Hello There
Now that I've succeeded in reducing the amount of readers on this site to close to zero, I think I might try to start writing again.
What is there to write about? Like some others out there, I've seriously lost interest in Canadian politics. I still watch the news and even watch bits and pieces from the daily political shows, but there's something uninteresting about watching the current state of Canadian politics, and there's really no one to blame (well sort of no one to blame). If the party more closely associated with your views is in power, it can only really be interesting if they're reform minded and actually getting interesting things done (See Bobby Jindal in Louisiana) Because of the nature of a minority government and because of the ridiculous nature of the promises made by Stephen Harper in the last election (I'm referring specifically to the GST cut here), there just isn't much to get excited about. Canada was also, to be fair, relatively well-governed by the Liberals in a lot of respects and so wholesale change wasn't exactly seen to be urgent.
A lot of the reforms from the government seem fairly common-sense, including the immigration reform and the law and order stuff (it's finally illegal for a 40 year old to have sex with a 14 year old!), but I think there's just a general feeling that the Harper government hasn't been innovative enough on the domestic policy front, especially as it relates to taxes (how taxes could have been reduced by as much as they have been without any changes to marginal rates is beyond me - I don't care what anybody else says.) On the spending side, I think obviously, expenditures related to Afghanistan are wholly justified, although, once again, I think it's inescapable to note that the government should have gotten more out of the provinces in exchange for what it gave up in terms of increased transfers. Rhetoric on a more harmonious economic union sounds terrific, but what other bargaining chips does the government really have to force the provinces to produce results? There also hasn't been any progress on getting the provinces to set up better mechanisms for the recognition of foreign credentials. In fact, there hasn't been much progress with the provinces (as a whole - i.e. the Council of the Federation) on much of anything! What ever happened to working towards an HST? Any progress at all?
Stylistically, I think the government has been founding wanting as well. I think I may have defended it at the time, but when Stephen Harper accused the Liberal Party of opposing the renewal of the Anti-Terrorism Act because of some secret to deal to protect Navdeep Bains' father - I really think a new low was struck in Canadian politics. I find it far easier to see that now in hindsight. The irrationality combined with the simple ugliness of that charge really make it unique for me.
On the whole, I'd still give this government somewhere along the lines of a B-. I just hope that the Prime Minister recognizes that any legacy he hopes to achieve will only materialize with more big picture accomplishments. Competence, which Harper seems to possess, is only half the equation - governments have to be able to accomplish things that substantively and positively change the landscape of their countries if they are going to be looked back at fondly. In my opinion, Canada really hasn't had a lot of impressive governments over the past 50 years. A lot of Canadians look back fondly at a number of provincial governments, but I haven't seen this happen often for federal governments (except for the rare Trudeau-maniac). I think the current government still has the opportunity to go down as a historically good, but it's going to have to really change its overly cautious approach and on a number of files, engaging actively with the provincial governments is going to be unavoidable. That of course would be easier if idiots like Dalton McGuinty and Danny Williams didn't exist... but that's no excuse.
What is there to write about? Like some others out there, I've seriously lost interest in Canadian politics. I still watch the news and even watch bits and pieces from the daily political shows, but there's something uninteresting about watching the current state of Canadian politics, and there's really no one to blame (well sort of no one to blame). If the party more closely associated with your views is in power, it can only really be interesting if they're reform minded and actually getting interesting things done (See Bobby Jindal in Louisiana) Because of the nature of a minority government and because of the ridiculous nature of the promises made by Stephen Harper in the last election (I'm referring specifically to the GST cut here), there just isn't much to get excited about. Canada was also, to be fair, relatively well-governed by the Liberals in a lot of respects and so wholesale change wasn't exactly seen to be urgent.
A lot of the reforms from the government seem fairly common-sense, including the immigration reform and the law and order stuff (it's finally illegal for a 40 year old to have sex with a 14 year old!), but I think there's just a general feeling that the Harper government hasn't been innovative enough on the domestic policy front, especially as it relates to taxes (how taxes could have been reduced by as much as they have been without any changes to marginal rates is beyond me - I don't care what anybody else says.) On the spending side, I think obviously, expenditures related to Afghanistan are wholly justified, although, once again, I think it's inescapable to note that the government should have gotten more out of the provinces in exchange for what it gave up in terms of increased transfers. Rhetoric on a more harmonious economic union sounds terrific, but what other bargaining chips does the government really have to force the provinces to produce results? There also hasn't been any progress on getting the provinces to set up better mechanisms for the recognition of foreign credentials. In fact, there hasn't been much progress with the provinces (as a whole - i.e. the Council of the Federation) on much of anything! What ever happened to working towards an HST? Any progress at all?
Stylistically, I think the government has been founding wanting as well. I think I may have defended it at the time, but when Stephen Harper accused the Liberal Party of opposing the renewal of the Anti-Terrorism Act because of some secret to deal to protect Navdeep Bains' father - I really think a new low was struck in Canadian politics. I find it far easier to see that now in hindsight. The irrationality combined with the simple ugliness of that charge really make it unique for me.
On the whole, I'd still give this government somewhere along the lines of a B-. I just hope that the Prime Minister recognizes that any legacy he hopes to achieve will only materialize with more big picture accomplishments. Competence, which Harper seems to possess, is only half the equation - governments have to be able to accomplish things that substantively and positively change the landscape of their countries if they are going to be looked back at fondly. In my opinion, Canada really hasn't had a lot of impressive governments over the past 50 years. A lot of Canadians look back fondly at a number of provincial governments, but I haven't seen this happen often for federal governments (except for the rare Trudeau-maniac). I think the current government still has the opportunity to go down as a historically good, but it's going to have to really change its overly cautious approach and on a number of files, engaging actively with the provincial governments is going to be unavoidable. That of course would be easier if idiots like Dalton McGuinty and Danny Williams didn't exist... but that's no excuse.
posted by Japnaam Singh at
7:43 PM
6 Comments
