Canada
This is a note to any of my Canadian brethren who are considering voting Conservative in the federal election on Monday: are you on anti-psychotic medication or are you just psychotic? I've pointed out more than once what has happened to the "compassionate conservative" leadership in the US. Conservative Party leader Steven Harper is running on a similar platform - 'hey - we're mainstream! Don't sweat it, guy!"
Right.
But aside from comparisons with the American Junta, what have Canadians seen from conservatives in power? Brian Mulroney's PC party ruled for over a decade, until they were run out of town like a cat out of a pit bull farm. More recently, the Harris Tories got the push out of Ontario by a grateful and relieved public.
In both cases - and there are other like the widely-reviled Conservative Premier Hamm in Nova Scotia - the results were the same: policy choices pushed on the public that helped only the party's wealthy supporters. In Mulroney's case, his approval rating hit 7% - a historic low - while he was still pushing major legislation with his parliamentary majority.
Conservative governments in Canada have gutted spending on health and education while cutting taxes on the wealthy. Is that what Canadians believe in? It's certainly not what Harper is running on. His platform centers on the Liberal's misuse of funds to help their party. Which is bad. But we ain't seen nothing yet if the US model teaches us anything (and yes, it does).
Health care in Canada is a blessing. It's under-funded and needs some work, but it still costs far less per capita than the bloated for-profit American system. Harper wants rich people to be able to use their own health clinics, to the detriment of the rest of us. When the best doctors go to their clinics, and the political powers-that-be see their wealthy contributors happy in their private clinics, we can kiss health system improvements a sweet goodbye.
A recent Supreme Court decision opened the door to private health clinics - but only on the foundation that the public system wasn't effectively providing fast and complete care. The answer is not to chuck out the public system, but to properly fund it and be sure it works.
In education, the Harris people absolutely emaciated the Ontario school system, to the point where entire programs like music were being eliminated and after-school programs chopped off.
Teachers were bringing their own supplies to class because the schools couldn't pay for essentials. When the Toronto School Board refused to make the draconian cuts being demanded, the Tory government appointed a receiver to run the board - instead of the elected members.
Is that the sort of thing Canadians want? Hardly. But like their American cousins, Canadian Conservatives know that their agenda is wildly unpopular and anti-democratic. That's why they won't talk about it. I had hoped that Canadian voters were hip enough to see through that, but, sadly, modern electioneering devices are all too effective in pushing a candidate over an agenda.
Just yesterday, Harper let slip a hint of what awaits us under a Tory Junta. From today's Globe and Mail:
The Reform - later renamed Canadian Alliance - party was an extreme right wing party that had no chance at national election. They got pathetically under-brained Nova Scotia MP Peter MacKay to sell out his PC party in a merger, and now the Alliance yahoos are on the cusp of forming a government. For all the mainstream talk, they are at heart a far-right Junta in waiting.
It's a sad time when two great nations fall for the same greedy anti-democratic garbage. I hope Canadians wise up over the weekend and see that they are on the verge of voting in an end to their own greatness.
Right.
But aside from comparisons with the American Junta, what have Canadians seen from conservatives in power? Brian Mulroney's PC party ruled for over a decade, until they were run out of town like a cat out of a pit bull farm. More recently, the Harris Tories got the push out of Ontario by a grateful and relieved public.
In both cases - and there are other like the widely-reviled Conservative Premier Hamm in Nova Scotia - the results were the same: policy choices pushed on the public that helped only the party's wealthy supporters. In Mulroney's case, his approval rating hit 7% - a historic low - while he was still pushing major legislation with his parliamentary majority.
Conservative governments in Canada have gutted spending on health and education while cutting taxes on the wealthy. Is that what Canadians believe in? It's certainly not what Harper is running on. His platform centers on the Liberal's misuse of funds to help their party. Which is bad. But we ain't seen nothing yet if the US model teaches us anything (and yes, it does).
Health care in Canada is a blessing. It's under-funded and needs some work, but it still costs far less per capita than the bloated for-profit American system. Harper wants rich people to be able to use their own health clinics, to the detriment of the rest of us. When the best doctors go to their clinics, and the political powers-that-be see their wealthy contributors happy in their private clinics, we can kiss health system improvements a sweet goodbye.
A recent Supreme Court decision opened the door to private health clinics - but only on the foundation that the public system wasn't effectively providing fast and complete care. The answer is not to chuck out the public system, but to properly fund it and be sure it works.
In education, the Harris people absolutely emaciated the Ontario school system, to the point where entire programs like music were being eliminated and after-school programs chopped off.
Teachers were bringing their own supplies to class because the schools couldn't pay for essentials. When the Toronto School Board refused to make the draconian cuts being demanded, the Tory government appointed a receiver to run the board - instead of the elected members.
Is that the sort of thing Canadians want? Hardly. But like their American cousins, Canadian Conservatives know that their agenda is wildly unpopular and anti-democratic. That's why they won't talk about it. I had hoped that Canadian voters were hip enough to see through that, but, sadly, modern electioneering devices are all too effective in pushing a candidate over an agenda.
Just yesterday, Harper let slip a hint of what awaits us under a Tory Junta. From today's Globe and Mail:
Stephen Harper says some judges appointed by the federal Liberals are activists
working to promote their own social agendas, statements that drew heavily from
his tenure in the old Reform and Canadian Alliance parties.
The Reform - later renamed Canadian Alliance - party was an extreme right wing party that had no chance at national election. They got pathetically under-brained Nova Scotia MP Peter MacKay to sell out his PC party in a merger, and now the Alliance yahoos are on the cusp of forming a government. For all the mainstream talk, they are at heart a far-right Junta in waiting.
It's a sad time when two great nations fall for the same greedy anti-democratic garbage. I hope Canadians wise up over the weekend and see that they are on the verge of voting in an end to their own greatness.
posted by fiduciary at 8:32 AM
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