Plebiscite Pondering

In the 2004 U.S. Presidential election one of the keys to victory for George W. Bush was the use of ballot questions on issues, such as gay marriage, designed to drive the Republican base to the polls in key battleground states. This turned out to be wildly effective, especially in what turned out to be the biggest battleground of them all, Ohio. Until yesterday I had never made a connection between that tactic and Canadian politics. But with the seemingly unavoidable prospect of electing a U.S. Tied, far right government here in Canada in two days my mind has focused on the U.S. again, as a blueprint for what the Conservatives would like to do here.

If you will recall, back when he was leader of the Canadian Alliance, Stockwell Day advocated the use of Plebiscites to decide key issues. This led to the now famous Rick Mercer "Doris Day" incident, in which Mercer created a petition to get Mr. Day to change his first name to Doris. Beyond the comedy involved however, there is something deeper; something that illustrates a possible link between the Far right in this country, and their heroes in the United States.

Could it be the then Canadian Alliance had gotten this idea from Republicans who intended to use it in a future election? With Same Sex marriage bursting on the scene in Canada can we expect the Harper regime to institute this as one of their many Republican thought up weapons? If that is so can we expect other Republican tricks, designed solely to keep themselves in power, to be used?