Let the Winner Win

(August 19) - If you’re enjoying this political banquet of a by-election, don’t leave the table too quickly. There could be a second helping waiting in the kitchen. If you are full, though, I have a challenge to make that could please all but the most obese political gluttons.

All the clever people in the big city newspapers are predicting a general election as early as October. It all depends on what we do here, and what some other people in similar circumstances do in Quebec. If anyone but Gloria Kovach wins on September 8, Stéphane Dion could find the spine to defeat the government. If she wins, the Liberal brain trust will go back into hibernation. We’ll have the Harper government around our necks until October 2009.

But she isn’t going to win. If things keep going the way they seem to be going, she will be lucky to come in fourth. Regardless of where she places, one of the other three is going to come first. If you have one of their lawn signs in front of your house, don’t pull it out too quickly. You might need it again.

So here’s the challenge. The decision made by the people of Guelph in September is not likely to change in October. The winner of the by-election should work for more than just a month or two before reapplying for the job. The four local riding associations should meet together soon, well before election day. Even before the advance polls open. They should hammer out an agreement that three of them will not field a candidate if the next general election is called in 2008. If we get through Christmas without one, then everything goes back to normal.

The whole country is watching us during this by-election. We should have a chance to rest and recuperate and watch them from a distance while they make their choices. This would obviously set a precedent, but it wouldn’t be the first time Guelph sat one out.

In 1957, when Alf Hales was first elected, the general election was on June 10. The election in Wellington South – our riding name at the time – was deferred to July 15. It would be interesting to hear from some of our local historians about why this happened.

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Could we sit another one out? Should we? Maybe, if it comes up too quickly. The local Greens are campaigning with an eye to a quick turn around. They are telling us it won’t change the national political make up if Nagy wins. We can get back to normal behaviour when we wake up the morning after.

They say we’ll make history and be the talk of the western world if we elect North America’s first Green MP. It doesn’t have to be a lasting commitment. A brief flirtation will keep them happy. It only needs to endure until the next televised leader’s debate. A vote for Nagy is a vote to put Elizabeth May on television.

You don’t have to be Green to be green. Everyone has a position on the environment. The Liberals have their carbon tax. The NDP have their Kyoto Bill. The Greens have their ideas. The Conservatives have John Baird. You have a choice.