The day after

Yesterday there was a general election in Canada....our third one in four years! Heaven help us! The election was called by the Prime Minister, Stephen Harper because, according to him, the Governement was "not working", and the opposition parties were not co-operating! Hello? Isn't that the reason we have opposition parties so that they don't just allow you to push through laws at your convenience and to watch out for the people's interests???! Harper is so bloody arrogant that he thought he could push an election at the time that many are pre-occupied with the American Presidential Election and therefore not pay much attention to what was going on in Canada! Unfortunately he seems to have guessed right! The voter turnout was very low....something like 59% across the country! Disgraceful! However I don't think it was just that the Presidential race in the States is that much more interesting, it's the fact that the alternative choices in Canada were not great! The Liberals were so focused on their carbon tax theory and plans that they couldn't see that most Canadians right now are more worried about the economy and the carbon tax is seen as another way that will push up prices and utility bills. Of course we have to worry about the enviroment and sooner or later we will have to pay for it, but I don't think this was the right time to be pushing it! To me the only leader and party that was focused on the ordinary family and the economy was Jack Layton and the NDP.....the Green Party was close. I was happy to see the NDP gain seats. They did well. In the city I live, it is solid orange....the colour of the NDP party! Of course this is no surprise, it's a 'blue collar town', and industrial city steeped in the Union traditions. However in recent years the NDP have stepped back from having too many ties with the Unions.....deemed too scary for most voters in large areas of the country. To tell the truth, I also would not vote for them when they were so tied up with the Unions, but now I trust them, and I like Jack Layton. So we end up with another minority Conservative government, and we see the waste of $300million tax payer dollars, just to give Harper the extra boost of confidence he was looking for! Jerk! He authorises that much money to be spent on an unnecessary election, yet at the same time cuts funding to arts programs because in his mind only the "elite" are concearned with the arts!!!! The only bright thing to come out of this election is that Justin Trudeau, the eldest son of former Prime Minister, Pierre Elliot Trudeau, was voted in as MP for a riding in Montreal. This gives me a glimmer of hope for the future of the Liberal Party. Given time I think we will see Justin Trudeau emerge as a future leader of the party, and see him (hopefully) emulate his father who would take no bullshit from anyone, and was one of our greatest PM's! Now more than ever I hope to God that Barack Obama becomes President of the USA, because if McCain gets in.....heaven forbid....Harper will be licking his ass just as he has done with Bush!