Who says Canadian politics is dull?
Not that it makes any sense either. You can always count on politicians to make asses of themselves in some sort of misguided attempt to appear more righteous to the people they supposedly represent. Take Stephen Harper for example. He has pretty much called his opposition unpatriotic and treasonous for forming a coalition and cooperating with the Bloc.
Excuse me, Mr. Prime Minister, but your party has attempted this twice before in the last decade (I like how Stockwell Day denies it all when it’s his name on the bottom of one of those letters). You weren’t so quick to paint the separatists in a dark light then, were you? Nope, not when they were willing to help you topple the then-Liberal government. The NDP wasn’t so evilly socialist when they agreed with you, were they?
Despite the Conservative PR machine wants everyone to believe, what the Liberals, NDP and Bloc are doing is not illegal, it is not overturning an election and it is not treasonous. The purpose of them being able to do this is to be a check against a minority government. You don’t get along? Too bad, you have to, because you don’t have enough seats to have a majority to push through whatever you want. We elect Members of Parliament in Canada, not a Prime Minister. Whoever has the most seats gets to be in charge, whether that be a single party or a coalition.
Frankly, if the Conservatives were dumb enough to think they could get away with removing federal subsidies for political parties (which amounted to a measly $26 million, not much help when there are forcasted deficits of $8 freaking billion) and the right to strike from civic workers, they deserve to be kicked out. Tack on the pathetic lies to make the opposition look bad (yes they did have not one, but two Canadian flags, not none, when they signed the coalition agreement) and Jim Flaherty saying they made a “deal with the devil” (read: Hey Quebec, Gilles Duceppe is Satan! We don’t need your stinkin’ votes!), and it’s a wonder how they thought they could ever govern effectively. You can only be assholes to the other parties when you have majority. Ask the BC Liberals when they had a 77 to 2 advantage.
Harper’s attempt to destroy the opposition rather than focusing on stimulating the economy backfired, so now he’s doing everything to hold onto power. He’s got about as much chance of that as the Leafs winning the Cup this year. His only silver lining is that the forces opposing him have no hope of actually working together, coalition agreement notwithstanding, so he can stand up afterwards and smugly say, “I told you so.” The NDP is in bed with the unions while the Liberals are in bed with big business: not exactly two entities that work well together. Tack on a bunch of whiners who don’t have a bloody clue in the Bloc and you’ve got a recipe to make Parliament look as competent as the Bush administration. Not that the Conservatives were doing such a bangup job in the first place.
Either way, Canadians lose. They either get a bully who wants to rule govern with impunity or a lame duck who completely dropped the ball at the opportunity to seize more seats in an election and is dependent on the support of a single issue party. There is no easy solution nor is there a good solution. It’s gone too far for anything to work out, so here’s an idea: every tax paying Canadian gets to kick Dion and Harper in the balls. It won’t actually fix anything, but I’ll be damned if it wouldn’t make me feel just a little bit better.
PS: Kudos to Bishnu for giving me the photo.
December 3rd, 2008 at 9:38 pm
Harper’s tactics make me laugh. Also a bit sad at the same time.
Remember when he said something along the lines of “When I’m done, you won’t be able to recognize this country.” Well, now we have a divided Canada between the left and the right, a Prime Minister who is willing to do whatever it takes to stay in power (which is unheard of in a “democratic” country like ours), and a “you’re either with us or against us” mentality.
In other words, I see Canada shifting to become America under outgoing president George W. Bush.
Well, crap. If that’s the case, we’re screwed!
As well, their “ideas” on keeping Canada afloat? Sell off Crown assets to make it *look* like we have a surplus. Stupidest ideas ever (funny though, but only until you realize that as a Canadian, it affects you)
Why don’t they just take the hit in the budget and actually go do something for ordinary Canadians? I think it’s because Harper doesn’t care about ordinary Canadians. All what he cares about is playing the political game. All I see from the man and his party is lambasting the opposition while just saying that they are better than the rest of them. Where’s the proof?
Are Canadians that shallow that they would eat that up? The results of the last few elections, sadly, point to yes. Either that or people are getting sick of the attack ads, so they become disengaged in politics. And when people don’t vote, the country gets worse off and, as you said, Canadians lose.
I do like your solution though. That would probably make me feel better.
Damn politicians need to stop fucking around with political games so they can work together and get shit done. That’s why we (the ~60% of Canadians who voted for our current government) voted them in in the first place.
December 3rd, 2008 at 9:45 pm
The last election had the lowest voter turnout in history. That means not so much Canadians are shallow, it just means apathy has set in. Canada needs an Obama to bring the voters back out and get them caring again, not the same old same old that is driving them away. Problem is, historically, both Liberals and Conservatives are old boys’ clubs. Nothing changes.
Yeah, I’m not cynical at all.