A rchive Date
[ 08-01-2003 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Canada ]
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[http://www.canoe.ca/Columnists/mansur_london.html
Coalition could reinvigorate our democracy
By SALIM MANSUR - For the London Free Press
January 8, 2003
The promise of a new year is newness, an expectation of change for the better. The sobering reality on the contrary is the persistence of the old and of wariness with change, whatever the promise of the new in our lives.
This new year began with very little expectation of change for the better. The past seems to hold us in a grip without escape, our imagination increasingly diminished by the relentless quarrels of the old, and our politics and our economy stalemated by anticipation of war in distant lands and fears of terror in our midst.
But life has an uncanny way of breaking through predictable moulds of the past, of taking us by surprise when least expected. This is why dictators tremble at the thought of freedom and people living in freedom buy insurance against eventualities that may never happen.
The predictable mould in Canadian economy is that it will ride the ups and downs of the U.S. economy and, if there is more down than up, then our dollar will slide downward.
Our politics is as predictable as our economy.
The Liberal party dominance in Ottawa is a given and only the politically romantics at heart, a Diefenbaker or a Manning, a Broadbent or a Mulroney, like our own version of Don Quixote, who cherish the possibility of new and better against the persistence of old and cynical, continue to hope and strive for breaking the mould of Canadian politics.
Hence, the year-end poll showing the Liberal party - despite the scandals, the boondoggles and the viciousness of party bickering over leadership ambitions of politicians remarkable for their blandness - at 41 per cent of voter support was in terms of news as stale as the proverbial yesterday's newspaper.
The interesting development for Canadian politics this year will be if the Conservative party renews itself sufficiently to break the mould.
Ten years ago, the Conservative party that periodically broke the monotony of Liberal rule in Ottawa imploded. Its miscalculations and folly deprived the country of a realistic alternative by which to keep the Liberal arrogance in check and its implosion left the opposition as effective as a broken umbrella in a spring shower.
The Reform party, turned Canadian Alliance, in these 10 lost years of Canadian politics, has shown the limits of its reach. Together, the Conservatives and the Alliance have demonstrated their ineptitude in opposition is as vast as the width of this immensely rich country.
The refusal of the Conservatives to merge with the Alliance reflected the stubbornness of the weak not to be swallowed by the strong. That the Conservatives persisted, despite the odds, to keep alive the party of John A. MacDonald is admirable.
The challenge for the Conservatives in the coming year is not to reach for the unreachable, but to gain sufficient parity with the Alliance in voter support so the two parties on the right can begin talking on how to work together. Such an arrangement may go the distance in convincing Canadians that a coalition government in Ottawa can be an improvement over the permanence of the one-party Liberal rule that is so detrimental for our democracy.
A shift of 25 seats from the Liberals to the opposition parties can alter the Canadian political landscape. This is within the realm of the possible.
The main contest for the hearts and minds of Canadians is in vote-rich Ontario and Quebec. Here, between Quebec City and Windsor, the Conservatives must make gains as the party that is sensitive to the new political and demographic reality of 21st century Canada.
A coalition government that includes the New Democrats and the Bloc Quebecois, or is supported by them in the Parliament, may sound impractical and unlikely only if Canadians insist their politics is primarily ideological. But Canadians who view their politics as they view themselves, practical and yet not disinclined to consider newness, may find in the idea of coalition politics the means for renewing Canadian democracy.
Salim Mansur is a professor of political science at the University of Western Ontario. His column appears alternate Wednesdays.
Letters to the editor should be sent to letters@lfpress.com
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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