The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Election Issues and Candidates Will the June 28 federal election turn into a "health care election"? Paul Martin and his Liberal team hope it will, at least they appear that way. In what he hopes was a preemptive strike, the embattled Prime Minister came out with a series of major health promises in the early days of the campaign, promising billions for the provinces, to reduce waiting lists and a fast track for licensing immigrant doctors. This is the same government that only a few weeks earlier presented a budget that had no extra money for health care. In mid-May, the head of the Canadian Medical Association predicted: "This election is going to be the health care election." Dr. Patel claimed the future of the health care system is at stake and the voters have to make sure candidates understand Canada needs a strong, well-run system that is properly funded, with enough doctors and nurses, and without long waits. Martin of course is wide open to criticism, which he has been getting from the other party leaders. They claim that the finance minister's massive cuts to the system starting in 1995 created the problem and that the Liberals can't be trusted to repair the damage. They note that in every election since 1993, the Liberals promised to fix health care with no fixing ever done. The PM had to try something. After all, his "scare tactics" attacks on his opponents, especially Stephen Harper, have not been working. Martin's amazing defense of high taxes in Canada, claiming Canadians need higher taxes than Americans to pay for our programs, is less credible when one thinks of the millions wasted by the Liberal government on such fiascos as the gun registry. Harper's quip, "tax me I'm Canadian" pretty much sums up the Liberal approach. The Conservatives continue to tout their faith in lower taxes and a more efficient government, and claim they can fund health care and balance the budget. The NDP with its eight-point platform (it continues to grow with new promises every day) promises to fix everything in sight, raise taxes on the rich, on businesses, bring in an estate tax, and to balance the books. They want to avoid being tarred with the "tax and spend socialists" brush, but can promise whatever they like as they have no chance of forming a government. The new Ontario Liberal government undermined their federal counterpart's credibility with their "bad news budget." Breaking several election promises, including freezing taxes and balancing the budget, Dalton McGuinty's administration brought in health care premiums to raise $9 billion, and of course hit tobacco, alcohol and driver's licenses. The actions are harming the Liberal vote in voter-rich Ontario. Both opposition parties are benefiting, especially the Conservatives, who have now pulled ahead in Ontario polls. As modestly predicted in this column, the Liberal scandals remain a major campaign issue. In fact, it was incredibly arrogant of Martin to have called the election, hoping they would be ignored by the voters. Harper (correctly) claims that if the Liberals are re-elected, the sponsorship issue will be buried. Previously the three opposition parties released their own report Ñ a summary of the findings to date and heavy-duty attacks on Liberal corruption. Martin refuses to talk about the scandals and is concentrating on his "issues." He says they will be dealt with after the election, which is not going over well with voters. The cost of gasoline in Canada is one of those unpredictable election issues that pops up in most campaigns. Drivers are hostile as prices edge up to the $1/litre range. This is having a bad effect on the incomes of commuters and the tourist industry, not to mention the increased costs of transportation. The Conservatives pledge to lower gas taxes, and the Liberals to keep the money and spend it on health care. This could be a "sleeper issue" which could affect the election results. Gun control remains an issue in rural areas, as the Liberal's weak attempt to fix the $2 billion boondoggle went sour. Their scrapping of registration costs, keeping the system and capping the yearly expenses at $25 million pales in comparison to Harper's promise to scrap the system entirely. Hunters and farmers are still "criminalized" if they don't register their guns, although most attorneys-general in the west refuse to enforce the federal law. Western Liberal candidates were hoping for a better response from the Martin camp. Who the candidate is often plays a large part in the vote, but not as large as some candidates think. Jack Layton tried to recruit some "star candidates" but only came up with old Ed Broadbent and a few others of little fame. He actually lost a number of former NDPers to the Liberals, especially in B.C. He lost Svend Robinson thanks to Svend's admitted theft of a $50,000 diamond ring. The Liberals' "star list" was mentioned before in "the Corner", and the Tories have a few heavyweights such as Merv Tweed in Brandon-Souris, which should be an easy win for Merv. In the Churchill riding, each party has a good candidate. The sitting member, Bev Desjarlais of the NDP, appears to have the upper hand but the big question is if she can hold the Native vote with Chief Ron Evans running. Conservative candidate Bill Archer from Thompson is the dark horse in the race but may surprise the others as the NDP leader has also refused to scrap the gun registry, obviously worrying about votes in Toronto. It should be a good contest. Don't forget to vote on June 28 or before. Voting is easy with advance polls, write-in ballots, and even able to vote in the returning office any time before the 28th.
