Canada is heading for one of its toughest and very probably most vitriolic general elections thanks to the defeat of Liberal Party Prime Minister Paul Martin’s minority government in a parliamentary vote of confidence Monday. Unfortunately though all parties are publicly welcoming the chance for a new political start after the election, there is a strong chance that Canadian politics will emerge just as fissured and unstable as before.
The primary cause of the Liberal defeat on Monday after only 18 months in power was the scandal in which the party in Quebec was taking kickbacks for seven years until 2002 from advertising companies to which it awarded lucrative contracts. The money was allegedly used to fund Liberal Party campaigns. Paul Martin was at that time the federal finance minister in the government of his old chief Jean Chretien. Though he himself has been cleared by the judicial enquiry of any involvement in the malpractice, the political mud has stuck to Martin. Opposition Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper has even publicly accused the Liberal Party in Quebec of having links to organized crime. Furious Liberal politicians are thinking of taking him to court over the allegations.
It is clear, even before the election campaign has started, that between now and the vote on Jan. 23, a lot of extremely bitter jibes are going to be exchanged. Though Canadian politics can occasionally be robust, this is not the way that electors are used to seeing politicians behaving. This sort of invective must also come as a shock to the international community which has become used to the Canadians playing a staid, reliable and honorable role in aid work and peace keeping around the world.
Initial polling suggests that there may not be a great shift in support for the different parties, though the Liberal vote may well suffer in Quebec itself. The problem for Paul Martin if he is able to form another minority government is that the payola scandal has not yet run its course. Recognizing this clearly himself, he had tried to delay any general election until three months after the report was issued. However, the Conservatives went for the political jugular and thanks to the defection of the minority partner, the New Democratic Party (NDP) from the coalition government and with support from the separatist Bloc Quebecois, a January election became inevitable following the parliamentary vote of no confidence.
What Canadian voters will make of this unseemly outbreak of angry political mudslinging remains to be seen. Mired in this scandal for much of its short term in office, the Liberal Party had yet to deliver on most of its earlier campaign promises, including corporate tax cuts. It had also been forced by its minority partner the NDP to increase rather than cut public spending as it had promised. Vexed voters may take the view that the Liberals deserve to have their mandate renewed, not least perhaps because for the first time in nearly quarter of a century, they are having to go to the voting stations in the icy depths of winter.
