reason to be hopeful
at first i was rather disappointed by the election results. but i am beginning to change my mind.
1. perspective. one month ago this result looked impossible.
2. bad polling should never control my emotions.
3. the Liberal party has a chance to redeem itself. this one takes some explaining. first, new leader: i expect frank mckenna or john manley. only a birthing party like the Conservative Party could have people like Belinda Stronach get a shot at leading the party. both mckenna and manley are worthy leaders. here's the thing: if they are worthy leaders, they will not run a campaign of lies. ultimately, i think the scare tactics of paul martin were effective. i think neither mckenna nor manley will run such a campaign. we'll see.
4. huge gains in Ontario and Quebec. there is a second viable federalist option in Quebec. Lawrence Cannon wins my home riding of Pontiac and i expect will be deputy PM. he's got a chance at least. sharp people elected all through central and eastern Canada will make it into the Cabinet which will only strengthen the momentum built there. provincial politics in quebec and ontario will play huge roles in the next federal election.
5. the Liberal Party is mired in debt. i expect legislation will be passed to limit the amount of funds donated to a party per person to about $1000. the Conservatives have no trouble financially and, in the end, this makes a difference.
this all being said: i was way off in my predictions for the Tories and Liberals. ah well. in the end, after writing this one year ago, my overall prediction is heading in the right direction. who would have thought that the cries of extremism and bigotry would be effective for only 30 seats? my predictions of quebec has come true; my prediction of solid conservative values is not far off the mark... let's hope my optimism proves its worth.
1. perspective. one month ago this result looked impossible.
2. bad polling should never control my emotions.
3. the Liberal party has a chance to redeem itself. this one takes some explaining. first, new leader: i expect frank mckenna or john manley. only a birthing party like the Conservative Party could have people like Belinda Stronach get a shot at leading the party. both mckenna and manley are worthy leaders. here's the thing: if they are worthy leaders, they will not run a campaign of lies. ultimately, i think the scare tactics of paul martin were effective. i think neither mckenna nor manley will run such a campaign. we'll see.
4. huge gains in Ontario and Quebec. there is a second viable federalist option in Quebec. Lawrence Cannon wins my home riding of Pontiac and i expect will be deputy PM. he's got a chance at least. sharp people elected all through central and eastern Canada will make it into the Cabinet which will only strengthen the momentum built there. provincial politics in quebec and ontario will play huge roles in the next federal election.
5. the Liberal Party is mired in debt. i expect legislation will be passed to limit the amount of funds donated to a party per person to about $1000. the Conservatives have no trouble financially and, in the end, this makes a difference.
this all being said: i was way off in my predictions for the Tories and Liberals. ah well. in the end, after writing this one year ago, my overall prediction is heading in the right direction. who would have thought that the cries of extremism and bigotry would be effective for only 30 seats? my predictions of quebec has come true; my prediction of solid conservative values is not far off the mark... let's hope my optimism proves its worth.
posted by Aaron Perry at
9:10 AM
8 Comments:
Yeah, I think there were a lot of positives. I actually watched cbc from 9-1:30 and enjoyed it.
It does seem to me that many canadians were simply slapping the liberals on the wrist, not endorsing conservative values. But at least this will give the conservatives a chance to show what they can do.
I think Harper is well equipped to lead a government in which no 2 parties combine for 150 seats (except the conservatives and liberals). I think his speach was quite excellent.
I too have had some time to reflect...and while I still feel many Canadians are gay for giving the liberals so many seats....I am glad. Glad for Harper...now he can show people how practicle he is. His platform makes sense and the other parties will have to vote for these changes or risk looking like fools. Who is going to vote against accountability, tax cuts and common sense social sollutions? Even the liberals can't be that stupid....well....
Anyway, I'm glad and hope this is the start of something wonderful!
AP was wrong; the Tories won. Good night for your brother, I'd say.
Go Sens!
Some Guy
i would like to point out a few things wrt my letter:
1. military, abortion, same-sex marriage: all received attention in this debate, with the Tories espousing conservative (well, at least libertarian) views on 2/3 (military and same-sex marriage; abortion they steered clear of).
2. the Liberals did indeed cry "extremism" the whole time. the limited Tory breakthrough in Ontario significantly hampered their overall seat-count.
3. the breakthrough of the Tories in Quebec means that they are not a regional party and that regional voting is not necessarily the rule. this is the best news of all.
I didn't know so many Canadians were gay... those gay liberals.
nothing like polarizing slurs.
anonymous: whenever Maves says 'gay' he does not mean homosexual. it's more like the combination of slams, mainly associated with Montreal Canadien fans and anyone who disagrees with Maves. also, i expect by 'liberal' he meant 'Liberal.' so "gay liberal" means "extremely foolish Liberal supporter." i say that "extremely foolish Liberal supporter" is redundant in this election. ;)
I'm sorry. I didn't mean to leave my name off. I didn't want to seem like I was saying anything I would make me hide my identity. Also looking back I didn't want that to sound as mean as it did. I also didn't mean to leave the capial "L" off of Liberal. I did understand what was meant, I think I was trying to show kinda of the ridiculousness of the term. I don't think anyone was actually bashing homosexuals, but it always bothers me to see people use the term "gay" synonymously with "stupid." Its like when people in my band say that part was gay (like a guitar part) and I say, I'm sure that that part doesn't want to have sex with guitar parts of the same gender. It just seems to me a polarizing term and strange synonym for such an obviously negative term.
Like saying to a gay friend of yours -- that television show was gay. I mean gay like stupid. Not that your stupid because your gay. I just mean stupid things are gay, but not gay like your gay. You're a different gay.
(why is the term used the way it is, why would someone have initially started using the word gay in place of stupid.)
But even apart from that, it is polarizing. All these people don't agree with me so they must be gay. They must be stupid. Thats the easiest way for peopleto deal with people that disagree with them. And I probably do it more than anybody. But honestly that last point is not really what I was concerned about.
It's just something that bothers me a bit.
But Mavis I am honestly sorry that sounded as attacking as it did. I'm a jerk.
Tim
understood but the development of a word from gay (happy) --> gay (homosexual) [positive connotation]
to
gay (homosexual) --> gay (stupid) [negative connotation]
is a little different. To make a word association with being happy is one thing, but to make a word association by a bigoted stereotype of gay people being stupid is another.
I'm not saying that people using the term, are doing it in this way, but it is not a word that has lost attachment to its meaning, where people seldomly use gay as happy anymore. So it becomes inherently offensive to some. It seems we would do avoid that offense. I'm not saying that we have to have kid gloves on or that people don't get offended over stupid things, but I think that some might have a right to be offended.
It's true that the English language is malleable, but in this case it seems that language has connections. Some words supra-cedes its origin some language however has lingering connections. I for one am not going to use the word nigger, even though some people use it to discuss people they are friends with.
But I do understand your point
Tim
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