elections: the other white meat.
As promised earlier, here's my take on the impending federal election, in the form of a block quote from my column this week:
With Martin’s government expected to fall by the end of the month, something’s going to have to fill the void, and, amazingly, there are actually people out there who hope that something is Stephen Harper. Honestly: is wanting to punish a complacent and longstanding Liberal regime really a good enough reason to hand the steering wheel over to the Conservatives? Really? Bear in mind that this isn’t even the comparably huggable, Mulroney-style old Progressive Conservative party we’re talking about here; this is the gun-lovin’, immigrant-hatin’, hardlinin’, whoop-whoop-whoop-holy-fuck-we’re-crazy Conservative Party of Canada. I mean, yes, there should be some repercussions for the whole sponsorship thing, but surely there’s a way to punish the Liberal party without also setting our country back 30 years ideologically by voting in a party that opposes gay marriage and relaxed drug laws and would love nothing more than to make Canada into America’s economic and political lapdog.
Can’t we just take a few seats away from the Liberals and give them to some slightly less crazy party, like the NDP? What are they going to do—go mad with power and plant too many trees?
My stance in a nutshell: the problem is with the system, not the party in power. Had it been the Conservatives, they would have likely done the same thing. To hand over the government to the Cons just to spite the Libs would be foolhardy--especially considering how horribly the Cons have acted of late. Best-case scenario? Maintain a Liberal minority government, but with a stronger NDP. So, in conclusion, I'm voting New Democrat.
Thoughts?
posted by Anonymous at 3:45 PM
2 Comments:
Robbie Schremp would have been available in the later rounds, all that "we-couldn't-believe-he-was-still-available-at-25th" bullshit is bullshit.
So the argument is:
The Oilers could have gotten Perry, but didn't, settling instead for a draft pick that turned into Robbie Schremp -- a player clearly behind Perry, who himself only trailed some guy named Sidney Crosby in the CHL scoring race.
Plus Woywitka. who should be running a fencing company in Vermillion or something unrelated to hockey.
Where's the upside?
Uhh, election.
I 'm looking forward to it. I'm interested to see the good peope of Medicine Hat once again become infuriated as the Liberals form the government (my call is a slim minority).
Reform/Alliance/PC/Conservatives have been at this for 13 years and they just can't conceive why Ontario doesn't like them.
I think it may cause riots in the west -- unlike, Robbie Schremp, who lacks the charisma and manliness to cause any sort of commotion, stir anyone's heart or imagination.
Collin
4:23 PM
I don't what's worse for our little democracy, a trying-to-be-nice Canadian Alliance or the daily slap in the face that comes from the Liberals.
What has come out in recent weeks is probably as worse as something like Watergate, when you think about it. What was lost in the Vote of Confidence motion was the revelation that slushfund money from the Feds went straight to Liberal candidates during the election (and you can probably bet it wasn't listed as an expense with Elections Canada). This isn't really about a few "rogue" party supporters so much as plain old graft and corruption from senior Liberal party organizers. Of course at my job I get to read about about how ministers are basically already campaigning, with ministers tossing money away at swing ridings like its confetti. The Gomery thing alone is gonna cost hundreds of millions. It just seems like the Liberals think everyone's retarded or something. But can they really run on "Conservatives scary" and expect to win?
Well, yes. They'll probably get a minority again with the NDP and PQ gaining seats
http://info.wlu.ca/lispop/main.htm
Still it's lame. It's all up to Ontario really, so don't bother voting. The good news is that I can vote for Olivia Chow (NDP) in my riding and feel okay about it. I still don't like Jack Layton though, he's a jackass. In fact the leaders that impress me the most are Gilles Duceppe and Stephen Harper, of all people. Harper actually is fairly moderate compared to the kooks in the party, and I wouldn't mind him as much as PM. It's just the thought of Jason Kenney as Minister of Finance or Cheryl Gallant as Minister of Social Development that scare the shit out of me...
The election is depressing.
~Mike
12:17 AM
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