How do you deal with massive fear of...political change?

[Tasaio]

I'm in Canada, and for the past chunk of history we've had a liberal government.

But then, in 2006, the liberal government was brought down by a vote of no-confidence. This was due to a minor scandal which the conservatives (and the media) predictably blew into monstrous proportion.

Anyway, since 2006, we've had a minority government under the rule of our new PM, Stephen Harper.

http://www.maxpower.ca/wp-content/up...per_cowboy.jpg


I knew back before 2006 that he would be a problem for Canada, but I'm astonished at just how bad things have become. Not to mention how much worse they could get...

...which brings me to my point. This October, my province (Ontario) will be conducting its leadership election.

We have traditionally been liberal, but I'm becoming nervous that the conservative candidate (John Tory) may get in.

What both infuriates, and worries me, is the following proposal of his:

He wants to provide public funding for private schools. For *every* religion.

. . .

It's bad enough that public funding exists for Catholic schools (due to our French Canadians). Now, we're expected to pay for Muslim schools as well?

A step forward would be to end *all* public funding for private schools.

. . .

How do I combat fear over the problems this would bring?

More generally, how do I combat fear over what will happen to Canada, with these people in charge?

Hopefully, some Americans can share experience about coping with a bad leader.

[cdn2wheeler]

I'm in Ontario too, Tasaio, and have been following the campaign of the Liberals and Conservatives pretty closely.

John Tory is a good man, he's smart, he's driven, he seems to have the best interests of the province at heart.

But it's very unlikely that he'll win. Clearly, his faith-based school initiative hasn't been well thought out. As of late last week, an Ipsos-Reid poll concluded that nearly 2/3 of Ontario voters think the faith-based education initiative is a bad idea. Further to that, Tory's consistent badgering that McGuinty broke his promises (which is true, a fact that McGuinty admits to) hasn't found much traction.

In the leadership debate on Thursday evening, no clear winner emerged though McGuinty seemed to take the criticisms from both Tory and Hampton with grace. I felt a bit for Hampton, though, as he was suffering from a monumental cold and clearly wasn't on top of his game.

Anyway, short answer is that Ontario survived through two successive right-wing regimes under Mike Harris. Even if Tory wins - highly unlikely at this point - we'll manage. We always have.

[Jason S]

Action is the antidote to fear. The more you do--the more you learn, the more you discuss, the more engage--the more influence you have. The more influence you have, the more confidence you have that you can make a difference... and the more confidence you have, the less room there is for fear.

This is true for any political environment, civic, corporate, familial, or otherwise.

Policies don't change on a dime with an election... unless the population is apathetic enough to allow itself to be steamrolled by whomever happens to be in office. (Don't follow the lead of your neighbors to the south; we seem to have momentarily forgotten that we have the right--and the obligation--of enforcing the system of checks and balances in government.) Even if a policy is passed that you don't like, there is always room after that to shape the policy during execution. When you are engaged, there are endless ways to exert influence... and the more you learn, the more you create opportunities to shift your perspective. Who knows, maybe a policy that looks bad today will start sounding good once you get to know what the people behind it were thinking?

Write to the newspapers, to your officials, to your neighbors. Talk. Learn. Act.

You have nothing to fear.

[Brutha]

How much will the public funding cost? 500 million?
Keep the perspective to the 600+ billions wasted on the Irak war in the US.

[Tasaio]

Thanks for the replies. In any case, John Tory didn't win--not even close.

The man even lost in his own riding. I do feel some sympathy for him, having such a disastrous election result.

McGuinty won a majority. I like McGuinty--I think he's intelligent, competent, and doesn't have a chip on his shoulder regarding his faith. I'm impressed that a Catholic would champion the public education system.

I'm also pleased we stuck with the old election system. Clearly, others were as suspicious as I ended up becoming.

[cdn2wheeler]

Originally Posted by Tasaio

Thanks for the replies. In any case, John Tory didn't win--not even close.

The man even lost in his own riding.

I'm in Ontario too, and I gotta tell ya, I had to just shake my head in disbelief at Tory's monumental gaffes.

Tory is a good man, a smart man, a successful man and I have no doubt that he took on the mantle of party leader for the right reasons.

But what was he thinking? From his negative campaign style ("McGuinty lied, McGuinty lied, McGuinty lied..." sure, he probably did, but don't tell me what I already know, tell me why you're any better) to the funding for private religious school issue and then his furious backpedaling when he realized that it was political suicide, then his talk of "leadership matters" but kept changing his mind about the school funding issue...

What was he thinking?