Canadian Politics Finally Get Interesting

To everyone who watched the exciting unfolding of the American election and considered the laughable tameness of our own system of government... Your drama has arrived.

Less than two months ago, we elected a Conservative minority government with Stephen Harper as Prime Minister. Under a global recession (and by the way, Canada is suffering much less than many other countries so far), our chosen Prime Minister decided to cut tax funding to political parties. Seems like a good plan to me. I don't want to pay for their annoying signs.

But of course, the Liberals felt this much more than the Conservatives (who mainly rely on other sources for funding). Upset, they threw a fit. Stephan Dion (wait a second... I thought he was supposed to be gone by now?) is making plans to form a coalition government... with the Bloc and the NDP. There are rumours of granting the Bloc veto power; in my opinion, a BAD PLAN.

I have so many issues with this it's hard to organize them all. Firstly, regardless of who the coalition consists of, this is Canada. Last I checked, I was fairly confident that we were a democracy. We get to vote and pick our own leaders. A coalition government really just sounds like a bunch of people who did not earn enough votes to get power ganging up and taking over.

People who voted for the Liberals did not know they were also voting for separatists and our lovely orange friends. This was not what we voted for. Canada made itself clear, and this seems extremely underhanded to me.

The Liberals are airing commercials saying that the Conservatives have "blown it." What? How did I miss that? It must have been bad, it takes talent to "blow it" for an entire country in less than two months. (Yes, I realize Mr. Harper has been in power for longer than that, however, in my reasoning, the "blowing" of "it" must have happened since the last election, since I trust Canadians would not re-elect him if he had, in fact, "blown it" before then.)

We are in a global recession. Some even fear it could get as bad as the Great Depression. Now is not the time for petty power struggles, which are not being played for the good of the people (the entire purpose of government!). We already picked our government. To the proposed coalition I say this:

You lost. Deal with it. It's a minority government, so you still get some say, which is more consolation prize than you'd get if this were the US. Respect the choice Canada made in an open and democratic election. Frankly, you are behaving like children. Stupid ones, too.

This is not going to help the economy any. If you want your government to represent you, make your views known! Email the Governor General! Plague your MP! Go to the protests!

This is OUR country.