Thursday, December 4, 2008

Banana Canada Republic

True, North, Strong & Bananas.

That's right, my homeland appears to be acting like a banana republic with abuses of democracy running rampant. Well technically it is not a republic, rather being loyal to the parliamentary system of government, which is (part of the) why chaos runs rampant through the land to our north.

Let me attempt to break down the issues at hand:
  1. Canada elected a minority Conservative government in October.
  2. The opposition parties, consisting of the Liberals (Moderates), New Democratic Party / NDP (Socialists) and Bloc Quebecois (Separatists) objected to the perceived lack of economic stimulus in a statement made by the Conservatives. (Apparently the Canadian economy is not immune to the toilet bowl swirl of the US market, although there are some differences: a viable banking sector, no real estate market collapse, record airline transportation rates, low government deficits . . . but I digress).
  3. Many claim the real reason, in addition to pure politics, is that the Conservatives are planning to eliminate public funding of political parties (which is something I'm against - despite what Obama was able to accomplish here without public financing).
  4. The unholy alliance of Liberals, Socialists and Separatists . . . oh my. . . (where's a good Green Party Member of Parliament when you could use one?) have signed a pact to vote down the government and asked the Governor General (my friend Bucky claims "she's hot" but he drank a lot of beer in his youth) to allow them to form the next government. Yes, in Canada they still have to ask a figurehead representative of the Queen (of England that is) permission to rule the land (and use the potty).
  5. In response the Conservatives have asked the Governor General to delay the opening of parliament until late January. As of today, it appears she has decided that not allowing anyone to legislate or debate in a legitimate forum is the right course of action for Canada.
So what have we learned from this quick look into the Canadian political landscape?
Canada suffering from erectile dysfunction

See John Stewart's now prophetic summary of the lamo cast of Canadian politicians who are playing out this drama . . . . ironically not available in Canada, pity.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Brent,

Good one...The Daily Show is available in Canada...just follow the links! :)

I am in favour of getting rid of the public payment for votes. Each party gets $1.75 per vote per year with a cap of $1000 per person. Corporate and Union donations are banned. They removed per vote part but kept the rest. It must be noted that this was removed within 24 hours of the economic update being presented in the house of commons. But Politics being politics......the opposition did not really care any more because they were united! If you can really unite with the Bloc! Anyways...keep up the Blogging!!!

Cheers from Vancouver Island!

About The Savvy Sommelier said...

Math is hard . . . .
How does the NDP survive without union donations?