by John Deverell

Stephen Harper, you are either remarkably inventive or arithmetically challenged. You want a majority government and you’ll happily accept it, without majority popular support, as “the will of the people.”

If you’re held to a Parliamentary minority, as you were in 2006 and 2008 — you’ll trumpet that too as the automatic right to govern, “a democratic mandate.” If the majority of MPs in the next Parliament somehow manages to pry you loose from the PMO and 24 Sussex Drive; you’ll say that is “wrong” and “undemocratic.”

The peculiar formula behind all this is quite simple, and it has nothing to do with conventional definitions of “democratic majority.” In your reshaped Canada, “democracy” will be whatever the Stephen Harper Government says it is.

Michael Ignatieff, you can count to two. You see a blue door and a red door. Everybody’s got to go through the red door, you say. But Michael, this is Canadian “democracy” — 308 distinct winner-take-all contests pretending to be a general election.

As the Globe and Mailhas already reminded you, in about 260 of those electoral districts, the outcome on May 2 is already settled. Those voters already know who will be represented in Parliament — and who won’t. There are maybe 50 districts in which a changeover is possible.

Michael, do you really want Greens and New Democrats, where they are strong, to vote Liberal, split the opposition vote, and elect a Harper Conservative? Surely that’s not how patriotic Liberals should campaign if they live in a weak Liberal district.

Jack Layton, you can count to one — there’s only one prime minister, and you’d like the job. But it might not happen, and then what? Jack, do you really want Liberals and Greens, where they are strong, to vote NDP, split the opposition vote, and elect a Harper Conservative? Surely that’s not how patriotic New Democrats should campaign if they live in a weak NDP district.

Elizabeth May, your troubles when you mention tactical voting are countless. Let’s hope you win your seat, and Green voters follow Catch 22 to figure out which Harper Conservatives can be beaten.

Michael and Jack, let Catch 22 say what apparently you can’t or won’t. The direction of the country is at stake in this election. That is far more important than your party’s $2 per vote annual public subsidy — which you lose anyway if Harper wins a phony majority in Parliament.

Leaders — including Stephen Harper — the political party cartel is financed 85 per cent from the public purse.[1] Start earning your keep. Put the public interest ahead of your party interest every now and again. Michael and Jack, learn to count better. Help Canadians defeat the Harper Conservatives.

1. Harold Jansen and Lisa Young, How Much State Money Goes to Canada’s Political Parties? October 2010,http://umanitoba.ca/outreach/meechlake/papers/Jansen&Young.PPSA…

Cross-posted from the Catch 22 Campaign

Gary Shaul

Gary Shaul is a life-long Torontonian and retired Ontario civil servant. He's been involved with a number of issues over the past 45 years including trade unionism, proportional representation, Indigenous...