The writ, it has been dropped
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...as we say in Canada.
So, in other words, us Canadians will have voted in a new government before you USians have voted in yours.
The stakes are high. Canadians have to decide whether they can get over Stéphane Dion's personality issues enough to stop Stephen Harper from dismantling the country, basically. So far, the most likely outcome in my opinion is that Canada will have another Conservative minority. But I'm terrified of the fact that they are in majority territory.
Of course, much of this will seem cryptic and contextless to the Unitedstatesofamerican reader. And I admit that since I have lived in the USA for so long myself, I'm a bit rusty on what Canadians are really like these days, politically. But, towards the end of the campaign (the election will be in mid-October), I will be going to Canada to visit relatives for a couple of weeks, and I will have the opportunity to vote.
So I hope to provide some amount of coverage over the next few weeks, given my real-life time constraints, or at least take a moment to describe the parties, personalities, and issues.
My question for USian readers (ie, most of you): if Canada elects a Conservative government again, would anyone in the USA notice? Would it help McCain? And vice versa for another party. Of course, the number of combinations of things that could happen to the actual composition of the Canadian Parliament is very different from what could happen in the USA. But many of the issues are necessarily the same.
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Don't they always argue
that Conservative governments help each other?
Just over agreeing on conservative style US/Can. trade, etc., right? Isn't that a lot of that also set in former treaties and therefore fairly set in stone?
It will be interesting to hear about this, thanks.
USians don't know and don't care
I don't think that a Harper re-election or a Dion upset will register at all with the vast majority of USians. People in border states that get decent English-language broadcast media (Michigan, upstate New York, and Washington) will perhaps know more, but it won't affect their voting behavior.
New England is ' joined at the hip'
with Canada, and most importantly with Quebec, whence Harper (if I'm not mistaken) got the extra necessary seats to govern with a minority mandate. But the thing you have to understand about Harper is that his 'conservative' is not the US 'conservative". It may be very close to what we call 'centrist' in this country. And secondly, the Federal government in Canada is not as powerful in comparison to the provinces. That's a two edged sword, but the provinces are quite powerful. If Quebec (and my family is from Quebec) can get their heads out of their asses and understand who's on their side, Harper may have some problems, IMHO. Most 'eastern Canadians will tell you that Canada is very liberal (yea, I know, Quebec is in the east) but the westerners will tell you that that Canadian/US border should be going north/south rather than east/west, so....the most population is in the east, so therefore most Canadians are liberal, and even the westerners are pretty centrist, which to us is liberal. They're as baffling as we are!
More posts on Canadian elections!
I think with effort people can be brought to care. After all, we share a huge border, a huge watershed, and the, er, Arctic Circle.
So we need to know.
I also regard the success of keeping Quebec in the federation, without violence, and even if accomplished by the not-exactly-saintly Jean Chretien, as a triumph of the human spirit. We should be able to learn from this.
[ ] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
on Quebec--
Canada gives its provinces/regions more autonomy than we get in states--laws/regulations/benefits/education/etc--many differences in all sorts of things, i think.
And Harper never had a working majority in their parliament.
i'd be a New Dem i think, if i were Canadian-- http://www.ndp.ca/home
Canada is the America we should be
--i say that all the time--they kept progressing while we go backwards.
glossary
I notice that the glossary here defines "Conservative" as "authoritarian greedhead on the winger billionaire tit." The accuracy of this caricature notwithstanding, does it perhaps conflict with the idea this is one of various progressive websites fighting misogyny?
Americans Wouldn't Blink
I'd be surprised if even 5% of us could name the Canadian prime minister, or even know that Canada has a prime minister and not a president.
I do wish our election cycles were as compact as those of Canada and other places in the world (France and England). I really don't think we're served too well by two years of campaigning.
Yeah, Canadian conservative isn't too much like our brand, though they all speak in the same language. I've seen some interviews with Harper, and he uses many of the same buzzwords and phrases as Bush.
the mess up here
is almost as good as the mess down there-first off we have neo-bush Harper, our Prime Minister, who has been pushing wonderful bills like c-51, which would crush the health food industry and any company who contravenes " the opinion of the minister" will be put out of business. And yes I read the cursed document. This leads to the implementation of Codex Ailementarius, a U.N. program that takes its cues from Kissinger's "food is control" quote. Great. Then we have On the opposing major party a dud called Stefan Dion, who is amazingly uninspiring, and behind him potential "cheney" Michael Ignatieff, who spent major time the U.S. until he weaseled his way into the 2nd liberal position.He's another bloody Yale bushite, I believe.A majority government of either party scares me as both their agendas are so corporate and anti-populist. Our government runs surpluses in the billions every month and yet we have waiting times that are horrid for healthcare and more tax cuts to our arts and culture programs. our taxes are insane and the money gets used to fight a war in Afghanistan that the mighty Russians couldn't win.
And if you think they have it bad in New England for lack of heat and poverty, well snuggle up 'cause its way poorer ands colder up here. Bleak,very Bleak. I'll be active up here to see what I can do to keep the bastards at oddds with each other so they don't gang up on whats left of our public..more than they have, And yes Dammit I'm mad as hell and can't take it anymore