Out in Left-Centre Field

It's election time, everybody!

And we're already seeing the onslaught of posturing, extravagant promises, attack ads and defamation that are driving so many Canadians away from the ballot box. I look back and I wonder, when did it get this way? When did things get so angry and vitriolic and divisive? When did we decide to import the aggressive, blood-sport style of politics from our neighbours to the south and others around the world?

Maybe the earliest time I recall ever being aware of politics was in the late 1990s. I was still in elementary school, Jean Chretien was already a constant at the federal level, while Mike Harris had been in power in Ontario for a couple of years. One of the few things that really struck home for me was being out of school for weeks (that was great in those young days!) and seeing my teachers picketing up and down the sidewalk in front of my school, chanting and yelling and waving signs like "Stop Bill 103" and so forth.

I remember that it was vaguely defined as a "bad" thing, and I remember being disgusted when Ontario voters were so stupid as to hand Harris another majority government in 1999. That's probably when I started paying attention for good. So, in a way, did negativity draw me into politics? Was that what the people who called the shots were thinking, that it would bring greater entertainment for the masses and spur interest in politics? Well, it worked, but in the wrong way. It drew in and motivated the hard-liners and the ideologues, right and left, and has turned off moderates from across the span of political sympathies.

And the trend hasn't stopped. Stephen Harper -- who has since gathered many of the mainstays of Harris' government, like Flaherty, Clement, Baird and Giorno -- has been running some of the nastiest, most intentionally divisive parliamentary politics that I have ever seen. And the other parties, Liberal, NDP, and Bloc alike (hell, even the independents) have been ever so happy to oblige. The accusations and slander fly thick in the air and confident proclamations of party superiority are everywhere you turn. Rarely do you see MPs even permitted to vote their conscience or those of their constituents; power is ever more centralized in the leader and their circle of trusted insiders.

How is this even supposed to be appealing to the ordinary people, like me, who vote? How is that supposed to be appealing to future generations who will have to take on the burden of governance? Is that setting a good example to follow? Or is democracy itself simply being run into the ground for short-term convenience?

There are signs of hope. The proposed coalition back in 2008 showed that parties can set aside their revulsion for one another and work for a common good. Even the proposal signed by Harper, Layton and Duceppe back in 2004 was a sign that parties can come together from differing ideologies. But of course, compromise is seen as an admission of weakness, so now everyone is either swearing it off or demonizing the idea far and wide. Party supporters cannot, cannot be seen as ever admitting that their chosen parties (which are really just coalitions of individuals) are anything less than perfect or will do anything less than win outright; to say otherwise is considered to be an act of treason.

So here goes. As you've probably seen from my past words and actions, I am an NDP supporter. That's where I've been in the past; I may yet switch elsewhere but I do not see it happening. I do not see the NDP as perfect; they have a number of policies, like Senate abolition, that I don't agree with. I don't see their leader, Jack Layton, as perfect; good and competent as he is, he has made a number of mistakes in the past, like declaring his opposition to a budget without ever seeing it, or failing to sufficiently reprimand deputy leader Libby Davies after her comments that the state of Israel was illegitimate. The NDP also attracts many hard-line socialists and communists with whom I am uncomfortable; I do not believe that any single system of belief is ever the answer to our problems.

Hell, I haven't always supported the NDP; I remember the 2007 Ontario election, one of the first after I finally reached voting age at 18. The NDP candidate (Tony Crawford) in my riding (Oakville) did not impress me in the slightest; any question he was asked in a candidates' debate, he always turned to the issue of identity theft. Clearly, he was an expert on that subject, which would be of concern in a relatively affluent, middle-to-upper-class community like Oakville. But people who seek the honour of being an elected representative need to broaden their understanding and not harp on a single issue every time they are asked about diverse subjects. So, ironically enough, with my earlier Harris-era experiences fresh in my mind, I voted for the PC candidate. Strange, right? Well, the local PC candidate, Rick Byers, seemed a competent and well-rounded fellow in the few times I heard from him, while his party's leader, John Tory, was reasonable and moderate despite his ill-advised position on school funding. And why did I skip over the Liberals, you ask? I couldn't conscionably support them when they spent the entire campaign ranting about the religious school funding issue and deflecting attention from their own lacklustre record on everything else. (It helps when the media get wrapped up in their own hysteria and cheer you on like trained seals.) If you can't stand on your own record, you don't deserve to be in power; it must be earned, and it is not yours by some sort of birthright.

So no, I'm not going to tell you my chosen party is perfect. The best part of an election is that it is all up to you, the voter. I cannot tell you how to vote. The media cannot tell you how to vote. The choice is yours. Know the candidates, know the platforms, make an informed decision. Who are you most comfortable with? And are you aware and accepting of the fact that no one and no party is perfect?

A different opinion doesn't make someone your enemy. That's something too many people lose sight of far too quickly. Respect, trust and willing cooperation are absolutely necessary if we are to fix the problems that ail our beloved democracy. It's not a perfect system, but it could be a hell of a lot better if we had the will and the bravery to make it as good as we can.