How did we get there?

Canadians and Canada have always been, save under very particular circumstances, pacifists and mediators; having a balanced approach to world crisis and rivalries.  We now have a saber rattling and very partisan government, more Israelite than the Israelis and putting us all in line with whatever the U.S. government deems good for it's citizens.
WE have virtually become the 51st star on the Star Spangled Banner.  Yet, although having a majority of seats in the House of Commons, Mr Harper got only 40%  of the popular vote.  That guy said; "Give me a majority and in 5 years you will not recognize this country!"  The way he is going about destroying all that we were, by golly, he is keeping his promise.
And no one can say that they were not told.

Once more!

Well he did it again.  Our Prime Minister Stephen Harper in hot water and deep doodoo over the torture of Afghan prisoners and Copenhagen has gone to the Governor General and got leave to shut down the legislature. Thus everything dies on the Agenda and he is free to rule as he pleases.  The Commons were to reconvene on January 25, instead a new Speech from the Throne will be delivered March 3 and a new budget March 4.
Currently the surveys are favorable to the Conservatives, not in majority territory still, but likely to produce a slitghtly better minority.  With the Liberals in disarray, the Bloc Québécois losing some grab in Québec and a freshly  Conservatives packed Senate, expect a wave of conservative senators nominations in the coming weeks, Harper may end up getting what he wants on harsher criminal laws, scuttling the gun registry and doing nothing climate wise.
Wanna bet on a spring election?

Minority saga

We will not have a snap election...for now.  Harper who, in camera and sub secreto, ranted against the coalition of Liberals, Socialists and Separatists, has given just enough of what the Separatists asked for to be saved by them.  The Bloc Québécois will vote, Friday, with the Conservatives thus keeping them in power...for a few more weeks.  As the saying goes: "Politics make for strange bedfellows".

Labels

In Canada the law calls for truth in labeling. You have to call things as they are. For instance 100% beef sausages have to be just that: 100% beef. A beef hamburger can not be 30% tofu but only beef otherwise you can not call it a hamburger.

So why does it not apply to our laws and politicians? We have an Health Act that is a socialist measure to some degree but allows for a percentage of free enterprise medecine. Should we post the mixture's content and proportions. We have politicians who call themselves Liberals or Conservatives or something else...but when comes time to apply their ideologies (or have they any) they act as though these Ideologies were not relevant. Should we sue them for false advertising or for false pretense?

A case in point: this weekend in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the New Democratic Party is considering changing it's name and producing a political platform nearer to the center. Would that make them lefter leaning Liberals? If so let's call a horse a horse and merge the parties. Some brilliant PR man, probably, even suggested they change from New Democratic Party of Canada to the Democrat Party of Canada? Will they be running Obama or Clinton in the next federal election?

Come on guys, let's have some clear concepts and choices please.

Independance

This week, commenting on my post about Canada Day, Rosaria asked wether Canada had an Independance Day. I answered that we did not have one. That question has been bugging me ever since. Why does canada have no Independance Day?

After much thinking and mulling over recollection of various sources, I guess I have worked out a suitable explanation. F

For most former colonies, Canada began as a French colony and morphed, in 1763, into a British colony, independance came through a violent process called war. The American Independance War is a prime example. The end of that war marked the beginning of independance, thus Independance Day.

In Canada, independance came bit by bit over some 400 odd years. The first native born French governor of New France was the initial step. The 1791 Act of the British parliament that recognized the right of Catholics, in Canada, to hold public office without renouncing their faith was another one. Then gradually we evolved toward representative government that process culminating in the 1867 British North America Act creating the Confederation of Canada. But that newborn coutry still relied on the British parliament for it's foreign policy and it's laws could be annuled by the Lords.

Another stepping stone was the 1931 Statute of Westminster that recognized Canada's jurisdiction over it's foreign policy and created the Dominion of Canada, a sovereign country within the British Commnwealth of Nations, but the constitution remained under British authority. In 1982, Under Prime Minister Trudeau, Canada got it's very own Constitution adopted by our parliament and 9 out of 10 provinces, Québec holding out it's signature. Nevertheless, Queen Elizabeth II signed it in Ottawa on Canada Day 1982. Why Québec held back from signing ? Well that will be another post.

Now, 86 % of Quebecers and 66% of other Canadians seem to be in favor of severing ties with the British monarchy when Queen Elizabeth abdicates or die. That would eradicate of the last colonial vestige or reminder.

As I believe to have demonstrated Canadian independance was not a brutal event that can be tied to one date or treaty. It has been a slow process and it is still ongoing in some ways. As I previously wrote, despite real obstacles, Canada is a work in progress and well worth keeping workint at.