Tuesday, May 17, 2005

That's What I Call A Confidence Vote

Belinda crosses the floor. Let me just say good for her, and I hope she can stand up to the inevitable deluge of bile and hate that has already started to spew from Conservative corners.

Calgarygrit is a bit confused by the timing of this - after all, Belinda is joining the government which she voted in favour of ending a week ago. In that light, it is indeed confusing. But I think her defection makes a bit more sense through the light of a certain Ontario-centrism. I bet Belinda, a pro-choice, pro-gay marriage Conservative, thought that she could find a place in the current Canadian Conservative Party. For moderate Ontario conservatives, who know a bunch of other Ontario moderates, that might make sense. After a while in the belly of the western, religiously- and genitally-conservative Party, and you start having to take a good long look in the mirror. It really was just a matter of time.

Now that she's in the party she belongs with, whither Ontario? Well, Belinda's just given a clear signal to Ontario conservatives: Not this time, and not with this Party. Simply put, the real confidence vote this week just happened today, and Harper lost. Needless to say, Martin's chances of surviving Thursday are looking much, much better.

Finally, I hope Scott Peter MacKay and Belinda can sort out each other's CDs. But good news, Scott Peter! You can start leaving the seat up.

Update: Seriously. I need to find a way to remember MacKay's first name. Does anyone have a mnemonic or anything?

1 comment:

Bernd said...

When you write that Belinda Stronach's crossing of the floor makes more sense in the light of a bit of Ontario-centrism I agree with you, as well as when you say that it is difficult for a pro-choice, pro-gay marriage Red Tory to find a home in the new Conservative Party. Joe Clark couldn't do it nor could many other Red Tories.

You lose me, however, when you equate "western" with the other sins of the "...religiously- and genitally-conservative Party." Surely being western is not as much a disablity as being a prudish theocratic scumbag. Remember, in the 2004 election the Conservatives won 36.3 percent of the votes in BC and 31.5 percent in Ontario.

Bernd