Elections are important. At least you would think that would be the case in a liberal democracy like Canada.
But for most of the twentieth century, they simply weren’t. Oh sure elections were called. There were even these things called campaigns. Some people would even get excited and jump up and down. But, for the most part, Canadian elections in the 20th century were pretty much pro forma affairs. Everyone knew that elections were a nuisance and held only to affirm the dominance of the Natural Government Party and its policies. There was never any serious prospect of change.
Usually, the only ballot question was just how big the Liberal majority was going to be.
But in 2006, an election did matter. A new party was elected. The shock of that event was bad enough on election night but it was only when the Tories were actually sworn in that the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth on the part of the chattering classes really got going.
Two memes – double standards and litmus tests – emerged as talking points almost immediately and have continued ever since.
