Conservatives’ budget and, barring any last-minute deals, are to support a non-confidence motion Friday and force a spring election.
It would be the third federal election in five years – and forth in seven.
Is one necessary? Do voters want to go to the polls again? Will it change anything?
Recent polls have the Conservatives leading the Liberals by as many as 11 points, with the NDP in its usual place – third.
Stephen Harper’s party is still out front despite recent controversies over ethics and spending.
Still, the opposition parties, ever so opportunistic, think now is as good a time as any to bring down the minority government.
The Conservatives, not surprisingly, disagree, arguing that, while Canada has weathered the recession as well as any country, the economy is still unstable.
So we will spend another several hundred million dollars to find out how Canadians really feel, not just how our political leaders tell us how we feel.
That is how democracy works.
So whether we want more prisons or new fighter jets, or better benefits for our aging parents, our elected Members of Parliament want another election.
They all want to be in control. Why can’t they all just get along?
In the absence of fixed election dates (which might not even hold in B.C., the only province in the country with them), the only way to stop this wasteful spending on elections every other year is to give one party the majority it desires – because we saw how well that worked with the previous Liberal government.
Another election is madness. The polls are usually pretty accurate, and right now they’re showing another minority Conservative government.
Anything else is just wishing thinking.
– The Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows News