Sunday, May 15, 2005

Should the Conservatives Win?

So, what if (shudder) the Conservatives win a majority? I'm actually open to the idea that there will be some positives. First and foremost, living in Ontario under a Liberal government does insulate me a bit from the worst effects of Conservative governance. Equality and the environment will probably do fine, though how well the McGuinty government does in the next election is a good question, despite recent successes.

The most abstract good I can see is that a majority would require the Conservatives to make serious success in Ontario at the least. This would be good for Canada in a number of ways. The current Conservative party is rather west-heavy, and some more moderate Conservatives from Ontario and the Maritimes would probably calm these people down some. Also, ending the Liberal monopoly in Ontario is probably a public good, in the sense that it would make Candian democracy more competitive.

(This is in no way an endorsement of the current hysterical complaints that the Liberals are dictators, fascists, etc.)

Also, there are a few elements of the Conservative platform that aren't entirely horrible, like some of the democratic reform parts. Do any other leftists out there have a contribution? That is, reasons not to weep should we have a Conservative majority at the end of June?

1 comment:

Flocons said...

Hey John, I think you need to change the password on your blog. Apparently some crazy guy has hacked your login and started posting crazy talk on your blog.