Fundamental to good government is honesty, integrity and transparency. Regrettably, it is the total departure from these attributes that has brought instability, vain conceit and disingenuous motives to our nation's capital.
Prime Minister Harper must bear much of the blame for this crisis; the Conservative Party is after all the instigator. Leaders must lead, but equally important is the need to serve the people. The failure to provide conciliatory leadership during a minority government has resulted in today's chaos. Most Canadians do believe that the issue that precipitated this conflict was the Prime Minister's threat to cut subsidies to political parties.
Eliminating such subsidies is not an attack on democracy as the coalition members decry, but would represent a return to democracy. While the CHP would applaud the policy, it was unfortunately, recklessly proposed by the PM.
It should be pointed out to Canadians, that contrary to what they hear in the media, not all political parties benefit from such a funding scheme. The CHP has never received such funding, but is 100% member supported and funded.
The NDP and Liberals may never admit it, but the selfish ambition of the coalition is obvious and their attempts to convince Canadians to the contrary are pitiable. Driven together through greed, they saw an unprecedented opportunity to gain leverage and power, so they selfishly put partisanship aside and entered into negotiations for power with the Bloc.
While the Canadian economy is not collapsing, the economic signals are worrisome. Indeed, according to most analysts, Canada is one of the healthiest of the G8. It is also untrue, that the Conservative government has done nothing. On the contrary, they have acted with prudence in the face of the global economic crisis. There have been tax reductions at both the personal and the corporate levels which in themselves will act to modestly stimulate the economy. The question is, can we do more, and where should we put our focus?
Should we bail out the ailing auto industry? This requires careful analysis, not a quick fix by throwing millions of taxpayer's dollars at a patient that may not survive.
It needs to be pointed out that Canada is in desperate need of infrastructure renewal, and this has been the case for some time. Cities for successive elections have begged Ottawa to do something to help them cope with the problem. This is an issue on which all of the parties in the House of Commons have failed Canada.
The CHP has proposed for some time, an infrastructure policy that has already been used successfully in Canada. It's a simple, non-inflationary policy that was applied in Canada at the end of WWII. Implemented by the Liberals under C.D. Howe, McKenzie King's minister of reconstruction, it worked very well.
The Bank of Canada would issue interest-free loans to cities, municipalities, provinces and Crown corporations for infrastructure projects, such as water and sewage treatment systems, airports, bridges etc... which are in dire need of revamping. The builder, the province, would collect revenues from increased economic activity, which would be used to pay back the interest free loan and the money would then be withdrawn from the economy, so it wouldn't have an inflationary consequence. But the improved infrastructure would remain.
This policy has been used successfully in our nation's history, and should be implemented again to enable communities to meet urgent, current needs.
In addition, Canada would benefit greatly if out of this crisis emerged a truly democratic parliament with proportional representation, where the vote of every citizen would count, and political parties succeeded or failed depending on their own grassroots support, rather than feeding at the public trough. Such improvements to our democracy would benefit our nation by empowering the grassroots political involvement of citizens, leading to a more active electorate and increased voter turnout.
The CHP is a federal party that continues to offer Canada stability, honesty and loyalty. The CHP will only seek to lead through service, according to principle, for the good of the country, not just for the good of our political party.
Now that the Governor General has prorogued parliament, we hope that cooler heads will prevail in the coming months.
We know that during these times the focus should be on Canadian families and not the corporate sector. Before any policy is implemented, the question must be asked, "Is this good for Canadian families?"
Canadians should also note that all other parties have failed to put integrity and respect for human life ahead of power and finances. This abandonment of historic moral principles leaves all of them without a defence in claiming the moral high ground.
Historically, it has never been more important, that our nation's leaders recognize the constitutional requirement that Canada be governed in light of principles that recognizes the supremacy of God and the rule of law. Those principles made Canada the most desirable place in the world to live; and only the CHP is committed to restoring those principles for all Canadians.
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