http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Columnists/Levant_Ezra/2006/01/22/1406729.html
The morning after Hardest part is just beginning for the Conservatives By Ezra Levant What happens tomorrow? For Paul Martin, an end not just to his power but to his credibility. He had no belief or principle that he did not abandon in his desperation, from fiscal responsibility to Canada-U.S. friendship to his promise to respect the West. He said anything and everything -- and so now the country believes nothing. For Martin's backroom boys, the Greek tragedy of hubris. They so believed in their own inevitability, in their moral and intellectual superiority, that they were tone-deaf to what normal Canadians are really like. Worse, they began to despise normal Canadians, thinking them too irresponsible to spend child-care money properly or too gullible to see through hysterical attack ads. For the entire class of political hangers-on, lobbyists, government relations consultants and pollsters: Exile from the world of fat expense accounts and fat government contracts, of living at the taxpayers' trough, of blurring the lines between public interest and personal gain. Exile and excommunication will be followed in some cases by subpoenas as a Conservative government, with full Bloc Quebecois and NDP support, opens up a hundred sealed government accounts, everything from the $2-billion gun registry to off-the-books foundations the Liberals set up, to the wheat board, which has been exempt from access-to-information requests. For the Liberal party itself, an era of debt (more than $30-million in bank loans, according to Elections Canada), and fundraising hobbled by a loss of power and continuing audits and investigations. For the Bloc Quebecois, an end to the profitable dichotomy of corruption vs. separatism. Two years ago, Stephen Harper and Peter MacKay formally merged two of the three Mulroney constituencies back together. This election started the grassroots merger of the third-wing of that coalition: Quebec "bleues." That the Liberals are third place in Quebec polls is simply a poetic flourish. For the media, a realization they are not in synch with voters of the country -- their own audience. The press gallery turned against Martin and his handlers, but that didn't mean they turned to Harper or conservatism. Decisions by the Toronto Star and Globe to delay or underplay poll results favouring the Conservatives is evidence they participated in the campaign and didn't just write about it. For the Conservatives, the hard part begins. Beating a tired, corrupt Liberal party will seem easy compared to the work ahead. The indulgences of an opposition party must be replaced by the discipline of a governing party. That will mean prioritizing policy goals, especially if the government is a minority -- and some Conservative supporters are sure to be let down. It will mean resisting the temptations of power, knowing the media will be aching to find evidence of Tory corruption. And it means that, when eventually a scandal does erupt, Harper responds with such force that sceptics are impressed and every would-be embezzler is scared straight. Western Conservatives, who for 15 years have been baffled by Central Canada's love affair with the Liberals, have now got support out East. But with support must come meaningful representation in cabinet. The Conservative front-bench will no longer be dominated by Albertans and British Columbians; and not all of the West's policy aspirations will be met. For the first time in memory, though, they will at least be heard, and the man at the centre of it will be a sympathizer. And, for a million quiet Western separatists, their doubts and plans have been put on hold. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
