Cynics Unlimited

Soon after the results started rolling in, bloggers and journalists went mad posting information and analysis concerning the 2006 Canadian Federal election. Related terms related to the election briefly shot to the top of Technorati’s most searched items, while Canadian political blogs (including this one) saw a sudden surge in web traffic. Looking through the Technorati search results, it became clear that most blogs were either political analysis that assumed a good amount of knowledge of Canadian politics (not a great assumption for an international forum, especially given Canada is notoriously “boring” politically speaking) or were garbage posts that included the “right” keywords. The following post is part 1 of a quick summary for those unfamiliar with or mildly familiar with Canadian politics and will attempt to explain the significance of this election. It was typed somewhat in haste, so I’ll guarantee 90% accuracy for now …

“Quickly Explain the Results to me…”

The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) won a minority government in the 2006 Canadian Federal Election. A minority government effectively means that a piece of new legislation cannot be passed unless the CPC aligns with another party to create a majority of votes in the House of Commons.
Stephen Harper is the Prime Minister designate. Harper is the first Conservative Prime Minister in 12 years
The Election Results (seats won) are as follows: Canadian Conservative Party - 124, Liberal Party - 103, Bloc Quebecois - 51, NDP - 29, Independent – 1
The western-identified Conservatives made breakthroughs in Eastern Canada, gaining seats in Ontario and Quebec. However, no seats were won in Canada’s 3 largest cities (Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver)

“What’s the Difference Between These Parties?”

Liberal Party of Canada:

• Leader – Paul Martin (soon to be vacant)
• Political Slant – Centrist/Liberal; Will swing left or right as the need arises
• Recent History – Jean Chretien (who served under the [in]famous Pierre Trudeau) defeated Tory Kim Campbell in 1993 to win a Liberal majority government. Chretien’s most noteworthy accomplishment was passing the Clarity Act, which specified the terms under which a province’s secession from Canada would be recognized by the Canadian government. This legislation was aimed at the growing separatist movement in Quebec, federally under the Bloc Quebecois and provincially under the Parti Quebecois. The Liberals under Chretien were also credited for cutting taxes, eliminating the federal deficit and paying down over $30 billion of the national debt. However towards the end of Chretien’s reign, rumors of scandal were rumbling under the surface, while the Liberals ran afoul of the American Government after refusing to participate in the post-9/11 war effort. After months of public infighting, Chretien stepped down and rival Liberal Paul Martin became Prime Minister. Martin’s reign was instantly turbulent: Quebec separatism was still flaring, the West’s own separatist movement was gaining steam, the U.S. Government barely acknowledged Canada and allegations of scandal were growing louder. After winning a minority government, a vote of non-confidence forced Martin into a fatal election.

Conservative Party of Canada:

• Leader – Stephen Harper
• Political Slant – Right Wing / Conservative
• Recent History – The original Progressive Conservative Party (also called the “Tories”) fell after the reign of Brian Mulroney. Following several mini-scandals and the controversial passing of the GST (Mulroney used an obscure constitution clause to gain enough seats to pass the hated tax) the Tories lost horribly, not even gaining enough seats in the House of Commons during the following election to retain official party status. Meanwhile, an Alberta-based populist movement would become the Reform Party, under the lead of Preston Manning. With the slogan “The West Wants in”, the Reform’s policy centered on increasing the sway in national politics of western provinces (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia). The party also attracted a large number of social conservatives as well as a small number of extremists, which made Reformers tremendously unpopular in Ontario and eastward. After briefly achieving Official Opposition status, the Reform fizzled due to vote splitting on the right with a slightly resurgent PC party. This vote splitting would continue until, after several failed attempts, members from both camps created a united conservative party called the Canadian Alliance. Stockwell Day led the united party to disastrous defeat against Jean Chretien’s Liberals in 2000, and the party was overtaken by Stephen Harper in 2002. Harper united the Alliance with remaining Progressive Conservatives (then under the leadership of Peter Mackay) to form the Conservative Party of Canada. The CPC are now also referred to as Tories.

NDP:

• Leader – Jack Layton
• Political Slant – Left Wing / Socialist
• Recent History – While it could be said that the NDP’s socialist views are closest to what most people think of when they think of Canada, the party has never been elected as a majority or minority government. After posting a high of 43 seats in 1988, the NDP’s political stock has steadily declined. Some blame this on the uninspiring leadership of Alexa McDonough and Audrey McLaughlin, while others feel that the disastrous reign of the provincial Bob Rae government in Ontario (Canada’s most populous province) contributed most to the party’s decline. Despite the loss of numbers, the party has retained a lot of power in the event of minority government: the Liberals and Conservatives will not work with each other, and so both sides must court a third party to align with in order to defeat or pass legislation. Given that the only other major party (Bloc Quebecois) regional are separatists, the NDP is usually the logical choice.

Bloc Quebecois:

• Leader – Gilles Duceppe
• Political Slant – Somewhat Left Wing, but mostly just Separatist
• Recent History – The Bloc is a Quebec-only party created by former Mulroney-era Tories. The Bloc’s ultimate Goal is to turn Quebec into a sovereign nation with loose economic associations to the rest of Canada. In the ultimate twist of irony, the Bloc’s first election resulted in the party becoming her majesty’s official opposition in a Liberal dominated parliament. Bloc leader Lucien Bouchard called Quebec’s second referendum for sovereignty and lost when 50.8% of Quebecers voted against secession. The Bloc’s share of the Quebec vote steadily declined until the Liberal party AdScam scandal came to light, causing voter outrage and spike in support for new Bloc leader Duceppe.

“Ok, so what’s so Significant About this Election?”

As stated earlier, this is the first time in 12 years that a conservative party has controlled parliament (if only by a thin minority rule). This victory is especially important to the western provinces, who see the election of a party driven by western interests to ensure they have a greater say in the federal arena. Previous Liberal and Conservative governments, by contrast, have generally ignored the west and been accused of exploiting Alberta’s oil resources to the benefit of Eastern industries. This animosity came to a head after former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau introduced the National Energy Plan (NEP, established in 1980) in response to the energy crisis of the 1970’s. Under the NEP, Canada would aim for oil self-sufficiency by artificially lowering oil prices through subsidies and maintaining an oil reserves in the event of external oil supply fluctuations. Westerners resented the federal intrusion on what was considered a provincial resource and blamed the NEP for the subsequent recession in the region.

“What is this Liberal Corruption you Speak of?”

Adscam – The sponsorship scandal (coined “adscam”) involves the misuse of Federal funds marked to promote national unity in an increasingly separatist Quebec. Money destined for federalist advertising in Quebec was instead filtered through Liberal-friendly firms that did not produce any advertising in most cases, and in some cases kicked back a portion of the money directly to the Liberal Party fund. The program started in 1996 under the Chretien government and ended shortly after Paul Martin became Prime Minister. Martin subsequently set up the Gomery Commission to investigate the corruption, possibly in an attempt to obliterate his rival Chretien.There were several other minor scandals during the Martin era, and an increasing number of Canadians (including former Liberals) referred to the Liberal Party as having a “culture of entitlement”.

Stay tuned for the more speculative part 2 when we will discuss:

• Why Canada’s large cities would vote for such a corrupt government
• Just how “right wing” Stephen Harper really is
• Exactly who is the one independent sitting in parliament

Update: The Canadian Election - A General Summary (Part 2)