These days, Canadian politics is dominated by a surge of regionalism. None of the four major parties have a convincing nation-wide support to enable an oncoming majority government in the foreseeable future. The media is in part responsible for this trend in two different but equal areas of impact.

The first area is media coverage of the parties to inform the public. During an election (and even off-election times) the media rushes over to the various party campaigns and flocks to the leaders. What ensues is usually a popularity contests based on the personality of the politicians and not what he/she stands for. Sometime during the election campaign, each of the parties gives the media a scent of their respective vulnerabilities by releasing a policy book. It is literature in which the said party declares what it truly stands for and offers its solutions to impending political and economic problems the country is facing. If it is the media’s responsibility to inform Canadians of their political choices then a comprehensive understanding of these policies need to be understood and relayed to the public. Instead, the media has been satisfied to follow each campaign looking for some memorable quotes, criticisms, and banter from the leaders. This suits the politicians as well because they do not have to answer tough questions on their own policy when they can easily criticize the other guy.
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Could it be true? That the NDP party is going to become redundant in the next federal election. I sure hope so for the sake of a renewed federal Liberal party and a stronger two party system. After all, for a country of 30 million persons, do we really need five “national” political parties?

While the great infrastructure begging contest goes on in earnest, the NDP is sending clear signals that they’ll likely vote against the upcoming federal budget – no matter what it contains. Apparently, they’ve been overcome by the scent of power and would like to chance it on their own coalition terms.

Government cheques for everyone!
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From a plummeting economy to the amazing U.S. Presidential Race, to Canada’s lowest voter turnout in history to the Canadian government being thrust into upheaval, 2008 had a little bit of everything.

As 2008 began, much of the world was already in the midst of a financial crisis. Storms swept through the world in the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, and still show no signs of slowing down. The economy in 2008 was characterized by stock and real estate market meltdowns, unprecedented bank failures, massive layoffs and rising unemployment, disappearing credit and historic government bailouts of the financial and auto sectors.

And unlike Harper’s reassuring words that Canada would remain unaffected, almost every major province was. British Columbia saw U.S. demand for lumber plummet with prices dropping below profitable levels. And their mining industry suffered as demand from China dropped and commodities took a nose dive. Oil-rich Alberta, once one of the richest provinces in the country, saw the price of oil drop 78% from its peak in July when it hit $147 a barrel. Now, oil hovers under the $40 a barrel mark. In Ontario, the auto industry fights for its life after receiving a $4 billion bailout from the Canadian government. Saskatchewan fared better than the rest as a result of its diversity in energy, agriculture and potash, but still declined as a result of lower commodity prices.
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Imagine what Canada could have done with the election budget… saved thousands of jobs, stimulated the economy, given everyone in Canada $10…

There are many things that could have been done but instead Harper wasted $300+ million and accomplished nothing. Now the government is prorogued and there will likely be an election again within the next year or two regardless of what happens when the prorogation period is over.

What will happen in the next election?
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Every candidate attempts to obtain 4 levels of commitment from voters through the running of their campaign:

i) A vote for the candidate
ii) A commitment to “soft” campaigning for the candidate (speaking with friends, family)
iii) A commitment to “hard” campaigning (volunteering for the campaign: fundraising, going door to door, putting up signs)
iv) Financial support (donations)

Based on the recent Federal election, it would appear that candidates in Canada are having a hard time getting the first commitment out of Canadians.Tamir Birk reminds us that at 59.1%, the 2008 Federal election had the lowest voter turnout in Canadian history.
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The tragedy that occurred on Election Day still bugs me to this day – Canada recorded the lowest voter turnout rate in history with only 59.1% of eligible Canadians casting their ballots. According to Elections Canada, a total of 13,832,972 votes were cast nationally of the 23,401,064 registered electors. This is undoubtedly a huge blow to Canadian democracy that can’t be overlooked.

Another similarly tragic record was also set on Election Day. A political party received the highest number of votes in a federal election without claiming one seat in parliament. That, of course, was the Green Party, which received just under 1 million votes and 6.8% of the overall popular vote.

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