Blogging is funny stuff. I use it to wake up in the morning, note taking as I read the news. So it's a dependent process - needing news to come into being. And coffee. I am off to Zap Your PRAM 2008 today and, being a conference about the web in a general sort of way, I am wondering whether I might not come out of it with - if not a renewed sense of purpose - maybe some better idea of why I do this and what I can do with it.
I trust some of the political types will be doing a similar thing, though perhaps less pleasantly. While the Tories should have some relief at the results, it must be a bit of a kick in the teeth to vaguely dub a province a nation and have them reject you. But they have now a core of experienced leaders who are more centre-right than was feared and they deserve to relax a bit...though one ought not do that when facing a poisoned chalice. Not so the Grits. Dion is done and there's no money in the bank to replace him. Disaster is one word for it - though they are more urban-Atlantic than just the Toronto Party. [Urban-Atlantic: sounds like a radio format, hip-hop fiddles.] But there are a few new faces in their benches now that may owe little or nothing to the Chretien-Martin split of, what, 1927. Earth to Liberals...no one cares about the Chretien-Martin split. The NDP are stronger but not quite "holy frikking moly" stronger. Chuck Angus, the coolest MP, is still in. Greens? Irrelevant. Bloc? Distinct.
What have we learned? We don't mind Stephen Harper. That is a breakthrough in itself. What has Stephen maybe learned? We are a centrist country.
Comments
Alan - October 15, 2008 9:51 AM
Ian's going a zapping, too.
Paul of Kingston - October 15, 2008 9:53 AM
Well that was interesting - not.
Paul of Kingston - October 15, 2008 9:55 AM
First private members's bill: Future elections must be run not by Elections Canada but by the good folks at "So You Think You Can Prime Minister".
sean - October 15, 2008 10:12 AM
How about the second being "Governing party cannot thwart the spirit of working-togetherness and make every single bit of legislation a confidence motion" ha ha!
Renee - October 15, 2008 11:03 AM
Feh (put another way, kilomeh.)
Hans - October 15, 2008 11:04 AM
Poor Jay has gone off his head with this "Toronto Party" stuff. What about Vancouver? Montreal? Atlantic Canada? Parts of Ottawa and Winnipeg? Chantal Hebert gets it right again. As do you, Al, Canadian voters have strong centrist tendencies across all regions. Harper wants to brow beat the country to the right. He is more committed to conservatism than Canada. He will give up sooner than later.
The Lone Banana - October 15, 2008 11:07 AM
"What have we learned? We don't mind Stephen Harper."
I'm not sure that's correct. I might interpret the results differently. The same people who voted for Stevie and the Harpies last time voted for them again this time. The rest of the voters just stayed home.
Jay Currie - October 15, 2008 2:12 PM
Enclaves, Hans, enclaves. Surrounded by hostile forces and impossible of resupply.
Better still, the Toronto Party is going to have a hugely divisive leadership contest and is out of money and deeply in debt. And, to add a bit of icing, the TP (and nice acronym don't you think) will have no choice but to support, or at least not oppose, whatever legislation the CPC introduces.
Last night was not a huge win for the CPC or the NDP; but it was a huge loss for the Toronto Party. Now there will be a tussle over the entrails.
sean - October 15, 2008 3:09 PM
I'm confused Jay.. is the CPC of which you speak the Conservative Party of Calgary?
Alan - October 15, 2008 3:12 PM
Anti-incrementalist conservatism on the loose.
Ben (The Tiger) - October 16, 2008 7:42 AM
Alan --
After the spanking in Quebec, I think that Harper has a healthy appreciation of what the public will and will not stand for (at least in terms of giving him a governing majority).
Hans - October 16, 2008 9:18 AM
"Hey, if that darn nation of Quebec won't come around and be conservative-like-me, we'll just have to turn Canada into a conservative-like-me country without them. Its just gonna take a little longer. Tom, can we stretch those increments out a bit!"
--Stephen Harper, 2008
Hans - October 16, 2008 9:30 AM
"I'm a "conservative" but the Stephen Harper Conservatives are not conservative enough for me. I don't care what the majority of my fellow citizens think, Canada needs to be more conservative! Just keep at it, Steve: Someday we'll get a majority in parliament and the accompanying unbridled powers to make Canada a more conservative place. If we do it slowly, Canadians won't even know it until we all have nice sensible haircuts."
--Tory W. Blogger, 2008
Someone who isn't "David Janes" - October 16, 2008 10:01 AM
I.e. by stopping the government from _actively_ trying to make the country non-conservative. What a nightmare!
The Lone Banana - October 16, 2008 10:16 AM
Hans's quoting that "I'm a conservative" bit is only one example of a particularly unpleasant current within the conservative stream: they literally don't believe in democracy. If a majority of the people vote something other than conservative, then it's the people who are wrong. Fine to say, "I think the voters made a mistake." But modern conservatives go further, and say that any non-conservatives who are elected are not legitimate, not entitled to represent the people who elected them.
Ben (The Tiger) - October 16, 2008 10:47 AM
It's a dialogue.
Hans - October 16, 2008 11:06 AM
Thanks for the link, Ben. Pretty much sums it up.