It was election day in Canada yesterday. This election saw some big changes with a Conservative majority, rise of the NDP and death of the Bloc after 20 years. As I scan the interwebs today I don't see a lot of happy people. Most of my colleagues in Startup land have some left-leaning tendencies. No one is happy about a Harper majority.
I'm going to take some heat for this, but it's important stuff and I love how engaged everyone is (in fact, while I have not seen the post mortem yet, I'm sure an increase in young voters is one of the stories behind the NDP's results). The truth is: I voted conservative. Here's why.
I have actually voted conservative in every election. So, in one sense, my decision last night is not big news. But I've voted that way for different reasons over the years and I was on the fence right up till I got my ballot yesterday.
I am a small "c" conservative. I believe in small government. I probably should not think of everything in business terms, but that's just who I am. The way I see it Governments are organizations or entities unto themselves and must live by the same rules. One of which is that you cannot perpetually spend more than you make. The conservatives for me were the only choice was with any chance of reduced government spend.
There is more to my decision. The truth is, I don't like Harper and I don't trust him. It's not just his beady little eyes. He has repeatedly shown contempt for our citizens. As recently as Sunday, I told my wife I was voting liberal, the last straw being a Techvibes article on
which party supports the Internet. Despite letters from 20,000 Canadians asking the Conservatives to respond to this survey, they did not.
But going back to this notion of organizations, the government is an organization just like a corporation, not-for-profit, hospital, etc, etc. And organizations only thrive with great leadership. Leadership matters. As a venture investor, I completely understand the impact a great leader can have on a startup. And as I think about past governments, the periods of real change have been marked by great leaders. And as I looked at the roster of leaders before us yesterday, the objective was to find the least worst.
Ignatieff is the worst kind of leader. No authenticity. No moral authority to represent a country that he has not been in for much of his recent history. Layton certainly has the moral authority and political cred. But he stands for ideologies that I don't. And if you look at the NDP candidates that won yesterday, a great many of them have little to no political experience. That should scare you as they have some real power now.
Ultimately, I voted conservative for one micro reason and one macro reason.
Micro: Larry Smith, the former CFL commissioner was our local candidate. I thought that if he won, he would be in the cabinet and would be a strong advocate for our riding.
Macro: We live in uncertain economic times. Continuity of leadership and right-leaning governments are of great comfort to World markets. Unseating the conservatives would have impacted stock markets, and the value of people's savings.
I am not pro Harper. Again, this was choosing the least worst for me. I am quite jaded about the whole thing. As I look to the US, I had so much hope when Obama came in. Admittedly he had a pretty big economic albatross to bear in the form of huge bank bailouts, economic crash, mortgage crisis, etc. But he has accomplished little of the revolutionary change that was promised. And he was the best kind of leader for a people.
So, it's about risk mitigation and damage control for me. And that is why I voted conservative.
