With only 59.1% of Canadians going to the polls last week, there clearly is a trend.  In fact, I may join them next time around.  It is not that I don’t appreciate democracy.  I’ve visited a few countries that don’t have one.  However, I’ve been completely turned off from the week after the election.  If that is any measure, I completely understand why some people are checking out.
Take Stephane Dion for instance.  He has decided to stay as Liberal leader until the Liberals hold another convention in May.  His crime?  He led the Liberals to their worst popular vote defeat ever.  However, it pales in comparison to John Turner in 1984, who lived to fight the free trade election of 1988.  It seems our modern day penchant for crapping all over a political leader knows no bounds.  Ever since the first hints on election night that things were going awry for the Liberals, some people in that party decided Dion had to go.
Dion took several days to recoup before he talked to the media.  Losing is never easy and I’m sure he felt very badly.  However, the man doesn’t have horns coming out of his head.  I spent a day with him last year and I found him to be one of the most decent and caring political leaders I’d ever met, and I’ve met them all.  Sure the optics of the Green Shift was bad regardless of what the truth was.  At the end of the day, it was Stephane Dion’s idea and he’s taking the fall for it.  However, I’m one Canadian who thinks the Liberals should have given him another chance.
Dion made several good points about the Liberal party and how they had to “get with the program” with 21st century fund raising. He went on to suggest a whole host of other things.  He lamented about the Liberal inability to fight the money machine the Conservatives have built.  In my opinion any of the pipsqueaks who helped push him out better believe that Bob Rae and Michael Ignatieff might be vilianized even greater by the same Conservative machine.

The Liberal’s treatment of Dion bugs me but it doesn’t end there.  You might remember my tirade in this column during the election about political passion.  I said the first party that shows me some passion wins.  However, at the end of the day, the Canadian election campaign boiled down to a few day-to-day sound bites and photo ops.  Compared to the American elections, our political leaders were off limits and completely seen through the lens of big media.

For instance could there be a “Joe the Plumber” here in Canada?  For the disoriented, let me fill you in about “Joe the Plumber.”  He’s the guy that ran into Barack Obama a few weeks ago in Ohio.  He told Obama his name was Joe and he wanted to build a plumbing business.  He openly questioned Obama on his policies.  The media caught up with it so did John McCain.  “Joe the Plumber” was born, openly debated in the third American Presidential debate and at the end of the day he became a celebrity.  It all happened because American political leaders actually meet people.

Stephen Harper of course lives for another day.  Quebec voting as a Bloc, pardon the pun, stopped him cold from getting a majority.  As I’ve said many times before, as long as we have a Bloc Quebecois in Parliament it is very unlikely any party can achieve a majority.  The election of 2008 is great example of that.  The Conservatives led in Ontario, B.C and New Brunswick but at the end of the day came up 12 seats short of majority.

Some critics and I’m sure some people who didn’t vote would exclaim what did we get for our $300 million?  In my opinion, it’s the price of democracy.  I don’t think it’s valid to say we got Stephen Harper for another 18 months, exactly like before.  See the above paragraph.  Next time around with the Bloc in Quebec, it’ll be anther $300 million.  In fact, it’ll be this way until our political landscape goes back to two or three parties.

All of this is surely not too appetizing as we look forward.  That’s no comment on Mr. Harper.  I’ve met him and he’s a fine man.  However, there is much wrong with the way Canadians do politics.  Gone in my mind is anything inspirational and in my opinion the way Dion is being treated only adds to the turn off.  Many of these political leaders are asking the question why just under half of us don’t vote.  Increasingly I don’t think that is such a puzzle.  A look back at campaign 2008 surely sheds lots of clues.