middleofnowhere

Although I will admit that the party I least relate to is the one in power, I don’t mind that we have a third consecutive minority government. One thing is for sure in Canada, voters have a lot more options when it comes to deciding which political messages speak to you than our neighbours to the south.

All over the place lately, I see American politicians of both major parties talking about the need to unit America, how divided the people are and the major differences between the “liberals” and the “conservatives”. When the general public sees only two viable options, an us versus them mentality is bound to happen.

The whole idea that either word (liberal or conservative) can be used as an insult when used by the other group goes a long way to showing us the mentality that is often involved in politics.

So much time is spent pointing out the differences, that people often forget to look for the common ground between the so called left and right.

I know that historically, there have been other parties elected into high offices in the U.S. (who is the Whig Party candidate this year?) and some people still get some attention as fringe-ish third party candidates - Perot, Nader….this means you. But in Canada, it seems as though anybody who decides to take the time to form a party, not only does so, but gets taken quite seriously particularly on the provincial level.

In Quebec, mario Dumont formed the Action Democratique du Quebec (ADQ) in 1994 and in the 2007 general election formed the official opposition and helped push the Liberal government into a minority position.

In Saskatchewan, the Saskatchewan Part was formed in 1997 and by 2007 formed the goverment in the provincial election, adter previously rising to the oppostion seats very early into their existence.

Federally we’ve expanded from two viable parties, to four parties with over 35 seats in Ottawa and a fifth party, The Green Party having nudged into the national spotlight via their leader’s participation in the debates in the recent election campaign. In 1993, our official opposition in Ottawa was actually formed by a party running seats in one province, Quebec - the Bloc Quebecois. Their main platform, you ask? The independance of Quebec via seperation from Canada…the irony was palpable to be sure.

While the political landscape is getting somewhat crowded, it is at least comforting to know that more views are being heard and, as such, respected. So if you have a viewpoint and you feel it isn’t being represented, just wait. Or better yet, stand up and do something about it yourself.

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