Despite the similarity of the Canadian and British political systems – far, far more similar than the US and British ones – it’s American rather than Canadian politics that usually gets talked about for political lessons for Britain. Hence in the run up to the general election TV debates there was plenty of talk of the US debates (Presidential system) rather than the Canadian ones (Parliamentary system).
The Canadian approach to cutting a large government deficit was briefly all the talk of London think tank circles last summer. That fashion for of Canada quickly moved on, even though the comparisons are still worth a look.
Yet canadian politics has more to offer in interest and lessons than these blindspots imply, and this year’s federal election looks like it may turn out to be well worth following closely:
In place of rigid message discipline, the Liberal Leader [Michael Ignatieff] is venturing into any number of unscripted and unpredictable situations. He’s taking more questions from reporters and from the public than he needs to; he’s throwing himself at the mercy of hostile restaurant-goers; he’s laying down challenges to the Tory Leader over Twitter.
Having seemed previously to lack stamina, Mr. Ignatieff appears to be actively enjoying the rigours of the hustings. And that sense of energy is rubbing off, not least on media looking to turn a potentially dreary campaign into a more compelling story…
But if he keeps it up and they don’t adjust, the Conservatives have a problem. It’s not that the Liberals are about to surge wildly ahead in the polls. But already, Mr. Ignatieff shows signs of fulfilling two prerequisites to a competitive campaign.
One of those, and the one that seemed like a Herculean undertaking at the campaign’s outset, is rallying his fractious party behind him … The results of this election will be determined less by national communications strategies than by the ground war in a small number of battleground ridings. The Liberals will not be able to match the Conservatives’ organization, which is infinitely more sophisticated than their own. But they at least need to match their energy and sense of common purpose in order to have a fighting chance…
The other big goal of the Liberals is to convey the impression of a two-way race. (The Globe and Mail)
The performance of the Liberals grassroots election campaign should also be of interest to the Liberal Democrats, as the Canadian Liberals are using the election campaign management software the Liberal Democrats in the UK are looking to purchase.
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One Comment
My wife is from Canada and has a keen interest in Canadian politics. Mr Ignatieff seems to be trying to reach out beyond the grassroots support of his core vote with a number of policies that resonate with the ordinary Canadian voter.
The Canadian approach to dealing with their deficit, by the Conservative government (who have at times been seen as being too close to American politicians), was to concentrate on exports. Encouraging exports was done through tax breaks on things like the tar oil sands developments. However the environmental damage and health impact especially to the First Nation peoples living on the reservations has tarnished the reputation of the Conservative government.
Mr. Ignatieff’s Liberal party has proposed ending these tax breaks, which puts him on a collision course with powerful interest in the oil industry with deep pockets.
Last year in the General Election, we too had a David vs Goliath task when it came to winning the hearts and minds of people when the Labour and Conservative parties were larger, better funded and in some ways better organised. Yet, because we had a leader whose party was behind him the British people saw we were united as a party rather than the uneasy coalitions that make up the other two.
By necessity political parties target their resources outside of the safe seats and concentrate on the areas where people’s vote can make a difference to the outcome. Reform of our voting system is overdue as it is biased towards Labour and the Tories. Switching to AV would change campaigning and force political parties not to just engage in a “two-horse race” but to move on to genuinely engage with the public (even those who don’t vote or aren’t registered to vote) and reflect their views in grass root campaigns.
Under our current voting system too many people feel a vote for the Liberal Democrats is “wasted” because it doesn’t result in a political system that reflects their views. First past the post forces people to guess who the two leading candidates are and vote for the “lesser of two evils” if they are to have a chance at influencing the result.