Hmm, looks like the people of Nova Scotia are caught between a rock and a hard place.
With the announcement of yet another election, we're headed back to the polls to try to sort through a dog's breakfast of accusations and political posturing. It should be no surprise to anyone, though, because the parties have been involved in a pseudo-election campaign for weeks. It was only a matter of time before it was for real.
Unfortunately, an election was probably the last thing we needed. We're living in an unstable economy, people are losing their jobs en masse and they're scared. What many of us want most is some security. That, however, is not likely to happen with an election - and perhaps not even without one. What is likely to happen is that we end up right back where we started with another minority government, poorer but probably not any wiser.
Why do I think it's going to be a minority? Well, the voters are in a panicked state because of the recession, and when people are upset, they tend to make rash or ill-thought decisions. There's no really clear general consensus on the issues among the public because they're so sidetracked with the instability of the economy.
In a successful election you have a deciding factor, whether that's some kind of scandal (like the sponsorship fiasco that unseated the federal Liberals) or a dive in the economy as experienced under Mulroney's Tory government.
In the case of this provincial election, there's not really one clear-cut issue. There are a lot of the usual issues: health care, roads, etc., but the public has been beating their heads against the wall over these issues for so long, it's almost like we don't really believe any of the parties can resolve them. They've become the issues we love to growl about, so any promises on these matters by any candidate are unlikely to either be believed or play much of a determining role in the election outcome.
Premier Rodney MacDonald's questionable support of the revised offshore deal isn't really decisive enough to swing this election, because as much as Bill Casey's decision not to support it made MacDonald look bad by comparison, the voters weren't quite as cut and dried on the issue. While many appreciated Casey's principles, when it came down to it, I don't think the public opinion was as clear on the accord itself.
Regardless, there is going to be an election and the voters will have to sort through the muck to find the answers they need to make a decision.
I think the first question is will the stimulus promises made be honoured by all parties, or will they and the communities that would've benefitted become casualties of this election?
Susan Belliveau's column appears every week.
