All we can do now is hold our breath

It’s over. The short, but seemingly interminable, election campaign has finally wound down. All that’s left is to wait for the fat lady to sing. The polls indicate that we will have a Conservative government and now we wait to see if it’s a minority government. The prospect of a majority Conservative government worries me (OK, the reality is, it downright scares me). I don’t wish abject failure on a Conservative government – a complete failure of government trickles down to the ordinary citizen and we all suffer. It’s not so much the stated Conservative platform that concerns me (although there are many aspects of it that I’m in very strong disagreement with). It’s the unstated platform that has the ability to cause me sleepless nights. Far too many of the Conservative candidates are so far off the radar that I cannot help but be nervous as to what power they may eventually wield. We have seen the results of obtaining power via a small, but influential electoral base – all we have to do is look south of the border where the Christian right-wing and neo-conservatives practically dictate national policy. The result has been a severely and bitterly divided country ensconced in two widely separate camps, and never the twain shall meet. I dread the idea that the same could happen here in Canada.

But if a Conservative government is what we are destined to have, it is up to us to ensure that they don’t get the same acquiescence as the American Republican party got should they start abusing their power. We know what the Conservative party has said, and we know what they have NOT said. If and when there is any hint that they have achieved power through deception, have failed to deliver on their campaign promises, have offended the sensibilities of the average Canadian, or have set this country on a backwards track, we need to stand up and yell out our objections.

We at the Galloping Beaver are not willing to give the Conservative Party of Canada a free ride.