An Election Based on a Broken Promise

The first day of the campaign is now over, and it's worthwhile to take a moment to reflect on where we are at the start of this campaign, as well as how we got here. For a Prime Minister who ran on a platform of honesty and trust, there is much to be ashamed of. Let's turn back the clock for a moment. Opposition Leader Stephen Harper promised, in the wake of Belinda Stronach's defection, never to romance an MP to cross the aisle. He promised that any Senate appointment made would be the result of an election to fill the position. He promised to be accountable. That was Opposition Leader Stephen Harper. Prime Minister Harper, on his very first day in office, broke all three of those promises. He lured David Emerson across the floor by waving a Cabinet post at him. He appointed Michael Fortier to the Senate, without election or consultation, and gave him a Cabinet position. Mr. Fortier was named Minister of Public Works, a massive department responsible for a great deal of Government spending, and by virtue of his position in the Senate, there was no accountability.

I bring up Mr. Fortier for a very specific reason. When the Prime Minister appointed Mr. Fortier to the Senate, it was made clear that the appointment was made because Mr. Fortier just couldn't be bothered to run in that election. We were promised that at the time of this election, Mr. Fortier would step down, and stand for election to the House of Commons. Now it is true that Mr. Fortier is a candidate in this election. He is the Conservative candidate for Vaudreuil-Soulanges. However, Mr. Fortier has not resigned his Senate seat. Indeed, the Senate website lists his retirement date as January 10, 2037. The only message that can be taken from this is that if Mr. Fortier loses this election, which is highly likely, given that it is a strong Bloc Quebecois seat, he will continue to sit as a Senator, unelected and unaccountable. Mr. Fortier should do the right thing, and resign his Senate seat at once, and he should go a step further and promise that if he loses, he will accept defeat and move on.

But back to broken promises, let's have a look at Stephen Harper's record. He promised to eliminate the GST entirely if the cost of gasoline crept above 85 cents per litre. Promise broken. On income trusts, the platform that the Conservatives ran on said that "A Conservative government will...stop the Liberal attack on retirement savings and preserve income trusts by not imposing any new taxes on them." Promise broken...on a dark, dark Tuesday, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty broke that promise, and wiped billions of dollars in retirement savings out of existence. The list goes on and on and on.

This brings us to where we are now. On Sunday morning, the Prime Minister visited Governor-General Michaelle Jean, and dissolved Parliament, with an election to be held October 14th. The broken promise here is quite obvious. Stephen Harper passed fixed election date law, promising the Canadian people that the next election would be held next year. When the bill passed, the Prime Minister said "Fixed election dates prevent government from calling snap elections for short-term political advantage. They level the playing field for all parties and the rules are clear for everybody." Harper went on to say that "fixed election dates stop leaders from trying to manipulate the calendar simply for partisan political advantage." Promise broken. Riding high in the polls, the Prime Minister cooked up a lame excuse, while Parliament was not even sitting, to suggest that it was not functional, and plunged the country into its third election in a four year period.

The Prime Minister made one more promise. He said that he would not go negative on other party leaders, even though he said he fully expected them to go negative on him. Time will tell how long it takes before he breaks that promise.

UPDATE: At the time of publishing this article, Mr. Fortier had not yet resigned. As of this morning however, he finally resigned his Senate seat, although he certainly waited until the very last moment to do so, given that this election was the worst kept secret in the country. I continue to wonder why Mr. Fortier did not avail himself of the numerous by-election opportunities that he had over the past session, but that aside, assuming he loses, I hope he takes it with grace.