The Rural Voice, 1979-08, Page 20A matter of principle
by J. Carl Hemingway
Commenting on the Election
Now I suppose 1 could hardly be expected to refrain from
making some comments on the recent election results.
As seemed to be expected, we have ended up with a minority
government.
The Conservatives have the most members and are forming
the "Government." The Liberals came second and are called the
"Opposition."
The N.D.P. ran third and are supposed to have the balance of
power. Finally the Social Credit came in fourth and are generally
ignored by the "media."
There were some rather snide remarks following the results
that the N.D.P. (the poor relatives) couldn't afford another
election quickly and would "sell their souls to keep their seats ."
It must have been rather embarrassing a few days later when
the "media" reported that both the Liberals and Conservatives
campaigns ended up with large deficits while the N.D.P. had a
healthy surplus.
It would seem, considering the tremendous increase in our
national debt over the past few years, that we would have been
smarter had we put the N.D.P. in power.
At least the N.D.P. were successful in managing their
campaign budget and just might have done the same with our
national budget.
The statement that the N.D.P. has the balance of "Power" is
a myth. At the last report that I know of even the Conservatives
plus the Social Credit can have an overall majority, so the Social
Credit can have the balance of "Power" by a slim margin. The
N.D.P. can have the balance of "Power" by a fair margin and
the Liberals can have the balance of "Power" by a large margin.
It is going to be interesting to see which "Party" keeps the
Conservatives in power and for how long. It just may not be the
N.D.P.
During "the three leader debate" on TV it was stated that the
Conservatives supported the Liberals more often than did the
N.D.P. over the last term of the Liberal Government. The
statement was not questioned by Mr. Clark nor by the media that
I ever heard of.
Ilowever, I think Mr. Trudeau, and his Liberals are quite lucky
to be defeated.
Remember Mr. King was defeated in the early 30's when the
economy was in a mess and soup kitchens were feeding the
unemployed. Mr. Bennett became Prime Minister. He failed to
bring about the necessary improvement and the Liberals came
back to power for some 20 years.
Then in the late fifties, the economy went flat and Mr.
Diefenbaker came to power for a few years and then Mr.
Trudeau took over for eleven years.
I think conditions are just as bad now as they were in the
thirties but it doesn't show as clearly since there are welfare
cheques, Old Ag e Pensions, Medi -care etc., but prices are even
more out of line.
I sincerely hope that Mr. Clark and his Conservative
government can give us the kind of legislation and leadership
that will give us some semblance of fair play in our economy and
have the courage to enforce it.
I sincerely hope that all the "opposition" parties will support
good government for Canada and all Canadians regardless of
"Party" preference.
PG. 18 THE RURAL VOICE/AUGUST 1979
Para
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