the secret of comedy
May. 3rd, 2011 12:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jazzfishJust under six and a half years ago, I'd been quietly talking about fleeing to Canada if Bush won a second term. An acquaintance posted something to the effect of "hey, all you people talking about how you'd move to canada if bush won: put your money where your mouth is and shut up about it and just go do it."
"Fine," I thought (but didn't say), and started thinking more seriously about the idea.
It took some doing but in less than a month I will have pulled it off.
... just in time for the Conservative Party of Canada to have won a majority government after being found in contempt of Parliament, thanks to stupid awful first-past-the-post elections with one right-wing party running against three and a half left-wing ones.
The Liberal Party has lost more than half their seats, and the Bloc is essentially finished (down to three, I believe). Congratulations to the pinko commie socialist New Democratic Party on their amazing hundred-plus seats, and to Elizabeth May for winning one for the Green Party.
The trouble is, the collapse of the Liberals (and the Bloc) moves Canada much closer to being a two-party state. And coming as it does after a Conservative victory that appears much more decisive than it actually is (40% of the vote, 55% of the seats), I fully expect the NDP to tack more to the centre. They'll need to absorb the last of the Liberal supporters; in addition, well, where are the more left-wing voters going to go? In another twenty years Canada will look like the US with better health care.
(Of course, I'm very likely wrong on this. All I know is what I read on the internet. I'm just in a rather bad mood, and finding it difficult to see any silver lining at all.)
A Conservative majority also ensures that there will be no election for another five years. I suppose I might be able to vote in that one, at least. But really, what the hell do I do now?
"Fine," I thought (but didn't say), and started thinking more seriously about the idea.
It took some doing but in less than a month I will have pulled it off.
... just in time for the Conservative Party of Canada to have won a majority government after being found in contempt of Parliament, thanks to stupid awful first-past-the-post elections with one right-wing party running against three and a half left-wing ones.
The Liberal Party has lost more than half their seats, and the Bloc is essentially finished (down to three, I believe). Congratulations to the pinko commie socialist New Democratic Party on their amazing hundred-plus seats, and to Elizabeth May for winning one for the Green Party.
The trouble is, the collapse of the Liberals (and the Bloc) moves Canada much closer to being a two-party state. And coming as it does after a Conservative victory that appears much more decisive than it actually is (40% of the vote, 55% of the seats), I fully expect the NDP to tack more to the centre. They'll need to absorb the last of the Liberal supporters; in addition, well, where are the more left-wing voters going to go? In another twenty years Canada will look like the US with better health care.
(Of course, I'm very likely wrong on this. All I know is what I read on the internet. I'm just in a rather bad mood, and finding it difficult to see any silver lining at all.)
A Conservative majority also ensures that there will be no election for another five years. I suppose I might be able to vote in that one, at least. But really, what the hell do I do now?
no subject
Date: 2011-05-05 07:57 pm (UTC)Obviously there were other factors, but I think that was a significant factor in the 2010 election - sure the Republicans drove the country into the ditch, but at least you felt like there was someone behind the steering wheel. Despite having had Congress more or less handed to them on a platter in 2008, it felt like we were careening down the road without a driver.
The Canadian election really had some surreal moments that almost make the US look sane. Michelle Rempel's easy election despite having been replaced in a debate with a potted plant and a website that might as well have read "Lorem ipsum.." on the one side and Ruth Ellen Brousseau on the other.
The again, Montgomery county kicked out Boucher after a long and effective career of getting funding for the area in favor of someone who's platform seemed to consist of "I sure do hate that Obama fellow and the gays and love the unborn babies."
no subject
Date: 2011-05-06 02:15 am (UTC)I was totally shocked to see Rick Boucher go. That was about the point where I realised that, no, the 2010 election was /seriously/ screwed up.