Sadly, politicians can always be counted on to put their re-election prospects first, and one of the things this has led to is the perceived need to cultivate the affection of  easily herded groups of voters.  

Traditionally, this herding was done by churches, but as main-stream Canadian churches faded from play in the last century, two herding tools that have been especially useful to modern Liberals are public sector labour unions and religious/cultural institutions that maintain effective control over their flock of devoted voters.

We cannot dare to name such institutions around here, perhaps because Globe censors are very attached to Liberal political fortunes, but the Dutch provide just one example of the counterforce that pliable politicians elicit as they attempt to court one easily herded voting bloc.