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At Issue

With Philip Shaw

Our Political Fragmentation Leads to Bad Politics

Tuesday, March 4, 2003

At the far northwest corner of Chatham-Kent many of us go to see the ships ply the beautiful St. Clair River. It is a welcome retreat for me especially when my business swamps me with work. A stroll along the St.Clair can be as therapeutic as going to the doctor. Just make sure you do it in the summer time.
Sometimes great ships ply its water. I was reminded of that last week, when the political opposition in this country started a furor about former finance minister Paul Martin's interest in CSL, Canada Steamship Lines. The mainstream media has now picked it up and Martin can be seen defending himself on the nightly newscasts. It seems many folks don't think Martin should have any interest in those ships on the St.Clair if he is to become Prime Minister.
This little tiff shouldn't last too long. It's not realistic to me that Martin would spend the last 15 years of his life secretly making decisions to make him even richer. At the same time, if he is asked to divest himself of these holdings beyond the blind trust, what does that say to people aspiring to higher office? So look for this thing to die down, although I'm sure it will come up in the Liberal leadership hunt.
The Liberals are now formally at each other's throat now. By the end of the year, we'll have a new leader who will morph into a Prime Minister. At that time, if the poll numbers look good, he'll (sorry Sheila) probably have to be restrained from pushing Prime Minister Chretien out before Christmas. Chretien plans to leave in February 2004.
So if I was a betting man, next year we'll probably go to the federal polls. At that time we'll see if Canadians want to put their lot once again with the Liberals. In many ways, they don't deserve another chance at power, just because they've had it for so long. But it doesn't work that way in politics. People who are anti-Liberal are almost desperate for an alternative.
To some extent, this was born out in a recent federal opinion poll. The NDP rang up 27% support in the latest poll surprising almost everybody. It might be a measurement on their new leader, the telegenic and affable, Jack Layton. But on the other hand, it might represent how desperate people have become to embrace anybody but the Liberals.
It will be interesting to see how Jack Layton does. I always felt the NDP was letting the Liberals off the hook too easy. All through Canadian history, the NDP has nibbled at the left wing of the Liberal party. At their high water mark, they captured 44 seats in the House of Commons. Audrey McLaughlin and Alexa McDonough never were able to capture any semblance of that political beach head.
This contributed to the political fragmentation in this country. The Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative party still cannot bring themselves into uniting under a common conservative banner. The Bloc Quebecois is about to lose its sovereignist step father in the next Quebec election. It all adds up to a political landscape where the Liberals win because the electorate doesn't trust their country with anybody else.
Some people might argue that is a good thing. I don't think so. I believe a strong political opposition makes a government better. Take the gun registry and Kyoto for example. The gun registry is off the stupid meter when it comes to its cost overruns. Kyoto on the other hand is so hocus pocus, it may someday rival the gun registry in compliance cost overruns. It all adds up to bad politics with incredible costs.
Late last month, I watched as Andre Bachand, the only Conservative MP from Quebec announced his bid for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party. As I watched Bachand, he invoked the memory of former Prime Minister Mulroney over and over again. He was asked about a French debate for the upcoming leadership contest. He recoiled because a French debate would almost be impossible among the current low profile candidates already running. He said the same type of reality for the Liberal party in Quebec was unthinkable. I wondered what former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney must have been thinking. Who would have ever thought, our political landscape would come to this.



Philip Shaw, farms 830 acres near Dresden, Ontario. He holds a Masters of Agricultural Economics and Business Degree from the University of Guelph and is a well-known commentator on agricultural issues in print, on radio and over satellite in Canada and the United States. In the Chatham-Kent Times, Phil will use his frank and forthright writing style to address political and economic issues from the local to the international stage. He is a keen observer of political life at all levels, reads widely and has travelled the world to gather fodder for his column. See what's At Issue this week.