VISITORS

How very lovely that I had a visitor today from P. J. Hammer.
This came as a complete surprise. A nice one. The kind of
surprises I like. Makes this old soul feel good.

Hammer is a Photographer par excellence. He is also a generous
and kindly soul with his time. Thank you P.J.

For the moment, I digress.

So, what is up today? Keeping in mind that this is not Twitter,
and that I am not a Diarist, it is still worth noting that Canada
voted on May 2nd and changed the Federal landscape rather considerably.
The Conservatives swept into a majority Parliament which will at least
for the next four years we should have some stability and continuity
which was badly needed.

Even more extraordinary is that the New Democratic Party, the dark
horse in the race, came up the back of the track and did something no
one could have predicted a year ago, never mind six weeks ago, and
swept into power as Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition in what has been
dubbed the "Orange Crush" - a reference to the NDP's colour being
orange - mostly on the force of one man, namely Jack Layton, who was
probably more shocked than anybody.

What this election managed to was to obliterate completely what had
always been since Confederation the Liberal Party of Canada the "natural"
party of the peoples. That is amazing! The writing was on the wall for
the Party but the swiftness of its demise is breathtaking.

They came undone.

Even more astounding is the demolition in totality of what had
always been a quirky aberration of the Bloc Quebecois in Ottawa
whose sole raison d'etre was the dissolution of Canada into two
separate Countries: Canada and Quebec. Quebec blinked. It turned its
back on the Bloc en masse and sent them packing back to "Occupied
France" - Quebec.

Thus ends twenty years of non-sense on the Federal scene. It never
made sense to begin with, despite the Separatists false belief that
"Only the Bloc Quebecois could represent Quebeckers interest in the
Canadian Federation." If that wasn't hubris, I don't what the meaning
of the word is. Quebeckers voted for the Orange Crush en masse.

So now what we are left with are two Parties: Conservatives (to the
right) and a clear left, social democrat party, the New Democratic
Party. They couldn't be further apart. But at least it is clear.

Personally, I am quite satisfied with the results. It will be most
interesting to see how things play out in the coming years.
Polarized? Yes. I can live with it. We are, at present, stable and
the envy of many democratic Countries in the world and in pretty good
shape on most levels.

The people have spoken and expressed their democratic wishes.

So be it.

It never does quite end there, does it? Here we are again back in election
mode. An election nobody wanted, with an end result that I have a sneaky
hunch is going to look something like a hung jury. Another minority Parliament
with the Conservatives back right where they started. Stupid is as stupid does
and Stupid is going to do it again.

I think I'll vote for my dog. At least he makes all kinds of good sense,
isn't a spendthrift, and knows how to make a point without argument.
Not only that but he never breaks a promise because he doesn't promise
anything that he can't possibly keep. He doesn't lie, cheat, or steal.
He works hard at his job, is hugely popular with adults and children,
loves everybody and everything and trees!

Pox on all their houses!

OH CANADA!

What an amazing turn of events. Here we are, arguably one of the very best countries in the world to live in. And what are we doing to it? Or, more to the point what is our Federal Government doing with it? Fighting with each other like small schoolyard bullies to see who is going to be Top Dog! It's pure madness.

Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, having called an illegal election which no one wanted just a little over a month ago at a cost to the taxpayers of millions of dollars at a critical time when the world is in economic crisis having been narrowly re-elected by a negligible 34% of the population to yet another minority government, has now created another artificial crisis with the ramifications being that Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition is gleefully going for his jugular and has set in motion a very bizarre situation in which the Liberals, headed by a hugely unpopular and outgoing Stephanne Dion, the New Democratic Party headed by Jack Layton, and - wait for it, here comes the clincher - the Separatist leader of the Bloc Nationale, that wily fox, Gilles Duceppe whose sole function in life is to see to the dismantling of Canada as we know it, have conspired to form a coalition to bring down Harper's government.

Machiavelli would be proud! If it weren't so pathetic it would be farcical. Now everybody is furious, not least we, the Canadian people. Governer General Mikael Jean who was on a European trip, to lend further intrigue, just happens to be married to a man who was in tight with the Quebec Separatists in another life. Makes for some interesting times. Jean has cut short her trip and is on her way back to Ottawa in time to be served with the request for dissolution of Parliament on Monday. It gets better since she is going to be stuck with Hobson's Choice. Nice going!

One way or the other, we could very well be headed into another Federal Election while the ink hasn't even dried on the last one we just had. Further, Quebec is in the middle of an election and we are headed to the Polls on December 8th.

What's the problem, you may well ask? Wish I had a simple answer. It's about the economy, stupid! Economy, economy, economy...have I said it enough? ECONOMY! Well, the problem is that those Simple Serpents in Ottawa couldn't hold their noses long enough to find a loop hole wider than a barn door to step through to blast Stephen Harper's planned budget right out of the drink. Come to think of it, what are they drinking in the House of Commons these days? It isn't water.

This is a constitutional problem since that coalition that is seeking to become a triumvate Opposition Party opens up the the prospect of Duceppe's Bloc Nationale sovereignist party laying the stinkingest sulfuric rotten egg ever laid on an unsuspecting Canadian population. How sweet, the tail is going to wag the dog!

Only in Canada? Pity.