Archived Articles

Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.

He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.

In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.

Global Real Estate Project
News Index

Directories
  Int'l Realty
  US Realty

One more year of the same, that's what the new-old Liberal government offers to the public in its new budget that looks for support more to the political right than to the left to compensate for the lack of an absolute majority. The Conservative party, the second largest in the parliament, has already accepted the basic premises of the budget leaving one question mark less as to the political survival of the current government. Thus the new budget won't be the reason why this government will fall. In the next 12 months only a major political scandal can bring down a government that enjoys so huge popularity because of its sound and predictable economic policy. In fact if new election is called it can regain its absolute majority hands down. At least it seems so today.

One of the big puzzlements of the Canadian political life in the last 10 months has been solved. After forming a government with less than an absolute majority, the current Prime Minister Paul Martin had to balance between a stronger Conservative right and more militant left. The only party that wasn't expected to play any role in providing votes for the government was the separatist Bloc Quebecois. At least till the first budget the survival of the cabinet was assured because nobody dared to bring down the government and by doing so to face the angry electors. That was expected to change during the budget debates this spring especially if the Liberals decided to propose measures overtly in conflict with the main interests of the other big parties.

What we saw while the new draft budget was proposed was quite the contrary. The Liberals tried to expand their parliament support by incorporating elements of the programs of their main enemies, the Conservatives. The army will get more money over the next 5-6 years and some taxes will be lowered, especially for the lowest incomes. The left can also find some candies with more money on some social programs. The result was that the Conservatives couldn't refuse the offer and the new budget seems to pass with some minor amendments.

The fundamental problem for the political stability in Canada although remains. The minority government is inherently unstable and the Prime Minister will have to face this problem one way or another, rather sooner when he still enjoys high popularity than later when it may sink due to some unexpected political scandal. So far such new scandals seem unlikely but anyone involved in the democratic political process knows well that it's a matter of days for a new big scandal to unfold. The last big scandal about the political sponsorship that shook the Liberal party in December 2003 occurred exactly at the moment when the leadership was passing between the former and the current premiers. Martin decided not to call for new election until the scandal was off and the result was that he had to wait for several months and instead of majority he received a minority government. This time he may decide not to wait and with the very first signs of scandal to call for new election and thus try to assure better positions.

If there are no new political scandals in Canada until the next year, which would be surprising but not completely to be ruled out, a plan B of forcing the opposition to outvote the government and to make necessary the new general election may be put in motion. In mid-2006 or 2 years after the last election will be a good time to measure again the electoral preferences. Until that happens Canada would enjoy many more months of the same economic and political stability that became widely appreciated in the last 10 years.

--------------------

See also the directory of companies providing real estate services in, and general real estate information of Canada.