{"id":5762,"date":"2015-10-22T15:19:03","date_gmt":"2015-10-22T19:19:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/huntsville.dopperonline.ca\/?p=5762"},"modified":"2015-10-22T15:19:03","modified_gmt":"2015-10-22T19:19:03","slug":"a-sober-reflection-on-a-long-election-campaign-no-unicorns-have-been-harmed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/a-sober-reflection-on-a-long-election-campaign-no-unicorns-have-been-harmed\/","title":{"rendered":"A sober reflection on a long election campaign, no unicorns have been harmed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Justin Trudeau is returning to the same 24 Sussex Drive address that he left as a small child. It will complete the first father-son dynasty in the history of Canada’s federal government. Just not ready? Oh, how that one back-fired! He’s ready.<\/p>\n

While many Canadians are embracing Trudeau’s ‘sunny’ lead following the Liberal win, some hard-line Conservatives are choosing the snarky route; they suggest that Canadians voted for such a sweeping change based on Trudeau’s lineage or the \u201cunicorns and rainbows\u201d they call his election promises. I call that nothing but the sour grapes of the soundly trounced.<\/p>\n

Justin Trudeau and his team deserve all the credit for roaring into first place from the nearly stone cold ashes of a demoralized Liberal Party. Ontario played a pivotal role in a Liberal win as did Kathleen Wynne despite fears that she might taint the brand. She and Trudeau stayed the course and Wynne has gone from being the nemesis of Stephen Harper to the new BFF of Justin Trudeau.<\/p>\n

The Liberals ran a nearly flawless campaign but it was helped along by some Conservative missteps not the least of which was the longest election campaign since the election of 1872.<\/p>\n

The Harper government thought it could bankrupt the Liberals and the NDP and expose their lack of experience over such a long course but it back-fired.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A shorter campaign would probably have had the Liberals still winning the most seats but I’m not sure that they could have achieved a majority without it.<\/p>\n

The push for Canadians to vote strategically also helped the Trudeau Liberals as much as it hurt the NDP and the Green Party. I feel for both of those party leaders and their followers but the majority of left-leaning Canadians just weren’t willing to take a risk on not ousting the Conservatives and\/or Stephen Harper. That doesn’t take anything away from the stellar job the Liberals did but a strategic vote may have contributed greatly to a majority. Our daughter, a small business owner who lives in a small mountain town in the B.C. interior, recounted that she felt \u201cdisloyal\u201d when she decided to follow the strategic voting plan to oust the decades-long hold Conservatives had on her region. In her case it meant putting her X beside an NDP candidate despite her Liberal leaning. It worked because the Liberal candidate did poorly and the NDP candidate took the election from a 40-year Conservative stronghold by a wide margin.<\/p>\n

Maybe the strong voter turn-out and the crushing defeat will send a message to the Reform Conservatives that a return to its more Progressive Conservative roots should be up for discussion.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Author and Globe & Mail columnist John Ibbitson believes that Stephen Harper was an effective PM. But he says that there are three broad things that Canadians won’t miss about Stephen Harper. First, they won’t miss the secretive, introverted, often petty Stephen Harper. Next, they won’t miss the autocratic nature of his government. Last, they won’t miss his punitive and often cruel law and order agenda. I’ll leave it at that because it doesn’t matter any more….although the list seems much longer to me.<\/p>\n

Trudeau had a message of hope for which Canadians were apparently hungry. As inexperienced as he is Trudeau often sounded statesmanlike while Mr. Harper often came off as cold, stiff and negative.<\/p>\n

As Canadian political author Lawrence Martin opined, “With the election Monday, the bold right-wing experiment ends and the traditional Canada \u2013 a Canada of moderate big-tent governance \u2013 is reborn.”<\/p>\n

I think he is right. So let the navel gazing end and a new way of governing begin. Good luck Mr. Trudeau. Canada and the world is watching \u2013 and cheering \u2013 you on.<\/p>\n

By Dale Peacock<\/p>\n

Following a career in the hospitality sector and the acquisition of a law and justice degree in her 50s, Dale embarked on a writing career armed with the fanciful idea that a living could be made as a freelancer. To her own great surprise she was right. The proof lies in hundreds of published works on almost any topic but favourites include travel, humour & satire, feature writing, environment, politics and entrepreneurship. Having re-invented herself half a dozen times, Dale doesn\u2019t rule anything out. Her time is divided equally between Muskoka and Tampa Bay with Jim, her husband of 7 years and partner of 32 years. Two grown \u2018kids\u2019 and their spouses receive double doses of love and attention when she\u2019s at home. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Justin Trudeau is returning to the same 24 Sussex Drive address that he left as a small child. 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