Results of Same-Sex Marriage Vote
I was pleased to see the motion to re-open SSM go down in defeat. Unlike in the past where it has generally been the Liberals who have been divided and the Tories who have been united, there were roughly as many Tories who broke party ranks as Liberals. Interestingly enough not one Tory in the fifth row voted against the government, while half came from the cabinet. I guess that proves there are still many nutbars in the party, but Harper has figured including them in cabinet is not the best idea. Hopefully this issue will be put behind us for good.
As for what Harper will do now, I don't know, but despite my disagreements with him on many issues, he is a great tactician so if he is wise he won't bring it up again. The only case I could see him re-visiting the issue again is if he wins a majority. Not so much that he is keen to visit it, but the social conservative element in his caucus is quite strong and I cannot see them giving up on the issue easily. If he wins a minority again, the issue won't likely be re-visited since the So-Cons know they would lose again. If he loses the next election, I suspect the next leadership race will be a very divided one unlike the Liberal one where each of the candidates generally agreed on the main issues, but choose to emphasize different areas. On the other hand I expect in the next Tory leadership race to be a clash between the moderates who will argue the party lost for being too right wing and too far outside the mainstream vs. the conservatives who will argue the party lost for straying too far from prinicpled conservatism and not doing enough to differentiate themselves from the Liberals thereby causing many principled conservatives to stay home. I've never bought the latter argument, but I am sure it will be used.
As for what Harper will do now, I don't know, but despite my disagreements with him on many issues, he is a great tactician so if he is wise he won't bring it up again. The only case I could see him re-visiting the issue again is if he wins a majority. Not so much that he is keen to visit it, but the social conservative element in his caucus is quite strong and I cannot see them giving up on the issue easily. If he wins a minority again, the issue won't likely be re-visited since the So-Cons know they would lose again. If he loses the next election, I suspect the next leadership race will be a very divided one unlike the Liberal one where each of the candidates generally agreed on the main issues, but choose to emphasize different areas. On the other hand I expect in the next Tory leadership race to be a clash between the moderates who will argue the party lost for being too right wing and too far outside the mainstream vs. the conservatives who will argue the party lost for straying too far from prinicpled conservatism and not doing enough to differentiate themselves from the Liberals thereby causing many principled conservatives to stay home. I've never bought the latter argument, but I am sure it will be used.
posted by Monkey Loves to Fight at 3:51 PM
4 Comments:
Miles,
I occasionally get spam comments like this one and I'm wondering how to get rid of them; ie making commenters on your blog type in a confirmation word/code.
Well, the first step is to disallow anonymous comments, which I've done on mine.
Don't fool yourself. The Conservatives did this intentionally, and the whole point was that they were free to vote, unlike the NDP and Bloc that were forced and the Liberals who found "technicalities" that prevented them from favouring the motion
BC Tory and Opinionater777 - I don't use the word confirmation since I cannot see it from my blackberry and therefore cannot respond from my blackberry. I also don't block anonymous comments since I like to hear from all people including those who don't have blogs.
William E Demers - SSM is a dead issue for most and as John Ibbitson eloquantely pointed out in the Globe and Mail they are fighting a lost battle, not a losing, but a lost. Even in the US they are beginning to lose ground. That is not to say conservatives haven't had successes elsewhere. On Lower taxes and balanced budgets they have been so succesful that almost all parties now support his position. Likewise supporting a greater role for the private sector in health care is now a very mainstream idea, whereas 10 years ago it was a very radical idea. Where they have failed is on moral issues, foreign policy and the environment and those are issues where they turn people off the most. In fact according to Decima, if the ballot question was on the economy or taxes, the Conservatives would be approaching majority territory, but if on the environment or Afghanistan, they are toast.
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