By Arthur Weinreb
Monday, January 29, 2007
It seemed like a good idea at the time -- the Liberals introduced fixed election dates so when the governing party has a majority, elections would be held every four years. Since the legislation was introduced, Ontarians have known that they will be going to the polls on October 4, 2007. No longer will a majority government be able to select an election date that benefit them which is when the polls indicate that they have the best chance of being re-elected. Never again would we be faced with an early election that only the governing party wanted. Never again would we be faced by a tired government with no ideas left but that was hanging on and hoping that the polls would improve before being forced to call an election. Yes, it sounded good at the time but now as our first fixed date election date approaches, it might be a little optimistic to conclude that elections set four years in advance is a good idea.
Fixed election dates mean longer campaigns. Although there was a little buzz of activity last October when we were going into the final year of the McGuinty government's current mandate, it seems that the election campaign has formally begun. Instead of the 30 to 60 day campaigns that we have been used to, we are now at the beginning of an eight month campaign.
The campaign kicked off this past weekend at the Ontario NDP Convention that was held in Toronto. NDP leader Howard Hampton announced the start of his campaign, complete with a new logo and a new slogan, "Get Orange" whatever that is supposed to mean. Hampton announced his party's platform which will centre upon bettering lives of "working people" hardly a new and unique issue for the N Dippers. But Hampton is hoping to capitalize on the Liberal government's refusal to increase the minimum wage to $10 an hour after they and the Conservatives voted themselves a nice 25 per cent pre-Christmas raise. It makes sense for the NDP to start their campaign in earnest now before the memory of that pay increase fades from the collective memories of Ontarians as it is bound to do.
If the NDP attracts any attention with their campaign, the other parties will jump right in and we will have a full eight month election campaign. Governments, especially those of the Liberal persuasion have the bad habit of bribing the electorate with their own money. When this is done in the course of a short campaign, it becomes obvious. The federal Liberals are the masters of this technique although it failed to accomplish what they wanted it to in 2004 and 2006; one of the reasons being that it was a little too obvious. Now, the McGuinty Liberals are free to go on an eight month spending spree that won't be as noticeable as the ones that takes place during shorter campaign periods.
When we become used to fixed election dates, we will resemble the United States that always seems to be in the middle of one election campaign or another. The votes were barely counted in last November's mid term elections when the 2008 presidential race got underway. With candidates named Clinton and "Hussein" at least that race is interesting. But requiring Ontarians to endure an eight month campaign that stars Dalton McGuinty, John Tory, and Howard Hampton, should qualify as a human rights abuse. At least we may have found a cure for insomnia.
Municipal elections have fixed election dates with an almost year long campaign which partially explains why most residents of the province wouldn't know their municipal representatives if they tripped over them in the champagne section of a liquor store. Too much politicking and the public tunes out.
It's too early to tell if the 2007 campaign will really kick off. If very few people decide to "get Orange" and the NDP is hugely ignored as they usually are, the Liberals and the PCs might just refrain from going into campaign mode and carry on with business as usual. Even so we are bound to be in for longer election periods than we have been used to and, as Martha might say, that is not a good thing.
No doubt we will all wait with bated breath to see what happens next.
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