Miscellaneous

The Situation in Canada Just Got a Little More Interesting

A couple of days ago, I posted a piece on what's going on in Canadian politics, which turned out to inspire one of the most heated comment threads we've had on QuizLaw. What I learned was basically two things: 1) We have a lot of (well-spoken) Canadian readers I didn't know about, and 2) the Canadian political system is both confusing and seemingly very much in shambles right now. If the American media wasn't so ethnocentric, this story would be on the front page of our papers every day, just for the sheer drama of it all.

To recap: Two liberal parties have joined forces with, I guess, a crazy party (secessionist) and are planning to dump the Prime Minister (who is from the conservative minority) just two months after an election where the Liberal party and it's unpopular leader were trounced. The Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, is threatening to suspend Parliament in order to avoid a vote of no-confidence (which would remove him from office). And apparently, there are absolutely no popular politicians in Canada right now.

Last night, Stephen Harper took to the airwaves and, in a four-and-a-half minute speech (is that all they get in Canada? Less than five minutes?) tried to convince the nation that this takeover, in which the secessionists Bloc Quebecois are the power players, is undemocratic.

He said the opposition's bid to replace his government with a coalition is a threat to Canada's democracy. "I pledge to you that Canada's government will use every legal means at our disposal to protect our democracy, to protect our economy, and to protect Canada."

He added the coalition can't be allowed to enter into a power-sharing arrangement with the separatist Bloc Quebecois.

"This is no time for backroom deals with the separatists; it is the time for Canada's government to focus on the economy."

From an American perspective, the idea of a conservative leader in Canada strikes many of us as odd -- we sort of equate Canadian conservatism with something, perhaps, just to the right of Dennis Kucinich. Because we're dumb and uninformed and Canadians apparently pay 80 percent of their income to taxes in exchange for the right to wait three weeks in an emergency room. But, from what I gather now, Stephen Harper is a legitimate right winger, at least fiscally. Though he apparently still has quite a bit of support.

I'm not sure how this is all gonna shake out, but you know what? I'm intrigued, and we're going to follow it. Because Canadian politics just got fascinating.

Full post as published by Quiz Law on December 04, 2008 (boomark / email).