Friday, January 13, 2006
"Free vote"
I love the Conservative spin-machine this election. Last time the Conservatives learned that if they actually came out and said what they meant, that Canadians would take off screaming, running for the hills.
This time, rather than saying "we support/oppose X" they put things in a different light by saying "We'd hold a free vote on X".
- they'd hold a free vote on overturning the right for gay marriage.
- they'd hold a free vote on taking a step backwards and actually supporting the US 'star wars' ballistic defense/weapons program.
I'm sure there's a slew of other ones they'd do too - legalization of marijuana, you know...all the stuff that we're actually happy that the liberals managed to make happen.
They also announced today that they would reneg on Kyoto, although I woulda sworn earlier they were supporting it...or atleast giving the impression they were. The conservative candidate at the all candidates meeting i was at last night certain claimed they would support it.
Here's the thing about "free votes". I'm no political expert, so Matt P. feel free to correct me...but, if the Conservatives actually are in a position to make any of this stuff happen, it's 1 of 2 scenarios - a minority government, or a majority government.
In a majority government, a "free vote" is a bit of a joke. It means that anyone within the conservatives would be entitled to vote with their own personal preference rather than with the party line. However, people running for the conservatives generally will have the same beliefs as the party and will vote with the party...meaning, that since they have the majority, whatever the party wants will become law - removing the right to gay marriage, putting weapons in space, etc etc.
In a minority government, a "free vote" is a nice thing as it cannot be construed as a vote of confidence, so if they lose, it doesn't cost them anything... and presumably, they WOULD lose since previous polls have shown canadians have supported the Liberal/NDP position on these issues.
So, as far as I can tell, "free vote" is just a nice way of saying "we have a strong opinion/preference that we know most people won't like...soo.....we'll just gloss that over by saying we'll have a free vote, but we'll do whatever we can to make sure it'll happen". Scary.
This time, rather than saying "we support/oppose X" they put things in a different light by saying "We'd hold a free vote on X".
- they'd hold a free vote on overturning the right for gay marriage.
- they'd hold a free vote on taking a step backwards and actually supporting the US 'star wars' ballistic defense/weapons program.
I'm sure there's a slew of other ones they'd do too - legalization of marijuana, you know...all the stuff that we're actually happy that the liberals managed to make happen.
They also announced today that they would reneg on Kyoto, although I woulda sworn earlier they were supporting it...or atleast giving the impression they were. The conservative candidate at the all candidates meeting i was at last night certain claimed they would support it.
Here's the thing about "free votes". I'm no political expert, so Matt P. feel free to correct me...but, if the Conservatives actually are in a position to make any of this stuff happen, it's 1 of 2 scenarios - a minority government, or a majority government.
In a majority government, a "free vote" is a bit of a joke. It means that anyone within the conservatives would be entitled to vote with their own personal preference rather than with the party line. However, people running for the conservatives generally will have the same beliefs as the party and will vote with the party...meaning, that since they have the majority, whatever the party wants will become law - removing the right to gay marriage, putting weapons in space, etc etc.
In a minority government, a "free vote" is a nice thing as it cannot be construed as a vote of confidence, so if they lose, it doesn't cost them anything... and presumably, they WOULD lose since previous polls have shown canadians have supported the Liberal/NDP position on these issues.
So, as far as I can tell, "free vote" is just a nice way of saying "we have a strong opinion/preference that we know most people won't like...soo.....we'll just gloss that over by saying we'll have a free vote, but we'll do whatever we can to make sure it'll happen". Scary.
# posted by Greg @ 6:36 AM 
