Canadians don’t see a unified economic way forward and that’s bad news

The Liberal Party win is an example of incoherence bound together by temporary issues, and the lack of a plan will be exposed when those temporary issues disappear or diminish, writes Kim Moody. Photo by Andrej Ivanov/Getty Images/Postmedia files

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It’s fair to say most partisan Canadians and their political parties were not thrilled by the results of Monday’s federal election.

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The surging Liberals did not get their majority (as of press time), even in light of presenting an agenda, from a new shiny face who was not Justin Trudeau, that stoked fear about a supposed “national crisis.” As the number of seats is still being finalized, it’s obvious they will need to find dance partners.

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The Conservatives’ fortunes quickly turned from being the frontrunner to runnerup despite a large improvement in the number of votes they got.

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The NDP were devastated and seem to have lost official party status by running an incompetent and incoherent campaign. The Liberals cannibalized their vote. However, depending on the final seat count, they may end up being a dance partner for the Liberals.

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The Bloc Québécois also lost votes by Liberal cannibalization. But, like the NDP, that party could be a dance partner for the Liberals.

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Despite some loud partisan Liberals, who are cheering that the victory sends a signal to the world that Mark Carney has a strong mandate and will lead Canada out of its current mess, most reasonable Canadians don’t believe that.

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Canadians are obviously very divided. A simple look at the vote count reveals that roughly 43.5 per cent voted for a Liberal candidate, whereas 41.5 per cent voted Conservative.

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The Liberals’ playbook to stoke fear was obvious and proved to be a political winner: calling the chaos caused by Donald Trump a national crisis or the “biggest crisis of our lifetime” to get people motivated to vote for the so-called saviour. There are a lot of historical examples around this simple playbook. Unfortunately, it continues to be a winner with shallow policies that surround that simplicity.

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So, with the wounds still fresh, here are some early observations.

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“Our old relationship with the United States, a relationship based on steadily increasing integration, is over,” he said during the campaign. “The system of open global trade anchored by the United States … is over.”

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Not a chance. Such a massive change would take a lengthy period of time accompanied by a great deal of pain that would be felt by all Canadians.