Canada’s coalition government and the demise of the Harper government
The past couple of days have been very rough for me, so I’ve had very little to time to analyze the current political crisis of the Conservative-led government in Canada. Therefore, I can’t really offer much analysis. But one point that really strikes me as kind of odd is that the general perception I see on the mainstream media (AND on social media too) is that the coalition government is a bad thing in light of the current global economic crisis.
Let me bring you back to the notion of “creative destruction” popularized by the economist John Schumpeter (those of you who have studied the economics of innovation and technological change will immediately recognize the name). The basic premise underlying creative destruction is that innovation is spurred by the demise of obsolete technologies and the creation of new ones.
What does creative destruction have to do with political stability? Well, here’s my hypothesis – unless current Primer Minister Harper is unseated and its Conservative government is brought down, serious changes in the Canadian governance structure will never see the light of day. Why? Because the Conservatives need to really understand and get a grip on why they won the recent Oct 14, 2008 election. They didn’t win out of being THE BEST option. They won because of FEAR of the unknown.
Fear is really the worst adviser. I am well aware that fear of domestic political instability (coupled with economic destabilization) may lead Canadians who might have voted for the Liberals to actually support the current Conservative government (in hopes that by virtue of keeping Harper in the PM office, this fact in and of itself may bring stability to the country). But you can’t win without losing first. To me, it looks as though this could actually be beneficial for the Conservatives: learn from the BIG mistake of fear-mongering and learn to GOVERN.
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Great post, Raul! I couldn’t agree more!
This week has been tough for me too, as I’m trying to make sense of the complex interactions between parties here, something I’ve never really gotten the hang on. So I grasp for metaphors.
Being a student of the environment, I think you’ll enjoy this one:
It’s hard to predict the weather, which is pretty chaotic, and even more chaotic if you add energy (heat) to the system. In a way, the current situation in Parliament is like global warming on a short-term scale (or more like simply turning up the heat on a pot of water): I suspect it’s just as hard to predict the cross-currents of one group against another group. Attepting to to play out one group’s fear-based voting against other group’s anger-based voting against another group’s gleeful-opportunity-based voting (one can ascribe groups as one sees fit), the whole model seems to become unstable as tempers flare.
In other words, with all of this heat/energy/passion added into the political environment, it becomes more chaotic. All in all, probably not the best way to be governed right now.
The mainstream media have a very heavy bias in favour of small c conservatism. For their own business interests, they like to support a “business like” government. The fact that we have lots of businesses controlling co much of our lives is not enough for them. They want control of government too – mainly to restrict the ability of government to keep tjhe worst excesses of private enterprise in check. The fact that deregulating the financial sector gave rise to this crisis in the first place is not mentioned.
Sadly, a lot of people have got caught up in this mind set, and fail to understand what is really happening. Or prefer to believe that not only can business as usual be restored but it will be a Good Thing if it is.
The reason people fear the proposed collation government is exactly the same reason you say the Harper government should be defeated.
One of the biggest fears people have of a Lib/NDP government is the potential for their economic plan to be comprised of socialist economic policies that will prop up the 3 NA auto companies solely because they provide jobs in Ontario. These three companies are exactly the ones who should be subjected to ‘creative destruction’. They use obsolete technologies to produce over prices gas guzzling cars. The reason they are in trouble is not because of the ‘economy’, it’s because they are horribly managed companies who have not adapted to a changing market place and have entered into ridiculous union contracts with their workers. If the big 3 cannot survive on their own then they should be left to die so another group of car manufacturers or another industry all together can replace them and utilize the labour in Ontario, or conversely, Ontario workers can relocate to western Canada where their labour is desperately needed, therefore easing the labour displacement this country is experiencing.
I think many westerners also find it frustrating that there is potential for the coalition government to save these three manufacturers who produce cars which inflict horrible environmental costs while both Dion and Layton have essentially all but committed to coming down hard on natural resource production in the west in an attempt to reduce carbon emissions.
What an interesting insight Raul. I believe that many people are fearful of instability in general, as humans tend to be comfort creatures. We hold on to what we know or understand, and what many Canadians know and understand is this minority Conservative government, which all told, hasn’t governed half as badly as the opposition would like us to believe. The Liberals seem to be trying to avoid at any cost their wilderness years in which they are relegated to obscurity during which time they must refocus and rebuild their brand.
But the NDP and separatists know perfectly well what they’re doing, since they’ve never been under the delusion of earning power in a legitimate election, for a simple reason. Most Canadians aren’t labour Party socialists at heart, and neither are they separatists living in Quebec. This coalition is then seen for what it is: a convenience of political power for each self-interest involved. None have earned their power legitimately, by consent of the people in full understanding of the bestowment of that power, and so will be rejected by the people in the same vein.
I agree with Raphael’s points. The recent polls by indicate strong support against the Coalition. Any party in bed with the Bloc is not someone I want to see in power.
Great right up Raul.