politics, pucks and pride

I see there's some political news up north. As usual, I'll leave my Canadian readers to wrangle over it. I did notice, though, that this means the vote on gay marriage will happen sooner rather than later. Excellent!

I did like this bit, too:
The Conservatives could only sputter and fume after their unofficial partners in the Bloc Quebecois deserted them to join the Liberals and the NDP to cut off debate on the budget.

They compared their Liberal, NDP and Bloc opponents to crooks, Satan and Hollywood homicidal maniac Hannibal Lecter.
Now that's politics!

Lone Primate has informed me that I'll be able to participate in Canadian elections even without citizenship or the right to vote. I'm amazed! I will definitely investigate this as we get settled it. Not quite the "on arrival" list, but probably the "during the first six months" list.

Meanwhile, back in New York City, I haven't posted anything for Pride. Yesterday when I switched on our New York City local news channel - just to check the temperature outside my air-conditioned cocoon - I saw this story on a gay hockey league at Chelsea Piers. So happy Pride from wmtc to the NYCGH!

Comments

  1. barefoot hiker24 June 2005 at 07:23

    I did like this bit, too: The Conservatives could only sputter and fume after their unofficial partners in the Bloc Quebecois deserted them to join the Liberals and the NDP to cut off debate on the budget.

    Yeah, I love that. After the Mulroney years where he actually HAD these people in his cabinet, to the recent team-up to defeat the government (and by doing so, force an election that would, to a virtual certainty, have returned even more Quebec seperatists to Parliament), to the nauseating, snivelling, toadying sucking up to Quebec nationalists Harper did in that speech after the coup failed, the Tories have the gall to suggest there's something rotten going on between the Liberals and the Bloc. It ought to be legal to beat people either that arrogant or oblivious with rubber hoses till they smarten up.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Rognar24 June 2005 at 07:43

    Well-played by a party with a lot of experience in politics. The Conservatives have learned an important lesson with this and it will only serve to make them a more savvy party in the future. In keeping with the title of the post, it reminds me of the '93 Stanley Cup Finals when veteran Montreal coach, Jacques Demers, called for a stick measurement on Marty McSorley of the LA Kings. Neophyte LA coach Barry Melrose never saw it coming. McSorley was penalized, the Habs scored and the momentum switched to the Canadiens. They went on to win the series in five.

    ReplyDelete
  3. laura k24 June 2005 at 08:08

    What a great analogy. I don't follow hockey enough to remember the incident, but you paint a vivid picture.

    ReplyDelete
  4. laura k24 June 2005 at 08:10

    I gave it a new title, more alliterative. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous24 June 2005 at 08:39

    Pretty much any Canadian political event can be compared to a hockey game ;)

    Peter

    ReplyDelete
  6. laura k24 June 2005 at 08:41

    Pretty much any Canadian political event can be compared to a hockey game ;)

    I like it! Americans are forever comparing their lives to baseball (or if they're republican, football), so that's very fitting.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous24 June 2005 at 08:42

    Big lesson is to look ahead to possible outcome scenarios down the road.

    The Bloc were quite clear from the outset that they wanted the Liberals out. So they teamed with the CPCs. It's too bad Harps stopped looking at the situation there.

    The Bloc have also been quite clear in their support for gay marriage. This one was staring Harps straight in the face the whole time. He should have seen it coming.

    Also note that Duceppe was rather quiet on the NDP proposed budget amendment that Martin had to accept to keep NDP budget support. Gilles was in a tough spot: he'd aligned with the CPCs not because he really had anything against the budget itself, but because the budget vote represented a chance to oust the Liberals. Don't forget what an impact a Federal Liberal ouster would have on Provincial Ridings in Quebec, where the Liberals and Bloc are in perpetual heated competition. Duceppe knocking off PM the PM would play a large in Bloc uprisings in Provincial voting. So he lined up with Harper for that reason. After the CPC/Bloc attempted coup failed, Duceppe, realizing they wouldn't knock off the Liberals, is playing it smart: the budget itself, and the NDP amendment, will actually help Quebec. So if you can't beat them this round, might as well join them until the next chance at ouster appears. This is not exactly surprising nor at all out of left field.

    Especially if you remember that support for gay marriage in Quebec isn't exactly low, either. Once again, siding with this legislation is a good move in the eyes of the Quebec populace. If anything, what Duceppe is doing is coy: side with the Liberals on this one, then wait a year until the CPCs hopefully have better leadership than Harper (who is STILL doing himself in with the tantrums as we see in the posted quote - hey, Harps, the public sees that, you know!), and then at that point shift back over again to knock the Liberals off once and for all.

    It's a clever plan, really ... his party has never really had any allegiance to any of the others, and he is using that to position himself for the right opportunity to strike.

    Watch out for the Bloc. We'll be hearing from them again, come time that the CPCs have a leader Canadians east of Saskatchewan (and west of Alberta) are able to trust and (more importantly) respect.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

sharia

This morning I see that Dalton McGuinty, Premier of Ontario, is banning the Muslim religious court known as sharia . This ends months of debate about whether sharia would be legal and binding in Ontario. I'm quoting at length from the story in today's Toronto Star because many US readers are likely not up on this. In a surprise announcement that caught both supporters and opponents of sharia law off guard, Premier Dalton McGuinty says he will move quickly to ban all religious arbitration in the province. McGuinty made the announcement in a telephone interview with The Canadian Press yesterday after months of debate and controversy surrounding use of Islamic sharia law in family arbitration. "I've come to the conclusion that the debate has gone on long enough," the premier told the news agency. "There will be no sharia law in Ontario. There will be no religious arbitration in Ontario. There will be one law for all Ontarians." The announcement prompted t...
Read more

can of worms

I'm opening a sticky subject here, my need to understand causing me to throw caution to the wind. It's about Alberta. Alberta vs. the rest of the Canada. The Globe And Mail runs something about Alberta's gripes every day, and I try to follow along. If it weren't for wmtc's resident Albertan , and the ensuing arguments in comments, I would've had no warning. It's not something Americans know about. As is, observing for more than a year, I have only the smallest of clues. Here's what I know. Please pardon my ignorance and oversimplification, but I have to start somewhere. The province of Alberta is rich, because it has oil. The province of Alberta is conservative, relative to the rest of Canada. Hmm. Funny how those two go together. Because of its great oil wealth, Alberta revenue helps fund services in the rest of Canada. (These are transfer payments?) Apparently many Albertans resent this. They want to keep Alberta's money in Alberta. They don't...
Read more

low confidence

I'm excited about today's no-confidence vote . Only three months after moving here, we'll get to see a government fall, a campaign, and an election, in a system very different from what we're accustomed to. Even the expression "the government will fall" strikes us as oddly dramatic and revolutionary. My sense of current Canadian politics, for what it's worth, tells me that very little will change from the upcoming election. I'd be surprised if the Liberals didn't win. So it's kind of cool to see this happening without a lot at stake. On a semi-tangential note, have I mentioned I'm completely down with "Corner Gas"? Excellent show; I love the deadpan humour. (Great website, too; check it out .) So was that really Finance Minister Ralph Goodale ragging on Brent Butt's camera last Saturday night?
Read more