Five Weeks
Canada has five weeks before they have to vote (again) in a federal election. Hoping to catch the wave of voter frenzy from South of the 49th, Stephen Harper requested the dissolution of Parliament this morning.
Canadians will go to the polls Tuesday, Oct. 14, the day after Thanksgiving, to vote for a new federal government.
I really wish I could care. The theme in America is “change” for this 2008 election, and it’s bound to be historic, no matter who wins. In Canada, the theme is “same again”. Once more, three (four, if you count Bloc Quebecois) boring middle aged white guys will square off over who can do the least amount of damage to Canada. And once more, the public will grumble, bitch and ultimately ignore. Voter turnout in Canada is notoriously low.
I worked the last election, where I was VP of my local riding association. Sounds thrilling, huh? You would be wrong if you thought so. Most of my time was spent arguing with a candidate I could barely bring myself to vote for. The rest of it was spent getting paper cuts. I was “lucky” enough to co-host a fundraising party at some rich dude’s house in honor of our candidate - the wife had me enter by the servant’s entrance.
I like what the Conservative Party has done so far. They made a bunch of promises during the last campaign, and they managed to deliver a whole lot of them. Pretty good for a minority government that has only been in power a little over two years. America could learn a lesson or two! But if Canada expects any of the election frenzy taking place in the US to have any impact on the voters of Canada, they are sadly mistaken. Canadians lost their ability to be excited about anything a long time ago.
Right Girl - I worked in the trenches for the Reform party of Canada back in the 90’s. I was constituency president of Vancouver South for a few of those years. I am so totally pumped with McGenuis’s pick of Sarah Palin for VP!!!! Finally a Reformer is getting elected! Okay, so it is not in my country but I am so thrilled that I am even getting excited about the federal election on Oct. 14th. Haper was the architiect of the RPC, maybe with the winds blowing in the right direction (no pun intended) we can see some reforms here in Canada.
Comment by Cathy — September 7, 2008 @ 10:58 am
Well, we have two parties in the 2008 election up here campaigning on “change”, and one party campaigning on “more of the same”.
Fortunately, it seems most Canadians are satisfied with more of the same — at least for now. But this election could go either way, so Stephen Harper’s going to need to roll up his sleeves if he wants to win.
Comment by Patrick Ross — September 7, 2008 @ 4:36 pm
“Once more, three (four, if you count Bloc Quebecois) boring middle aged white guys will square off”
Wendy: Have to disagree with that analogy…more like 1 boring gut and 3 loons…much like Python’s election night skit: Sensible party vs Silly Party vs Very Silly Party vs Moonbat party. In this scenario “boring” is great.
Cathy: I hear ya. I sepnt 15 years pounding the pavement for Reform party/candidates only to see we’ve come full circle back to having boring and predictable as the best choice of 4 evils. However, it IS nice to see a reform comportment in US federal politics though.
Comment by WL Mackenzie Redux — September 8, 2008 @ 6:47 am
I am having a hard time even listening to anything about the Canadian election. I am all over the American one though. I just wish we could vote in theirs.
Here at home, PMSH will have to run a clean campaign and stay on message. We are doing fine but we need to get the roadblocks put up by the opposition parties out of the way. We need a determined person at the helm of our country and PMSH is that person. He has a vision that will take Canada into it’s rightful place in the future.
Comment by Chris — September 10, 2008 @ 9:22 am
Stephen Harper is the guy I used to beat up at recess just for something to do. A small mean spirited little control freak. I voted for Mike Harris twice because he was truly a conservative. Harper is a Reformer ie., a christian theocrat.
Comment by Greg — September 18, 2008 @ 7:47 am