Thursday, October 15, 2015

After the Election

I have no idea to what Canada will awake on Tuesday morning. The polls are too close to call and if recent events are any indication, maybe useless in predicting outcomes (someone needs to revise their sampling models!).

Right now my only concern is dislodging Harper. I don't much care what the other parties are promising because election campaigns are silly things built of spin, lies, and blue blue sky. The only thing that counts is what they do after vote day. I mean, I'd be quite happy if they were lying about refusing to form a coalition in order to offset shrieks of "coup d'etat" from the fascists and perhaps an attempt to bully our spongy GG into somehow halting the electoral process or discounting anything other than a Tory victory.

Still, should Harper form the next government, especially a majority, so be it. There is no cosmic law that says his foetid government will have moral legitimacy, even in the freak event that it is awarded a fraud-less victory. The social contract will be broken, absolving the public of any moral obligation to conform to the wishes of the Conservatives.

It would open up a vast space for provincial, local, and grassroots social and political innovation and transformation.  The federal government is a lot less necessary in practical terms than it believes.

Provinces have enough constitutional power to run themselves, and there are millions of Canadians with great ideas and skills who can put their energy into building the kind of country we want.  But we might have to work for it.

1 comment:

Sixth Estate said...

I suppose in a sense you're right because we will have no choice.

However, this sort of "state's rights" approach happens to precisely mirror Harper's own philosophy. And the Tea Party's.

I wouldn't want to give up on the federal government just yet.