estie tabarnouche de cave
Nov. 10th, 2009 12:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jawnbcI have the thing going around. Well, one of the things. The sore throat, achy, fevery, thing. So I'm home today...sick enough to stay home, not dead-sick, and not well enough to focus at all for work.
Canadian politics is becoming a vacuum, a dangerous one. In one corner we have a respected but long-in-the-tooth Québec separatist. In another we have a social democratic leader who's embracing the politics of personality entirely too much like an American campaign (yes you can....but no I won't). Corner 3 is where "the natural ruling party of Canada" is being led by an egomaniac with the charisma of sandpaper--and he was anointed to replace the recent well-intentioned milquetoast leader who got slammed in last year's election.
In corner 4 we have Stephen Harper wetting himself with laughter at the other 3. Because...unless something shifts soon, the Tories are getting closer to being able to land a majority, at which point much of what make Canada Canadian is jeopardized.
Yesterday the Tories picked up a seat in Québec in a by-election, despite Harper shrieking about Québec nationalism less than a year ago--repeatedly and vociferously. That should've rendered the party unelectable in places like the lower St. Lawrence, even with a star local candidate.
Yes by-elections are different from general elections and yes many people vote for local candidates rather than national leaders. But if Harper gets enough of these candidates running in swing ridings in Québec, he needs only a net gain of 10 seats for a majority. And in our stoopid system, a party with a majority in the House of Commons gets all the keys to the kingdom to do as its leader pleases. As of January, they'll have a majority in our (totally fucked, appointed) Senate.
Where is Sheila Copps when the country needs her?
Canadian politics is becoming a vacuum, a dangerous one. In one corner we have a respected but long-in-the-tooth Québec separatist. In another we have a social democratic leader who's embracing the politics of personality entirely too much like an American campaign (yes you can....but no I won't). Corner 3 is where "the natural ruling party of Canada" is being led by an egomaniac with the charisma of sandpaper--and he was anointed to replace the recent well-intentioned milquetoast leader who got slammed in last year's election.
In corner 4 we have Stephen Harper wetting himself with laughter at the other 3. Because...unless something shifts soon, the Tories are getting closer to being able to land a majority, at which point much of what make Canada Canadian is jeopardized.
Yesterday the Tories picked up a seat in Québec in a by-election, despite Harper shrieking about Québec nationalism less than a year ago--repeatedly and vociferously. That should've rendered the party unelectable in places like the lower St. Lawrence, even with a star local candidate.
Yes by-elections are different from general elections and yes many people vote for local candidates rather than national leaders. But if Harper gets enough of these candidates running in swing ridings in Québec, he needs only a net gain of 10 seats for a majority. And in our stoopid system, a party with a majority in the House of Commons gets all the keys to the kingdom to do as its leader pleases. As of January, they'll have a majority in our (totally fucked, appointed) Senate.
Where is Sheila Copps when the country needs her?
