Thursday, December 08, 2005

All I want for Christmas is a new Government

Here in Canada we are in the midst of an election campaign that will not end until January 23rd. I of course have my convictions about who the governing party should be. I am a Conservative to the bone, and will almost certainly vote for them in any election.

Once in my life I voted NDP. That time around Bob Rae became Premier of Ontario, and it may be that we are still dealing withthe imapct of that. Never agani will I vote NDP.

Once I voted Liberal. I really didn't want NAFTA. That didn't accomplish anything. Mulroney still won and as it turns out NAFTA has been good for the country on balance.

This time around, with AdScam, the same-sex marriage issue, and the fact that the Conservatives have managed to put out policies which are easy for average canadians to relate to, I fully expect a Conservative government.

But for the moment I want to turn my attention to the local riding. The incumbent is a Conservative, the first federal conservative in a very long time for this area. The Liberal challenger is the guy who was the MP for many years. Clearly he is counting on the riding going back to its traditional colors.

But there are good reasons to keep Diane Finley as our MP.

I think we all know that the real power in government is in the Cabinet. Being out of the cabinet, even if in government, doesn't count for much. Whoever your MP is, you want that person to be in the Cabinet. That being the case, we can see that Diane Finley is the person to elect over Liberal Bob Speller. Why?

The Liberals are not a slam dunk to form the next government. Even if they do, Speller is not liekly to be in cabinet. Yes, he was a cabinet minister the last time he was an MP, but that had little to do with Speller's ability. PM Martin chose Speller because he needed to create a cabinet that was not a Chretien cabinet. Speller had been an MP for many years under Chretien, but never considered for a cabinet post. Speller then was chosen less for what he is than for what he never was.

Finley on the other hand in her first term as an MP has been a member of the shadow cabinet as the Agriculture critic. It is not uncommon for MPs to assume a cabinet post in the same area in which they were the critic while in Opposition. Unlike Martin, who had relatively few chices from which to make his "not-Chretien Cabinet", Conservative Leader Stephen Harper had many choices. He could have overlooked Finley altogether but did not do so.

In short then, Finley is more likely cabinet material than Speller, meaning she is more likely to be able to represent this riding at the highest level.

In terms of voting strategically, and in the interest of this riding, that should speak volumes.

4 comments:

Oddball Pastor said...

Hi Dan,

I don't dispute that Speller did many good things as an MP. I don't think that impacts what I said about being represented at the highest levels.

In His Steps said...

My Christian conscience (otherwise known as the Holy Spirit) can NEVER vote for another Liberal candidate! My views on same sex marriage alone are enough in my books to not vote for them. This Adscam is such a joke that anyone in their right mind would vote this government back in.

The fact today that Mr. Martin stated that again he would take millions (and the latest count is up to One Billion) of dollars that were spent on the gun registry and toss that aside (spare change I guess). He is now going to ban and confiscate all hand guns from legitimate gun owners. This political schizophrenia in the Liberal Party is running us into the poor house and the "bad guys" are going to be smuggling even more guns across the border.

Oddball Pastor said...

Hi Dan,

Yes I said Speller's appointment had little to do with ability. That sn't smear; that's my opinion, and I backed it up. Speller spent many years as an MP in government without ever being asked to be in cabinet. That is a pretty good indicator that the MP is perceived to not be cabinet material. The reasons for his being eventually invited to cabinet, as I said, have more to do wit his lack of a Chretien connection.

Frankly, I think you are being too defensive. I never said that Bob Speller had no ability or that he never served well. I simply said that he is not really cabinet material, and the record, I think bears that out.

But really this misses the point, as really I have not beeen arguing that oen cadidate has served the people well and th eother not. I have been saying that from the point of view of this riding's self-interest, you want to elect someone who is good cabinet material since the real power of government is in the cabinet. That being the case you want to elect someone who is likely to be named to cabinet.

So I am not arguing partisanship (though I am partisan) but local self-interest. The fact is that Finley has a much better chance of being named to cabinet for the Conservatives than Speller does for the Liberals. We therefore have much less to lose by electing Finley regardless of which party wins, and far more to gain should the Conservatives win.

In His Steps said...

As if you have never digressed from the topic???!!!!!
LOL!!
....btw, I agree with what you are saying about Diane Finley. I have really never been that impressed with Speller anyway.