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Canada gives icy response to winter election
by By Francis Harris in Winnipeg, The TelegraphFriday, January 6, 2006
Now is the winter of Canadian discontent. Confronted by a rare general election campaign in the depths of the cold season, the country has uttered a collective moan audible from the Pacific to the Atlantic.
With temperatures freezing at best and plunging to -30C in some northern expanses, two thirds of Canadians have told pollsters that they are angry at the need to risk blinding blizzards, breakdowns and worse in the quest to vote.
Yet a growing number of hardier souls says the country has gone soft. The days are long gone when Canada was described as a country of steely-eyed Mounties, Eskimos in igloos and square-jawed lumberjacks, but something of that affection for the fearless frontier spirit does survive.
Edward Greenspon, the editor of the liberal Globe and Mail, a heavy-weight national newspaper, wrote that the country's soul had undergone a none too admirable change.
"When did this hearty land of coureurs de bois (French fur traders), crazy Canucks and men in sheepskin coats turn into a bunch of weather wusses?" he asked.
Arthur Weinreb, of the Right-wing Canada Free Press, was blunter still: "If the worst tragedy that can befall this nation is having to go out in the snow to vote, life in Canada can't be all that bad."
Far out in the west, on the vast snow-covered prairies of Manitoba, there is little sign that Canada's backbone has softened since its last winter election more than a quarter of a century ago.
Pam Cameron, the returning officer for the constituency, or riding, of Winnipeg South Centre, suggests that fears about the grit of Canadians have been over-stated.
"Manitobans are a pretty hardy lot," she said of the Jan 23 poll. "It can be expected that they will go out of the door in mid-winter."
The choice voters face is between the Liberal-led administration, forced to call an early poll by a funding scandal, or a tough-minded and controversial Conservative candidate, Stephen Harper.
Polls suggest that it is neck and neck but campaigners fear the effects of "unbelievable cold and limited daylight" on the turnout, which reached only 42 per cent in the summer election of 2004.
No one accustomed to this bleak landscape doubts nature's destructive abilities. This month has so far been deceptively mild, with temperatures as high as -2C.
But when the continent-wide winter storms start to roll across the plains, the mercury plunges to between -20C and -40C or worse.
Canadians head for their homes for the hard months. In the smaller communities of Manitoba, places with British-inspired place names such as Russell, Rennie and Warren, opening the front door could be the beginning of an alarming adventure.
The point was neatly illustrated in the village of Elm Creek, where a message was painted across the boarded-up windows of the roadside cafe: "Thanks! See you in the spring."
Tina Keeper, 43, the Liberal candidate for Churchill riding, is campaigning in the fourth largest electoral district in the country at 186,000 square miles. The former television presenter says that the distances are bad enough even in good weather.
Back in the provincial capital, Winnipeg, the amiable cabinet minister and local MP Reg Alcock says that the fear for all the parties is a partial thaw followed by another freeze. That would transform roads and pavements into dangerous skating rinks.
"It is treacherous even now," he said, noting that two of his campaign workers had been injured in falls.
None the less, party leaders have been seeking to exploit the public unhappiness with the vote. Leading the charge has been Paul Martin, the Liberal prime minister.
He was forced into the early election by revelations that his party had handed up to C$100 million (£49 million) to political allies in advertising agencies.
A judicial report has revealed that at least some of the work was never carried out. Predictably enough, Mr Martin prefers to talk about the weather.
"When Canadians sit down to their hot chocolate, the last thing they want to see is a politician on the television screen or at the door," he said.
Naturally enough, Mr Martin's party workers are ignoring his words and doing what they can to maximise the Liberal vote. But they are clearly worried about the weather.
"This election is going to be all about getting out the vote," said Robin Lamoureux, an organiser. "What if there's a storm that day?"
