In February, I speculated that the election would be in about 6 months. I was a bit off, perhaps, but I see the wheels turning still.
My premise is/was that the plan for making the next election happen was orchestrated a few months back, and the pieces are still falling into place. Back in February, a new Kyoto law was passed as a private members bill. This law requires the government to set out their greenhouse gas remediation plan. Of course, they are having none of that, and that is what the opposition wants - force the government into a environmentally triggered non-confidence vote and an election scheduled shortly thereafter. This fits with all the opposition parties (except the Bloc) who are looking to fight this next race on the hot-button topic of the environment.
Yesterday was the deadline. I certainly didn't hear anything happen. It's a pretty sad day when laws passed by the house are ignored by the government. What ever happened to democracy. It seems as bad as the US where they do crazy things with their legislation. In that bastion of democracy, their president can just arbitrarily write in new stuff after a bill is passed. What a wacky world that is - "I just signed my employment contract, I think I'll write in a 100% raise, and a 6month paid vacation... there." What if we could work that way. I also heard something about an anonymous hold that can be put onto legislation there as well.
Anyway, we are seeing more of that US playbook in action here. Unfortunately the Liberal/NDP options are not very compelling currently. But either is better than the creepy Harper guy. Liz May and her greens initially sounded viable to me, but then I learned that she is actually an Anglican (or other?) minister! That's terrible - we could end up with a biblically-guided leader if she were to ever (not that she could) take office. Religion and politics - yikes. More shades of the American system.
I'll be watching - perhaps this old blog will spring back to life again with another go around in a Canadian Electoral race.
