Well, well, isn’t political life in Canada full of inconsistencies. Here we have a significant number of voters who protested and organized against the HST, subsequently voting for the Conservatives. The same Harper conservatist party that funded and encouraged the introduction of the HST in B.C., using our tax dollars, it does seem a bit odd doesn’t it?
This election produced many surprises: the demise of the Bloc party in Quebec in favour of the NDP with the NDP becoming the official opposition, the near destruction of the Liberal party, the electing of many Conservatives in Ontario is due to vote splitting between the NDP and the Liberals which gave Harper’s Conservatives their majority, and last but not least the election of Elizabeth May of the Green Party to parliament.
I would hope that Mr. Harper’s majority government will tend to move toward the centre of Canadian political life and that some of those far right wing nuts in his party do not dominate legislative agenda. But that old saying, “he who pays the piper gets to name the tune” still may ring true and corporate Canada and in particular big oil may have bought themselves a very friendly majority government.
Wes Morden
Clearwater, B.C.
