There is a religious bias, certainly, but it's tempered by the generally socialist leanings of Canadians in general. I'm not too worried about that. Even abortion and gay marriage - I think the Conservatives would leave them both alone, as the Liberals have done for abortion, because it's a lightning-rod for criticism and they don't want to piss people off the way Mulroney did. Don't forget that we've been in a legal vacuum over abortion for - what, a bit more than two decades? - through a large part of which the conservatives had the country's largest ever majority. They did nothing about it then, I see no reason why they would worry about it now. Officially, the conservative stance on gay marriage is, "Leave well enough alone." If the liberals manage to pass it before leaving office, as seems likely, that won't be a problem, either.

The thing is, the really big social-spending programs are all provincial - health, welfare, education. Other than changing the cash flow situation - and the Liberals have done tons of that, to the detriment of the provinces - there aren't a lot of things they can cut back on that will directly affect us at the bottom. I'd be prepared to give it a try for a term and see what happens - while giving the Liberals a chance to get their collective asses in gear.