"Durham Region residents head to the federal election polls next Monday for the fourth time in seven years.
Like other Canadians, they are tired of being pulled back to the ballot box after seven years of political uncertainty. Starting with Paul Martin's minority Liberal government in 2004, Canadians have since elected two more successive minorities, this time with the Conservatives led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
It's time for Durham Region -- and voters across the nation -- to choose stability and provide Mr. Harper's Conservatives with the coveted majority they have been patiently building towards since 2006.
Under a Conservative government, Canadians can expect continued and competent fiscal management, sharp focus on the recession-induced deficit, a business climate that will lure investment and, perhaps most importantly, a period of political stability and freedom in which a majority government can develop and implement its agenda.
The jockeying and pure political partisanship that has been the hallmark of the last two minority governments has left Canada without traction on the economy, on new policies, on progress. The election of a majority government will also finally break the coalition culture in Ottawa that has overtaken the business of the day.
Stephen Harper has proven himself here at home and abroad as an able, knowledgeable and hard-working prime minister. He leads by example, keeps a keen focus on the Conservative agenda, and has consistently projected an assuring image as a quiet, competent prime minister even as his agenda is hobbled by his government's minority status. But, Canadians are confident that when he says his government will eliminate the deficit by 2014-2015, it will be done.
It is precisely this sort of assuredness, this clear sense of purpose and direction for the nation, that Durham residents must consider when they head to the ballot box on May 2.
Do they want another shortened term of government where politics drives the agenda, or one driven by ideas and achievement? Do they want a government limited by the ambitions of political insiders, or a government that can carry out the business of the day? Finally, do they want a government that could fall at any time -- once again -- so that they are forced to choose for the fifth time in eight years? Nine years?
It's time for majority rule in Ottawa. The party best suited with experience, a clear agenda and the ambition to see it through is the Conservatives.
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-- Metroland Durham Region Media Group
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