Are you ready for a fall election?

Sunday, September 6, 2009 | Categories: Episodes

Interviewed by guest host Suhana Meharchand on the September 6, 2009 program

"Are you ready for a fall election?"

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David Docherty
Political scientist, Wilfrid Laurier University
Andre Pratte
Editorial pages editor and political writer, La Presse newspaper
Gordon Gibson
Former leader of the B.C. Liberal Party and a political writer
Frank Graves
Founder and president, Ekos Research

Guest host Suhana Meharchand's introduction to the September 6, 2009 program:

"Are you ready for a fall election?"

Here, in Toronto, at least, it's a beautiful day. It's hot, but not humid, the CNE is in full swing, the Blue Jays are playing across the street, and the air show roaring overhead. It's about as perfect a labour day weekend can be in a city.

So. Who wants to talk about an election?

Does thinking about answering the door to the enumerators make your eyes roll? Does watching the sea of "elect... so-and-so" make your stomach turn?

If it does, my sense is that most Canadians are with you. Yet, less than a year after fewer than 60 per cent of us went to the polls to elect the current government, we are faced with the prospect of another campaign.

Last week, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said he planned to bring down Stephen Harper's Conservative minority government at the earliest opportunity, which most people think would be in about a month -- having us heading into the voting booths sometime in mid-November.

The issue? Well, if you ask the Liberals, it's because the Tories have failed to properly manage the economy, and help thousands of unemployed Canadians. If you ask the Tories, they'll tell you the Canadian economy is doing as well as it could -- better than most, in fact, and that the Liberals risk killing all sorts of beneficial legislation aimed at helping Canadians save money. Like a rebate program that could offset the cost of home renovations.

Could we really be going to the polls over whether or not we should get a subsidy to install a sunroom?

It seems that, in recent years, Parliament has become less a forum for governing the country than a place to campaign between elections -- as successive minority governments (both Liberal and Conservative) have failed to hang on to power. And that seems to be the goal -- power, not governing.

But we want to know what you think. Is it time to replace Stephen Harper? Is it time to give him a majority? Will the opposition gambit pay off? Will Michael Ignatieff prove to be such a tremendous campaigner that he can lift his party -- currently tied with the Conservatives in popularity according to the latest polls -- into the hearts of a majority of Canadians, especially in the West, where the Liberals have suffered immensely of late?

And what about the NDP? Will it add to its small gains in Quebec and the maritimes to become a stronger voice for the left in Parliament? Or will the Liberals and Green Party continue to chew at the NDP's flanks, eroding the party's overall support.

And is it time for Quebecers to turn away from the Bloc, and get back to their traditional role of "majority decider" in a federal election?

We want to know what you think, if you can tear yourself away from whatever you might otherwise be doing on this final long weekend of the summer.

I'm Suhana Meharchand on CBC Radio One and on Sirius satellite radio channel 137.

This is Cross Country Checkup.