Ubalblog

[  Mood: Amused ]
[  Currently: Listening to CBC Radio ]
As I mentioned in our podcast taping last night, Canadian politics has suddenly gotten very exciting.

We have a parliamentary system here in Canada, which means that the party who gets the most votes gets to form the government. In our recent election, the Conservatives won enough votes to form a minority government.

And so they set about to govern. The problem is they forgot they were a minority. They came forward with an economic bill to address the looming financial crisis. A bill devoid of any real economic policies. Instead they went after their favourite ideological targets. Specifically:

The Public Service Unions – a proposal their wage increases rolled back and right to strike removed.
Pay-Equity – the conservatives want to set aside human rights tribunal decisions and not work towards equal pay for work of equal value
Funding for Political Parties (based on how many votes they recieved in the last election) – this too would be recinded, despite the fact that some people voted for some political parties just so that they could get funding. Of course, the Tories also have a huge war chest, so they don’t need the money

When they presented the bill, the expected the opposition to roll over, like a good dog. This is in part because it’s what the opposition had done in the previous parliament, but also because the Liberals (one of the opposition parties) are in the midst of picking a new leader.

But the opposition didn’t roll over. Instead they have quickly banded together and negotiated deal to take over the government as a coalition.

But, wait, you ask. How?

Well they would bring down the Tory government on a non-confidence motion and then go to the Governor General and say "Hey Queen’s representative, instead of calling an election, we’ll govern."

This has put the cat among the pigeons. The Tory government is shrieking about it being an assault on democracy, despite the fact it has happened before. And despite the fact that the Tories were willing to do the same a few years ago.

The Tories have started to back pedal and ramp up the attack ads. The Governor General is rushing back from a European trip. Talk radio has gone nuts.

This is, quite frankly, the most exciting to happen in Canadian politics in a long time. I am getting the popcorn.