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.
