Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 10, 2008, Winnipeg, Manitoba C m y k Page a15 Winnipeg free press Friday october 10, 2008 View from the West and beyond comment editor Gerald flood 697 7269 Gerald. Flood free press. M. Ca Winnipeg repress. Com a 15 t he party that wins the Federal election tuesday faces a scary Challenge. The credit crisis that is roiling global markets is catching up to Canada. In the past Ottawa has tackled economic problems using either of two ideologies one right Wing the other left. The new government has to face the fact that these ideologies Are now dead. The left Wing policies of big spending and strings of Federal government deficits faded away years ago largely thanks to the efforts of Preston Manning then the Leader of the Reform party. He was Able to convince canadians that these policies did not Foster growth but hindered it. Paul Martin when he was finance minister Sang from the same songbook slashing government expenses and balancing of Tawas budget. Stephen Harper continued the refrain which is one reason Canadas Economy is in better shape than some others. Canadians now know from experience the benefits of balanced budgets. Any politician who advocated a series of budget deficits would be Strung up. A right Wing ideology popular with americans republicans died this month. It held that governments should be Small they should deregulate and they should not interfere with markets. U. S. President George w. Bush loved this ideology particularly the last part. His hands off attitude to financial markets led to a massive Bubble that burst. In a Gigantic Volte face his administration had to put together a taxpayer financed us 700 billion plan to save Wall Street from being sucked under by All its bad debts. Its the largest private sector bailout in history. When it looked As though Congress might not approve it the Stock Market took the sharpest one Day plunge since the 1987 Black monday crash. So much for the ideology of self regulatory markets. Figures no matter How big dont give you a real sense of what is going on. Ive just spent two weeks in Ireland the former celtic Tiger during which time the nation became the first in the eur Ozone to go officially into recession and the government was forced to guarantee All personal deposits in Ireland is Banks. What drove Home the immensity of the situation was talking to a rational professional person who was examining ways to take his Money out of his Bank and put it under his floorboards. The right Wing View of economics has been largely shaped by austrian economist Frederich Hayek who in 1944 published the Central text of Neo liberalism the Road to serfdom. He argued markets Are self regulating there is an invisible hand that keeps people in Check and markets Are the natural Way to conduct business. I wished Hayek had lived to see overpaid executives in the highest echelons of americans Banks scrambling to buy and sell what turned out to be junk. The idea seemed to be to repackage bad debt such As subprime mortgages sell it off and buy and sell More. Today most canadians Are smarter than Hayek. They now know from experience that unregulated markets dont work just As they know strings of government deficits dont work. So what to do Canada is in a better position than Many nations in the world. Our government is not in deficit our Banks Are sound our housing Market has not suffered the gyrations of some others and inflation is not a problem. But there Are some disquieting signs. Oil a critical Canadian Export commodity has been trading downward. The Price hit $ 90 one Day last week after reaching $ 150. And the Stock Market has been behaving badly. Toronto is main Stock Index fell More than 400 Points one session this week its first close below 10,000 in three years. Canada is closely tied to the u. S. About 76 per cent of our exports go there. Our Economy loses about $ 3.5 billion for every one per cent decline in Canada u. S. Trade. We cant pretend to be Happy frogs living in our own Pond. In addition weave had our own problems with High flying securities. We had a $ 35 billion fling with asset backed paper that Cost some investors a lot and took months to sort out. Governments love to say the fundamentals Are Strong which is what the skipper of the titanic said just before his ship hit the iceberg. Since some right and left Wing ideologies dont work the new government should continue to strengthen our mixed Economy in which both business and government have important roles. One step government can take is to ensure markets Are open and transparent and operate fairly. Derivatives became a problem because Many of them avoided full disclosure and they were traded among institutions and not on an open Market. Hence you cant be sure what you bought or what it is Worth. The Federal office of the superintendent of banking now largely passive should be strengthened and get Powers similar to our securities commissions. The key As i Learned in Ireland is not to delay making reforms until people Start talking about hiding their savings under their floorboards. Tom Ford is managing editor of the issues network what lies ahead Tom Ford t he women at the aboriginal visioning office Down the Street from the merchants hotel on Selkirk Avenue invited me Over for a homemade lunch and to talk about my Favourite topic lately the election. How could i resist walking into their office is like walking into a relatives Home. Theress always Coffee Tea something Good to eat Friendly people a Couch and plenty of chairs to hang out in. It was Nice to catch up with familiar faces. Like the fall leaves some of these a omens lives have brightened. Two were excited about a training program they re starting another is taking the aboriginal governance program. Did i mention this meeting was for women Only about 15 were having lunch and chatting with Winnipeg North my Judy was lycia leis when i got there. This a snot a debate so there we rent any other candidates there. And sure it was a Judy Lovein but the Well known my is the known Favourite in this Riding. These women did not want to organize a debate because they did not want any political fighting going Down. We did discuss other candidates though. It was More like a Lively discussion Over a Kitchen table where everyone Chimes in with their thoughts. Was lycia leis said no matter who they voted for it was important to vote. I agree. How will government Ever listen to us if we dont vote when it was my turn to talk i found out a lot of the women were already armed with the Basic information i thought i was there to discuss. They knew about Ridings what id to take to vote and some history of political parties and voting in Canada. The previous week someone came in and spoke about the history of Canadian politics. In a relaxed environment not one woman was shy to ask questions. Twice men came through the door but were quickly ushered out. We went through each part yes Campaign promises and discussed which Points affect us the most. The conservatives had one or two Good things but the real sticking Point for the women was longer sentences for 14 year old offenders and naming them. How is naming a Young offender going to Benefit the country the collective answer was that they just want to Start Locking up kids Many of them aboriginal at a younger age and people just want to know names out of cosiness. They noticed that two parties the liberals and nip brought up aboriginal spending. However with billions for Rural first nations our Urban Community would be left out. Another reason to vote. We can bring these issues to the table and make our leadership ask for these things. Conversation bounced to talk of the Senate the in declaration on the rights of indigenous Peoples and the economic crisis and its effects Here. The u. S. Crisis will affect us All. Even women living in Winnipeg Gas North end Are going to feel the Pinch. The Economy is like a web if you think about it. It affects Low income earners the hardest. Everything from food housing bus fare and heating costs will Rise and that Means crimping will get harder. Then there was the oct. 14 election Day Challenge. We went Home that Day with a plan of action get five friends or family members out to vote too. If each of us about 15 women meet the Challenge that would add up to 75 votes. Are you up for the Challenge Colleen. Simard email. Com Colleen Simard Are you up to the Challenge i m going to assume that by now you already have a Good idea How you re going to vote on tuesday. You do know the election is on tuesday please say you do. I saw a woman being interviewed recently who seemed Lucid yet had no idea that an election was happening let alone when. I was so shocked that for a moment i was actually rendered speechless according to preliminary figures released by elections Canada 1,459,253 canadians including 35,607 Manitoban have already cast their ballots at an Advance poll. Lucky beggars. They re probably relaxing at Home right now blissfully tuned out to the frantic last minute politicking thatus been taking place across the country Content in the knowledge that they ave done their part and can now sit Back relax and Gorge themselves on Turkey right through tuesday. I suppose however that theress a Chance you re like a Good Friend of mine a smart and compassionate Gal who has never paid much attention to current events and who usually asks me who she should vote for when an election Rolls around. If this is the Case and you a vent yet made up your mind then id like to strongly recommend not voting for a conservative candidate. Ism biased. Ive never been Able to relate to the tories Likely because ism an outspoken feminist who cares a lot More about reproductive Choice and social Justice than keeping taxes Low. My main beef with the conservatives this time out aside from the fact that their platform neglects to address environmental issues or Canadas Lack of affordable housing in a meaningful Way and the fact that Stephen Harper scares me to the Point that i sometimes find myself humming the Darth Vader theme music from Star wars when i see him sweater or no sweater is that throughout this Campaign in Winnipeg and elsewhere conservative candidates have repeatedly refused to participate in Public debates and forums. I find this appalling and frankly i think they should be punished for it. Voters deserve to hear from the people who want to represent us in Ottawa before we head to the polls. We should be Able to ask them questions and having the Opportunity to do so in a Public setting As opposed to say in a one on one Exchange at the door allows us to evaluate not Only their answers but also their ability to engage in civilized debate with other candidates who disagree with them. In other words Public events allow us the electorate to get a sense of How each candidate would behave should we vote them into office. What message does it Send when candidates from one particular party cant be bothered to show up i attended one such forum at the University of Winnipeg. Its theme was Why women count in the Federal election. About 150 people were in the audience Many of them students in their 20s the very people that ostensibly politicians Are trying to engage. The conservatives chose not to Send a representative. I guess to them women dont count. Then again maybe its students that dont count. Either Way it looked bad. Perception matters. By avoiding Public debates Over the course of the Campaign the conservatives have implied that these events and by association the concerns of the people who do make the time to show up Are not important. Its disrespectful and remarkably arrogant. If this is How they treat us now what will they do if they re re elected Marlo Campbell writes for Uptown Magazine. Marlo Campbell no show tories dont deserve support t Hough he likes to describe himself As an economist Stephen Harper has never worked As one but he has been in or around politics All his adult life including a period As an apparatchiks with the National citizens coalition the country is major right Wing lobby. The metamorphosis from the acc to the prime ministers office in less than 10 years is surely indicative of a Man with considerable political and strategic skills including the capacity to pretend he really is an economist and that his political skills Are nothing out of the Ordinary. Thus when he began publicly musing about calling an election in which he would probably not get a majority one did not have to be cynical not to believe him. It made perfect sense that he would want to disarm those who would be alarmed at the Prospect of a conservative majority and this indeed was surely the purpose Harper in a minority is subject to some constraints Harper with a majority could give full rein to his own pronounced autocratic instincts. Better therefore that uneasy voters should think a majority was beyond his reach. But As the Campaign progressed that sense of Security was beginning to seem false. The conservatives seemed to be inching in the direction of a conservative majority As reflected in Public opinion polls that showed the conservatives hovering around the magic 40 per cent deemed necessary to win a majority and by the apparent decline of Liberal support which began to open up the possibility a majority could be won with less than 40 per cent if the opposition was appropriately divided. The conservative Campaign itself gradually revealed the Harper strategy keep everything tightly controlled and under wraps. As conservative support in the polls began to Rise notably in Quebec there was a sense even in the face of numerous gaffes by staffers and ministers that the party was moving Forward slowly and deliberately with military like precision and discipline. This was manifested in Many things including the disappearance of conservative candidates from Many traditional Public forums across the country. Media and other Access to the prime minister became highly controlled Public attendance at Public events became similarly controlled. The watchword was Clear Only the Leader Speaks for the party and Only the Leader makes unscripted remarks. Hence run of the Mill local candidates and Many ministers avoided Public forums lest they turn into occasions where they might be seen to be thinking for themselves. It has turned out however that harpers tactical sense was not so perfect after All. His miscues on several issues that were important in Quebec stopped the Rise of conservative support in its tracks and sent it into a tailspin. After two years of the conservatives negative advertising aimed at demonizing Stephane Dion the Liberal Leader performed respectably in the two leadership debates. And perhaps above All Harper the economist in chief showed himself of All five party leaders the most complacent on the subject of the financial crisis that has now become worldwide. Indeed his suggestion the turbulence in the markets would allow people to get bargains by buying Stock now was straight out of Clou cuckoo land and recalled the famous historical antecedent of Marie Antoinette who on being told that the people were clamouring for bread offered the consoling suggestion let them eat cake. To add insult to injury Harper did not release his platform until this week the document contains 22 pictures of the great Man illustrating the Maxim of an earlier writer on our prime ministers that a diet of Royal Jelly will turn even the greatest drone into a Queen Bee. By that time 1.5 million canadians had already voted in Advance polls. This is such an offensive dismissal of a fundamental democratic Assumption that discourse and Choice require an informed electorate that one would Only expect to find it in a banana Republic or a comic opera. In real life however it would be hard to show greater contempt for the electorate unless the conservatives had decided not to publish their platform until after the election. The Blue sweaters have not altered harpers image As that of a cold calculating and imperious Man whose reputation As a bully and control Freak has been Well earned. Though none of the party leaders Are without significant shortcomings in his own person Harper is the most unappealing of the lot. Not so surprisingly therefore the prime minister who disingenuously suggested he would probably not get a majority May end up being right. The election of another minority parliament could be a very useful thing they May be a More or less permanent feature of our political system now and it May be time for our politicians to Start learning How to make them work As they routinely work in Many other countries. Achieving this could require some damping Down of the divisive negative and ugly partisanship that has come to blight politics and political discourse in this country. That in itself would be Progress. In Wop its. Net parties might be forced to Damper ugly partisanship another minority useful William Neville Stephen Harper sports his now infamous sweater Vest in conservative party advertisement. A 15_ oct 10 08. Ind a15 10/ 9/ 08 7 28 34 pm ;