Right in the centre - Political truths
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- Published on Thursday, September 17, 2015
By Ken Waddell
The Neepawa Banner
Many times I have heard people say they vote a certain way because of family tradition. If grandpa voted a certain way, then they do as well and with pride. That’s wrong, just plain wrong.
A person should vote for the party that most closely represents their views, not just vote on tradition.
For example, Manitoba liberalism is an excellent case in point. In the 1950s, Liberal premier, D.L. Campbell brought in rural electrification. It was a huge step for Manitoba farms and rural communities. People could get away from the smelly coal oil lamps, the wood stoves and the tedious hand labour of washing clothes, putting out clothes to dry and hand milking the cows. It was a tremendously progressive program. However, except on that front, Campbell Liberals were very conservative. They didn’t spend a nickel without making the beaver squeal.
Contrast that with Duff Roblin’s conservatism. Roblin spent money hand over fist building roads, schools and, of course, the Red River Floodway. Manitoba was transformed under Roblin. In 1969, along came Ed Schreyer, an NDP premier but one who had strong ties to local Liberal, Nelson Shoemaker and later proved his Liberal leanings by being appointed Governor General by a Liberal prime minister, Pierre Elliott Trudeau.
The point is that political parties stand for different things at different times. What a voter needs to do is to evaluate what each party platform is about and what each leader says and is likely to do.
So we are faced with a choice in the 2015 federal Canadian election. Which party most clearly reflects your views. If you believe that Inky Mark, a former MP, who was always on the outside looking in, can help this area then he should get your vote. If you believe that Canada can grow by following the Green Party platform, then that’s your choice. It doesn’t much matter what the independent candidate or the Green candidate believe in, they aren’t going to have much influence.
However, if you think the NDP can do all they promise they will do and not blow the taxes sky high (like they have in Manitoba) then the NDP candidate can be your choice. Laverne Lewycky was a good MP in his day but I am afraid that the NDP will spend themselves silly, like they always have in the various provinces where they have formed government. Then there’s the Liberal party of Canada. Represented locally by a fine man named Ray Piche, they could be your choice. However, as Piche well knows, his leader’s reputation is his biggest drawback. Justin Trudeau absolutely blew the financial analysis for Canada, first by saying he will run huge deficits and then just this week by totally misjudging Canada’s current budget situation. He wasn’t properly briefed and that resulted in him making several incorrect statements about the past year’s balanced budget.
So that leaves the Conservative Party of Canada and current MP Robert Sopuck. Sopuck is a good man with a good track record so he easily equals or surpasses the other candidates. He is a Conservative Party of Canada team player and has delivered some good things to this constituency.
Some people hate Harper, the prime minister and party leader. I personally like Harper, having met and talked with him several times over the past 15 years.
People say Harper seems cold. While I don’t find him that way, it needs to be said that a good leader needs to be firm and direct. Sure Harper could lighten up a little but let it be said in this latest issue, the Syrian refugee crisis, he’s right on. Neither Canada, nor any other country can take in endless numbers of refugees without first screening them and then making sure we have facilities and jobs for them so they can support themselves. If we had every person employed and housed in Canada, if we had clean water in every community, if we had no poverty in First Nations communities, then we could open the flood gates much wider. However, Harper is still correct to insist on screening people to come to our country. Just ask Germany what happens when you open the borders. I would assume it’s a bit of an exaggeration but some sources say there have been 4,000 terrorists mixed in with the refugees into Germany. Even it’s only 400, it’s 400 too many.
Tragedies at home and abroad should never be taken lightly and offered simplistic solutions. Harper, and the Conservatives are right in this issue by insisting on screening first.
In my view, the Conservative Party is not only right on this issue but on other issues they are right more than they are wrong. That’s how you choose how to vote, not by tradition but by evaluation.
