If you decide to support the forces of constructive change – then the future will be different

Yesterday (01/30/12) the Vancouver Sun had a piece written by Paul Kershaw from the University of British Columbia.  It was entitled “A Canadian sidekick for Colbert”, and it began with the following:

Just 10 per cent of Canadians trust politicians, according to a recent Ipsos poll. Canadians are more likely to trust new-car sales people than elected officials, data from Leger Marketing tell us.

These facts may be good for a laugh. But, really, we shouldn’t be amused. The fact that Canadians are more likely to treat politicians like punch lines rather than people to respect is a fundamental reason why we are tuning out politics. Barely 60 per cent of Canadians voted in the last federal election; in Ontario’s fall provincial election, fewer than 50 per cent of eligible voters showed up at the ballot boxes. Our largest province has not seen such low turnout since Confederation in 1867.

Apathy is not a neutral force in our democracy. Apathy helps to sustain the status quo. And the status quo is not a friend of Canadians under 45.

“POLITICIANS” … have become the punch lines, and punching bags, of municipal, provincial and federal voters – and THEY DESERVE TO BE!  And not just of people under the age of 45.

In 1999 a Canadian political party release a brochure … “This is the Reform Party”.  Here are just some of the things they had as policy objectives in this brochure:

1. the equality of citizens …
2. Responsible government that is accountable to citizens …
3. More and better jobs through balanced budgets and tax relief
4. Safer streets and communities
5. Strong reliable and affordable social services
6. Greater support for Canadian families as the basic building block of Canadian society

In BC we have two political parties that have governed this province over the past two decades … the BC Liberals … and the New Democrats.  Has anything truly been done towards the goals I noted above ... and that apply just as easily to our province?  I think the fact that only 10% of Canadian voters trust politicians provides the answer.

Now let me turn your attention to the comments of Preston Manning in a speech he gave at the Winnipeg Rally on April 18, 2006.

On the dark side we find all the problems that dominate the news and much political debate, and all the fears that go along with them.

These are the problems of government over spending and over-taxation, of declining disposable income, poverty, unemployment, under-employment, and the gnawing fears of financial insecurity which go along with them.  Some of you are living in those shadows

These are the problems of hospital bed closures, longer and longer waiting lines for health care … is there anyone here who is or has been, or has a friend or relative that has been, in a waiting line for health care over the past year – you are not alone.

And included on the dark side is the perennial, politician made problem of national unity, endless wrangling about terms like ‘special status’ and ‘distinct society ‘compounded by the traditional party tendency to divide the national interest into a tangled ball of francophone interests, Anglophone interests, allophone interests, gender interests, aboriginal interests, labour interests, business interests, special interests that politicians can play one against the other.  And this problem causes national political insecurity, causes people to fear the very future of their national home.

This is the dark side of national politics and Canada’s future.  You know all about it.  It’s depressing.  It’s the product of traditional party government.

But tonight I don’t want to dwell on the dark side.  Instead, I would like to shift our focus to the bright side – to the solutions to the problems – to what Canada can become and to what you can do – what we can do together, to ensure a brighter future for ourselves and for our children.

Now again, this was a speech by the leader of the Reform Party --- a federal political party – but substitute a few words and it becomes reality for British Columbia as well – especially the last paragraph which I have highlighted in bold.

So what did Preston Manning say could be done – could be done to ensure a brighter future for ourselves and for our children?  He had common sense ideas and solutions – and they were:

The good news is that none of these so-called problems are insoluble.  Canadians can solve them. We must solve them, and we will.

It is possible to stimulate job creation on a scale far greater than the Liberals can imagine or what we’ve done in the past.  It’s possible for you and your children to have better employment prospects.  It is not necessary to passively accept massive and chronic unemployment as a permanent feature of the economic landscape.

It is possible to increase personal and family disposable incomes so that people have more economic and social security rather than less.

It is possible to reform the health care and pension systems so that health care and pensions are there when you need them. It is possible to make streets and communities and homes safer for people like you.

The Reform party was created to pursue these possibilities and to put forward solutions, to refine them through public discussion, and to present them to the electors as an alternative to the Liberal status quo.

Once again I will remind you this was a speech by the leader of the Reform Party, but again all we have to do is substitute a few words and it becomes reality for British Columbia as well.

BUT … are these solutions ones that have come forward from the governing BC Liberal Party --- or the New Democrats before them?

We are being told we must maintain the status quo, or we will see the NDP elected in 2013.  We are told that the BC Liberal Party MUST have our vote – BUT are we given any positive reasons why we should support them?  Election after election we hear the same song and dance -- and we are told stay with us, things will be different, things will be better.

I ask you, are they?  I for one say they are not!

That’s why I encourage you to stay with me and read a bit more.  Let’s look to the past again for a moment … and another speech from Preston Manning; this time the “Think Big” speech given to the Reform Assembly on January 29, 2000.

What will make the difference – between whether Canada lives in the shadows or moves forward toward the new light of a better day?  Not politicians, not parties, not speeches – YOU will make the difference!

If you support the status quo – or do nothing – we will continue as we are – with all the old problems, the broken promises, the future unfulfilled.

If you decide to support the forces of constructive change – then the future will be different.

Let me repeat that last line once again … If you decide to support the forces of constructive change – then the future will be different.

Only one political party in British Columbia is putting forth a program for constructive change – that is the John Cummins led BC Conservative Party.

Only one political party in British Columbia is putting forth a program calling for responsible government that is accountable to citizens – that is the John Cummins led BC Conservative Party.

Only one political party in British Columbia is saying the good news is that none of these so-called problems that Preston Manning spoke of in the past, and that afflict us in BC today, are insoluble. 

Only one party has real commons sense ideas that can begin to solve the problems of our health care system … our economic future … and the issue of the Liberals and NDP pitting labour interests, business interests, and special interests one against the other – that is the John Cummins led BC Conservative Party.

Preston Manning wrapped up his “Think Big” speech with the following:

I am trusting that you too will charge up that hill and that I will see you at the top.  And when they ask us how we got there, you can tell them: We were thinking BIG!

As I have mentioned elsewhere and before, it is a shame and a pity that Preston Manning has forgotten his reform roots – what they were about --- and WHY.  That said, the words he spoke back in 1996, 1999, and 2000 are no less real today, than they were then.

John Martin in Chilliwack Hope … and Christine Clarke in Port Moody – Coquitlam … are in the same place as Debra Grey back in that first by-election for the Reform Party.  Again some will say we can’t win, but as was spoken then:

“Let go for it” – seize every opportunity to expand our influence.   Push the envelope.  Think BIG!

I’m Alan Forseth in Kamloops … and I’m “Thinking Big”!  Are you?