative Party is split between the 'Progressive' and 'Conservative' fragments. Not having an overwhelming majority of support will cause the campaign to force Tory to resign to continue. Uniting the party will be a difficult task. Tory must deal with asking an MPP to step down to allow him to take a seat in Queen's Park.

The fact he has not been knocked out yet is a testament to his character. He has the character traits that people like to see in their politicians. He fought a campaign based on his convictions and payed the ultimate price. He was willing to take a risk by avoiding running in a safe seat. While Premier McGuinty was proud of the fact that he did not knock on any doors and was kept away from unscripted meetings with people who were not pre-cleared as Liberal supporters. Tory went door to door on the campaign trail often followed by the media ready to pounce on him if someone asked him a tough question. He is also known for his strong work ethic at Queen's Park.

Tory took a risk and lost. His reputation in Ontario is severely tarnished, which could put him at a serious disadvantage in the 2011 election. Repairing the split in the party is going to be too big of a task without a change at the top. The best move for him would be to move on as party leader and find another way to apply his skills at serving the public.

The real loser in all this politicking is the 53,000 students in faith based schools. The government funds sports, arts, Catholic, Aboriginal, Gay and Lesbian and coming soon Afrocentric schools. Intentionally ignoring Jewish, Muslim, Protestant etc... schools is a tragedy to the multicultural mosaic of Ontario. Ontario has been condemned by the United Nations for this arrangement. The election proved that it is easier to ignore these human rights issues than try to find an appropriate solution.

In order to move forward the Conservatives need a new face and a new direction. Failing to do so could leave the Liberals in office until 2015 without a serious challenge. Just as it took the federal Conservatives a decade to recover from the Kim Campbell loss (which Tory was part of the campaign team), losing in 2011 could be just as devastating for the Conservatives in Ontario.