X Marks the Spot

I remember a friend of mine, on January 24, 2006, saying she was thinking about leaving the country.

What had happened the previous evening scared her so much she thought leaving might be the best thing to do.

As you might remember, the previous night, the first Conservative government in more than 12 years was elected.

I was 14-years-old when Kim Campbell was defeated, pushing Canadian right-wingers to the fringes for more than a decade. My friend, the one who was going to leave the country, was the same age.

We didn't know anything but a Liberal Canada. We didn't know anything but Jean Chretien and Paul Martin.

My friend feared Stephen Harper. She imagined him on Parliament Hill, using newly-purchased military flame throwers to burn all the rainbow flags in Canada.

With this budget, however, people her age (and mine) may finally be able to realize that this is, in fact, Canada, and no matter what political stripe, the Prime Minister has to become a Liberal if he wants to stay in power.

It appears we do not elect based on political ideologies. Instead, we elect based on something else entirely, and force our politicians to adopt the Canadian ideology, which has something to do with equal rights and openness, and more to do with sponsoring lacrosse and showering Quebec with $100 bills.

The government doesn't change it's politics; the parties do.

What is it, after all, that makes this government any different than the one that preceded it? Just look at the criticism from some of this country's best columnists.

Andrew Coyne from the National Post: "Is this what you voted for, you loyal Conservative followers? Is this what you suffered for, through all those long years of Liberal rule, dreaming of the Conservative revolution to come? 'Hiring 50% more environmental enforcement officers?' Increasing 'the share of meal expenses that long-haul truck drivers can deduct?' Tax credits for lacrosse? Exactly how does this differ from any Liberal budget -- other than outspending them, I mean?"

John Ibbitson in The Globe and Mail: "How Liberal is this allegedly Conservative budget? It's so Liberal that it actually revives the sponsorship program."
He adds: "This is so Liberal, the Grits should sue for breach of copyright."

James Travers in the Toronto Star: "If there's irony in this budget, it's that 'Canada's new government' is using old Liberal tactics to advance Conservative strategy."

Lorrie Goldstein in the Toronto Sun: "At long last, Stephen Harper has revealed his 'hidden agenda.' It's to be a Liberal.

That's just the print columnists. Online it's an orgy of outrage that the Conservative Party of Canada is essentially doing the exact same thing the Liberal Party of Canada did when it was in power.

Beyond the budget, look at what else has changed in Canada since scary Stephen Harper became prime minister.

Gay people can still get married and will never again have to worry about the House of Commons raising the issue. We have apologized for screwing up Maher Arar's life. We now have a $1.5 billion EcoTrust Fund to cut greenhouse gas emissions. There's a tax rebate on efficient and hybrid cars and a tax on gas guzzlers. The Quebecois people constitute a nation.

It's funny now, to look back on January 24, 2006, and that conversation with my friend. She didn't leave Canada. She didn't have to. It turns out the Conservative Party all us young, urban Ontarians had in our minds doesn't exist. The Liberal advertising had us believing it, and even Harper had us believing it.

And there are still hangers-on who believe Harper is just acting like a Liberal in order to get a majority government next time around, and that he'll then break out the flame throwers and rainbow flags.

But that's unlikely to happen. The Conservative Party doesn't exist. Neither does the Liberal Party. They are simply alternative faces of one another, running a reasonably sane house.