It’s hard to remember an election in this country where the choices we faced were more distinct than between the Stephen Harper Conservatives and the Stephane Dion Liberals. It’s also hard to remember a time when the stakes were this high.
Canadians are understandably concerned about how the economy will be managed in these turbulent times, and they’re still cynical when it comes to deciphering the bombardment of political rhetoric they’ve been subjected to recently – this is the 3rd Federal election in 5 years. The campaign commercials have not been terribly effective, and the two televised leaders debates did little to help Canadians cut through the partisan sniping and really understand the choices we face. And do Canadians really care if Stephen Harper’s handlers advised him to wear a sweater vest?
This week’s National Post editorial did a very good job of putting the choices in this election into perspective:
Mr. Harper has governed the country well overall. He has stuck by Canada’s mission in Afghanistan, provided sound stewardship for the economy (notwithstanding the inevitable buffeting we are now taking thanks to Wall Street’s meltdown), managed the Quebec file well, returned Canada-U. S. relations to their normal level of amity, lowered taxes, and implemented a number of welcome tweaks to our criminal justice system.
Most importantly of all, Mr. Harper has avoided the temptation to impose any large-scale Trudeauvian social-engineering schemes on the country, of the type the Liberals seem to cook up every few years. Yesterday’s Tory platform, largely a rehash of previous announcements, is admirably stingy. It contains no multi-billion-dollar pharmacare program, no federally micromanaged daycare, no new National Energy Program. And for that, Canadians should be thankful.
This brings us to the main reason why we cannot endorse the Liberals. Putting aside Stephane Dion’s reflexive leftward tilt on everything from foreign affairs to social issues, his “Green Shift” carbon-tax scheme is, by itself, enough to persuade us that he is the wrong man to be running this country. As our banking and financial-services sectors become strained by the worldwide credit crunch, this country is increasingly dependant on our oil and gas sector to sustain us through rough waters. Yet these are exactly the industries Mr. Dion wants to soak.
We also are not impressed by Mr. Dion’s plan– and general attitude — in regard to Canada’s economic challenges. In recent days, he truly has sounded like a hysteric, trying to convince Canadians that our relatively sound economy is on the brink of a cataclysmic depression. There is no evidence of this: Indeed, the latest economic numbers on jobs and growth are excellent. And as a stack of reports from our major banks attest, the fundamentals of our real estate market bear no comparison to America’s sub-prime mess. Indeed, the only thing that could tip this country into full-blown depression is wide-scale investor panic of the type Mr. Dion seems intent on fomenting.
Please read the whole thing. This is important folks.
And, if you’re still not convinced that Stephen Harper is the person we need as Prime Minister, please take the time to view these two one-on-one interviews that were conducted this week with Peter Mansbridge on The National:
