For Americans who aren't privy to Canadian news, our country has gone to the dogs in the last week. For months, there has been an ongoing
investigation into a sponsorship scandal involving the our ruling Liberal Party which occured in the Province of Quebec. For a long time, it looked as though the Gomery Commission wouldn't find anything, in fact Canadian bloggers began to refer to it as the
'Gomery Pyle' Commission. Former PM Jean Chretien was called before inquiry and made it seem foolish, completely
embarassing Justice Gomery and opposition counsel.
This past week, things turned completely against the Liberals, and now it appears that our wingnuts are poised to trigger and election they are likely to win. There is much more at stake here than a simple election, legislation of global importance is on the line.
Might just be time to scrap that 'move to Canada' idea...
Things went downhill with testimony that, essentially, proved that the Liberals had taken part in blatantly
criminal behaviour in Quebec. The public response was quick and savage. The Liberals, who are Canada's natural governing party and have been in power for more than a decade, suddenly found themselves behind the Conservatives in numerous polls (
Number 1,
Number 2). One member of Parliament
left the party, and many others are considering it. Then today, opposition leader Stephen Harper announced that he intends to
trigger and election, and all parties are now preparing for a June contest.
As it stands, the Liberals have a minority government, meaning the control less than 50% of the seats in parliament. They govern as long as they have the confidence of parliament, which currently stands in a center-left coalition with help from the New Democratic Party and Bloc Quebecois -- both of whom are significantly more left wing than the Liberals. However, the Bloc stands to gain a great deal from a new election and have indicated they favour defeating the government. The Conservatives and the Bloc together control enough seats to trigger an election, so at this point it's not a question of if the Liberals will fall, but when exactly Stephen Harper wants them to.
Thankfully, the Queen is coming to Canada at the end of May, so the government will not fall before then. However, everyone seems to be bracing for the collapse of the government shortly after the Queen leaves the country, meaning the election would occur at the end of June.
So What's the Big Deal?
The Conservatives are essentially Republicans, in fact they worship the Republicans and sent down representatives to the Republican Convention last fall. They favour full participation in BMD and the Iraq War. They also support cutting taxes for the wealthy, weakening the federal government, and are blatantly racist. But worst of all, they oppose same sex marriage, the Kyoto treaty and abortion.
Same sex marriage is not yet a done deal in Canada, in fact the Conservatives tried to defeat it again just this week. During the unveiling of the federal budget the Conservatives complained loudly that the government was spending money to try to meet environmental standards. There are also great concerns that the Conservatives appear to favour two-tiered health care, effectively ruining our health system.
This really is an election of international importance, one which DailyKos readers and Americans in general need to be aware of. This isn't just a matter of a new government in Canada, but rather a complete change in philosophy for a G8 country. A move away from toleration, patience and understanding and towards Republicanesque bible thumping, gay hating, wealthy pandering politics.