- This is not Harper's Canada, This is our Canada - we are the ones that must stand up to Harper and his Con's

Winning voters' hearts and minds: it's all about managing the message, John Ibbitson, 2 Jan.'10
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/winning-voters-hearts-and-minds-its-all-about-managing-the-message/article1416775/ posted 1/2/2010 1:14:19 PM , Tab 26

"The question is whether voters are finally ready to overcome their suspicion that Mr. Harper might push the federal agenda far to the right if they entrust him with a majority government."

This statement suggests that the voters somehow get together and, en masse, make a deliberate, conscious decision to "give Harper a majority" or minority.

Obviously, this doesn't happen. At best voting goes in blocks, normally based on demographics and issues. The underlying dynamic is that there are many issues, each precipitating its own group for which it is important, which effects, not a spectrum, or unity, of voter opinion but a discrete and disconnected collection. However, there is only perhaps 5 Parties from which to choose. This, of course, explains vote splitting, and why it is that almost 2/3rds of Canadians voted against Harper and the Con's, but they are now running this country. There have been examples of where the vote may be have overwhelmingly for one party or another - e.g. Mulroney's and Chrétien's first win, but in those cases the voters hardly needed to get together to decide who to vote for.

One can muse that the media is the medium for the voters to get together to decide for whom to vote. Although the media (traditional) can, and does, manipulate voting and can make a difference, specially with the undecided who don't know who to listen to - a prime example, in my opinion, of this was in the last few days of the last election when Dion made his 'radio interview re-takes' and Duffy, and CTV, plaid it for what it was worth - it is hard to determine the extent to which it affects the outcome (would Dion and the Liberals have come out ahead if not for Duffy).

The Web offers a better medium for getting together in the fashion envisioned. However, I suggest it illustrates, and supports, the precipitation of opinion into many small blocks, on many and diverse issues,which is my point.

It is rather the other way around.

If the media, including the media both traditional and Web, can "shine a light into dark corners" of government and "assist the process of holding governments accountable” (to borrow a phrase from Harper), then the voters can go to the voting polls, informed and enlightened. You can be sure, if Harper and the Con's were not afraid of this kind of exposure they would be carrying out their affairs in a totally different fashion.

One thing you can be sure of, Harper and the Con's are fully aware of 'block' voting and have been working on this from the very start. It takes time to woo and turn such blocks, but once you do, you reap the electoral rewards and they can be quite loyal - one need only look at Harper and the Con's support in Alberta, the Block support in Quebec, the Green support, etc.. And, it is a very difficult process to reverse, especially during an election where people are skeptical of politicians who talk to them only once every 4 years and their senses are numb from being blasted from all sides. Ideologically based Parties such as the Con's, NDP, Block and Greens, can survive only because they have a diehard core of supporters, based on their ideology.

I won't go into the actual blocks and where they stand. But keep in mind that it is quite possible to get a majority with only 38% of the vote.

With a 33 - 35% die-hard core of supporters, Harper and the Con's need only be targeted in their approach to wooing and turning some of these Blocks and anyone who thinks they do not have such a strategy and are not successful in this will, likely, be in for a surprise.

The counter to this is to thoroughly and vigorously, with all out efforts and at all times, expose Harper and the Con's for what they are and the damage they have already done and will do, especially if they get a majority.

It is not good enough to say, what are the Liberals doing. I would vote Liberals but their leader is weak.

This is not Harper's Canada, it is not the Liberal's Canada.

This is our Canada, each and every one of us. It is up to us to stand up and be counted. If we shirk this duty, we lose, and our children lose and our children's children will suffer.

We must all keep in mind, it is not Harper that must pay. I am sure that when he 'retires' he will go to the US and get a great paying position with some ultra-right conservative group.

We are the ones, each and every one of us to a man, woman and child, that will have to pay. But, worse, it is also our children and our children's children that will be left to pay the crippling financial debt as well as the impacts of Harper's policies regarding just about everything, not the least of which is Global Warming, but also includes their "tough on Crime"; their "2 points off the GST"; their dismantling Federalism and shirking responsibility in many areas, leaving a vacuum that the Provinces must fill; their abandonment of national childcare; their abandonment of the Arts, Sciences and education; their policies on Immigration with their roots in "old ways" of Manning, Day, Harper and the right wing extremists of the Reform Party; their 'in-your-face" international diplomacy; their contempt for our democratic institutions; their putting our men and women in uniform in harms way by their handling of the Afghan prisoner transfers in the first instance and their pursuant cover-up, etc.


There are many people who are in a position to know, who are predicting a second wave of recession, globally, much worse than the first in the next year. The Bank of Canada has already come out and warned people that interest rates will increase in June and that our finances are not in order. Harper last time called the election on the precipice of the recession and for the first 2 - 3 weeks of the election even denied that there was an kind of financial difficulties. Job losses from the current recession will start having a negative and domino effect on our economy in 2010 and people will start to see just to what extent Harper and the Con's have mis-managed the stimulus spending, Canada's finances and there will be the mega-deficit.

Combine this with a perception that Ignatieff and the Liberals are weak (and if the Liberals don't think this is so, they just have to go out and talk to people) and Harper will, in the New Year, start changing his turn to "Oh, and by the way, did I mention that Canadians do want an election". He may even poison the budget - yah, like he's ever done that before.

Lloyd MacIlquham cicblog.com/comments.html