Last night and all day I have listened to various pundits, newscasters, TV personalities, and other sorts all talk about how the Conservative minority was smaller than expected. How everyone thought it would be big enough to easily pass many bills. And how could the party members be happy because of the lack of expected support from the electorate spoke volumes. The question of ‘how could we have the sponsorship scandal happen, such a poorly run Liberal campaign, a tight Conservative campaign, yet still only have 124 seats.
Three years ago, the Queen Mary was heading left. It was almost out of sight on the horizon.
It was that long ago ago when the right wing of Canada was splintered in two decent sized entities splitting the right wing vote. Before the 2004 Election, Stephen Harper (and Peter McKay) did what they needed to, in order to make the right work together. Without a policy convention, without years of time under their belts as a party, they managed to take 99 seats in parliament. It was a strong showing for a party still in its’ infancy.
It was at this point the Conservative Captain had hit the brakes and pulled the ship up short of sailing off into the storm.
Not two short years later, after a solid policy convention, the party made a clear nudge to the left of it’s perceived view. The ‘reform’ side of the party, although the majority at the time, realized that social issues took a back seat to the need to clean up government, and clean up crime, and get back to the basics.
This was the Turning of the Queen Mary.
In the next 18 months to 3 years, the Tories will have to show that their sound policy is good for Canada. There is a lot of middle ground with the Bloc, the NDP and even some Liberals. Finding good solid policy based compromises is very attainable.
The Tories have the benefit in knowing that if the other parties shoot them down quickly, the electorate will scream in volumes for not working for us and running perpetual campaigns. (Although, I technically think the campaigning will be ongoing for the term of our 39th parliament because many do expect it to be short lived and not break the 3 year barrier)
If the Tories can walk the line well, then the voters will see that they aren’t scary, this will give them a good shot at gaining some seats the next time around.
In other words, the Queen Mary is now almost fully turned and ready to head back to the center again. To say the country is going right is correct. To say that it is going right of center is a far cry.
Remember, when you are on the Queen Mary as many Conservative supporters have been for several years now, it is often hard to feel that she is or has turned.
Be happy the government has changed. Be happy our Auditor General will have fantastic new resources to ensure our tax dollars are spent wisely. Be happy that by the time the Liberals fill Stornoway, we may have quite a bit to smile about in terms of policy coming out of our elected officials.
My wife is not political, but even she breathed a sigh of relief because she knows if the Liberals had won, I would have been looking for a job in Alberta or Quebec instead of here in Ottawa, in effect, giving up.
From my view, our glass is 124/308ths full. To some it is 184/308ths empty.
Sail on Captain Harper, sail on.