Tuesday, May 03, 2011

Blog Jam


Map of how Canada voted yesterday. Thanks to CBC. Click to enbiggen.
So we've given Stephen Harper a majority Conservative government. Finally. It took him three elections. This is the man who prorogued parliament twice when things got too sticky for him and also he has been held in contempt of parliament. A man known as "Bush-lite" for his fundie principles and his belief in reducing taxes for the rich. A man who makes a lot of promises but has yet to be seen to fulfil any of them.

The good news is the Bloc Quebecois, a thorn in the side of federal Canada with its demands for independence, has been virtually wiped out by the NDP (thank you Jack Layton). AND our first Green member has been elected. Thank you Elizabeth May. Newfoundland and Labrador did not let me down either and turned their backs completely on the Conservatives and went Liberal, just about, all the way. Ontario, my old province, supported Conservative. Overwhelmingly.

The NDP were the huge surprise in all of this, gaining many seats and are now the offical opposition, crushing the Liberals, led by Michael Ignatieff, a man no one seems to like - wishy washy, non-charismatic, milque toast, his reputed intelligence never visible. He had the added humility of losing his seat.

Interesting times. Harper has always terrified me. He was held back by his minority status in the past but given this majority standing, I fear for our environment, our health care system, our arts and culture programmes and the status of women.

Elsewhere, the bloodlust for Osama Bin Laden is, well, unseemly at best, degrading and demeaning at worst. Reminiscent of the barbaric treatment of Saddam. The high road is always preferable and the speedy disposal of his body raises many questions. The cost of this so-called 'hunt' is in the millions of lives lost (countless innocent children among them) and trillions of dollars spent. It all appears sad and ludicrous when one takes the two steps back and will not deter any future 'revenge' killings on behalf of the extremists.

I wonder who is going to be the next bogey man the US holds high for target practice? The "defence" budget, and its beneficiaries, the mighty industrial never-ending war machine, must be kept in the lavish lifestyles to which they have become accustomed. Right?

Meanwhile the real bogey men: Wall Street criminality, economic collapse, lack of health care, childhood poverty, 55 million and climbing on food stamps, peak oil, homelessness, climate change, et al, will never be addressed.

We are such a sad little planet, aren't we?

12 comments:

  1. " but given this majority standing, I fear for our environment, our health care system, our arts and culture programmes and the status of women."
    I'm with you...i guess we'll see, but i have this sick feeling in stomach.

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  2. checking some ridings this morning and vote splitting on the "left" gave Harper a chance to come trough the middle...i was afraid of that.But it is what is is and 60$ of us just have to ride it out i guess.

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  3. Twain:
    We need to change our electoral process to stop this "first past the post" nonsense. Our system needs to reflect the true choices of Canadians.
    XO
    WWW

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  4. A small quibble, Ontario went roughly 2/3 Cons, the NDP did fairly well there. Two Toronto ridings switched from Lib to NDP (yay Peggy! yay Andrew!), one of them being my old riding (yay Andrew!).

    Another significant change: the Orange Wave brought a large number of women into the House. No other party has put so much effort into getting women into the House! Watch for Megan Leslie (Halifax), a woman to be reckoned with and very possibly Jack's successor.

    And of course YAY ELIZABETH!!! When asked what difference one woman could make in the House, she said she hated to quote PET, but, Just Watch Me.

    It ain't over...

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  5. I really like Elizabeth...i hope she stared something.
    I know what you are saying Annie..i was talking more in the sense of popular vote. Ideology wise i lean NDP but I always felt like my voice didn't mean anything in my riding. So i'm hoping that in the long run everything will turn out alright.I just fear Harper and maybe it is unfounded..i know he will not do anything drastic real quick, but i feel like he is chipping away until he gets what he want's .Governments come and go and at least we can vote them out.I just wish the 40% that didn't vote would :(..not saying things would go my way more, but when 39.6 % of the 60% that do vote get a majority i feel like a lot of voices don't get heard. I still rather have that than no voting. Sorry for hogging your blog Wisewebwoman. I'll just be down for a little today and then get on with Life and hope for the best.

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  6. The next bogeymen are already in situ WWW. Assad and Gadaffi.

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  7. The masses get taxed more, earn less, are forced to spend a greater percentage of their income on food and gasoline to support the rich and powerful, yet still they vote right-wing. Proof, if any were needed, that the brainwashing of mass media works.
    As for the alleged killing of Osama bin Laden and who'll be next - let's not forget Ahmadinejad, Rummuser.

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  8. I hadn't heard of the New Democratic Party. Are they any good? Could they eventually get rid of Harper?

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  9. Dear oh dear, WWW. what's going on? Why are so many wedded to the idea of Conservatism?

    Agree about the Osama "do". Sickening. High Road? They don't know anything about High Roads! Glad we missed the TV hoo-haa on it. Got back yesterday pm.

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  10. hard not to be sad over our sad little planet - it's such a beautifully extravagant, stunning place and many of its inhabitants take such little notice or care...

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