TUESDAY, 21 OCTOBER 2003
While I've been away . . . - THE COMMENTARY
By Joseph Planta
VANCOUVER - Having been away for the last couple of weeks, felled by a cold, and distracted by other exigencies, two topics for discussion today. The troubles at the Georgia Straight, and the impending union between the two conservative parties in this country: the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada.
The Georgia Straight's troubles were of some significant note in these parts a couple of weeks ago. Two weeks ago the Straight, in a front page editorial by its founder and publisher Dan McLeod, said that the paper was being hit by a $1-million dollar tax bill for back taxes, by the provincial ministry of revenue. Political interference and payback for less than flattering commentary from the Straight, so McLeod charged was behind the bill for retroactive taxes. The feces hit the fan and the government was caught 24 hours later back peddling, declaring that the Straight was in fact a newspaper, when not a day before they were claiming the massive Time Out listings section counted not as editorial content, but advertising (even if the Straight was not collecting revenue from it), thus the charge of over a million bucks.
Right away, the government looks downright cruel, if not stupid, and rightfully back pedals. David Schreck rightfully noted that only when the heat of public attention falls on the Campbell government, does the government note its missteps. The Straight, though rightfully aggrieved, claims a conspiracy theory, that because it's the "only independent" left in this city, not part of the Asper CanWest Chain, that it's being screwed over. Good points, McLeod makes, however when I picked up another alternative paper, The Republic, a considerably more left-wing paper than the Straight nowadays, their editor Kevin Potvin noted that it was all crocodile tears being shed by McLeod, and that the Straight has now become an establishment paper.
It seems you can't please anyone nowadays.
The situation had at the Straight, was unfair, that's grantable. It was an attack, and it was mighty unnecessary of the Liberal government in Victoria. One regales in the discomfort had by the government. Schreck does have a point that, it's absolutely disheartening that this Campbell government retreats when there's a big enough outcry. It shouldn't be like that.
There was a rather ironic letter to the editor in the Vancouver Sun the other day. The reader writes that he's been waiting three years now for a transplant. Little did he know that when he voted out the NDP for having no brains, he'd be voting in a government without a heart. I'm pretty much a right-wing suck, but the Campbell government, at every opportunity, deserves to feel the heat.
On the subject of the two right-wing parties - the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservatives - hooking up, I must say it's fortuitous news, that's most agreeable to a British Columbian who has been distressed and dismayed at the possibility of another Liberal government being elected in Ottawa merely by default. Stephen Harper and Peter MacKay rightfully realised that they had no shot in hell in denting the steamroller that would be the assured Martin majority in 2004; and so decided to bury their respective hatchets and try to achieve what others like Preston Manning, Stockwell Day and Joe Clark couldn't do.
Now, it's up for the parties themselves to decide, and though I suspect the Alliance will endorse the plan, there's doubt that the Tories will do so with equal vigour. Frankly, it'll be the opposite, considering that the Tories are behest to a 25% wing that's fiercely devoted to David Orchard. Orchard, the Saskatchewan farmer vehemently opposed to free trade, would seem more akin to the NDP than the Tory party, but he's a member, and he's ran for the leadership twice with some notable success, and as stated, does control a lot of memberships.
Orchard is free to oppose the merger, but frankly, the reasons he poses are a tad specious. Sure, it appears that the Alliance is taking over, but that's the rub on how the numbers are. No one is voting PC anymore, as that trend died alongside Brian Mulroney. Mr. Orchard and former prime minister Joe Clark make very good claims that the Progressive Conservative Party has stood for a pan-Canadian vision that's been around since Confederation, but times have changed, and the Tories have been dormant west of Atlantic Canada for the past decade, with polls suggesting they'll remain that way forever.
I support the idea that there'll be the newly constituted Conservative Party of Canada, one that includes the west as brung by the Alliance, and the east as had by the Tories. This will now, end the sniping had on the right, and will consolidate that energy into holding the Liberals, and Paul Martin's feet to the fire. It's belated, and it's true that Mr. MacKay and Mr. Harper do deserve the country's appreciation for coming this far. It's quite an achievement, but one naturally, is cautiously optimistic.
Where Mr. Orchard has a point, is that it could very well be a whole hell of a lot of smoke and mirrors. I remember well the debacle that was Stockwell Day's leadership. Having bought a membership into the Alliance three years ago, thinking the stylish Day was the great right hope, I realise (hindsight is always 20/20) that the means didn't justify the ends, and that Day turned out to have everything but some modicum of substance. It could very well be that this charade of a marriage is nothing but a hollow sham to consolidate forces in the realisation that Paul Martin is in fact unstoppable. However, after so much dilly-dallying and dancing, thanks to Belinda Stronach and her diplomatic savvy, something had to give, and Canadians now have a choice to make come election time.
Questions and comments may be sent to: editor@thecommentary.ca