So the Tories up here in the Theoretically Frozen North have managed to stave off an election once again, and what irks me is that they did exactly what they pilloried the Liberals and NDP for doing last year: namely, they got the Bloc on their side with governmental concessions. Somehow I doubt the screaming harpy chorus that cried out “cooperation with the Bloc is treason” when Stephane Dion suggested that maybe the parties which received the support of a majority of Canadian voters should run things will find their indignation quite so stoked.
People complain about the American media all the time, and with good reason, but the Canadian media has its own set of quirks that can really be annoying. One of them is the conceit that governing in Canada’s seemingly permanent minority government environment is difficult, and it simply isn’t. The Harper government figured out the two-part secret of how to do it a long time ago: run policy through the Prime Minister’s office and administrative channels of the government rather than legislating through Parliament, and bribe the Bloc whenever things get dicey.1 The fact that the Harper Tories have figured out this relatively simple equation and the Canadian media by and large has not is depressing; the fact that the Harperites could figure it out and then be basically dogshit at the actual job of governance, moreso.
Still, we’re most likely stuck with the useless assholes for another couple of years until the Liberals realize that Michael Ignatieff was a huge, huge mistake. (For American readers: Michael Ignatieff is kind of like Evan Bayh, except you want to punch him in the face even more.)
- You can bribe other parties, but frankly it’s simplest to bribe the Bloc: you just find something the Quebec government wants, and give it to them. That’s the power regional parties bring to the table. [↩]
Related Articles
14 users responded in this post
Condemning minority government isn’t a media quirk, it’s just consistent with their pro-conservative position. Minority = bad, because a Conservative majority is the only way to save the country.
(Once upon a time I hoped Canadian newspapers would improve once Conrad Black was no longer involved, but no. Is there any other national capital in the first world with two more worthless daily newspapers than the Ottawa Citizen and the Ottawa Sun?)
We need a Lester Pearson.
I… wait. Really? Wow.
Your’re just jealous because you’re an Annex-living, NDP weenie, MGK.
Unless you don’t live in the Annex. I mean, whatever. (Notice that I didn’t throw in anything about “tofu-eating?” Too much knowledge is a dangerous thing.)
The point is, is there a road towards a majority government, or even a viable Liberal minority? No? Then go away with the election talk so we can focus on the important stuff.
Like being appalled at what’s going on south of 49.
Andy: Hard to say, but using those papers sets the worthless bar pretty high.
Zifnab: Yeah. It’s hard to overestimate how easy it is to want to punch Ignatieff in the face. I want to do it more than I’d want to punch Harper, and I am very much not a Conservative.
“(For American readers: Michael Ignatieff is kind of like Evan Bayh, except you want to punch him in the face even more.)”
Now that’s just not freaking possible. Every inch of Evan Bayh’s face seems to have been designed, possibly with exacting cosmetic intervention, to invite a solid pummeling. And I haven’t even gotten started on his actual PERSONALITY yet; even if he were Bernie Sanders I’d still want to leave him scrabbling for his teeth.
But, um, yeah, your opposition leader sucks too, huh?
Aren’t the conservatives running a campaign ad that criticizes the Liberals for supporting the bloc?
Sivi: Your lessened interest in punching Harper in the face might have to do with his reptilian features and body language. Punching him in the face wouldn’t be satisfying at all, he probably wouldn’t even react.
None: Yes. They are. Commercials that almost have the screen drip blood when they talk about coalition with the Bloc.
I would say, good, no election we can finally get the rage inducing Tory ‘no, these aren’t campaign ads, seriously’ ads off the air… but I seriously doubt they are going away until Ignatief is quietly driven back in line.
The demonization of the coalition was a real bummer, because it revealed that many Canadians don’t even know what the government is. The Conservatives’ fuming about a “coup d’etat” should not have played to anyone but their authoritarian-follower fan club.
Ah, but I keep forgetting (repressing?): two majorities for Mike Harris in Ontario suggest that the authoritarian-follower fan club is depressingly well populated.
I never thought I’d say it, but Canadians have even LESS faith in their federal government than us americans. I’ve been in vancouver for two weeks, and pretty much everyone thinks Parliament is full of rotting political corpses.
Btw, does anyone know whre I can find MGK’s initial canadian primer on politics? I’m taking a basic canadian poli sci course and I’d love to compare it to what was said on here. Thanks!
Am I alone in thinking that a lot of the electorates troubles could be fixed if the majority took Parliamentary Democracy 101?
Black Mage: I Googled Evan’s face and compared it to Michael’s. Ignatieff is just that much more smug and weaselly-looking.
That would be because you had the intelligence to kick out your yahoos and elect somebody who’s actually competent, whereas we still elect our yahoos.
I don’t care, I just want Harper out; I’d love a more dynamic alternative, but nobody in this country has a more punchable (or spittable)face in my eyes.
Ignatieff, Layton, hell I’d take fucking Duceppe as PM over goddamn Harper, and I’m almost as West as you can be in this country.
(Admittedly, I’m in Vancouver, and I’ve seen ReCred rightards try to argue that Vancouver isn’t “real Western Canada” being a hotbed of homo-loving pot-legalization-advocating hippie pinko knee-dipper-red-grits and all…)