As Canada wraps up its election after the (Canadian) long weekend of Thanksgiving, the United States is still in the midst of a campaign. While I've been following the American election with great interest, the Canadian election is much more personal and so it gets more attention.
The most significant development in the Canadian election campaign, for me, has been the surge in public awareness of the Green Party of Canada. In the first week of the campaign more than a month ago, the Greens dominated headlines most days due to a miscalculation by the New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton, and Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper, who threatened the media with a boycott should they invite Green Party leader Elizabeth May to the televised leaders debate. The ensuing outrage from the Canadian public changed Layton's and Harper's minds, and the Greens made history by participating in the debate.
As the campaign has worn on, blogs have played a major role in bringing down some candidates, and also promoting and identifying instances of plagiarism from both the Conservative and Liberal party leaders. And now the economy is the central focus, as it is in the United States. The focus on the economy was at first welcomed and encouraged by the Conservatives, but now they are changing their minds. Political pundits are raking the Conservatives over the coals for all sorts of their past economic policies, which did not insulate Canada enough (in their opinion) from the collapsing market south of the border.
So if you're an American waiting to see how your most important trading partner votes on October 14, watch the Internet. There are several blog aggregators to provide plenty of non-mainstream media insight. ProgressiveBloggers.ca is my favourite, and I just happen to help run it. CBC.ca is one of the best sources for Canadian news, and ctv.ca also will have up to the minute results on election night. We tend to have 99.9% of our polls report results on election night, so people on the east coast ought to know who the government in Canada will be, by midnight. If it's close, or a coalition, or minority, we may not know for a day or more.
It's an exciting time in our nations. I hope I've helped some turn their eyes north so they take note of our Canadian struggle against Conservative/Republican style leadership.