East Meets West in Federal Election

The ballots have been counted, the campaign signs are being stowed away and many Liberal candidates are either settling down with their plump pension checks or looking for new employment elsewhere. The results are in and although yesterday’s election results couldn’t exactly be termed a blue wave, more of a ripple really, it never the less sent a message to Ottawa that Canada is indeed ready for a change.

This morning the blue crew is busily planning for our collective future and many Canadians, especially supporters of the other parties, are wondering just what kind of future it will be. For years many people have fretted over what it might mean to have such a purportedly right wing party in charge of the Nation’s business. They’ve been told for years that Stephen Harper and his band of rednecks don’t really represent Canada, only the west. Today this is not the case.

With the exception of PEI, election 2006 has shown that there are people in every province, including Quebec, who are willing to give this new Conservative party enough rope to hang themselves with and why not. It took the Liberal party 13 years to pull the trap door and snap the rope tight, but eventually they did just that. Why not give the other guys the same opportunity, and besides isn’t the west part of Canada, aren’t westerners Canadians too?

I, like many folks in the east, have my own particular concerns about this party, but I also have an open mind on the subject. I’m not naive enough to believe the Country will dramatically change overnight, for good or bad, or for that matter even within a single mandate. That doesn’t mean that change can’t happen when new ideas and ideologies are allowed to take root. It’s always good to shake things up every now and then if for no other reason than simply to do it. The issue at hand now is whether or not this divided Parliament can function and if any of the Conservative platform planks will ever see the light of day.

From a strictly Atlantic Canadian perspective, I have to wonder if the fact that this party has a strong western power base and western mentality really is something we need to worry about or if in fact the truth may be quite the opposite.

For decades, here in Canada’s forgotten colonies, we’ve complained about our central government and how it only represents the views of the larger centers like Ontario and Quebec. This is a sentiment often expressed by westerners as well and one that many hold deeply in their hearts.

For years many of us have also complained that government has its hands into too many issues best left to our province(s). This is another western complaint.

Here in Newfoundland and Labrador in particular there has long been an undercurrent of independent pride running through our veins, perhaps a vestige of the days when we were a sovereign Nation. Many of us still harbor feelings of independence, not totally unlike that felt by people in Alberta who would prefer to see their province more in control over their own future.

Atlantic Canada, like the west, is becoming a major player in the oil and gas sector and also like the west many people here are reliant on nature (in the form of fisheries and logging) for their livelihood. A livelihood often marked by hard times and adversity not unlike that experienced by farmers and loggers in our western provinces. Nature is a difficult master and perhaps the only ones who may understand that nearly as well as easterners are those from the west.

Of course there are and always will be differences between the east and west but I suspect not as many as we have with places like Ontario. A province that has anointed itself the center of the universe while holding our fate in their hands for so long.

The reality is that the similarities between both coasts are numerous, with one glaring exception. The west is by all standards quite wealthy while Atlantic Canada most clearly is not. This has to make one stop and wonder if perhaps western ideas aren’t that scary after all. Maybe, just maybe, moving Canada’s power base away from the central regions where it’s been held for so long, will be a good thing for Atlantic Canada if it also brings with it the ideas, objectives and management styles that made the west what it is today.

If only from that perspective, yesterday’s election may prove to be a very interesting one for Atlantic Canada. I mean how bad can the west really be when thousands of our best and brightest pack up every year to move there? Perhaps in time we can begin to import some of the better ideas of the west rather than exporting our people.

Don’t get me wrong, don’t for one minute think I’ve been totally brainwashed by Conservative slogans and promises, I haven’t. I’m simply willing to give the new guys an honest try. In future articles I’ll surely throw the same sorts of barbs, jabs and volleys in the direction of our new government as I did at the old. I’ll continue to hold any politician’s feet to the fire, if the circumstances merit it. During their time in power the reds gave me plenty of ammunition to use against them and I’m sure the blues will do the same but until they do I’ll simply give them as much rope as they need. What they do with that rope is entirely up to them.

As a final note, Congrats to all the candidates who not only won, but who put themselves out there and were willing to fight for a seat. It's only by doing that anything gets done.