Greetings and salutations!

Be Careful What You Wish For

During the recent US Presidential Election, I complained about the comparative lack of interest/energy in the Canadian Federal Election. Well, we've certainly come into a more exciting time. Unfortunately, the present situation, rather than instilling hope in Canadians, has become a blight on our political history while creating an atmosphere of further instability.

The Background

Following October's general election, the third in the last four years, the Conservatives gained seats but remained a minority government. Two weeks later, they presented an Economic Update to Parliament. This update was blasted by the opposition parties, primarily for failing to address the current (global) economic crisis but also (and perhaps more so) for limiting the public funding of our national political parties.

Then, the killer blow; last week a formal coalition was announced between the NDP and Liberal parties with the sole intent of taking power from the Conservatives. While the Bloc Québécois is not a formal partner in the coalition, they have pledged to support it in any parliamentary confidence votes.

This sort of extreme action, particularly in the form of a formal coalition, has not happened in Canada since the Union government of 1917. It is important to point out here that, despite the heated rhetoric and accusations that have followed the announcement, the actions of this coalition are allowed for under the Canadian Constitution, so it's not explicitly undemocratic; not that that means it's in the nation's best interest.

Two things happened in the immediate aftermath of the announcement - the political manoeuvres swung into high gear and the public response came fast and (generally) furious. Advertising of all kinds across all media was answered by a digital flood of public comments on social networking sites, blogs, email, and other media. People certainly seem to have strong feelings on either side of this issue and you can find endless examples of this online. Getting past the emotions though, some solid numbers have also started to come out.

What's Happening Now

This morning, Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited Governor General Michelle Jean, with the purpose of requesting a parliamentary prorogue, essentially a shut down of parliament in order to attempt to bring order to the present chaos. This request was granted which means our government is suspended until January 26th. If the Conservatives can't find a way to win back the confidence of MPs by then, they will certainly lose their next confidence vote and we will likely have the coalition in power or see yet another general election.

Of course, this whole episode doesn't speak well to the stability of the country - particularly in a time of economic recession (Canada's dollar has dropped significantly in the last few months). Moreover, the nature of this coalition has, once again, put Quebec in the spotlight as an ongoing source of political destabilization and the question of a separatist party with so much sway has once again got people across the country into heated debate.

My Two Cents

People in Canada are angry - angry that the Conservatives don't seem to be paying attention to current realities, angry at this coalition's arrogance in attempting to take power for themselves and getting into bed with the Bloc to do so, and just angry at the sorry state of the Canadian political system at present. It's clear that something has to be done, and will be done whether we like it or not. Personally, I would much rather see another election than a coalition government, but if it resulted in another minority than we could have the same situation all over again. The only thing I can encourage is for people to keep doing what they're doing - speak out on any platform available to you. Contact your party offices directly. Engage in protest events or anything that sends a strong message to Ottawa that you're fed up with the way things are going. Or, you could just be like me, resign yourself to the fact that this is the way the system works, shake your head in sad amusement at the anarchy, and not really give a damn.

With Hope (really?),
Joseph

Parliament Prorogue | Canadian Coalition | National Unity