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Bye Bye 905 Electoral Pie
Mar. 17th, 2009 05:23 pmhttp://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/03/17/tech-090317-gary-goodyear-evolution.html
It's entertaining to think that Stephen Harper might go down in history as the man that saved the Liberal Party. In the US, it is accepted that the third rail in American politics is Social Security; touch it, and you die. Bush and the GOP learned that fact a few years ago, when they helped unify Democratic opposition to privatizing aspects of how Social Security is governed and administered, and helped fuel the wave that eventually resulted in the Republicans being slaughtered in two election cycles and primed to potentially lose ground in a third.
With Canada, our third rail is religion. We just love religion; the more we have of any religious sect, the more that we can tout our multicultural tolerant society approach, against the homogenious practices of the US melting pot. But, as an elected official, you keep your beliefs dignified, private, and do not politicize them. The largest opposition the Conservatives have faced in rebuilding the right wing brand is that they have been painted with the same 'God' saturated, Christian, Bible-thumping brush as the US right, and outside of Alberta, it's a dangerous line to tread, especially with urban Canada.
Canada is actually a country of very deep faith in many parts, and our rural areas have just as fervent Christian populations as any part of the US. However, it is not considered proper to voice it in the same manner as south of the border. On trips, we regularly boggle at the barns painted with 'Praise Jesus Christ' and the billboards of scripture.
So, to have your Federal Science Minister allow himself to get put on the spot about evolution, and then flatly refuse to answer the question, you get the worst of both worlds. You have Goodyear pegged as hiding whether or not he believes in what is one of the essential underpinnings of modern science, and if he feels he needs to hide something, what does he really have planned for the direction of science funding in Canada? Will it be influenced by those programs that support his own beliefs, and will funding be diverted away from those which challenge his church's teachings? By association, since he appointed him, does Prime Minister Harper have an agenda to dismantle barriers between church and state, and try to challenge the teaching of evolution in Canadian schools.
It is ridiculous to think that any of that is the case, and yet, they've just handed the Liberal Party one huge stick to beat them with. Considering that faith based schooling cost the provincial Conversative leader John Tory the election, his riding, and his leadership post, religion remains a very touchy subject in Ontario, the key areas that Harper must woe to achieve a majority, or at the very least, keep the Liberal's support fractured in. Following his last gaffe that all but gave the Liberal's veto power over the budject, Harper's minister has just given them their next platform for an upcoming election.
It amazes me to see what had been a tightly controled, and effectively coordinated communication discipline follow the PMO right off the cliff. Harper is well aware that off the leash, some of his members who are popular in the West could cost the Conservatives doubledigit support in a single, hate-filled rant to a television reporter, but now, even what should have been his safe picks are proving to undermine a campaign that has already suffered serious cracks from the top.
Will Harper be the one to elect the Liberals? Right now, it's looking like it.
It's entertaining to think that Stephen Harper might go down in history as the man that saved the Liberal Party. In the US, it is accepted that the third rail in American politics is Social Security; touch it, and you die. Bush and the GOP learned that fact a few years ago, when they helped unify Democratic opposition to privatizing aspects of how Social Security is governed and administered, and helped fuel the wave that eventually resulted in the Republicans being slaughtered in two election cycles and primed to potentially lose ground in a third.
With Canada, our third rail is religion. We just love religion; the more we have of any religious sect, the more that we can tout our multicultural tolerant society approach, against the homogenious practices of the US melting pot. But, as an elected official, you keep your beliefs dignified, private, and do not politicize them. The largest opposition the Conservatives have faced in rebuilding the right wing brand is that they have been painted with the same 'God' saturated, Christian, Bible-thumping brush as the US right, and outside of Alberta, it's a dangerous line to tread, especially with urban Canada.
Canada is actually a country of very deep faith in many parts, and our rural areas have just as fervent Christian populations as any part of the US. However, it is not considered proper to voice it in the same manner as south of the border. On trips, we regularly boggle at the barns painted with 'Praise Jesus Christ' and the billboards of scripture.
So, to have your Federal Science Minister allow himself to get put on the spot about evolution, and then flatly refuse to answer the question, you get the worst of both worlds. You have Goodyear pegged as hiding whether or not he believes in what is one of the essential underpinnings of modern science, and if he feels he needs to hide something, what does he really have planned for the direction of science funding in Canada? Will it be influenced by those programs that support his own beliefs, and will funding be diverted away from those which challenge his church's teachings? By association, since he appointed him, does Prime Minister Harper have an agenda to dismantle barriers between church and state, and try to challenge the teaching of evolution in Canadian schools.
It is ridiculous to think that any of that is the case, and yet, they've just handed the Liberal Party one huge stick to beat them with. Considering that faith based schooling cost the provincial Conversative leader John Tory the election, his riding, and his leadership post, religion remains a very touchy subject in Ontario, the key areas that Harper must woe to achieve a majority, or at the very least, keep the Liberal's support fractured in. Following his last gaffe that all but gave the Liberal's veto power over the budject, Harper's minister has just given them their next platform for an upcoming election.
It amazes me to see what had been a tightly controled, and effectively coordinated communication discipline follow the PMO right off the cliff. Harper is well aware that off the leash, some of his members who are popular in the West could cost the Conservatives doubledigit support in a single, hate-filled rant to a television reporter, but now, even what should have been his safe picks are proving to undermine a campaign that has already suffered serious cracks from the top.
Will Harper be the one to elect the Liberals? Right now, it's looking like it.
