Six hundred million. That is what it cost the Canadian taxpayer to watch the political equivalent of groundhog day.
Consensus on the snap election was that it was unnecessary. There was no urgency for the Prime Minister to send Canadians to the polls with two years left in his mandate. However, like all politicians you have to strike while the iron is hot, and Trudeau’s Liberals were high enough in the polls that the temptation was too much.
So, we had an election, and the big change is that we went from a minority Liberal government to a minority Liberal government. Thank goodness that’s been settled! Trudeau gambled and won but actually lost. He wanted a majority and instead got another minority.
What did it accomplish? Absolutely nothing other than a very expensive vanity project at the taxpayer’s expense on behalf of the Prime Minister.
Erin O’Toole came away a loser as well. The “true blue” Conservative leader pulled his party to the left so quickly after winning the leadership race that many of the Conservative base got whiplash.
His Liberal-lite platform was to bring more central Canadian seats into the fold but when all was said and done the Conservatives remain static in seat count.
Vote splitting courtesy of the People’s Party of Canada cost the Conservatives some close seats in central Canada. Those were voters who wanted change but saw that O’Toole could not deliver on it.
The NDP and Bloc are almost where they began at the beginning at the campaign.
This was an election where everyone comes away as a loser. Nothing was gained and nothing was settled. It was a shameful colossal waste of resources that the Canadian taxpayer is left on the hook for.
Kelly Gallagher, Vice President
Martin Charlton Communications
