Congratulations are in order for Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party in Canada for gaining the largest voting block in today's nationwide elections. With their new 37% minority ahead of the Liberals' 31%, this is the first time Conservatives have held the most seats in parlaiment since 1994. Interesting that our countries' legislative bodies both switched alignments in that same year, but in the opposite direction.
This by no means gives the CPC a ruling majority or even a very clear mandate in Canada, but it does send a long over due signal that our fine friends to the North are slightly more tired of corrupt liberalism ruining their country than they were before. Personally, I don't understand how parlaimentary multi-party systems function without disintegrating into anarchy, but hopefully Harper can whip his country into shape as a world player once again. We miss Canada at the table.
And by the way, just so we're clear... This now makes at least
eleven twelve nations that have elected or re-elected more conservative (in a Western sense) and pro-war governments in the years since the Iraq War began (United States, Australia, United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Afghanistan, Iraq, Canada, Lebanon, Poland [
UPDATE: and Portugal]). So much for the whole world being against us, huh?
2 comments:
*insert groaning and random american protest here*
Well a good way to look at it is that Harper's 37% shows how out of touch with Canada he really is. We've lived for 12 years with a corrupt Liberal Government and that's the best he could do. I think it's just as much of a loss as the Liberals suffered. The Liberals finally turned enough stomachs to force this situation. The reality is that Harper doesn't truly represent Canadians. And the Conservatives are no less corrupt than anyone else. Harper's just a segue to the next Liberal government. Six months to a year from now it will be a Liberal government again and we'll be back where we started.
What we need is accountability. We need to be able to recall our representatives like they can in the US. Voting for the Conservatives because you don't like the Liberals is not accountability. But that's the best we have right now. It's a "punish the Liberals" vote not "let's go to war" vote.
Post a Comment