Well, we are through week one of the federal election campaign, an election three-quarters of our population did not want and at a time when there were many more important issues the government should have been paying attention to.
But here we are.
At this beginning point, it is understandable if the Conservatives are feeling somewhat buoyant. They have had a good week. First there was Nova Scotia, an election called by a majority government where, at first glance, the opposition Tories didn’t have a snowball’s chance in Hell of winning.
It turns out the pundits and pollsters were wrong.
Election campaigns actually do mean something and on the day that it counted, Progressive Conservatives in Nova Scotia won the day and will form a majority government there.
And then there are the polls, to be taken with a grain of salt for sure, but there are enough of them that after the first week of the federal campaign had the Tories neck-in-neck with the Liberals and within the margin of error. Because so many pollsters came to the same conclusion, this is likely accurate.
All of these are good signs for the Conservatives, but none of them are sufficient for them to get either excited or complacent. There is nothing yet to write home about.
First of all, at the beginning of most federal and provincial elections, opposition parties tend to get a bounce. People who have misled pollsters about their voting preferences tend now to reveal them. As well, people who really have a mad-on for the government in power tend to make that known early in an election.
As for Nova Scotia, take that with a grain of salt as well. Provinces often vote differently federally than they do provincially. With the exception of Newfoundland, you can see that trend across the country.
Also, Tim Houston, the Premier-designate of Nova Scotia, has been very coy about supporting his federal Conservative counterpart. In addition, he and the prime minister have been chatting, no doubt discussing the “goodies” that will come to Nova Scotia if a Liberal government is re-elected.
And then there is the mainstream media. They love to start out with telling us how fair they are going to be and how impartial their coverage and election forums will be. Indeed, at the outset there has been a measure of fairness, necessary to defend their claim of even coverage of all parties.
But just watch. That will change as the election heats up. Those in the mainstream media with partisan affiliations will show their true colours and, for the most part, those will not be in a Conservative direction.
This is especially so, as the current government has been busy subsidizing selected media, to whom recently they have distributed $60.8 million in pre-election “emergency relief” without saying to whom specifically it was directed.
The president of Unifor, the union that represents many in the news business, was appointed to a key position in determining which news outlets got subsidies. Of that appointment, one commentator, Rachel Enns, said this:
“Unifor represents over 12,000 news media employees. The minute the union starts helping a government to divvy up taxpayers’ cash for the benefit of news outlets, there is quite rightly a perception that reporters’ coverage is being bought off.”
The lady says that better than I would have, and her comment applies to the publishers of those unidentified news sources as well. The bottom line is that Conservatives cannot expect support or fair coverage from media who accept handouts from the current government. At the end of the day, they will all play for the home team.
Finally, with due respect to the Conservative back-room girls and boys, there is the unrelenting, generational, strength of the Liberal war room. They fundamentally believe they are the natural ruling party of Canada, and they will fight tooth and nail, no holds barred, issue by issue, problem by problem, poll by poll, to stay that way.
And so, in my view, the Conservatives still have an uphill battle. It is true that Erin O’Toole is getting much more exposure now that the election is underway. It is also clear that people are beginning to like him as well as many parts of the election platform his party has published.
The question is, will that be enough? On that, I am a doubting Thomas. In fact, I still hold to my prediction that the Liberals will form the next government.
In our cultural dive into a woke and populist society, charisma and catering to instant gratification appears to trump substance on actual critical issues of the day. And if charisma alone or substantially is what Canadians are looking for, Erin O’Toole cannot compete with the current prime minister. The past six years have proven that he is the Teflon Man. Everything slides off of him.
One of the key questions, in my view, that we must ask ourselves as we contemplate our vote in this election is how much control we want to give government and, conversely, how much control do we want to have over our own lives.
Some things, of course, for the collective good of society are important to be regulated and controlled by government. But not everything. And governments need to be held fully accountable for things they should and do have control over.
I, for one, do not want government to tell me what I can or cannot say within the legal limits of libel and slander, whether on social media or elsewhere. Consequently, I found particularly chilling and alarming a recent statement by a federal Minister to the effect that the government would name a digital safety commissioner and that “internet censorship must follow the governments vision”. Think about that.
In fact, there is a lot to think about between now and September 20. We have an unexpected opportunity to listen to others and to express our own views.
It is important that we do so.
Hugh Mackenzie has held elected office as a trustee on the Muskoka Board of Education, a Huntsville councillor, a District councillor, and mayor of Huntsville. He has also served as chairman of the District Muskoka and as chief of staff to former premier of Ontario, Frank Miller.
Hugh has served on a number of provincial, federal and local boards, including chair of the Ontario Health Disciplines Board, vice-chair of the Ontario Family Health Network, vice-chair of the Ontario Election Finance Commission, and board member of Roy Thomson Hall, the National Theatre School of Canada, and the Anglican Church of Canada. Locally, he has served as president of the Huntsville Rotary Club, chair of Huntsville District Memorial Hospital, chair of the Huntsville Hospital Foundation, president of Huntsville Festival of the Arts, and board member of Community Living Huntsville.
In business, Hugh Mackenzie has a background in radio and newspaper publishing. He was also a founding partner and CEO of Enterprise Canada, a national public affairs and strategic communications firm established in 1986.
Currently Hugh is president of C3 Digital Media Inc., the parent company of Doppler Online, and he enjoys writing commentary for Huntsville Doppler.
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I’ll accept your word for it and ….I’ll be darned!
Hello Allen Markle; no, I am not a JT trooper. What I hope to accomplish with some of my comments is calling out rhetoric that needlessly inflames further and divide – so I take on such phrases as “cancel culture” and those who discredit anyone because of their appearance, something I have learned not to do -its an easy and unnecessary way to cast insults.
I see some of the irony in a political party/spokesperson call out the behaviour of the opposing party, when in fact they are found with the same behaviour/issue (e.g. campaigning). I support the role of any party in opposition to keep in check the ruling party; indeed, I rely on them to do so. And I favour minority government status.
I have stated repeatedly (ad nauseum) my concern for provincial health care at this time, with special attention to LTC and community care services. I have been frank when it comes to the for-profit model and their poor performance in the care and safety of their residents, families, and staff. Finally, I have been appalled at the lack of accountability of these for-profit services by the MOHLTC (and the DF government lack of will to act and to update regulations of oversight). But in a party self-identified as “less government”, “less taxes” – I can hardly expect the Conservatives to increase government oversight and hold big businesses accountable for how they have used tax-payer money, while ensuring dividends to their investors/stockholders (its really difficult to serve 2 masters).
I am not the least impressed with a political party that denies climate change and rolls back legislation for protection of our bio-ecology, encouraging development in what appears to be, ignorance.
I am not a card-carrying member of any party and prefer to make my decisions independently. Because I am old, I can also see the devastating long term effects of past political decisions by governments -affecting negatively, Canadians and Ontarians (and I don’t have to go back to Confederation to do so). So, if that helps you to further classify or define me, great!
Anna- Lise Kear, I agree that we need talent. More than talent; I just don’t feel as you do that we have it captured at all in this uninspired and uninspiring crop of ‘leaders’ we will have to choose from. And might I say, that if you aren’t really a Trudeau trooper, then I’ll be …..darned!
Mr. Holland, I am somewhat jealous of you and your cheering section, but I agree with what you say right up to the point of your picking a certain political party as having any kind of answer whatsoever. We need leadership and as you mention there are also lots of political and economic problems ahead. But really there is only one problem that is ‘earth-shattering’ and that is, as you point out, climate change. I can’t share the confidence you seem to have in this one particular man. How do you propose to reduce global warming by flogging carbon credits and dilbit (diluted bitumen)to the world. Not just the world, but to the parts of the world where they could care less that your or my progeny will grow old. Should it go badly, do I need to hear one more, Sorry! As you are, I’m too old for that.
And as far as engineering and engineers go, would they not be part of the problem; front and center so to speak, serving their corporate masters in support of the bottom line, and helping get us to where we are today. I don’t mean that disrespectfully sir. Only as a personal observation.
What I want to see now is the government (leader?) who will reign in corporate greed and employ the engineers who can start to disassemble what has been running, without check, for too long. I want to see the person (I wrote man and Tricia jumped all over me!) who will inspire us and have no desire to fail or apologize. I have to hope that that person (don’t make the mistake twice) is out there.
And on the lighter side; how did a big, red , barn get built without a permit and unnoticed? Jeez people, you didn’t seem to care before, so why is everybody bent out of shape now. But the owners needed only to apply for a variance (everybody does) and all would have been approved, as long as the wires were on the right side of the road. Sorry but that comment does seem funny to me.
Why do we need an election? Prime Minister Mr. Trudeau (a.k.a. Mr. Dress Up) was getting everything in parliament passed with the support of the N.D.P., are we having an election because he wants to bring in legislation that even the N.D.P. couldn’t stomach? Are the liberals now manipulating the media to make it look like Mr. O’Toole said things that he really didn’t say?
Thank you Hugh Holland.
Talent, expertise in a political party is what we need now.
The federal and provincial Conservatives are coming up short.
Our next government will have a crushing set of issues to deal with: Mitigating Covid-19 with the Delta variant and all its effects on jobs, affordability of housing, social fabric etc., growing economic inequality, Afghanistan, China, Internet-fuelled culture wars, Indigenous reconciliation, misconduct in our Military, immigration to counter a shrinking population, to name a few. But THE NUMBER ONE ISSUE IS CLIMATE CHANGE. All those other things are temporary and will get fixed. But climate change is rapidly becoming irreversible and forever.
Not just Rome is burning, Canada is burning. It has been slow moving but this year we have new record heat waves (49 Degrees C causing 700 deaths from heat stress in temperate BC), droughts and fires in western Canada, the USA and Greece, record low water levels behind hydro dams in the western US, record flooding destroying thousands of homes and infrastructure in Europe, China, and Tennessee, record melting of our arctic ice and glaciers in beautiful BC and Alberta, and the melting of the Greenland ice sheet that is starting to submerge the Gulf Stream that affects Atlantic Canada, and the increasing frequency and severity of tropical hurricanes and tornadoes.
HOW MUCH MORE PROOF DO WE NEED OF A PROBLEM THE WORLD’S TOP 2,500 CLIMATE SCIENTISTS HAVE BEEN WARNING US ABOUT FOR OVER 30 YEARS? Left unchecked, climate change WILL AFFECT EVERYTHING and is poised to make all other problems look like a Sunday School picnic. Some aspects are already close to being irreversible. That means forever. My generation is going to escape the worst effects, but I for one want my children and grandchildren to know I did what I could to help avoid the worst effects of climate change for their lifetime. Then its up to them.
Erin O’Toole, with the help of current events, has finally been able to move the Conservatives in the right direction over the past 6 months but they are still lacking an appropriate sense of urgency and a credible plan on Climate Change. The Conservative approach to a carbon tax is a cynical joke. The Greens and some NDP want to eliminate fossil fuels before we have credible replacements. That would pile a global energy shortage on top of a climate crisis.
The Liberals are far from perfect, but in my view as a professional engineer who has invested a great deal of time on this subject, the Liberals have the most rational and effective plan for the mitigation of climate change. Canada is among the highest in the world in terms of greenhouse gas emissions PER CAPITA. We must be responsible and do our part.
Hello Allen; I vote party and platform each and every time. I don’t require performance charisma in a leader to keep me awake, but I do require a person who is able to demonstrate understanding and empathy for other Canadians. We have plenty of entertainment sources elsewhere.
So, the media can swipe at a candidate’s clothing, appearance, hair or lack of, walk – it goes out the window.
What matters is policy and good talent around the leader and policy decision-makers. Thanks for reading my view.
The quest has begun has it not? I heard the Liberal candidate for Muskoka/Parry Sound has been chosen from….? Best of luck young lady. You might notice there is a background rumble throughout the area now. Conversation about this election, or possibly snoring!
We didn’t need this performance right now, our leader still had about 2 yrs. left on his mandate. But he is anxious to shake off the man who has supported him, and according to that same man, has suggested and helped fashion much of what has been federal policy. Sharing is not the forte’ of our leader.
Most of the personality and ability in the leaders’ camp is gone now, shooed away for having the wrong ideas or opinions. I will refrain from comparing this to a problem that another leader had; trying to hang on to the help.
And now it seems like we will have more of the same, because the man who has supported our leader, seems to be a ‘klingon’ and may be tough to shake off.
The opposition party it seems, is gaining some life, but is it only a matter of time before one of the party members expounds upon something like the return of glaciers or the sighting of carrier pigeons? It’s great to have an opinion but c’mon guys. To paraphrase Aristophanes: “Youth ages. Immaturity is outgrown. Ignorance can be educated. Drunkenness will be sobered. But stupid lasts forever.” No more global warming pronouncements! Please.
I can hardly wait for the open mike contest; stirring oration from each person, expounding on the lack of talent of the other two. I won’t watch, but will likely be subjected to the occasional report on the CBC.
And all this will happen so about 40% of us will can show up at the polls, 2 meters apart and masks affixed, to vote in an election that, in my estimation didn’t need to happen.
Golly, but elections in Canada are stimulating, eh? Has anyone mentioned proportional representation this time out?
Couldn’t hurt.
Mr. Mackenzie; don’t worry about media coverage, the National Post has your Conservative backing. Where is Andrew Coyne when you need him? The “uncredible” (new word) Conrad Black is predictable in writing, as is the used-to-be entertaining Rex Murphy. What will you offer us instead of CBC? Moses Zaimner?
Might you open discussion on more privatization of health care? This has been the apparent leaning since Clement-Harper days. Folks, all I have to add, and you will not be surprised: look at the “for-profit” health care performance in LTC in Ontario. Our Canadian national health care system has been embattled, but never more so than under Conservative governance. Thank you for reading.