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Glass half something
May. 3rd, 2011 12:26 amCanada turned solidly to the left today, which handed the right a majority government. Such is the nature of the beast.
The next few years are going to be painful, since we will be following Europe and the USA down the path of "austerity" and giving as much money to rich people as possible while dismantling the social safety net.
The upside? The Bloc experiment may be over for good. Quebec decided they want to actually be part of the discussion at the Federal level. (I do expect the PQ to win the next provincial election because of this.) Also, the Liberals "squishy center" of "not as bad as the Conservatives" approach was rejected. I think many of the Con wins in Ontario were nothing more than Lib seats where people voted Grit out of almost reflexive habit of the Libs being the "serious" party and the NDP never winning. People want someone actually making the effort and doing the work.
Sadly, as in the US, the danger of rejecting the "not as bad as the other guys" party is handing power over to "the other guys who are that bad".
Will this new balance hold? Only time will tell. How much damage will Canada suffer in the meantime? Lots. I hope our general culture is strong enough to not turn back on abortion and same sex marriage and maybe healthcare. I think any support for the arts is probably gone.
Still, I can't help but feel some real hope in the fact people went out on the limb of changing the tune and trying to forge a better future instead of just standing still because at least then things wouldn't immediately get worse.
(Edit: Yes, that last paragraph is kind of word salad. Yes, it was on purpose. Yes, you're right in that it didn't work. Basically, that people took the risk instead of buying the "but the Right is so much worse" makes me happy and gives some hope for the future - even if the immediate result is more pain.)
The next few years are going to be painful, since we will be following Europe and the USA down the path of "austerity" and giving as much money to rich people as possible while dismantling the social safety net.
The upside? The Bloc experiment may be over for good. Quebec decided they want to actually be part of the discussion at the Federal level. (I do expect the PQ to win the next provincial election because of this.) Also, the Liberals "squishy center" of "not as bad as the Conservatives" approach was rejected. I think many of the Con wins in Ontario were nothing more than Lib seats where people voted Grit out of almost reflexive habit of the Libs being the "serious" party and the NDP never winning. People want someone actually making the effort and doing the work.
Sadly, as in the US, the danger of rejecting the "not as bad as the other guys" party is handing power over to "the other guys who are that bad".
Will this new balance hold? Only time will tell. How much damage will Canada suffer in the meantime? Lots. I hope our general culture is strong enough to not turn back on abortion and same sex marriage and maybe healthcare. I think any support for the arts is probably gone.
Still, I can't help but feel some real hope in the fact people went out on the limb of changing the tune and trying to forge a better future instead of just standing still because at least then things wouldn't immediately get worse.
(Edit: Yes, that last paragraph is kind of word salad. Yes, it was on purpose. Yes, you're right in that it didn't work. Basically, that people took the risk instead of buying the "but the Right is so much worse" makes me happy and gives some hope for the future - even if the immediate result is more pain.)
