Today is election day in Canada where voters have the chance to throw prime minister Stephen Harper and his Conservative Party out of office. The NDP started out the unusually long campaign (all of 78 days!) favored to win, reaching its high point in late August but then faded steadily and is now in third place. Currently the Liberal Party is in the lead, though it is not clear that it will get enough seats (170) to form the government by itself. The latest polling is here. First results are due around 9:30 tonight.
I had not known until Oliver said it that it is an offense punishable by jail and/or a fine for a non-resident of Canada to try and influence Canadians on how to vote. That is the kind of stupid law that the xenophobic Tea Partiers in the US might enact and it surprises me that Canadians have gone for it.
But Oliver decided that trying to persuade Canadians to throw Harper out was worth going to jail for and he enlisted Mike Myers in his cause.
Anyone but Harper. He has screwed up this country beyond belief. Our international reputation is in tatters thanks to his secretive, regressive politics.
Go NDP!
But janiceintoronto, if we don’t elect Harper, the terrorists win! 🙁
Liberal-NDP coalitions have been numerous and productive in the past. The two parties aren’t that far apart politically, and being a minority government keeps the Liberals honest. Canada can live with this.
All majority governments have been guilty of rampant corruption, whether Liberal, the deceased Conservatives, or the current neo-fascist-US-wannabes of Harper. I would rather see proportional representation and never have another majority ever again.
How am I supposed to feel safe when the terrorists lurking in the shadows don’t look anything like me? They won’t know enough to pick socially appropriate targets!
But I know we’re safe from that under the Conservatives, why else would their leaflets include a bullet point to “Fight Terrorism”?
As I just saw elsewhere:
Scarper, Harper
I’ve come to loathe the Conservatives. One of their desperate dog-whistle ploys during the campaign was the promise to open a “barbaric cultural practices” hotline, so you could rat on your neighbours if you thought they were engaging in forced marriages or honour killings, and so on. Apparently they’ve never heard of the police.
F-35 boondoggle, starving research and muzzling scientists, Senate corruption, the list goes on. Fuck them and fuck Harper. Don’t let the door hit your arse on your way out, you smug lying bastard.
Fortunately, the bullshit pulled by your southern neighbours is so enormous that most of the outside world hasn’t noticed yet.
All the more reasons to get rid of Harper before he can definitely taint Canada’s reputation.
Yet for some reason that didn’t prevent Mercenary Ratfucker Extraordinaire Lynton Crosby from working on the Conservative campaign.
Australia’s First Idjit and now ex PM Tony Abbott was a Harper fan, so I’m glad for Canada that Harper is going too.