October 2003

Hello friends,

Few days ago there had been elections to the provincial government of Ontario. Frankly, elections in Nes-Ziona are more exciting. Or is it because I don't understand the issues? I tried to figure out what the elections were about and all I found were debates on the education system, the health system and their favorite issue which relates to the previous two: taxes. Fascinating, isn't it? OK, there is a bit more. The system in Ontario is such that they elect 103 representatives in local ridings. There are not too many controversies, and it is a much more personal voting system. However, since the vast majority of people don't know the candidates, they are left with the choice between posters. It is like a beauty contest. They vote for the candidates with the best "member of parliament face", or they don't vote at all.

Let's have a closer look at the parties. The current Premier, Ernie Eves, leads a party with the paradoxical name "progressive conservatives" (their initials were PC before the era of the personal computer). Eight years ago they announced the "common sense revolution" (it is something about tax cuts to stimulate the economy). On the opposition was the "Liberal" party. Unlike the US, "liberal" is not a dirty word in Canada. Canada is the socialist edition of the US. It becomes clear observing that Canada's Flag is about 60% red, whereas the US. flag is only about 40% red (compare to the USSR flag). They have here powerful and active workers' unions that strike once in a while. The Liberals' leader, Dalton McGuinty, is a kind of Tony Blair clone. He has a great smile and a body of a model. Ernie Eves called him "a kitten" and was accused of running a nasty campaign.

In general the campaign was low-profile comparing to what we are used to. Needless to say, the streets of Toronto remained clean. I was actually surprised by the low coverage of the elections in the media, assuming the media is the only way to communicate in a large country. Candidates were concentrated on "passing their message" with creative slogans like "The democrats are committed to public power", "Experience for the road ahead" (Did the premier really believe he can stay in power with this slogan? Did the revolution eat the common sense of his copywriter?) and the imaginative "children are our future" and "education is first priority". My favorite is the Liberals' brilliant slogan: "choose change". Two two-syllable words starting with the same sound "ch". Easy to remember and shout (try shouting "experience for the road ahead"). And it is logical too. Everyone wants things to be better, and better means change. All you have to do is to "choose change" and things will become better. The neat thing is that when they win the other party cannot use the same slogan against them.

At the end of the day the party with the better campaign won. The liberals got the majority with 72 seats, in what has been described as "the end of the common sense revolution". Since revolutions tend to migrate from one country to another, if you see any signs of this revolution elsewhere don't hesitate to write me.


Ady.