IN CANADIAN POLITICS.
The National Opinion Polls, leading into the dog days of August, are not all that favourable to the Conservatives; indeed, some show the Tories mired in third place but even if split is even, with the other Two Major Parties, it means at best Minority Government status for the Tories.
And that dear reader, would end up in their defeat as since as sure ‘God made the little green apples’; the left leaning Liberals and the New Democrats would team up to form the Government.
That said, these are still early days but if this trend continues into late September … watch out.
I say that because, as bad as Harper and company are – the other two are far worse.
So that leads me back to the title of today’s blog which I could have also called ‘Is It Time For A Hail Mary Pass’ and in that regard, two possible subject matters come to mind:
The First, is in regard to the annual $1.2 Billion Dollar subsidy Canadian taxpayers pay to the Canadian Broadcast Corporation more widely known as the CBC.
Harper should have already ended this subsidy over the course of his 10 year stint as Prime Minister but could pledge to do so if re-elected. The Lefties would of course go wild but the majority, like you and me, who find it unfair to subsidize one broadcaster over others such as Global and CTV would cheer Harper on.
A ‘Trump’ moment if there ever was one.
But there is even a bigger area where Harper could promise action which would also sit well with the majority of voters but admittedly would take even more guts on the part of Canada’s Ruling Party. That dear Reader would entail Harper promising to de-unionize all public servants – including the armed forces and the RCMP.
We have long ago reached the point in our country where we have two classes of employee – the haves who form the public service and the have-nots who work in the private sector and pay the salaries and benefits of the former.
There are many reasons this has come about but I do not have the time to itemize them here - but have dealt with them in previous blogs. The bottom-line is that the public servant needs no union – they are not working in coal pits suffering from black lung.
But the reason to see Public Service Unions disbanded go way beyond this.
Simply stated they are undemocratic.
And not just because they often act without their membership’s approval.
They are undemocratic since they take taxpayers’ money via their membership and spend that money to politic against parties – like the Conservatives – which many voters / taxpayers support.
It is unfair, it is undemocratic and it needs to be addressed.
As a concrete example of what I am referring to is the fact that 3rd parties can advertise during the current Election under the Federal Elections Act. I was even surprised to learn that this was even possible since I suspect like you I had been led believe that once the Writ was dropped and the Election called – all 3rd party involvement ceased as of that date.
In that regard, The National Post published recently a list of nearly 2 dozen outfits – mostly Public Servant Unions and supplemented by other left-wingy groups that have been granted the right by Elections Canada to spend their membership’s money to defeat the Conservatives during the current campaign. Included in this list are the following:
Third parties registered with Elections Canada (as of Aug. 19):
§ Animal Justice Canada Legislative Fund
§ AVAAZ
§ BC Government and Service Employees’ Union
§ Canadian Health Coalition
§ Canadian Media Guild
§ Canadian Medical Association
§ Canadian Union of Postal Workers
§ Canadian Union of Public Employees
§ Canadian Veterans ABC Campaign 2015
§ Diane Babcock
§ Dogwood Initiative
§ Downtown Mission of Windsor Inc.
§ Fair Vote Canada
§ Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec
§ Friends of Canadian Broadcasting
§ IATSE
§ International Longshore & Warehouse Union Canada
§ Leadnow Society
§ Les Sans-Chemise
§ National Citizens Coalition Inc.
§ NORML Canada Inc. NORML Canada Inc.
§ Ontario Public Service Employees Union
§ Open Media
§ Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario
§ UNIFOR
§ Voters Against Harper
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Do you remember several weeks back that a right wing group formed to advertise in favour of the Conservatives. Well the Media and the left wing went ballistic- “no fair” they spewed – but you will not find even one conservative group in the above list of those approved by Elections Canada. All of the above have as their goal to see Harper and the Conservatives defeated and not so much as a whimper.
This is not democracy and if Harper fails to take this Trump Like Initiative – you will certainly not see the other parties do.
Do I expect Harper to do either of these?
No I don’t.
But if the polls hold for another month, I would also not expect him to win.
As I see it…
‘K.D. Galagher’
