Michael Harris writes that the Ontario election is an I.Q. test for voters. And the question is, "What will voters do with a tired government that has been around for 15 years and wants another term?"
There is no doubt that the Liberals are getting long in the tooth. But the cure can be worse than the disease. Harris reviews recent history:
Revulsion at corruption in the latter years of Jean Chrétien’s government after the AdScam affair earned the Liberals the boot. Paul Martin paid for Chrétien’s sins — and the country got Stephen Harper for nine long years of authoritarian democracy-bashing, lies, war, and assault on the environment.
In the U.S., there are two germane examples. Bill Clinton couldn’t keep his zipper up and then lied his brains out about the women he used to pleasure himself.
The spectacle of this privileged Pinocchio of the left pretending on national television that little lambkins didn’t know what sex was became a laughingstock. Al Gore paid for the peccadilloes of the president and the U.S. got George W. Bush — wars, torture, and all — for eight long years.
And, most recently, there has been the ascension of Donald Trump -- a man who is all ego and no brain.
If the polls are accurate, Doug Ford will be Ontario's premier. Again, recent history should be instructive:
With Doug, you are getting the remaining half of the Ford brothers tag team. The one that terrorized and degraded city hall in that brief period when Toronto became known around the world as the metropolis where the mayor smoked crack cocaine when he wasn’t knocking back the booze or knocking down matronly ladies in raucous council meetings.
You are getting a guy who wants to kill Ontario’s carbon tax, which is quite strange since there isn’t one. Cap-and-trade, which does exist, is clearly something he doesn’t understand.
You are getting a politician so thoughtless that he proposed dealing with Ontario’s affordable housing crisis by developing “a big chunk” of Toronto’s Greenbelt. The idea was so stupid that even Ford withdrew it a few days later.
You are getting a guy with a documented past as a drug dealer, as outlined in a major investigative report by the Globe and Mail. That report has never been refuted or the subject of legal action.
Voters have four options. They can elect Ford, or Wynne or Horvath. Or they can elect a minority government -- which should put all three leaders on notice. So the question remains. How smart are Ontario voters?
Image: ipolitics
6 comments:
A minority government seems like the safest course at this point, Owen, but such a configuration is notoriously hard to effect. I often thought that when the Rae government was elected, people had not quite intended that result. Perhaps strategic voting is the key? Yet even that doesn't guarantee the desired outcome.
That's the problem, Lorne. Strategic voting doesn't guarantee an outcome. But, for me, strategic voting is my only option.
With every poll, Ford slips and the NDP gain. The reformatories are within a few points of minority status and trending down.A minority NDP government is a real possibility.
If voters decide that it's a pox on almost everyone's house, rumley, an NDP minority is a distinct possibility.
Sadly, minority/majority check boxes aren't on the ballot. Since I have no control over how others vote, I've always been guided by Eugene Debs's advice: "It is better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it." That's why I never engage in so-called strategic voting, which is voting for a party you don't want to block a party you want less.
Cap
Deb's advice was wise, Cap. But because politics is the art of the possible, sometimes you have to make a realistic assessment of how close the election will be. At that point, strategic voting may be the wiser course.
Post a Comment