tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9149446.post7022620384796019627..comments2023-10-10T10:34:10.843-06:00Comments on The Nexus of Assholery: Lizzie May's Free Ride Is OvahPatrick Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04592482865332628189noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9149446.post-14064064445185265672009-02-28T21:43:00.000-07:002009-02-28T21:43:00.000-07:00They have an important role to play, but they need...They have an important role to play, but they need to maintain a coherent, independent vision in order to accomplish that.<BR/><BR/>This means they can't dabble with merely being Liberal lite, and they can't settle for being strident anti-Conservatives.<BR/><BR/>They need to redevote themselves to the principles that made this party compelling not too long ago.<BR/><BR/>This means ditching Elizabeth May. She isn't an albatross so much as she's a hole in the hull.Patrick Rosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04592482865332628189noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9149446.post-65879917001548087922009-02-28T21:28:00.000-07:002009-02-28T21:28:00.000-07:00It'd be a shame if the Green Party were to fade aw...It'd be a shame if the Green Party were to fade away, given that I think it still has a lot of interesting points to make. <BR/><BR/>For one thing, Elizabeth May was the only party leader who said anything about the alarming number of foreign takeovers of Canadian businesses, and she was the only one who said anything about electoral reform. <BR/><BR/>Then there was the fact that, during the debate, she and Gilles Duceppe, of all people, took Stephen Harper to school over contracting out those ships for the Canadian Navy to foreigners rather than having them built in Canada. Harper's poor performance in the leadership debates is all the more noteworthy when he's outclassed by a complete political rookie and a guy who's dedicated to breaking up the country. <BR/><BR/>It's a pity more people don't give the smaller fringe parties more attention, since some of them have some really interesting ideas. Again, the Greens were the only ones talking about foreign takeovers and the need for electoral reform; the Progressive Canadian Party revives many of the best ideas of the Red Tory movement; the First Peoples Party offers an important voice for Aboriginal Canadians. <BR/><BR/>Unfortunately, our antiquated electoral system makes it almost impossible for these parties to get elected, even though the Greens got almost 300,000 more votes than they did in the last election, and almost a million votes altogether. <BR/><BR/>It's a Catch-22 in that no one pays attention to them because they're fringe parties. But how the heck are they supposed to get out of that "fringe party" trap if no one will pay attention to them? In 1993, National Party leader Mel Hurtig was barred from participating in the leadership debates-instead of giving the voters the opportunity to judge him and his party for themselves and choose whether they want to support him, the national media chose for them. <BR/><BR/>It's sad, but typical. Another interesting note is that, according to Canada West Foundation head Roger Gibbins in his book <I>Western Visions, Western Futures</I>, he notes that the Reform Party actually attracted a fair amount of support in Ontario, upwards of 30% of the vote, while the Liberals didn't always do that bad in Western Canada, either. Unfortunately, this support was spread out across the region and wasn't enough to get them a seat, thereby creating the false impression that no one in the West voted Liberal and no one in Ontario voted Reform, both of which were simply not true.Jared Milnehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07553795678274087372noreply@blogger.com