Too much politics.

I’ve been writing too much about this, but this past week has been historically interesting Canadian politics.  The good news is is that I’m tired of writing about it. So I will (try to) be brief:

1. Quebec election – I didn’t vote.  I arrived at home in Kingston on Friday, and the election was yesterday.  I do feel bad, this is the first of any vote that I didn’t participate in, but I’ve only been a Quebec resident for three months, and I will likely leave 2 years before the next election is even called, making my vote that much less valued.  I would have voted for the Greens (or maybe for Mr. Charest if his position looked compromised), but he won his majority.  Here’s a man I would love to see re-enter federal politics.  He’s a brilliant strategist and has done some decent things for Quebec.  He also can actually communicate.

2. Liberal party – It’s truly amazing to see how quickly governments can work when they actually want to.  It makes the rest of the public service look a bit shameful after witnessing how quickly this whole thing went from a “strong coalition government” to a floundering opposition to 3 Liberal leader candidates fizzle to 1.  In the matter of days.  The party made the right decision in my mind – Ignatieff is the clear choice, and the right man to take on Harper.  Let’s just see how the Conservative machine spins this over the next few weeks, and how the Liberal machine responds.

3.  Two reasons why Canada is a small and insiginficant international power – (i) I saw next to zero press coverage internationally on the biggest political week in decades, and (ii) the leaders of our parties are never elected democratically.  Does that bother you?  Ignatieff is now the leader more or less, and we have no say in if we wanted him to lead the party or not.  Maybe it’s a good thing – we’re saving millions of dollars on campaigning and elections, time on learning about all the various candidates and their platforms.  However I feel like the parties would benefit from our choices, and things like the Dion catastrophe would never have happened.  All in all, being small and unmighty has its clear upsides – we’re much less responsible for destroying the world.

4. I feel bad for Stephane Dion – If this man was a tween, he would be calling Kids Help Phone every bloody night.  He must be crying himself to sleep, he gets picked on every day and his own (Liberal) family doesn’t even want him around.  And although it’s big, there’s really only one thing wrong with him – he just doesn’t know how to get his ideas across.  Stephane, go back to Université de Montréal, I’m sure people will love you there as you were loved before.

The proroguees.

Ewwwwww dad joke!  No not a food post.

Parliament will be prorogued (delayed, “reset”) until January 26th. I’m mixed about it but overall I’m happy – I’m glad the coalition wasn’t fully embraced, and I’m glad the confidence vote won’t happen on Monday.  What I don’t know yet is will it happen on January 26th?  Are we delaying the inevitable? Will this make things worse?  Are the Cons working hard to get a sound and supported budget during this break or will they just worry about campaignesque ads and more division of the country?  I was sick of the division south of the border, we’re just getting a slapback of it right now.

Another common concern is that Dion isn’t the leader to convince Canadians that a coalition is the right idea, and the video last night was a perfect example of this.  Here it is in case you didn’t see it:

Was anyone convinced from this?  The language itself seemed stronger than Harper’s, but how he came across was clearly weaker.  And albeit petty, was there anyone in your caucus that knows how to rent and turn on a decent video camera?  Come on guys.

Here’s Harper’s:

I love the stock intro, hilarious.  But let’s face it, he looks like the PM and carries himself and his rhetoric that way.

I genuinely like the coalition on paper – NDP-Liberal marriage, a great test drive for a proportional representation governing style, and an ethos of co-operation in tough times.  But something needs to happen first – a country that’s behind PR is one thing, less whining and more collaboration is another.  Finally, we want a government in power that’s been elected as Canadians understand it.  In theory we have done this – we elect a group of MPs, not a Prime Minister.  But the way we conceptualize the Canadian political system and how it’s actually carried out is very different – and we really just learned that this week.

Maybe it’s naive of me, but I don’t know think we will be too set back from this delay in parliament, it may be a blessing in disguise so Harper actually listens to his house to avoid another firestorm.  Really, if he includes a stimulus package in the budget for a number of sectors, the opposition should technically shut their mouths, since you know.. this isn’t a grab for power or anything.  It was their supposed reason for forming a coalition (even though Mr. Jack Layton was planning a Bloc partnership right after the election), we’ll just have to wait and see if they are slimier than the electorate even expect.

Blindsided.

What the hell is going on in our country tonight?  So incredibly confusing, so little time to react.  Not to sound too conspiracy theory, but this is exactly what Naomi Klein talks about in her new book – extreme events (political, environmental) and the vulnerability of countries to undergo massive political/economic choices for the lucrative benefit of a very small group of people.

Who knows if Harper was acting like a baby and arrogantly hiding his crucially needed (yet reportedly insufficient) economic plans until February, especially in a concerning time.  Or maybe it was three other babies that tried to push a constitutional loophole and get their time in the sun for the next few years.  And do this in a way that feels so coup-like and undemocratic.  Their arguments sound convincing for a few moments, but it still supercedes our democratic process.  It is technically constitutional but I keep hearing this is a major gray area in the constitution.  We also live in an archaic democratic structure, so perhaps we should work on electoral or constitutional reform before we stage an uprising two months after an election.  Right?

Wasn’t our GDP up by 0.3% this past month?  Are we being lied to when we’re told we’re in good shape amongst the G8? The US’ downturn should obviously be the canary for Canada, but wouldn’t this situation be greatly improved if action was forced on the Conservatives?  Are they that impenetrable?  They reinstated public funding for the parties and upped the budget date by a bit?

Already over 3000 comments on one CBC article, that’s not too bad given our dismal voter turnout.  Not to mention a major drop in the TSX and another $300 million with likely election #2?

This will be an interesting week, hope you’re ready guvnah.

Politicktock.

Lots of things are happening, and I don’t know if it’s just drama.  And I’m also confused.

But what this is sounding like is that the NDP and the Liberals are teaming up to form a coalition government with some form of support from the Bloc.  I don’t know a lot about politics, but this just seems wrong.  Unless this was over a war, a highly warranted coup, complete corruption, then sure.   Don’t get me wrong, I’m a proud lefty, but this sounds completely undemocratic.

Now it seems the Conservatives have dropped this funding issue due to the ensuing crapstorm, but the thirst for power hasn’t changed.  Now it seems they are arguing that the Conservatives have no plan for economic stimulus or recovery.  But what astounds me is that they haven’t even seen the bloody budget yet!!  Let’s try and keep some civility and hear their plan first – then think about taking action if the opposition has legitimate concerns.

Regardless, if we wake up next week and it’s Prime Minister Dion or Prime Minister Ignatieff, who will actually be happy?  Either a person everyone hates or a person noone has voted for.  How wouldn’t this be a complete PR disaster for the left, destroying any shred of integrity they have left?  Yes these coalition parties would represent about 63% of the popular vote, and yes the Conservatives received less votes than in the last election (yet with more seats) along with the lowest voter turnout in history.  The fact still remains is that they were democratically elected.  This coalition still seems to supercede our entire democratic and election process.

The CBC continually is saying that there is so much “going on behind closed doors”.  Way to go democracy.  It seems like after this week, it’s up to the GG to allow this coalition government to take shape.  That’s a tough job, but I wouldn’t accept anything short of Johnny Cochrane to try and convince me.

Maybe this video will change your mind, it didn’t really change mine:

Quelle surprise.

Pretty much just as we thought, a stronger Harper minority.  The press keeps calling this a failure to secure a majority, but I hope the Conservatives are happy.  They gained seats all across the country (mostly at the cost of the Liberals), even in the stronghold of 905, and… they’re still in power?

Turns out that the Liberals haven’t lost this many seats since Confederation.  Kind of have to laugh at that.  Sorry Stephane, this must be a shitty day for you, with the party bigwigs already salivating for that leadership convention that will come May 2009.  They guess that the leadership will come down to the previous hopefuls of 2006 – Bob Rae, Michael Ignatieff, and Gerard Kennedy.  I get the best vibe from Ignatieff – Rae has too many skeletons in his Ontario NDP closet, Kennedy seems too young and fresh.   I hope that the politics of politics don’t get in the way of selecting the best leader.  God forbid the Canadian public has a say in who they want to lead the “national party”.  Dis the Americans all you want, I think their political system has its definite advantages over the Canadian system.

The Bloc held their ridings compared to 2006, and along with the Liberals blocked the Conservative majority.  Never been happier with La Nation.  Jackattack increased his seats, and poor Mz. May couldn’t close her riding against the fortuitous Peter McKay.  A for effort Liz, but why did you run in one of the hardest ridings when you could’ve picked a nearby Nova that was more open to a green lean?  Sounds like you’ll do a slimy politician thing by running in a by-election anywhere in the country to get in the house.  I probably would do the same, but it seems weird you would globetrot anywhere when you were so firm in running in your own riding.

I take two things from this election:

1) Voter turnout was lowest ever.  Guys!  No excuses!  Don’t give me the whole voter fatigue bullshit, or that there weren’t any important issues this time around.  You don’t think the biggest financial crisis of the last 75 years, our reliance on foreign oil and its environmental implications, a dying manufacturing sector which is a massive engine for Ontario, and slimy politicians are enough?  Go move to Yemen.  People never truly appreciate and respect the rights, freedoms, and resources bestowed upon them.  It’s why we treat our world like a garbage dump, waste water and electricity, and don’t vote.

2) I showed the popular vote first to prove how insane the disparity is between popular vote and seats won.  The most glaring example of this is the Bloc and the Green Party – 9% for the BQ and 6% for the Greens.  50 seats for the Bloc, a big goose egg for the Greens.  Awesome.

Can you tell I’m super jazzed about people these days?  I don’t know whether elections bring out the worst in people, or if elections just shed more light on the flaws of democracy.  Both.  There.

Election day.

So a month of divisive politics, and we will end up pretty much exactly how we started.  Should we be surprised?

Lots of stuff has gone down in the meantime, however.  Bad interviews, bohemians getting cut from the knees, sound financial advice, historic financial crises, candidates with nowhere to go but up, and the normal amount of mudslinging.

As my cynicism of politics and elections waxes, so do my feelings of confusion about the entire system of campaigning.  I really like the vast amounts of dialogue, the differing opinions, and healthy discussion.  What really grinds my gears is the division of the electorate and how this spurs hatred.  I’m almost as guilty of it as the next guy, and it’s so easy to fall into name calling, labelling, and judging.  A perfect example is the Alaskan darling propaganding Obama’s “terrorist buddies“, and the ensuing “terrorist!” and “KILL HIM!” chants from the ignorant sheep they call supporters.

A good friend of mine said something that is definitely sticking with me – he is afraid of “masses”, regardless of the cause.  Humans on the whole are clearly not smart enough to think independently, and this is seen on a regular basis – campaign speeches, people trampled at concerts, riots, they all incite the same human urges.  When people are en masse they assume because there are so many people around, they can simply pass on the responsibility to someone else.  However no one actually assumes this responsibility!  True and horrifying.

I’ll be glued to the TV tonight to watch Peter and the crew lay it down for us with the counting ticker on the bottom of the screen.  Harper minority for another few years, or maybe sooner if he wants to break his own law again because he feels it’s a good time to be re-elected.  That’s me judging.

Why I’m voting Green.

You’re judging already aren’t you.  I probably would too, and then subsequently think I’m a spacy, anti-establishment, granola cruncher.  Most of that is true too, but hey, I’m allowed to have my ideals.

Really this isn’t an active choice, more of a process of elimination.  So here we go:

Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party – first of all, misnomer.   Try Alliance Reform we like Ross Perot party.  I kid, no name calling necessary.  They simply don’t align with my values, straight up.  Proponents of private health care, irresponsibly accelerated rates of oil extraction in the Tar Sands, cuts to the arts, and have less foresight than Sarah Palin’s pitbull/lipstick joke.  Not to mention his Bush-like refusals to have meaningful conversations with the media for the past few years.  And oh yeah, where’s your bloody platform?  Don’t worry, I know it’s not under your sweater.

Stephane Dion and the Liberal Party – Stephane, I like you enough, really I do.  But it’s because I really want to like you and I’m trying my damndest to like you.  You’re making it bloody difficult.  I want you to show us the fierce strong guy that brought us the Clarity Act.  But now you rely on your “team” of Bob fucking Rae and all the guys that couldn’t beat you in the leadership convention?!?  Come on.  This team now fully means that you and everyone else believe that you can’t lead on your own.  You seem like a great guy, and I even don’t mind your Green Shift plan, but you’re just not the right person to take on Mr. Harper and take back the country to the Canadian Redbook middle.  I want Ignatieff, and quick.

Jack Layton and the NDP – JACK.  You were my guy!  We were all tight, I talked to you on the Danforth about water quality and your trip to Gros Morne and your trip with Olivia to the caves!  Your numbers are increasing in the polls, and I am happy for you.  Overall, you’re fighting a good fight, you’re just not going to get my vote while I live here in Montreal, QC.  You want to know why?  Because I’m getting worried that this “integrity” you preach is bullshit.  You are selling out Anglophone Quebecers by supporting Bill 101 in order to gain more Francophone votes.  Among many other things, Bill 101 helps strengthen the use of the French language in Quebec, implicity discouraging anglophones from moving and residing in Quebec.  Although I can see where this bill is coming from (in a separatist kind of way), as an English speaker in Montreal (and trying my damndest to learn your impossible dialect), my life here would be much more difficult if 101 was fully implemented.  Thus I can’t support you this time.  And after witnessing you dodging too many questions, spinning answers like a typical untrustworthy politician, your cap and trade climate change solution, and being vehemently pro-union, I’m wondering about my future support.

Elizabeth May and the Greens – Well missy May.  Sorry, Mz. May.  You got my vote, I want to ride your bandwagon.  Or should I say Via trainwagon.  I secretly want to think your cross Canada tour on the train was exactly like Festival Express.  Please tell me you’re Janis.  Anyway, this is a woman that not only impressed me but many other Canadians in the televised national debate.  She supports the OECD recommended income tax cut/carbon tax plan, even supported by neo-con idols (read: head economists).  For me, she offers answers with honesty, integrity, and foresight.  This is what I see lacking in virtually all parties.  Stephen Harper’s eyes cannot see past 4 years into the future, as do most politicians.  The economy will always take some sort of hit when shifting to more environmental policies, but this impact won’t be far reaching, especially if the country invests intelligently in developing green energy and related industries. Quick tip boys and girls – do you know where oil comes from?  how about those precious automobiles and the rest of the manufacturing sector?  Even the computers you’re typing on?  Yes, it all comes from the EARTH.  Having weak environmental policy is having weak long term economic policy, plain and simple.  Do we want to be a short term thinking kind of society?  We are way smarter than that.  We can only go on ignoring weak environmental policy for so long.  Let’s actually be proactive here.  You know what reactive politics gets you?  THIS.  I could rant forever, but Elizabeth May believes in fostering local food production (a huge issue for me), punishing polluters, investing in national rail, and getting troops out of Afghanistan in a respectable period of time.  Sign me up.

The awesome and hilarious irony of this overly long post is that yours truly, a left wing anglophone living in Montreal resides in a little riding called Laurier-Sainte Marie.  Do you know who has been running in this riding the past decade or so?

Isn’t irony a bitch?  Gilles, you’re a good guy, and I hear this is your last campaign.  I’m glad this is the last time an anglophone’s vote won’t count in your lovely riding.   Allez Vert!