Even though the new poll from the Strategic Counsel fails to mention the relevant consideration, what the Rest of Canada - Alberta (ROC-A) thinks, this poll is bad news for a bunch of people, including...err...Canadians. Right now, the ROC is this:

Conservative: 36%
Liberal: 38%
NDP: 17%
Green Party: 9%

Which makes the ROC-A something like:

Conservative: 34.5%
Liberal: 39.5%
NDP: 17%
Green Party: 9%

In Ontario we are told "the Liberals lead the Tories 45 per cent to 32 per cent, a gap that has grown from five points on election day." As a result, while the Tories have not taken off and cannot face an election with any glee, so too the Liberals didn't get a break-through, though how that might have happened given the outcome of their leadership convention is beyond me.

All of which is preface. For years now we have apparently been in the doldrums in terms of Federal politics. During this time Canada has also enjoyed unprecedented economic success, witnessed great shifts in the framework of social justice and also gone to war for the first extended period in fifty years. You would think this would be a time of strong opinions and sway in the votership. My pet theory is that twenty years or more of stripping away of the Federal role has started to have its natural effect - people care less and now simply are reflecting provincial politics back up the ladder. Ontarians are more satisfied with McGuinty so Dion polls well here, Albertans would vote for a stick if painted blue and Quebec is moving again towards the separatist party locally and so reflects that back nationally...if Canada is to be considered a nation now at all, thanks to the Tories.

It is hard to say whether what simply is is good or bad but it does make me wonder where we will be in another twenty years, when another economic shift - say to sustainable energy - shifts the financial deck of cards again, when different international conditions apply. Will something make us look to Ottawa again for guidance and a national pride or will it be more of the slow leak from the back tire of a little used car? Will we actually end up not a nation as much through neglect as principle?