Wow, thanks for the interest from the US and other places. I'll try very briefly why I think this election was very bad for Canada. You might want to google a couple of the terms or new items that are so stupidly Canadian
1) Back when Reagan was president, one of his best buddies was Prime Minister Brian Mulroney (google this asshole).
2) In 1987, the Reform Party of Canada officially came into existence. Roots go back, but can be traced to western disgust at Pierre Trudeau, western separatism, a fair bit of very conservative social policy, extreme fiscal conservatism and yeah, some religious wackery (no disrespect to anyone here, or to any religion, but this was wackery....including elected members of parliament who were confused about dinosaurs and man co-existing). In short, a confused movement, but trending far to the right (in my opinion, but I think it's fact
). Google everything here if you want, there are some good Wikipedia articles.
3) The Reform Party did so well that they became the official opposition party in Government (which the not so leftist leaning New Democratic Party now are). The governing party in the not so distant past was the Liberals (pretty centrist, but as corrupt as any of our other parties). At this time, the Conservative party had essentially been erased from federal politics. Key events include Quebec separatism on a provincial and federal level (provincially it's Parti Quebecois, federally it's the Bloc Quebecois).
4) The reform party is fairly mainstream, but every now and then you get an elected official sputtering something absolutely assinine (as in fucking retarded). Some comments have included ethnic cleansing, gay baiting and defnitely msyoginistic. Once the nutjobs were removed from the party, on the whole, it was a pretty respectable political organization. Preston Manning, head of the Reform Party was a pretty stand up politician and very respectable, albeit conservative, on a personal level. Another good Canadian politician of the era/time was Lucien Bouchard. After Meech Lake failed, the Bloc Quebcois was formed. Bouch was leader and he became official opposition (in the Canadian government, the official opposition leader was a separatist)). He also was Premier of Quebec after Parizeau resigned following a failed separation referndum. Google everything here.
5) Well, eventually, the Reform Party and the remains of the Conservative Party merged. They were officially known as the Canadian Conservative Reform Alliance. Add a P to that, and the name was changed very quickly to Canadian Reform Consevertaive Alliance. Google this crap too.
6) Eventually all mention of Reform was dropped, and they are now the Conservative Party.
7) Well, because of a very strong Bloc Party in Quebec, the Conservatives were not able to manage a majority (read dictatorial control of parliament and the Senate).
8) Fast forward to the present day and you find diminished Quebec nationalism on the federal level. Couple that with a rise in the NDP federally, a federal collapse of the Liberal Party, and you get Stephen Harper winning a majority government, which means, well, draw your own conclusions. The unpleasant religious undertones of the Reform Party are still kinda lurking under the surface. No, ni hidden agenda, but far to the right of George Bush (2000-08), and with all of the electoral and legislative power to do what he wants.
My own opinions of the major national parties?
a) The NDP (New Democratic Party) are pretty much like the American Democrats.
b) The Liberals are as centrist as they come. They'll borrow from the left and the right.
c) Bloc (dedicated ultimately towards separation of Quebec into a sovereign country).
d) The Green Party....can't really describe them.
e) The Conservatives are political Machiavellians, but not very sophisticated. Rather blunt and laughable attack ads. I personally find Stephen Harper an obsequious twat (the English sense of the word).
My own personal politics (hey, if you've read this far, at least you deserve to know what sort of person the author of this rant is). Not something that puts foods on the table, I got a degree in political philosophy in 1995.
Politically I am not affiliated with any party. They pretty much all disgust me, witgh the xeception of the Green and Marijuana parties. When I was 22 (1982) I was a card carrying member of the Conservative Party for 2 weeks until I quit. I believe in allowing other people to do what they want to the extent that it does not interfere with anyone else. Because I live in a civil society I recognize and accept common laws, priveleges, etc. I guess you could call me a soft Libertarian.
Tom
As long as you're white you're welcome here in the US!
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