5 posts tagged “canada”

A couple of days late for Canada Day...but there was a time when every single Canadian kid had to learn this song. Also, check out the munnies we used to have with bunnies and lynxes on them! I have actually never seen those before, I wonder what happened to them. We need to bring those back!

Tomorrow is election day here in the Great White North. It's been an intense, strange and often howlingly funny six-week campaign (seriously, gotta love the fast and furious. You guys should try it sometime).

The highlights:

-Pooping puffin overload

-Prime Minister Stephen Harper, on a stop at a vegetable packing facility, surrounded by fresh produce, was asked what kind of vegetable he would be. He replied, "actually, I think I'm more like a fruit: sweet and colorful".

-A number of asinine stunts or comments got several candidates into hot water--some were even kicked off the campaign. A Conservative candidate in Toronto got the boot for posting something on his blog basically blaming that horrible beheading on a Greyhound bus this summer on the liberal left turning us into a nation of soft pussies. WTF? Then a Liberal candidate was turfed by her party for comments she made years ago about an Israeli conspiracy in 9-11. She is however staying on the ballot as an independent. And our most left-wing party, the New democrats, kicked out a candidate in B.C. when news came out that he was charged with indecent exposure over 10 years ago (he went skinny sipping a little too close to a camp for teens.),

I'm trying to get some people to come over tomorrow night to watch the coverage and see Mr BA on TV! I've decided the magic pundit drinking game words will be "coalition", "split left vote" and "shocking upset". I may try to liveblog. Who's in?

Chickencanada

3 comments

Well, as expected, Canadian Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, dissolved Parliament (I love that expression, it makes it sound like an Alka-Seltzer tablet) and called a federal election for Tuesday, October 14, the day after Canadian Thanksgiving. That's a 37-day election campaign. Short and sweet, the way we like 'em.

So you can keep track of who's who, here is BrownAmazon's Canadian Election primer:

The Players:

Stephen Harper, sitting PM in a minority government, leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, represents a riding in Calgary, Alberta.

Stephen Harper

Pros: In charge since January 2006, Harper's government has a good track record on the economy (our dollar is now pretty much at par with the greenback, and even surpassed it for a while). And unlike the dithering, ineffectual Liberal PM who immediately preceding him (Paul Martin) , he hasn't been afraid to make decisions and take action, so he's seen as a strong leader. Also, although his personal views on abortion on gay marriage are conservative, he hasn't attempted to reverse any Canadian laws or tried to make them party/election issues (even though some of the more religious-right members of his party want him to). Also, there haven't been any huge major scandals--a few things here and there, but nothing your average Joe or Jill Canadian outside of Ottawa would care about. Oh, except for the disgrace of his former Foreign Affairs Minister, who got nailed for having left sensitive documents at the home of his ex-girlfriend, a known police informant and formerly married to a member of a biker gang (the guy had extremely questionable taste in women). But Harper kicked him out of Cabinet as soon as the scandal came to light, so the one moron didn't taint the whole party. He brought in tough government spending accountability and lobbyist legislation (some say too tough, because it's increased the amount of bureaucracy and sign-off processes to the point that the cogs of administration get paralyzed). And he's actually taken a tougher stance on China and its human rights violations than any PM in memory (he refused to attend the opening of the Olympics). And his party is fairly unified, despite differences between the old guard, fiscal conservative/social liberal Progressive Conservatives (whom I used to like quite a lot),  and the more Republican-style right-wing Reform Party members (the two parties merged in 2005 to stop splitting their votes and have a better chance of defeating the Liberals).

Yee haw

Cons: There are fears that he's waiting to get a majority government before pulling out the big conservative-issue guns. He's failed to deliver any real environmental policy with teeth. He ignored demands to increase the budget to the Canada Food Inspection Agency, and now there's a major outbreak of food-borne disease that's already killed a dozen people (this will be an election issue the opposition will use). Also, his government is trying to push through an extremely controversial "censorship" bill that would give the government the power to deny funding to any film or TV show it considered offensive or shocking. He has cut funding to programs for the arts, women and First Peoples (native Canadians). Is still not seen as a likable, approachable guy. Scrapped a planned national public child-care program and instead has given parents $1,200 each year for every kid they have under age 6, even though $100 a month does not come anywhere near paying for daycare. And he is widely thought of as a Bush lapdog.

Stéphane Dion, leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition, represents a riding in the Montreal area.

Stephane Dion

Pros: Leads the Liberals, the party that has historically spent the most number of years in power and seen as the "natural" government of Canada. Ontario, the biggest, most populous province, and most of Canada's biggest cities, tend to vote Liberal (the party in power is the one that wins the highest number of seats. In Canada, you don't vote for the Prime Minister; you choose the Member of Parliament for your riding. Therefore, it's entirely possible for a party to win the election, but for the leader of that party to not be elected in his own riding. If that happens, they usually ask one of their elected members to give up his or her seat, then they run a by-election in that riding with the leader since it's seen as a sure bet.) He's an academic and very smart.

Oooo beer

Cons: He's a smart academic who comes across as priggish, pedantic, uptight and lecturing. Although he can be a decent speaker, he is not so good on the fly and performs terribly in debates and press scrums. Even hard-core Liberals have no respect for him. His party is weak and in disarray, with lots of infighting. Plus the crux of his platform is a proposed environmental policy called the Green Shift, which is extremely complicated--nobody understands how it's going to work, except that it involves and additional tax (which nobody wants).










Jack Layton , leader of the New Democractic Party (NDP), represents a Toronto riding.

Jack Layton

Pros: Likable enough. Popular with the party faithful. The Dippers are our most left-leaning, socially progressive party.

Healthcare is preciousss

Cons: They have no hope in hell of ever winning enough seats to form government. They are seen as irrelevant and too much in the pocket of the labour unions (who are ok with social change, as long as it doesn't threaten their jobs.)

Gilles Duceppe, leader of the Bloc Québécois, represents a Montreal riding.

No Scrum

1 comment

Pros: A reliably scrappy opposition pitbull (sans lipstick).

NOM NOM NOM

Cons: The Bloc are even more irrelevant than the NDP. Basically, their one and only platform is Quebec independence. They are a party that only exists within Quebec. The irony of having a party in Canadian Parliament  whose main job is secession from Canada not lost on people. But right now, support for separation in Quebec is at an all-time low. 

Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party, former president of the Sierra Club of Canada.

Elizabeth May

  I am adding Elizabeth May because of an interesting recent development. The Greens are newcomers to the Canadian political scene. Basically they are very ambitious and hard-core on the environmental front, but fairly conservative on every thing else. But they have never won a seat in any federal election. However, last week, a Vancouver guy who had been sitting as an independent (he was elected as a Liberal, kicked out of the party over an alleged spending scandal, but was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing), announced he was joining the Greens, effectively giving them their first-ever seat in Parliament (hmm, wonder what he is getting in exchange?). This means that May should be invited to participate in this year's leadership debates.

So, my American peeps have no doubt been too preoccupied with their own shenanigans to notice that Canada is gearing up for our own federal election, which we expect the Prime Minister will call any day now. Unlike you guys, we have strict limits on the duration of our election campaigns: a maximum of 45 days. Most Canadian politicians avoid competing with a US presidential election if they can avoid it. It will be interesting to see how your campaign affects ours and whether the issues get confused. 

Our shenanigans aren't nearly as epic and entertaining as yours. But I promise to keep you posted.

Cute but sad

(Explanation: Our PM, Stephen Harper, is known for being somewhat formal and a cold fish. He is also a cat lover and has kept foster kittens at the official residence ).

I thought I'd share pics of some especially cute Canadian animals:

The Vancouver Island Marmot is Canada's most endangered mammal. Loon chicks often hitch a ride on their parents' backs. The lovely pic of the bebeh moosicle is by wildlife photographer Ron Thiele.