You guys are slow on the draw
 

I just saw this and decided to check in to see what you guys thought. Now I see that you are all asleep.

Anyway, thoughts from those living in the great white north would be nice.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051129/wl_canada_afp/canadapoliticscensure

Does this mean shipment of Molson will be delayed?

I was thinking more along the lines of how so many people from outside the USA bash us for our "bad" administration when they have their own problems at home.

*cough* creaturecat,ect *cough*

I didn't realize that the politics of the 51st state mattered much...

I say we invade = and make em all speak english

Sorry guys, If you invade, there will probably be a referendum to see if we want to speak english or spanish. Gracias, por nada!
This election has been coming since the results of the last one were posted. The government has been pretty much in election announcement mode for six months.
Pork barrel politics is alive and well, here in the Great White North. There was an interesting note in the regional paper, last week. It seems a lady who had had a political job up until the last election accosted a Liberal cabinet minister in a small restaurant. She wanted her old 'position' back and was trying to pressure/embarrass him into telling her what she wanted to hear. Instead, he got angry and finished the conversation with telling her to "Kiss my @ss!" She complained to the party hierarchy about his choice of words, then went public when she didn't get what she wanted. My take on the whole thing was she just didn't understand she was being offered another "position"!
It seems to rise in politics, you have to be full of hot air.
Les

Les, sorry to hear that its not gotten any better in the GWN. Our situation is terrible here and needs improvement badly. Both parties here are full of pork, scandal, liers and scam artists and needs to be overhauled, and yesterday.

I need to watch "Canadian Bacon" again to refresh myself on life in the GWN.

Aaron, its not the 51st state, its the 52nd! Puerto Rico already has the nod for being number 51! :)

Joe A

PS To hell with Molson, how about some Blue??!!

Bleghk.

The only party that stands to gain from this election is the Bloc Quebecois (Quebec seperatist party). Good move, Steven Harper... I'm sure the Conservatives will get their just rewards at the polls. Bad move, IMO.

This is not going to be pretty.

As long as this doesn't delay the next Rush tour or effect my business with the Canadian Embassy here, it's fine by me.

Tobster,

I wasn't asleep until I read this. Canada is 'France Lite' to me except the beer is better which also puts me to sleep.

Not according to the t-shirts I bought in DC last time. All of the t-shirt vendors, to be allowed on the mall, have to be making a political statement. In very very small print, all of them say: Statehood for DC, or DC-51

Huh? You're not even near Quebec....

Red,

Close enough. Maybe too close. I live in the Great White North-I have to go south to get to Toronto in case I lose a bet or something. Don't get me wrong, I like Canadian's and Quebecuers. Did they ever give us back that deserter? I'd like 'em even more if they did that.

Which deserter would that be? We've got hundreds of conscientious objecters and guys who were just not comfortable with taking a bullet from the last few decades. ;)
Les
PS: Joe, I'll hoist a Blue in your honor this evening, after I get the chains back on the tractor.
L

That pretty much sums it up. The real kick in the pants is everyone knows that we'll most likely end up with exactly the same minority gov't (same party) and go through the entire song and dance again in a year or 2 when the opposition brings in another non-confidence motion.

I truly don't remember the last time we had such poor choices for leaders. The Liberal party has a strong head in Martin (our current PM) but is still shaking off the stigma of the sponsorship scandal (main reason I didn't vote for them). The NDP (left) has never been taken seriously, even though I think they've got their best federal leader in years. The Conservatives (right) have the worst leader they've had in years, and their status in the last election and current polls reflects this. Most people think he's an ultra-right-wing racist cowboy (I tend to agree). Bear in mind our politics in Canada tend to be way far to the left of the US, so in context he'd be further to the right than GWB (and not much brighter).

I hate voting in these kinds of elections (though I still do) because I always leave thinking I've made a mistake.

Screw this, I'm moving to Sweden. :D

Christien, I agree with all your points. Gotta say though, Jack Layton is looking stronger than the rest of them. I don't think I've ever taken the NDP as seriously as I do now.

Couldn't agree more. I don't think many people have taken the NDP very seriously ever (though the provincial NDP won a term here several years ago). IMHO Layton shows great potential as a leader. I think he's got more brains than Harper and I think he's less "smarmy" than Martin (if that's a word). He's got lots of experience, but it's all municipal. Maybe that's good, though. And he's seems to have one thing the NDP has been missing for years - a business sense.

x2


PS: time to start farting nonsense about Canadian politics A'LA creaturecat. - That is, until we annex 'em and put Iraqi govt. in charge.

rjp

Yup, I think Layton is the only leader coming out of this minority parliament looking BETTER than he did going in. He cooperated WITH the gov't to move legislation that his party could stand behind, instead of screaming and crying at the sidelines. I think the best case scenario (I'm dreaming here) would be a minority NDP gov't. It would shake the Liberal cobwebs out of the gov't bureaucracy, and lend a measure of caution to the NDP as they'd have to work very closely with the Liberals in order to make it.

It's unfortunate though, I actually like Martin. I think he got stuck with a REALLY bad Liberal legacy, and unfortunately it's his job to atone for it. I think he's done an alright job of it, but people are just TOO pi$$ed at the Liberal party. People aren't able to distinguish between the provincial/federal Liberal parties, or between the Chretien/Martin factions in the federal side.

I'm still unsure about Martin. I realize he's been more or less completely exonerated in the sponsorship scandal, but I find it hard to swallow that he had no clue what was going on while he was finance minister. And if he truly didn't, then maybe he wasn't doing his job.

That aside, I think you're right that a minority NDP gov't might be the best choice. It's certainly the lesser of evils. And you're right Layton coming out of the last parliament looking good - he made the Liberal minority work by getting some of the NDP ideals into legislation by making deals with the governing party - THAT is how a democratic minority gov't is supposed to work!