Sunday, December 14, 2008

Understanding Canadian Democracy

The events of the past couple of weeks have been discussed, analyzed, debated and dissected to such a degree that there seems little left to say. So, just to set the record straight....

Not all people living in "The West" support Harper and his government. I seem to be finding more reasons to dislike and mistrust him as time passes.

Stephanie Dion could very well be a great guy, but for whatever reason, he didn't come across to many Canadians as the kind of leader we wanted. He did the decent thing and stepped aside.

It's not "undemocratic" for opposition parties to defeat the government and take power by forming a coalition. It's exactly how our system works. Too many Canadians don't seem to understand that.

Harper and his cohorts have been doing almost nothing but playing nasty partisan games since 2006. Canada needs leadership, not a dictatorship. Quit with the games and get on with consensus building and dealing with the needs of real Canadians. This can be done without every step being a matter of parliamentary confidence or Conservative ideology.

I dislike John Baird (former Environment minister) more each time I hear him, to the point that I will turn off the radio or TV when he comes on. If that guy could actually deal with the issues rather than spout Conservative invective, I would be astonished. Not to mention that he's part of the reason why Canada has been labeled as especially obstructive in all recent climate-change talks. He really needs to learn how to do his job and can the partisan rhetoric.

I am especially disappointed that Harper resorted to playing on national unity fears by whipping up anti-Quebec fervor. This is NOT what our Prime Minister should be doing. He should step down if that's the best he can do.

My final shot? I'm pretty much disgusted with the whole lot of them.

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