"...and I felt EVEN BETTER."

[wombat_socho]

I thought I'd posted about this before, but I must just have linked it at The Other McCainCanada just had another election, forced on it by the Bloc Quebecois, Liberals and NDP, and to nobody's surprise (save for the chattering classes of Canada, who were all Pauline Kael about it), PM Stephen Harper's Conservatives utterly crushed both the

Comments

[kishiriadgr]

Canada is not the United States. Because of this, the Harper government should not necessarily be lauded. The Canadians who did not vote for him (and I would have been one of them; I always staunchly voted Liberal) often do so because "he and his party want Canada to be more like the US". At a time when the US isn't doing well at all, that's not a paltry fear. Unemployment in Canada is currently lower, there hasn't been a deficit for years, and if Canada pulls out of Afghanistan, as it should, its financial situation will be better yet again. Canada is strong right now because of the times it acted like CANADA and not America Jr.

[wombat_socho]

You assume that I don't understand Canadian politics, and you are incorrect.

I'm well aware that Canada is not the US; I refer to it as "the old country" for a reason, since I still have relatives that never left PEI or Montreal. I admire Harper for what he's been able to accomplish, mainly giving the West a larger voice in Canadian affairs than it's traditionally had.

[kishiriadgr]

I agree that all of Canada isn't Vancouver/Montreal/Toronto, but if "giving the west a voice" is all he has to point to, that's not much. It explains how he was elected of course (I saw the electoral map) but what's good for the Prairies isn't necessarily what's good for Canada and Canadianism.

[wombat_socho]

Oh, of course not, any more than sectional politics in general is good for a country; I think the problem is even more acute in a parliamentary system where there's really no check on what the House of Commons can do. I don't think that's all PMSH has to boast about, though; Murphy's comment about the CPC taking the effective veto power of Quebec (via the BQ) out of play is well taken.

TBQH, I'm not sure there is a good definition of "Canadianism" other than the Grits' knee-jerk "not the US" attitude. I'm not sure you can really have a good definition of Canada as a nation so long as Quebec is off sulking in a corner and periodically throwing a tantrum about leaving if it doesn't get its way; I mean, are they in or are they out? Is Canada one nation or an uneasy federation of ethnically heterogeneous provinces? I don't have an answer to that question myself, and admit that my thoughts on the matter are largely influenced by Kate McMillan and other Reform/Conservative bloggers up there.

[3fgburner]

"And I felt even better."

I thought I recognized that quote. I remember an editorial cartoon, I think in the Washington Times, from then. Castro is standing on the beach, and the Ortegas are approaching shore in a life raft. Castro is yelling,

"You lost a WHAT??!".

[wombat_socho]

Heh.