Posted by
Bert Chapman on Friday, October 31, 2008 7:32:35 PM
Several weeks ago, I mentioned that Canada's minority Conservative government was doing well and facing an election soon. They held that election a couple of weeks ago and Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives were returned to power with an increased number of seats although they fell short of gaining a majority in the House of Commons. The Conservatives have a nearly de facto majority due to the weaknesses of the Liberals, the separatist Bloc Quebecois, and the New Democrats.
Canada is experiencing some of the economic challenges the U.S. is but not as severely. As of now, Canada does not have a budget deficit and Harper reappointed Ontario's Jim Flaherty as his Finance Minister to ensure competence and continuity in these troubled times. Harper also retained Nova Scotia's Peter McKay as his Defense Minister and Canadian troops will continue their yeoman service and sacrifice in Afghanistan.
A particularly important reason for the Conservatives stronger showing in this election was making progress in gaining the support of a larger number of Canada's ethnic minority groups such as the Indians, Chinese, and Inuit. Some of the newly elected Conservative Members of Parliament (MPs) are from these groups and represent areas as diverse as Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, and the territory of Nunavut. The new Health Minister Lena Aglukkaq is Inuit and from Nunavut. An architect of these Conservative gains among these ethnic groups is Jason Kenney a Conservative MP from Calgary Southeast who becomes the Citizenship & Immigration Minister. The Conservatives were successful with these groups by demonstrating that they valued them as individuals who could contribute their unique talents to Canada as a country, that Liberals and other leftist parties in Canada treated them like victims, took them for granted, and mocked their traditional moral values while the Conservatives, in contrast, seek to encourage traditional moral values, and provide sound government meeting people's everyday needs.
Canadians were not seduced by fraudulent rhetoric of "change we can believe in." Instead, they wisely put their trust in prudent policymaking and intelligent leadership which will enable Canada to endure and emerge from current economic difficulties in far better shape than the U.S. will if we delude ourselves into thinking Barack Obama and his fraudulent messianic rhetoric are the solutions to our problems. It's all to easy for us to dismiss Canada as a cold and frozen country to our north with no significance to us. However, if the polls are right, it may well turn out that in the critical elections of 2008 Canadian voters chose wisely and U.S. voters did not. Canada's electorate may turn out to be the smartest North American electorate of the year.
These are all lessons American Conservatives should learn from and apply if next Tuesday's results are disappointing.