Current Events in Canadian Politics

My thoughts: What struck me most about this article was the part about voter apathy. People not participating in elections are neglecting our democracy. We have a chance to give our input and regularly we don’t do anything. I think differently from the writer of the article, low turnout could work in favour of the BC government. As the article says levels of interest are decreasing for the anti-HST campaign. Those that are against it have generally already participated by signing the petition and it may be hard to get them to follow up by voting as well. If pro-HST campaigners can persuade all the people on their side to vote they may be in with a fighting chance yet.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/bc-politics/hst-backers-need-to-think-fast-if-they-want-to-win-the-june-referendum/article1966255/

This article mainly made me consider whether or not televised debates between the leaders are key to the democratic process. I haven’t yet come to a conclusion on this question but if I conclude that they are I will be very much against the television networks having ungoverned, decision-making power over how the debates are run.

In respect to the Green party being banned, as long as the debates are privately run they have very little to back up their “rights” to be a part of the debates. Some may look back to Elizabeth May’s poor showing in the 2008 debates as reasoning for keeping her out of this one.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/no-election-debate-reprieve-for-elizabeth-may/article1966455/

My thoughts: as we have learnt in class a non-partisan bureaucracy is a key part of responsible government. I was surprised ot find out that the Government didn’t already have a system in place to ensure that an appointment was non-partisan. Clearly, with 31 appointments, Harper has been able to take advantage of the lack of accountability (as I’m sure past PMs have).

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/public-watchdog-urges-non-partisan-bureaucratic-appointments/article1951867/

My thoughts:

I like that Christy Clark seems to be pretty even in her negative and positive opinions of the previous Premier and his work. Keeping the cabinet fairly siminlar does help with stability but being honest about the downfalls is important also. The point she has made about the low income tax rates not being worth a lot when you look at other costs carries a lot of weight. I know that personally I would notice the rise in msp and energy costs more than income tax rates.

B.C.’s Clark signals that lowering taxes will be a priority
JUSTINE HUNTER

British Columbia’s premier-designate Christy Clark cast doubts on Monday on a planned increase to medical service premiums, saying her government needs to rethink the tax burden it places on families.

Ms. Clark also flagged concern with proposed rate hikes on electricity – a strong hint that the Crown corporation, BC Hydro, may run into opposition with its plan to increase the price of power by 50 per cent over the next five years.
More related to this story

A protester outside the BC Liberal Convention in Vancouver Feb. 26, 2011.
Photos
Candid photos from the floor of the BC Liberal convention
Video
Voters share their thoughts on the BC Liberal race
The BC legislature in Victoria June 11, 2010.
Timeline
From the anti-HST campaign to a new premier

Ms. Clark, who won the B.C. Liberal leadership on Feb. 26, will be sworn in March 14. At the same time, she’ll unveil a new and smaller cabinet. Although she campaigned as an outsider to government who would represent change, she played down on Monday just how different her cabinet will look.

“People want change but we also want to have some stability in government as well,” she told reporters in Victoria.

The bigger change, she suggested, is in the way the government will operate under her leadership: “To make sure we are pursing a families-first agenda for government, and that is making sure every aspect of government is thinking about families as it formulates its decisions.”

Ms. Clark signalled that lowering taxes for families would be a priority.

While the government has touted its personal-income-tax rates as the lowest in the country, Ms. Clark argued taxpayers are really in the middle of the pack, nationally, when it comes to their total tax load.

“One of the things that government needs to start doing is, rather than just talking about where our tax rates are,” she said, is look at “where are we in terms of the total burden of costs that government puts on citizens.”

BC Hydro, after allowing capital investments to lag for more than a decade, is now embarking on a series of major capital investments of roughly $2-billion annually. It has projected it will have to hike electricity rates dramatically to pay for the improvements.

Hydro’s investments include an $800-million seismic upgrade to the Ruskin dam – a small Fraser Valley power station that will produce power for just 33,000 homes. As well, it is launching a $1-billion smart-meter program that has been exempt from review by the utility’s watchdog.

The utility’s costs are not only driven by capital costs, however. BC Hydro’s payroll has increased by 52 per cent in just three years, from 2006-2009.

The Finance Ministry has not included hydro rates when it compares B.C.’s taxes to other provinces. “Government has to think more holistically about those costs,” Ms. Clark said.

She also said she won’t throw out the budget that was tabled on Feb. 12, although it includes a six-per-cent hike in MSP costs for British Columbians who pay them. But she may well bring in a new budget – or even call a provincial election – after a June 24 referendum on the harmonized sales tax.

Ms. Clark, who does not yet have a seat in the legislature, has suggested she favours an early election, but it won’t be until after the referendum.

And although she wants to win a seat in the House, she still hasn’t figured out where she would run. Premier Gordon Campbell, who will officially hand over the reins next Monday, has offered to step down in the riding of Vancouver-Point Grey. “That seems a likely option,” she said. “Although we’ll see what happens.”

My thoughts:

This articles brings up several issues. Although everybody has been expecting an election the preparation of a campaign is seen to show the expectation in the budget not going through. Also, at the rate that the Conservative party is going they can`t expect to win an election if they make many more mistakes, such as using government resources to fund a campaign.  Lastly, I wonder why it is real news that the Conservatives are targeting new Canadians? It seems to be one of the most important starategies for parties, bot short term and long term, if they want to survive. With only 39% of the Vancouver population set to be white Canadian by 2031 it seems obvious that the Conservative party needs to build support amongst immigrant communities if it intends carry on in Parliament (either in power or forming the opposition).

Letter reveals Tories’ plan to capture immigrant vote

A botched delivery has laid bare the Harper government’s plans to win over immigrant voters by appealing to their social conservatism before an election that the party believes will be under way by March 29.

The unprecedented glimpse into the internal strategy of the famously secretive Conservative election machine reveals plans for saturation television advertising in Toronto and Vancouver that asks immigrant Canadians: “Isn’t it time we all voted our values?”

We are losing” the battle for the votes of Asian Canadians and other immigrant communities, concedes a letter to Conservative MPs from Kasra Nejatian, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney’s director of multicultural affairs, though it adds: “we are losing less badly now.”

Mr. Kenney has been assiduously courting these communities, which have traditionally favoured the Liberal Party, because they live in the suburban ridings that will determine the outcome of the next campaign. If new Canadians switch sides in sufficient numbers, Stephen Harper’s Conservatives could win a majority government.

And so the letter asks the MPs to use their riding associations to raise $200,000 over the next week to support the “Conservative Ethnic Paid Media Strategy,” which is then described in detail.

The letter and background documents were inadvertently delivered to Linda Duncan, a New Democratic MP.

The package raised cries of outrage among opposition MPs, who pointed out that the letter was printed on Mr. Kenney’s Parliamentary office letterhead, violating rules prohibiting ministerial staff from using government resources to promote party interests.

Mr. Najatian’s actions “clearly violate the ethical guidelines for ministers,” Ms. Duncan said in an interview.

The government agreed. On Thursday evening, ministerial spokesman Alykhan Valshi offered Mr. Kenney’s apologies.

“This is very serious and unacceptable,” he wrote in an e-mail. “The employee responsible for this matter has offered the minister his resignation and the minister has accepted it.”

He added that Mr. Kenney would raise the issue, including the firing and the apology, with the Speaker of the House, the Ethics Commissioner and the Board of Internal Economy.

But what is even more fascinating than the dustup over the minister’s aide’s misbehaviour is the opportunity for detailed analysis of the Conservative strategy to woo immigrant voters that the misdirected package offers.

The “pre-writ” advertising campaign in local ethnic media will launch on March 15 and last for two weeks, revealing that the Conservatives expect to be defeated on the budget that Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will release on March 22.

In 10 targeted ridings across the country, four of them in Greater Toronto, four on B.C.’s Lower Mainland, and one each in Manitoba and Quebec, four ethnic groups are singled out for analysis: Chinese, South Asians, Ukrainians and Jews.

The Conservative analysis concludes that party support declines as the number of South Asian and Chinese voters in a riding climbs. And that pattern is even more pronounced in Toronto’s suburban 905 area.

That’s potentially disastrous for the Conservatives, who are counting on making gains in such ridings in Toronto and Vancouver, where Asian Canadians make up as much as 50 per cent of all voters.

To improve the party’s standing, the Conservatives plan to direct $318,000 towards a massive advertising buy on ethnic media TV outlets, where they could saturate the airwaves with 30- second spots for as little as $200 each.

A sample ad provided with the package is directed at Indo-Canadians and conveys an image of the Conservatives as understanding their struggles and sharing their family values, such as “belief in hard work.”

The Conservatives have gained support in some corners of the Indo-Canadian community because of their opposition to same-sex marriage.

The campaign, which notes that support for the Conservatives among Chinese and South Asian Canadians has increased in each of the past three elections, also intends to take advantage of an Indian Cricket match at the World Cup on March 20.

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Thursday, January 27, 2011 3:34 PM EST

Would Tories use an Ignatieff clip out of context? ‘Yes! Yes! Yes!’

Jane Taber

Talk about a quick turnover. The Tories have added a new meme to their stable of TV attacks – or to their “chamber of horrors,” as Michael Ignatieff refers to it.

They took a judiciously edited clip of Mr. Ignatieff’s Howard Dean moment from his rousing speech to the Liberal caucus this week and incorporated it into two new attack ads.

In the first spot, called “Needless Election,” the narrator asks whether in a time of economic uncertainty we should jeopardize the recovery with an unnecessary trip to the polls. And then he says, “Let’s ask Michael Ignatieff” – at which point, the Liberal Leader pops up screaming “Yes! Yes! Yes!”

The clip was taken from the speech Mr. Ignatieff gave to his caucus only on Tuesday in which he asked whether Liberals were ready to govern. And Mr. Ignatieff very passionately – with passion reminiscent of U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean’s famous scream – answered his own question with arms pumping and voice raised.

For the record, the full sentence the Conservatives used from Mr. Ignatieff’s speech went as follows: “Are we ready to serve the people who put us here? Are we ready to fight for the Canada we love? Are we ready to fight for the Canadian family? What’s the answer to that? Yes! Yes! Yes!”

It was expected the Tories would use that in their ads to make fun of Mr. Ignatieff; what wasn’t expected was how quickly they did.

The second Tory ad released Thursday, called “Job-killing taxes,” focuses on Mr. Ignatieff’s demands to reverse the Conservative corporate tax cuts. It asks whether in a period of fragile economy recovery “it makes sense to raise taxes on job -creators?” The narrator again says, “Let’s ask Michael Ignatieff” – who again is shown shouting “Yes! Yes! Yes!”

My thoughts:

With an election strongly rumoured but not yet announced I wonder how dirty this electoral race is going to be. Are the liberals using attack ads against the Harper government as well? It worries me that our politicians have to stoop so low to gain any interest in their respective parties as to take statements out of context and portray their opposition as the enemy rather than the competition.