Election 2006

It seems like every other year we have an election....

Not much of a narrative here - more a series of thoughts. Luckily this is a blog and not a term paper at McMaster University during the 1980s (I am reminded of this as I type on a computer and not a typewriter).

The only obvious issue is that the Liberals did some bad things that lead to the sponsorship scandal. The other party that could realistically form a government, Harper's Reform party (for Air Farce fans REFOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORM) has wisely, to their advantage, pointed this out during every day of the campaign. The other "National" party, The CCF guys (and the only one with a good representation of gals), also began the campaign hammering the Grits for their corruption, as did the other party that wants to win all the Quebec Federal seats in a parliament it actually wants to leave (Le Bloc).

You know, even for French people, The Bloc are kind of odd.

Layton then realized that he shouldn't spend all his time demonizing the Liberals as this might drive some folks who voted Liberal in 2004 to switch to the Conservatives, so now he is letting us know that a Conservative Government would kill Canada as we know it (but he has left the door open to a possible Con-NDP Coaltion should the electorate return a Tory Minority).

As I have said before of myself, I am an "Orange Liberal", or, one that leans to the left of centre without being on the left wing. I guess that means I am still seateed in the fuselage but right up against the window??

Ok, we are ALL tired of The Liberal reign that began in 1993. But, and I cannot stress this enough, I want a better, or at least, not a worse regime in Ottawa to replace them.

Martin's defence is that it was OTHER Liberals who did those bad things - he had only a wee role in those governments: Finance Minister. Hardly significant at all, you know, like the tiny role David played in defeating Goliath.

I hate Harper and everything about him. If he is ever the PM, I'll never stop bitching about it until he isn't anymore.

I think though I need to separate Layton's moustache from his face - his rhetoric spewed during a campaign from what he would actually do as a Federal leader involved in a ruling coalition. I don't think he would be that bad, really. When he helped save the government in 2005, he did so with a set of NDP-style demands. He's just such a loud-mouth holier-than-thou fellow and I've had a problem with this since his days in Toronto politics.

If Martin scores anything less than a majority, he is done as Leader. I'll wait until that happens before I speculate as to who'd best replace him - Bob, Belinda, Lightfoot, Gretzky, Jerome The Giraffe..

Boy, these people with their accusations, half-truths and assertions are acting like children or, well, like politicians. (Aside: put "Or and "Well" together and you get George W Bush....).

I don't fear a hidden agenda from Harper -I fear what he has ACTUALLY SAID so far in the past two campaigns.

TF