Ticktock!
Only ten days remain until Canada's federal election, called by Prime Minister Paul Martin in a spasm of twisted brainwrong. Things have not gone at all well for the reigning Liberal Party. Martin was originally hoping to make a grand sweep of all the Canadas; now the Liberals are struggling to stay neck-and-neck with the Conservatives, and the papers are full of stories about Stephen 'I'm Actually Quite Unpleasant, Really' Harper, the Conservative leader, predicting a majority government for his lot...There was this huge scandal business a few months back that really pissed people off at the Liberals, who have been in power now since 1993, and pissed off the Quebecois most of all, who have been defecting en masse from the Liberals to the separatist Bloc Quebecois.
The Bloc is a funny, funny beast...On most issues it's pretty social-democratic, as far as I can determine. It likes things like the Kyoto treaty, same-sex marriage, affordable housing, universal health care, and so forth. Unfortunately, there's this whole secessionist thing. And the Bloc's leader has toyed with the notion of propping up a Conservative minority government. Of course, he tacks on loads of conditions: the Tories couldn't attack same-sex marriage, they couldn't withdraw from Kyoto, they couldn't...essentially, they couldn't do any of the things they've said they'd do. Now that is just silly. Either the Bloc leadership is very silly indeed, or this talk of propping up minority governments is only there to make the Bloc look useful and unlike a total bloody waste of votes and space--I mean, where's the sodding point in having a secessionist party in the federal government? They can't do anything--or the Bloc leadership is actually quite unprincipled and, despite their social-democratic ideology, they really would prop up the Conservatives even without their unlikely caveats in return for a weakening of the federal system. That would be naughty.
The Bloc does seem like a horrible way to cast a protest vote. Why not just smear your ballot with feces? It amounts to the same thing.
There are lots of good reasons to be cross at the Liberals. They have been corrupt and arrogant, and they've been in power ten years now; they need a good shaking-up. But one can't shake them too hard, or else the Conservatives might weasel into power; and no-one wants that. Except Conservatives. And who cares what they think?
I sure don't.
Let's have a look at what Canadians for Equal Marriage have to say...
The Conservative Party is objectively anti-gay; it inherits the virulently homophobic Alliance's MPs. Also, Stephen Harper looks a bit like David Foley all bloated with venom and malice.
The Liberals, despite internal disagreements, are much, much nicer. I suspect that they would, in the end, however reluctantly and grumblingly, go along with same-sex marriage. They certainly wouldn't try to roll back gay rights any. Unlike the Conservatives. Also, Prime Minister Paul Martin looks like a worn-out old William Shatner.
It should come as no surprise that the New Democratic Party is the most gay-friendly. It's unashamedly leftist. It's greener than the Greens. It is led by Jack Nance impersonator Jack Layton. This poll has the NDP winning the support of 22% of the electorate, and they've been consistently pulling in over 16% even in the most pessimistic polls.
Who cares where the minor parties stand on gay marriage? The minor parties are there purely for entertainment value. And they do not disappoint. A Marijuana Party candidate was evicted from his campaign office for, of all things, marijuana. Apparently he was offering pot cookies to anyone who made a $4 campaign contribution. I'm sure it was a brilliant idea on paper, or at least it would have been if his hands could've stopped grooving long enough to write anything down.
If one wishes to scold the Liberals, why not vote NDP? They're jolly nice! While they're certainly not going to form a government themselves any time soon, a Liberal minority government propped up by the NDP would seem to be a Good Thing, and Canadian voters apparently agree. Why not give that a go, eh?
I hope to Jelly that Canadians aren't foolish enough to bring in a Conservative government. There's never an excuse for that. Conservatives are, after all, just wrong.
So you can follow along at home, here is the Toronto Star's election section. And here is the Globe and Mail's. And here is the CBC's. Here is Canda.com's, an appendage of media pimp CanWest, which owns the National Post, the newspaper for assholes. And that's all I can be bothered to link to, as I'm hungry and feel like poaching some eggs. Ta.
Posted by aloysius at June 18, 2004 11:54 AM | TrackBack |