Let them look on the bright side
Well, we're almost done suffering through perhaps the most acrimonious and nasty Parliament in the history of the country. Unfortunately, all of the indicators suggest that we're up for another concentrated 5 or 6 weeks of it as Canada's political parties hit the hustings. Their goal? To get elected. How they're going to do it? By trying to convince Canadians that the other guys are worse than they are. It's looking now as if this campaign will be even more negative than the last.As far as I'm concerned, going negative isn't the way to win the election. If Paul Martin spends his time trying to convince voters that Stephen Harper is a terrifying, right-wing maniac out to dismantle Canada, he's not going to gain any ground. And if Harper continues to speak on and on about government corruption, about how nasty the Liberals are, he's not going to gain any ground. These were the tactics last time around, and let's be honest, very little has changed since June 2004. The Gomery report has been released, yes, but there wasn't much in there that we didn't already know. And polls shortly afterwards suggested that the thinking patterns of Canadians with regard to the scandal were already set mostly in stone. Another negative election will only turn more Canadians away from a national political scene that is increasingly bitter, acrimonious, partisan and personal.
I'll suggest right now that the party that dares to play an above-board campaign, free from negative advertising and based primarily on a vision for Canada's future, will win. It might not hand them a majority, but it'll give them a heck of a lot of votes. My advice is to refuse to sink to the level of the other parties, dismiss the negative advertising as childish and tell Canadians instead where you envision the country after your mandate. Upon what principles will you lead the country? Where will you focus your energies? This is what Canadians want to hear, I'd wager, and I think that whichever party can take heed of that suggestion will see the most gains in the upcoming election. A breath of fresh, positive air would do wonders for any party's poll numbers. Canadians want to look on the bright side - why don't the folks in Ottawa let them?
