CKNW Editorial
for October 24, 2000

I have a very funny feeling about this election and I can’t put my finger on it. I think there’s change in the air – whether that militates in favour of one or other party in B.C. I’m just not sure.

I’ve always said, beware of the election where the government has no good issue other that they are to be preferred to the other guy. I went through one of those myself back in 1979 and what it does is focus attention on the other guys and invited comparisons. This election reminds me of the one I ran in, in 1979, and the federal election of 1972 when the Liberals, having no other issue, ran on the slogan "The Country Is Strong" and came within an ace of losing. I realize that these elections were long ago but I think the principles remain.

Because there is no concrete issue like free trade to focus the mind, the personalities will be in play and here it depends entirely on how the principal actors, Chretien and Day, play the game.

It’s pretty clear what the Chretien campaign will be all about. Mr Day will be portrayed as representing bigotry and right wing extremism with a strong undercurrent of inexperience. This will, of course, have some impact especially with those who were it not for the fact that their party is stone cold dead, vote NDP. Mr Chretien, the man who took away Health funding in the provinces giving rise to the health care crisis in the first place will proclaim that because of the restoration of these cuts, he cares about health care where Mr Day does not. Again, this will play well with the center-left.

In general, then, Mr Chretien will claim experience, good stewardship of our resources and to be the representative of middle-of-the-road Canada.

I’m not quite sure what Mr Day will do but here is what my tummy tells me he should do.

First off he should shrug off suggestions that he and/or his party are right-wing bigots. To the extent he engages in such a debate he dignifies the allegations. Second he must make a leap of faith and assume that the public is very interested indeed in a subject Chreiten won’t acknowledge as on the table. It could be called the arrogance issue and there is no question that Chretien is arrogant big time. Whether it was APEC, the Hep "C" issue, shoving bystanders and reporters, renaming Mount Logan … the list is a long one. But it’s more than arrogance. I truly think that people in this part of the country have known for a long time that there is something very wrong with the system. Of course part of it is that 50%+1 of the House of Commons has 100% of the power but that’s been the case from the beginning. It’s more than just the usual BC griping about Ontario and Ottawa. The feeling can best be exemplified by Ted McWhinney and Bill C49, the bill that enhanced native bands right to expropriate land. When people listened to Dr McWhinney argue against the bill then saw him vote for it in the House they knew that there was something wrong with the picture. There is a strong sense that the system stinks and that MPs are at best a highly paid national joke.

If I were advising Mr Day it would be to exploit this for all it’s worth. I would also advise him that it’s not enough that he talk the talk – he has to give concrete evidence that he’ll walk the walk.

It’s going to be a fascinating campaign – the best one since 1988 when free trade was the issue and John Turner and Brian Mulroney were duking it out. The televised debates, so-called, should tell a lot. And here is where I’d give Day some more advice. Loosen up a little … get some passion in your voice. I saw his address to that Toronto fund raiser and it read very well but sounded about as inspiring as a law school lecture on Wills and Trusts. Day needs practice in timing and he needs some passion. And he needs a couple of key points to hammer home every time such as, when I’m Prime Minister MPs will be representing you to my government not the other way around.

Can Stockwell Day pull an upset?

Given some favourable breaks I think he can. But he’ll need some luck and to get that he’ll have to make a bit of that commodity himself. But election campaigns are like wars – they are never fought quite like the combatants think they’ll be fought. They have infinite surprises, all manner of screw-ups, and no end of grief.

Jean Chretien is an old warrior which is both his biggest strength and his biggest weakness. He knows how to wage campaigns but he looks and acts tired. And he is arrogant as hell. One only look at the anointment of Stephen Owen in Quadra.

What Stockwell Day can make of this in a little over four weeks will tell us if we are to have another four years under the status quo, natural governing party (in their own eyes at least) or some changes promised in the way we do our political business in this country.

In many ways the election is Stockwell Day’s to win or lose.