Hon. Andrew Scheer,
Prime Minister-in-Waiting,
Stornoway,
Ottawa
My Dear Mr. Scheer,
The rapture is building across Canada!
No, I am not referring to the Toronto Raptors. (If you haven’t been briefed about the Raptors, Sir, they are a team of unconventionally tall men who play a sport called basketball in a place called Jurassic Park. I’ll explain some other time.)
Andrew Scheer and his Conservatives accuse Justin Trudeau of political cynicism by injecting abortion, a hot issue in the United States, into this country’s election campaign.
Yes. It is true. Cynical, the Liberals are. But if you are prime minister, trailing in the polls (through no one’s fault but your own), and facing the distinct possibility of losing your job in October, you do whatever you have to do to take the mickey out of your opponents.
The current session of Canada’s 42nd Parliament has been a nasty one. Members on both sides have invested more effort arguing over scandals, real or imagined, than they have debating measures that would benefit the people who sent them to Ottawa.
It is only going to get worse in the four weeks that remain before Parliament Hill shuts down for the summer. A mountain of legislation – some major, some minor, some as long as two years in the queue – is still waiting for approval by the Commons or the Senate.
Abortion law is once again a front-burner issue in American politics as that country steels itself for election year 2020.
No fewer than 300 bills to ban or restrict a woman’s access to legal abortion have been introduced in 36 states, and a dozen states have passed one – most notably Alabama where the governor, a woman, has signed into law a new measure that carries a 99-year prison term for doctors who perform abortions, even in cases of rape and incest.
There is an even chance that, when voters in Newfoundland and Labrador go to the polls in their provincial election on Thursday, they will give the boot to the four-year-old Liberal government of Premier Dwight Ball and elect the Progressive Conservatives under Ches Crosbie.
With four months to go before it officially begins, everyone seems to agree that the 2019 federal election will be the nastiest in many years,
A national election campaign is, or should be, the centrepiece of our democratic system, a time when great and important ideas – policies vital to the nation’s future – are debated before the jury of electors.
That’s the theory. In practice, big ideas make most political leaders nervous, especially during elections. They find it expedient to narrow their focus, to emphasize proposals with immediate or short-term electoral appeal, and to expend their energy on attacking their opponents.
The current 2019 exercise in democracy is following the familiar pattern.
“Because America deserves better.”
That’s the campaign slogan of Bill Weld, the former (1991-1997) governor of Massachusetts, who made it official last week. He is doing what other Republicans – congressmen, senators, governors – milquetoast politicians all of them, fear to do. He is challenging Donald Trump for the party’s 2020 presidential nomination.
Tiger Woods’s return to the pinnacle of sport, capturing the 2019 Masters championship after 11 years in golf’s wilderness, is an inspiration for anyone who struggles against adversity – including, I venture, some of today’s political leaders.
Canadian provincial politics has a rich history of come-from-behind parties emerging from the margins to occupy the epicentre of power. The Greens are poised to show the rest of Canada that it can happen in P.E.I. as well.
And while the Greens may appear to lack any experience in governing, this, history shows, is not always a disqualification for office.
New, untested parties have formed effective governments. A look back into the history of provincial politics in Canada shows that the seemingly improbable can become fairly mainstream and practical.
Opinion-Policy Nexus is a forum of opinion and commentary on topics related to public opinion and public policy. Views expressed in any blog entry are those of the author and do not reflect LISPOP's positions.
