In Canada, we have a minority government! Harper leads, but hopefully his hands are mostly tied:
"During the lengthy winter campaign, Mr. Harper focused on issues like tax cuts, crime and cleaning up government. He also vowed to resurrect the gay marriage issue and pull out of the Kyoto Accord on climate change, but also said he wouldn't look to change abortion laws."
However, he was born and bred in the extreme right - the Western Conservative party has roots in the Reform and Alliance parties; we could be facing some difficult times ahead with Charter rights, abortion issues, education (a Conservative government in Ontario a few decades ago pulled loans from graduate students, effectively crippling higher education in this province), and other threats to individual freedom.
But I project fearful imaginings. It is a minority government. There is no strong leadership at present and we await the emergence of Canada's next leader... I'm betting, down the road, on Michael Ignatieff (I'm all for intellectuals as leaders), and Justin Trudeau.
Sheath of feeling. Words groping to touch air.
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Oh dear. I thought of you and my other Canadian blogfriends when I heard the news this morning. Hope the new government proves too weak to change much.
ReplyDeleteI don't think you want Michael Ignatieff. I used to admire him as a intellectual (and, er, because he's handsome, I'm afraid. Back when he lived in London he was once expected at a party I went to and I was SOO disappointed when he didn't show...), but he's frighteningly reactionary and war-mongering these days.
Jean, you're right. I need to read more of Ignatieff's political rantings before I support his incumbancy. Just because he's a good-looking Harvard professor! (hey, weren't we talking about 'looks' with Michelle Bachelet at your site recently! {meaning pun's on the other side}.) I am happy to say that my old neighbours, Olivia Chow and Jack Layton, NDP, or our socialist-left wing party, have both been elected (Olivia in the riding I'm currently living in, people were out in droves to vote for her and the mood in the neighbourhood is celebratory this morning), and will be a "couple" in Ottawa. Love stories, wherever you find them, are wonderful...
ReplyDeleteJack Layton is head of the NDP-
ReplyDeleteI used to know Ed Broadbent and then Audrey McLaughlin from my work with the Socialist International, of which NDP is the Canadian member. Gosh that dates me, I'm completely out of touch...
ReplyDeleteJean, you've done so many things... tell us a little about Socialist International, in the way that you do, poetry, ideas, memory, personal reflection...
ReplyDeleteWell, I have, see various rants on the subject of 'when I was a workaholic', 'why I no longer have faith in mainstream politics' + boss who was a Chilean, trips to Senegal and Goree etc - didn't want to rant about them by name, as I'm still sort of on the same side. But yes, there's much more to say...
ReplyDeleteAh... if I run a 'search' on your site, will they pop up?
ReplyDeleteTechnorati immediately served up Thinking back, and it's a full post, so very much there, I must linger awhile longer... thank you! xo
ReplyDeleteMy site is searchable? Yikes, I was in denial about this :-0
ReplyDeleteIf this opens up, it's the page at technorati that got me to your post. You provided the key words; technorati got me there in less than a minute... and I'm still lingering over your post. xo
ReplyDelete