Continuity prevails in Finnish politics

Do not presume anything, but find out.

As western democracies Finland and Canada can well be said to be part of the same general political culture, but there are many differences in political cultures and in public opinion.

This was one of the conclusions of the Q and A session members of the Canadian Friends of Finland (Toronto) had with the visiting counsellor of the Finnish Embassy in Ottawa, Matti Aaltola, on May 23, 2007. Mr Aaltola, was completing his tour of duty in Canada. The AGM of the CFF was is last official duty in Toronto.
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Mr Aaltola was the keynote speaker at the AGM of the Canadian Friends of Finland. He reviewed the impact of the spring 2007 parliamentary elections: The media had been preparing the nation for a continued center-left government coalition, but the landslide victory of the center-right National Coalition changed the scene.
In the Q and A, one of the participants wanted to know, whether the new center-right, or did he say conservative, government would start taking steps towards changing the no-cost-to-the-student model of higher education in Finland. A completely natural question for a Canadian to take up, against the backdrop of North American conservatism.
The response from Mr Aaltola was obvious: Such a move would be political suicide to any movement in Finland. The principles and values of a Nordic welfare state are deeply rooted into the Finnish public opinion, and cannot be discarded. The question as such raises another: There may be many Finnish Canadians and others interested in Finland believing that the conservatives won in Finland with a program close to the political agenda expressed here in Canada by the incumbent Canadian PM. Actually, Finnish conservatives are a center-right movement, indeed an ocean apart from North American conservatism, and some of the European brands as well.
A change in government coalition basis does not usually mean a drastic change in any policies in Finland. The Finnish system accentuates continuity. Aaltola explained that the concept “new government” does not have the same connotations in Finland as here in Canada.
The cost of living in Finland came up. A CFF member was taken aback on hearing that the value added tax (roughly matching the Canadian GST and PST) is no less than 22 percent, and applied on a wider basis that in Canada. - We are better off here then, he said. - It depends where you stand on this, Mr Aaltola remarked, the Finnish minister of finance may actually be better off than his Canadian counterpart, in terms of revenue.
The influence of the European Union on Finnish decision making also came up. Here in North America there is often concern about the loss of sovereignty, say, in terms of working together with the US or Mexico. Mr Aaltola tried to explain the European approach to the problem: -We have pooled our sovereignty, he said.
- Attitudes towards the European Union have become a kind of dividing line in Finnish politics though. Perhaps replacing the earlier all-important distinction between the right and the left