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.
A lot has been written on negativism in politics. Politicians and parties that practice negative politics do so because they think it works to their advantage, thus we find many ads and brochures attack opponents rather than promoting the positive policies of the attacker. Ads and comments about Stphane Dion worked very well in convincing voters that Dion is "not a leader." They were helped out by Dion himself, who convinced voters that they did not want him as Prime Minister. The issue of the coalition, which dominated the news in late November and early December, was a pair of negatives. The first was by Stephen Harper and the second was the response from the opposition parties to try and gang up on the Tories and make Dion Prime Minister and Jack Layton, leader of the fourth party in Parliament, deputy leader with six cabinet seats. The negative reaction to this possibility reverberated across the country and probably helped convince the Governor-General to prorogue Parliament and allow a cooling-off period. It also convinced the Liberals to get rid of Dion and appoint Michael Ignatieff as leader. Ignatieff is quite a story. A professor who spent his whole working life outside Canada, he returned to run for Parliament and leader of the Liberals, becoming party leader in three years with virtually no opposition. He is really widely unknown in the country and will spend a lot of time trying to convince voters that "Iggy" is the one to elect next time. This saga reveals a lot about the decline of the Liberals, a party with no money, no new ideas and which only had two people running for the leadership, one of whom was a former New Democrat. It will be interesting to see if Iggy can unite the party and undo the damage wrought by Dion. I find negativism in a lot of political commentaries, especially on TV and particularly on CBC. Watching a commentary by Rex Murphy, he spent his whole time blasting Harper for his decision to appoint Senators, breaking a promise to appoint only elected senators. He does not realize that Harper had no choice. His Senate reform bill is going nowhere in the Liberal-dominated upper house, and with only 20 Conservatives left, committee work can't get done. Harper needed to appoint people who will agree to step down if the Senate is reformed, and he needs enough to overcome the 58 Liberals in the next three years as many reach retirement age. He realizes this is the way to go, not just breaking another promise. Is there anything more negative these days than commentaries on the economy? Business reporters seem gleeful in describing and predicting the downfall of business and a staggering loss of jobs, especially in the auto industry. The big three automakers, who have highly overpaid executives, huge labour costs and autos they can't sell, are depending on governments to bail them out, even though they will still be shutting down factories. Mining and the forestry industries are also after bailouts from taxpayers Ð as Jimmy Durante said: "Everyone's getting into the act!" Finance Minister Jim Flaherty tried to put on a brave face and spoke optimistically about Canada's economy while recognizing there is a serious problem, for which he was criticized by the opposition and reporters for not being realistic. What they don't understand is that negativism breeds more negativism among the public, who then decide to hunker down and not spend. It becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. How about a little more negativism Ð income taxes in Manitoba. The Doer government claims to be cutting taxes for average people. If so, why do we have the highest middle income taxes west of Quebec? A media report in late November showed that a working couple with two dependents making $75,000 pay $4,330 to the province, more than double what they pay in Ontario and B.C. Even a single taxpayer making a modest $50,000 pays over $4,600, thousands more than the two provinces mentioned plus Alberta. With the continuing payroll and high business taxes here, Manitobans are seriously overtaxed compared to citizens in other provinces, and it looks like little will change in the near future. Roger's Right Corner runs Wednesdays.
