FACE TO FACE: Oh, about that federal election...
On Monday, while I sat scrutineering in the gym at Moody middle school, Canadians elected a Conservative majority government and, more surprisingly, an NDP official opposition. Wow.
We knew Michael Ignatieff was "not connecting" with Canadians and Jack Layton was connecting with Quebecers, but although the tribe has spoken, few expected the Liberals and Bloc Quebecois to be voted off the island.
Although Jack Layton made the biggest arithmetic gain, Stephen Harper won the bigger prize - the long-coveted majority government.
If, however, his majority government overestimates its mandate, it will almost certainly have trouble in newly conquered Ontario, where he captured this majority.
The Tories increased their total by 22 seats, 21 of which were in Ontario. Ironically, and perhaps a bit ominously for the new Harper majority, it was these same Ontarians who for years steadfastly refused to drink the Reform Party Kool-Aid, rejecting the party in election after election.
Ontario's continual refusal to embrace the Reform Party forced the coalition of the right, now morphed into the Conservative Party. Minority government situations have, until now, allowed Harper to cool the jets of his socially radical Reform faction long enough to convince Ontarians that a Conservative majority won't re-open the abortion debate, privatize Medicare, re-examine gay marriage laws or rail against central Canada.
And so, disillusioned "Blue Grits" in Ontario rejected the unclear Liberal message and voted Tory in large numbers. These voters will not long accept a socially conservative agenda and will abandon the Conservative ship at the first blush of Reform Party social conservatism.
A majority government will give Canadians some welcome political stability for a while - that's good. The official opposition is now the NDP, the party that founded and is committed to Medicare, pensions and the social safety net - that's very good because this is what most Canadians want: conservative fiscal management and a social safety net.
Prime Minister Harper will now have to tiptoe between the more moderate social policy that Ontarians and most Canadians will demand and the more radical social, environmental and foreign policy agenda his base will press him to pursue.
He needs to become a progressive Conservative.
Face to Face columnist Jim Nelson is a retired Tri-City teacher and principal who lives in Port Moody. He has contributed a number of columns on education-related issues to The Tri-City News.
