Blue Man Group Ready to Shake up Canada

The Blue Man Group with Governor General David Johnston

I guess for a lot of us are waiting to see how our new Parliament will function as it starts the spring session June 2nd the next while should be interesting. There have been some changes since it last sat.

New opposition Leader Jack Layton says he will push for a new level of decorum insisting that the NDP will not heckle the blue meanies on the other side of the house. The new Conservative MPs in the running to be Speaker of the House all claim they want to put steps in to improve things, to make it more civil. It will be tough though considering the quality of the people lined up for the job. Andrew Scheer? Spare me.

The head of the blue man group has no love for the socialists and considering what Harper once said about the New Democrats, I don't think any new approach will last long.

A few years ago Harper told a U.S right wing think tank, "Let’s take the New Democratic Party, the NDP The NDP could be described as basically a party of liberal Democrats, but it’s actually worse than that, I have to say. And forgive me jesting again, but the NDP is kind of proof that the Devil lives and interferes in the affairs of men.

This party believes not just in large government and in massive redistributive programs, it’s explicitly socialist. On social value issues, it believes the opposite on just about everything that anybody in this room believes. I think that’s a pretty safe bet on all social-value kinds of questions.

Some people point out that there is a small element of clergy in the NDP. Yes, this is true. But these are clergy who, while very committed to the church, believe that it made a historic error in adopting Christian theology.

The NDP is also explicitly a branch of the Canadian Labour Congress, which is by far our largest labour group, and explicitly radical. "

Considering that June 2nd the NDP will be trying out their new role as the Official Opposition. Pushing their new found weight around. The Liberals, in their new role as also rans, will be working hard to punch above their weight. Harper will have to get used to the fact that he has be civil to them from time to time. It will be tough for him.

Potentially this next session will be a spectator sport like we've never seen before. So, hold on to your hats Canada. 

Oh Canada!

Of all the commentary last night and in the news this morning I think my son Christopher said it best in two words. His post on Facebook says simply "Oh Canada"

That is a sigh, not a  reference to the National Anthem.

This may be a defining moment for Canada and I am not sure I will like the definition when Harper is done with us.  I don't much like it, but I accept it, as flawed as it might be.

I have spent more of my life fighting against the political direction taken by the Liberals that I have the Conservatives in their several forms but, I am not sure their demise will help Canada much. No question, they lost their way. Can they find their way back to the Pearson/Trudeau style of politics that served them well? I wonder.

I am buoyed by the great orange surge but disappointed that it didn't extend much past Quebec. What is it that the Quebecois get, that Western Canada doesn't?  Jack has his work cut out for him. To be honest I was looking forward to a positioning that would make a Liberal Democrat merger a powerhouse. I can't see it now. The Liberals will be sulking for months and months.

Here in Saskatchewan the voters returned the 13 Conservative MPs even though they have a reputation for being nothing more than Harper mouthpieces. Old red neck reformers who refused to attend all candidate's meetings and who are more like trained seals in Ottawa that they are representatives of the Saskatchewan people.

So what have we got? A strutting, arrogant, secretive Prime Minister with a majority government, who will claim to speak for a majority of Canadians, ignoring the fact that 60% of us didn't vote for Conservative Candidates. If anything screamed "Democratic Reform", surely that is it.

Oh Canada indeed. This will be a tough four years.

I Have Never Voted for a Winning Candidate

OK Canada. Are you ready to vote.

I already have since I will be working at a poll during the election.

For an election the pundits claimed would be a yawnfest it sure hasn't turned out that way. This election is anyone's guess.

I don't want to jinx my candidate but, I was talking with friends the other day and it occurred to me that I don't think that I have ever, in a Federal Election, voted for a candidate who actually won his/her seat. Not withstanding that, I never miss a chance to vote.

Hold on to your hats. This might be a first for me.

Prime Minister Layton a Remote but Interesting Possibility

Whoever said this election was going to be a sleeper. Not me for sure.  Anything can happen at this point although it does look like the Liberals are tanking. Just goes to show you, a little honesty can sink a campaign faster that a scud missile.

Could the NDP become the official opposition? What for many was unthinkable, is now within reach but I am not sure it is the cause for celebration I once thought it would be. We just keep splitting the vote allowing Harper to stroll up the middle. I am not sure what that gets us.

I am probably one of the few Canadians with a Coalition Yes sign is the window. I think we need to try the alternative. What we have had over the last few years just isn't working.

Historically minority governments govern in a cooperative fashion. Minorities have given Canadians some of our best legislation over the years. What we have seen recently is just the opposite. The Harper "my way or the highway" bully boy politics  should not work in a minority but both the Liberals and the NDP have for the most part been too weak, or lacking in self confidence to challenge the status quo.  

So, I have my fingers crossed. It looks like Harper will win again supported by less than a majority of Canadians all thanks to our broken electoral system. Faced with that probibility, the best outcome would be a weak Conservative win, a defeat of their first budget and a coalition government. Jack Layton as Prime Minister? Doubtful but not out of the question.

If Harper gets a majority what does that leave us with. A country more divided, more polarized, more bitter than ever before.

Get out and vote Canada.

Election Creativity

For an election campaign during which the candidates have scarcely mentioned the arts, there is a hell of a lot a election creativity out there. Some is subtle, some right off the wall. I particularly like this one.