I had a dream on my way to vote Tuesday.
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It came to me the moment I spied the sign out front of the polling station informing voters that there would be delays because of unspecified “complications.”
I dreamed of the biggest electoral turnout in recent Canadian history. And voters sending Stephen Harper and his Tories into political oblivion with one big FU for the ages. I must have been hallucinating.
In the end, Harper got his minority. A mandate from the Canadian people, he calls it, after winning – if you want to call it that – the support of 20 per cent of eligible voters in the election with the lowest turnout in history.
Harper’s good enough, at least to those living north of Steeles and beyond, even if he is the least trustworthy of the party leaders. Now there’s irony, or a kick in the head, depending on your perspective.
The Tories didn’t even have to release a platform until barely a week before Election Day – and only then after Harp’s “Crisis? What crisis?” economy flame-out. Don’t ask me to explain it.
It’s tricky to know any more what rates as political discourse in these days of poll-driven elections.
Take that Harris-Decima doozy in the Globe Saturday talking up a majority and reporting, “Tories’ lead picking up steam” in the key battlegrounds of Ontario, Quebec and BC.
It didn’t matter that graphs used to illustrate the point showed Tory support in those provinces at or below what the party started with in this election. The Tories’ national numbers, which factor in overwhelming western support, were down, too, by 2 per cent.
The “bounce” reported for Harper must have been a figment of some headline writer’s imagination.
Or maybe I’m the one living in a bubble, the one known as Toronto.
Perhaps I should be taking a hard look in the mirror and asking what acid trip I’ve been on, reflecting a little about the Canada I think I know.
Harper refuses to take questions from the media on the campaign trail or from the average Canadians he professes to represent on a CBC-TV call-in. And that’s okay? Could Mulroney have gotten away with that? Chretien?
Most Canadians, at least those who voted for Harper, don’t seem to mind, inured to the politics to the point that they don’t care any more.
I’m praying that’s the reason.
I hate to think that Harper, like the fictitious Bob Roberts, appeals to something more base in Canadians.
What does Harp know about otherwise fair-minded Canadians that the rest of us don’t?
enzom@nowtoronto.com
