There's
no doubt the policies of the Liberal and Conservative parties on the
touchy subject of the Middle East are different, but I also believe
that it's wrong to summarize the whole debate by framing it as the
Liberals are anti-Jewish and the Conservatives are anti-Arabs.
Unfortunately, the flyers last week circulated by the Conservatives
into heavily-populated Jewish ridings falls right into that
misleading axiom.
The
exploitation of ethnic issues to gain political support is an old
problem that the Liberals have mastered for a long time and they
were rewarded with solid electoral support. Their gimmicks have now
been exposed and, in fact, their grip on the so-called ethnic vote
is rapidly evaporating.
However,
the Liberal's past exploitations don't justify the Conservative's
renewed aggressiveness in trying to do exactly what the Liberals did
for decades.
The
flyers circulated last week were useless at best and
counterproductive at worst.
Aside
from some radical groups that, by the way, do exist, there are no
Canadians against other Canadians only because of culture or
religion. Flyers like that radicalize the debate and subtly
criminalize a legitimate political difference of a political
organization promoting a different and legitimate approach to a very
sensitive issue.
Prime
Minister Stephen Harper is doing, in my opinion, a good job, along
with many other world leaders, dealing with the difficult economic
situation and promoting world peace. He should tell some of his
advisers and, probably, some ministers that they don't need to
resort to these divisive and dangerous tactics to win the next
election and probably even get the majority.
For
years Conservatives have been demonized by the Liberals when they
expressd different views on how to deal with immigration and the
integration of new Canadians into our society. That was wrong, and
two wrongs don't make one right.
Exacerbating
a debate by radicalizing the opponent's position is a subtle way to
muzzle the debate, and thus damage the democratic process. That's
exactly what the Liberals did in many sectors, primarily in the
debates about immigration and multiculturalism.
Whoever
expressed any legitimate concerns was easily branded as racist and
anti-immigrant and, most of the times, the Conservatives were on the
receiving end of this tactic. The debate on this issue became
impossible and the legitimate concerns of many silently turned into
real anti-immigrant sentiments and created the chaos we're facing
now in this vital sector of Canadian life.
Harper
is doing his best to put forward an image of his party that is not
the one sponsored by the opposition up until now. In order to show
who the real Harper is, the Prime Minister is making an effort to
show Canadians part of his private life that he would have preferred
to keep to himself and his family. And, I believe that Canadians
have started to like what they see.
This
new course must now be adopted by the Conservative Party. It is not
a coincidence that most of the problems for Harper are not coming
from the government but from party handlers.
Now
he has to make an effort to tell some of the people running his own
party that they don't need to resort to those stupid flyers to gain
the trust of Canadians. The success of the Conservative Party and of
Harper in the next election, whenever that happens, is not hinging
on what Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff and his new chief of staff
Peter Donolo will do or say. The key to success is through a genuine
debate on issues and not the demonization of his party's opponents.
It
seems to me that this is the message that the Harper government is
selling to Canadians. Now this message has to be sold to some
hawkish Conservative organizers still hiding in some quarters of his
partisan organization.
