Harper pollster: Hi, I’m calling on behalf of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. I was wondering if we will have your support…
Me: Put me in the category that says Stephen Harper is a narrow-minded bully.
Harper pollster: In, ah, so you wouldn’t vote for him.
Me: No.
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I forgot “petty”, though.
Ignatieff and Liberals are poised to call a non-confidence vote next week, sending Canadians to the polls, probably by October 1st.
What a dearth of choice we have. First, there’s Harper, whose Napoleonic arrogance is shown in his narrow-eyed, close-minded leadership. Â As most recently evidenced when he stuffed the senate–an instititution he wanted to ban–with Conservative chronies. And there’s Ignatieff, whose arrogance is presented in a veneer of intellectual patriotism that leaves me mostly like I need to take a shower. In fact, proximal contact with either of these guys ought to be followed by a decontamination scrub in one of those biohazard units.
Normally, I’d be jumping at the chance to kick Harper to the curb. But I have no sense that Ignatieff will be much better, except for maybe allowing his cabinet members to talk to the media on their own (though they better have read the handbook ahead of time, I’m sure).
With not much difference on the fiscal agenda (really), I guess Harper will tell us he wants to stay [his] course, particularly since Canada is “pulling out of the recession” at the cost of being a couple billion in the hole, and Ignatieff’s big change is that he knows where China and India are located (and probably has at least tasted the cuisine – Harper’s a plain pork chop and potato guy).
Health care will obviously be on the agenda. Ignatieff claiming that Harper is skulking in the corner and avoiding the issue altogether, especially in the face of American scrutiny as they go through their own crisis. Harper’s response on any issue right now is not to discuss it, but to accuse of Ignatieff of being un-Canadian and power-hungry. The equivalent of offering “you suck!” as a retort at the local debating society.
It’s by no means clear on what the hell will happen if there is an election day – polls showing the leaders in a dead heat as recently as a few weeks ago. Chances of another minority government: high.
Sigh.
We have no parliament. New word of the day is prorogue: to end or force the end of a parliamentary session.
Harper and the gang have until the end of January to come up with a budget and smear all of the other parties in the media, before we probably end up back at a non-confidence vote, a possible coalition government, and/or another election.
The Bloc Quebecois are sitting in a fairly powerful position, since the Conservatives could use the support and they are only provisionally tied to the coalition (nice bit of wordsmithing, in which Duceppe said they will support the “ruling party”). However, since Harper has already done a fair job of crapping on Quebec already, it’ll be an uphill battle, or perhaps a way to get some really good prizes.
For those of you not living in Canadia, you may not have heard of the crazy sh*t going on in our government these days. Basically, dictator Harper overstepped his boundaries, cuz he thought he could, and now the Liberals, New Democrats and the Bloc Quebecois have put together a coalition agreement in an effort to topple the government via a non-confidence motion. It’s so serious that Michaelle Jean (our Governor-General) is flying home early from Europe in case she needs to make a decision.
Here’s what this means:
If I didn’t live here, I’d think that this was a plot outline for a satire by Scott Gardiner.
More seriously, I firmly believe that the Conservatives have brought this upon their own heads with their arrogance and continued obtuse misunderstandings of their opposition and the Canadian people. Ironically enough, the Canadian people think this whole deal is a bunch of hooey, but not because they agree with Harper and the Conservatives, but because they don’t want another election.
I’m not sure if I’m:
For more reading, check out Cultureguru and James Bow.
It’s a strange day when a federalist is thankful to the Bloc Quebecois, but here we are. Had they not held their 50 seats and taken some Conservative seats back in Quebec, Steve “I’m an arrogant asshat” Harper might have been handed a majority.
Of course, if the Liberal party had any kind of clue, they could have had some of those seats and a lot more. I’m wondering if the strategy team they went with wasn’t some little known co-op program for communications majors who didn’t get a placement in the first 2 rounds. There has been, and should be, lots of questions about Stephane Dion’s leadership, but the bigger culprit here really was the campaign manager and the communications people. Completely clueless.
In the end, Canadians got what they wanted, which is a minority government (Note to Steve: thanks for wasting some more taxpayer money to end up in the position that we were already in – we sent you a message, so do us a favour and listen this time).
Even and still, staying away from the polls shouldn’t have been the answer, though it’s one that many Canadians took. At the lowest numbers ever (59.1%), turnout is being blamed on apathy, or maybe the distraction of the American election, or a passive-aggressive comment on a distinct lack of good choice in any of the parties. Doesn’t matter. You don’t vote; you don’t get to complain about a single damned thing to do with policy, taxes or government for the next 4 years (or until Steve forgets about that pesky fixed election law he put in place again, and calls one in about a year or so). I get really ticked off at people that don’t vote.
Positives? If there had to be an election, at least it was only 37 days and a lot less money than another election taking place in a country very close to here.