all politics, all the time
Sep. 7th, 2008 17:27![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
piranhauntil october 14. we're having an election. *sigh*. so much for harper's promise of a fixed election date [1] -- typical reforma-tory -- keep promises only for as long as they're good for oneself. when there are ethics investigations, and an ailing economy, and a dem lead in the US elections, then we apparently don't need no stinking fixed election date. for 2.5 years we've seen mr "open and transparent government" be the most secretive and evasive prime minister that i can remember.
i'm _really_ worried about a conservative majority government. i hope canadians realize that the only reason we've not gone along the same road the republican handbasket is careening down in the US, is that a minority government is limited in its power.
and i hope people don't forget that stephen harper wanted to take us into the iraq war in 2003. heck, most of us want us out of afghanistan; can you imagine the mess if we were stuck in iraq?
our C$12 billion surplus is gone even without that involvement. the economy is slumping; manufacturing isn't doing so good.
harper doesn't give a fuck about the environment.
i want him gone. he's bad for canada.
[1] and wait, don't we have a law for that now? how's he weaseling around that? the bill is here; need to ferret out more info. canada elections act.
ETA: the law looks very clear (there is some more stuff about alternate days; not important here). except that section 1 basically can be interpreted to allow earlier dissolution of parliament. so really, all it covers is an upper limit of 4 years, no lower limit. (that's not what he promised, mind.)
56.1 (1) Nothing in this section affects the powers of the Governor General, including the power to dissolve Parliament at the Governor General’s discretion.
(2) Subject to subsection (1), each general election must be held on the third Monday of October in the fourth calendar year following polling day for the last general election, with the first general election after this section comes into force being held on Monday, October 19, 2009.
i'm _really_ worried about a conservative majority government. i hope canadians realize that the only reason we've not gone along the same road the republican handbasket is careening down in the US, is that a minority government is limited in its power.
and i hope people don't forget that stephen harper wanted to take us into the iraq war in 2003. heck, most of us want us out of afghanistan; can you imagine the mess if we were stuck in iraq?
our C$12 billion surplus is gone even without that involvement. the economy is slumping; manufacturing isn't doing so good.
harper doesn't give a fuck about the environment.
i want him gone. he's bad for canada.
[1] and wait, don't we have a law for that now? how's he weaseling around that? the bill is here; need to ferret out more info. canada elections act.
ETA: the law looks very clear (there is some more stuff about alternate days; not important here). except that section 1 basically can be interpreted to allow earlier dissolution of parliament. so really, all it covers is an upper limit of 4 years, no lower limit. (that's not what he promised, mind.)
56.1 (1) Nothing in this section affects the powers of the Governor General, including the power to dissolve Parliament at the Governor General’s discretion.
(2) Subject to subsection (1), each general election must be held on the third Monday of October in the fourth calendar year following polling day for the last general election, with the first general election after this section comes into force being held on Monday, October 19, 2009.
wanting out of Afghanistan
on 2008-09-09 01:52 (UTC)canadians are grumbly about this having become a fighting mission. we like to see ourselves as peace makers (whether or not that's justified is another question), and this mission stretches beyond that.
and then there is the fact that our ally the US dragged us into this, and then didn't follow through themselves because they got distracted by the iraq war which doesn't do squat in fighting terrorism. and which has even less support here than afghanistan.
Re: wanting out of Afghanistan
on 2008-09-09 02:49 (UTC)All that said, I do hope you'll manage to stay. It's going to be hard enough to get it done with you (assuming we can get somebody in office who understands the vital importance of multilateralism), never mind trying to do it without you.
(And yeah, I have cousins in the CF, so this is not just an abstract desire on my part.)