February 2, 2000
The Liberals and other bastards - THE COMMENTARY
By Joseph Planta
VANCOUVER - The Nisga’a Treaty was ratified in the Commons last year, by the Liberals. It is through those same Liberals, that we, British Columbians, constantly get the shaft from. It is through those same Liberals, where we see this utter waste of $3-billion dollars through the Human Resources ministry.
The Liberals have been in power, on and off for the better part of the 20th Century. It was through Mr. Trudeau who happens to be a great hero of mine, who kept them in office for so long. We must note that it was because of Mr. Trudeau and his brilliant election strategy, that we always got shut out of the governing process, because we were neither Ontarians, nor Quebeckers. Trudeau had it all figured out. Because the House of Commons is set up that Ontario and Quebec get the lion share of seats, and the rest of Canada the leftovers; Trudeau in his brilliance (and I mean that), figured out the votes were only needed in Central Canada to win. Which is precisely why, crisis all over this country of ours get no attention from the Feds. Whether it’s this God-damned Nisga’a deal, the Maritime fishing crisis, the health-crisis and of course the Praire farm mess, this government turns a blind eye, focusing rather on tax-breaks for the rich of Ontario and the Clarity Act of Quebec.
The Liberals need to get turfed from office. And there is no better bandwagon for that then this CRAP party headed by Preston Manning. The Canadian Reform Alliance Party, is our only hope for fairness in our great nation. The Liberals have mismanaged and abused power for so long, now I’d take anything over them.
The Liberal party has become arrogant, abusive and belligerent. They have waded Canadians into the bathtub of apathy, so that they can go on a rampage of bad government behind our backs. Thanks to the Liberals, we have our government run by the bureaucrats and the spin doctors. Thanks to the Liberals, British Columbians have no alternative but to embrace Reform and this new entity of ‘Crap’.
But, me, the ever-so confused scribe, also must call Preston Manning into the fray. He himself, is somewhat derived of the bastardised fate. He was sitting in the Commons as Leader of the Official Opposition, he got there in the span of ten years, but what he did was misstep. He grew too hungry for power too, and grew lavishly for Ontario (precisely where power is.) In doing-so, he’s alienated the base of support he amassed in Western Canada, and sold himself out. He’s in the process of selling out the sound principles that made Reform what it is, fairness for all Canadians. Reform would have made in roads in Ontario, under the Reform banner, anyways. This new party, will split the right-wing vote further, thus keeping the Liberals in power for some time to come. No matter what the hell the Liberals do, they’ll control this country, simply because we don’t know better, and more importantly the opposition can’t get their collective acts together.
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An archive of Joseph Planta's previous columns can be found by clicking HERE .