vintage

I can practically hear all the political junkies’ glee from my bedroom. Canada’s political landscape is more interesting than it has been in a very long time.

Tonight at 7PM Eastern, the two battling leaders made addresses to the country on national television. It is rare that a Prime Minister will ask for network time, and when they do, it is likely in a time of crisis. We are currently experiencing not only an economic crisis, but a political one; everyone is on tenterhooks waiting to see what our government will look like from day to day. It’s been a while since this many people were interested in politics — certainly more than there were during the federal election, which is pretty sad if you ask me.

I don’t pretend to be unbiased; I lean Liberal and I will freely admit it to anyone who asks. I am, however, not without my qualms about the coalition government. It is completely legal and within the bounds of our parliamentary democracy, but the timing is perhaps questionable, given the constraints Dion has to obey (namely, having already agreed to step down in May 2009).

Anyway, Harper’s speech clocked in at less than five minutes (surprising, given that the networks were given a ballpark of around ten minutes), and he didn’t really say anything new. Most irritating was Harper’s continued tendency to refer to the coalition as being “a coalition with separatists” — may I remind you, Prime Minister, that the Bloc Québécois is not a member of the coalition. The proposed new government is between the Liberals and the New Democrats; the Bloc has pledged their support, but is absolutely not a member. Continuing to paint the picture of three leaders forming a coalition instead of two is a lie.

Also very strange was the lack of a mention of proroguing Parliament or any sort of reference to the Governor General. General consensus is that Harper will ask Her Excellency to prorogue Parliament in his meeting with her tomorrow morning, but no one really knows what he will say, and that is now the most awaited development in this real-life political thriller.

Stéphane Dion had some trouble getting his address off the ground (unfortunately, that seems to describe his latter days as Liberal leader); the tape was delivered late to the news stations, and as such they had to overrun their 7:30 cutoff time. Already a strike against the leader of the Official Opposition. Dion’s video looked unfortunately like he had filmed it in his bedroom on a Macbook, but aesthetic qualms aside, it had a good deal of conviction. Dion talked for substantially longer than Harper did and outlined his reasons for forming a coalition government, and ended with a brief promise about what would happen if he were to become Prime Minister. While there wasn’t a whole lot of new information in his speech either, it was certainly more satisfying than Harper’s — slightly longer and with a little more to go on, rather than a direct regurgitation of what has been going on in question period for the past week.

In question period recently, Dion quoted Harper’s words from 2005 back at him, reminding him that when Paul Martin was trying to evade a confidence vote in 2005 — much as Harper is trying to do now — Harper called it a “violation of the fundamental principles of our democracy”. (story) Seems like that’s exactly what Harper’s trying to do now. I’ll remind you that a coalition government is perfectly legal and constitutional, as well as within the bounds of the parliamentary democracy that Canada enjoys.

Again, I think that the one thing these Parliament Hill shenanigans is reinforcing is the fact that we need electoral reform. First past the post isn’t working for anyone anymore, and it is time for some proportional representation. This is what the coalition is fighting for; while I am not a wholehearted coalition backer, this is one of the reasons why I think it might be a good idea.

And of course, if the coalition goes ahead, politics will be a damn sight more interesting than they will be if Parliament is suspended. That’ll be pretty nice too.

Sound off, ladies and gentlemen! The comments are open (although if you are too nasty and slanderous, no matter who you support, I may have to delete you; please be nice, articulate, and state your case like a civilised person).

For further good times, here’s a little collage of some question period antics. By the title you may guess that it is put together by someone who is against the coalition, but no matter who or what you support, it is kinda fun watching everybody get angry at each other. Around 3:32 I am a bit afraid that Dion might burst a vein or something. O Canada!

EDIT Here are some YouTube videos of the national addresses tonight. I can’t guarantee these will stay up, but have a look while they are; if there are any posted by news organisations, please let me know. And where is Elizabeth May in all this, anyway?

Stephen Harper
Stéphane Dion (comes in partway through, unfortunately)
Jack Layton
Gilles Duceppe