Campaign 2011: Off to the Races...and ( yawn.....)

After some minor distractions, we at Incoming Bytes  are once again compelled to discover that the political campaigns in Canada's election are in full swing. The fact is, nothing exciting has happened.  An election?  Really??

The campaigns are already  half over, so now what ?  Nothing is new, or different,  but should we expect it to be?  The Canadian electorate has a right to be skeptical. 


The glorious  "Corporate-Approved"  television debate was held  sans Elizabeth May,  the Green Party leader,  but that didn't seem to make any difference;  the one-on-one's were not exciting anyway,  the counter-attacks were bland to non-existent,  overall, it was dull and  yawn-worthy;   the participants performed much as were expected.  

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the Conservative (minority) leader now wants a majority and is offering the saving of Canada from the coalition  and the separatists  and other terrible probabilities,   and is  insisting a majority will result in better government too.
But will it?  Not likely. Is anyone  really convinced?  Isn't that fear-mongering?  It doesn't work. 

Michael Ignatieff, the intellect PM  wannabe  poo-poos the idea of a Conservative majority, saying that Harper et al  cannot be trusted.  He's probably right, for  although all politicians seem trustworthy while campaigning,  no politicians can be trusted once they are ELECTED.  There is a subtle difference.   The Liberal  fortunes in this election are questionable. Polls aren't being nice..that's it.
 
The question the electorate  really should be asking is:
  " WHO can be trusted?"  

The answer must be " Nobody" ;  --and certainly not a "Michael Ignatieff Liberal " government either. 

Liberals promised  to protect Canada's Universal Health Care system--   (well, doesn't EVERYBODY  PROMISE ? )  --but previous Liberal Governments reportedly hijacked a stash of cash from health care and  U I  to help defeat the deficit back in Paul Martin /Chretien days, balance the budget, play games,  fun for all was had, --downloading costs to the provincial governments.  Private clinics seem to be  encouraged,  popping up here and there....how cute.  

The thin edge of ( the USA  private  health care health-care-only for money system )  wedge was smacked into the skulls of Canadians ...imagine that.  Shall we trust Iggy? No.  Shall we trust Stephen, who is on record as being pro-private enterprise in the field of health ?   No.
 
     There is little wonder  Gilles Duceppe and the BLOC  Quebecois  plunk themselves down in plush leather chairs  located in our Federal  House of Commons,  the better to keep an eye on federal scoundrels. 

  Nice office....  C'mon, Gilles,,, you got into the debate as a  special interest representative,  throwing red herrings  around left and right, confusing the issue,   so why can't  you spread candidates far and wide across Canada so you would be a REAL Federal political party, and  some people might even be tempted to vote for you?   What's the matter,  you afraid of losing ?     We think so, but  in the Big Bloc book,  it's better to sit and whine, isn't it, and NEVER have to actually prove you have a better idea, a better system.   Right.  Form your own country.   Ever heard of: 
  "Those who flee oppression oft' flee to oppression of their own?"  
Stranger things have happened.  What if  Gilles did win a majority?    

     Being on location in Ottawa all the time,  the Bloc  can complain, promote the removal of not only Federal  funds,  by blackmail or otherwise, but  help  malcontents,  even encourage in-house  traitors  to  remove the very Province of Quebec itself from Canada..
....*alas..  Gilles and Co. are always content to decorate debates,  sit on comfy  leather, complain,  and  threaten  another referendum.   

A  few tries later later  Gilles has discovered it's quite a lot of  fun and  more profitable  to blackmail Ottawa for big bucks and keep milking the glorious and generous Canadian Cow. 
Imagine that.  No fear of  majority a la Gilles.

It seems that Jack Layton, the New Democratic leader, unhindered by his recent surgery and EXCELLENT medical treatments via the  Universal Canadian Health system  has recovered quite nicely ---whether it was a real hip replacement or not.....or  just a little bit of metal, they say, not a real hip replacement, no matter what sis  said.  Just a slight family misunderstanding, it was. 


Everyone says Jack did very well in the "official debates" ....and  he continues to travel the country, recovering, shaking hands,   smiling and laughing...and progressing surprisingly well in the polls too.  Go figure. The Liberals  and  Michael are nervous, not surprisingly.



As for Elizabeth May, being excluded from the debate doesn't seem to have harmed her positive  attitude  at all. She hasn't got any "seats" yet, but she's got lots of Green and a pretty green platform to stand upon while she watches with interest, deciding which of the parties she should really consider a full  merge with.  Go figure...  "Only in Canada", you say?   (Yawn......)


That's my opinion, and I'm sticking to it.



 

The Talking Heads Debate : Repetitive Rhetoric, and Ominous Silence

It never fails to amuse observers of politics  how politicians defend their self-perceived  perfect records with the practiced lines of  child actors seeking perfection in a public school play, repeating the same Party rhetoric over and over whilst  accusing  one another of disrespect for Canadians and Democracy and the dignified Process of Governance.
The more likely fact is, political talking heads  collectively seem to increasingly lack any respect for Canadian voters, process,  honesty or  government itself, --and not surprisingly, Canada does not hold a monopoly on that contemporary political  phenomenon.

Politicians  seem to ooze honesty on television  collectively,   but  fail to admit the real  reason they are there,  the  really big issue,  which is not health care,   not  their concern  about Canada being misrepresented  in Foreign Affairs,  not $175M fighter jets, not the military involvement in Libya or Afghanistan,  not the Economy, even though" it's the economy, stupid" , and  certainly not  budgetary concerns including excessive waste spent in  Tony's   cute little Gazebo-infested  Conservative riding  that required  $50M  all at once just to build Gazebos and get "spruced up"  for viewing  by G20 leaders --for at least 15, maybe 20 minutes,   according to the Auditor-General's "not-to-be-trusted report"..... and  she's used to seeing stuff like that,   $2.6B wasted on an inefficient, foolish gun registry,  Multi-million-dollare fake lakes, $10M  long fences  and thousands of riot-equipped police to keep  citizens at bay,   G-8 Billion-dollar boondoggles,  being ruled in contempt of parliament,  Senator crookery  or anything of that "let's avoid that lickety-split"   nature.
We don't address.....well, we don't  REALLY want to address THOSE things on "national debate" night.

The real issue behind the  charade is the  primal driving force, well  hidden ,   which is the maintenance of an old-boy's security web, a  political party mutual admiration society  that behind closed doors,  studies diligently  the mechanics of the Prime Directive of that Society ---which is interpreted  in camera as :
" How do we ensure we're all  getting elected yet again so we get to keep our very big MP Pensions and make sure WE get tucked nice and neatly into the Senate too, even if we're crooks and scallywags ?" 
Perhaps it is written in a "mission statement" somewhere,  maybe on the back of  a brown  envelope containing big wads of cash.

With the "unwanted"  May 2nd election coming upon us fast,  another "National all party debate" was held today, except that all of the party leaders were not allowed to participate,  to wit,  Ms. Elizabeth May, the leader of the Green Party was excluded simply  because the Green party has not a single seat in the House of Commons;  the outrageous fact that NOBODY is "sitting"  in the House of Commons once an election is called seems to have been ignored,  but we all suspect  Ms. Green Elizabeth May doesn't support big corporations, including the  crabby, nasty   media group  that  excluded her from the DEBATE.
How can we have a debate if all parties are not represented?   Ans:  " Fill debate with Canned Questions, meaningless repetitive  blather, maybe nobody will notice."
Maybe they're all afraid of  Ms. May, she's an astute type, if a bit quirky, or maybe they just don't like green stuff like spinach.
Funny, they managed to  include  Gilles Duceppe, the leader of the Bloc Quebecois, wannabe kingmaker supreme,  who is constantly vowing to remove Quebec from Canada even though he knows Quebec can be soon divided up into rather large  enclaves of Canadian loyalists  if Canada should be parted, but he carried on like a trooper anyway. 
      The Harper-Ignatieff mutual admiration and exchange Chapter of the group expressed the strongest disdain  for each other and the other members present,  but Gilles  scuffled away,  and Jack Layton calmly  representing the NDP  kept them busy slip-sliding around.   At times it seemed  Jack  was actually winning the debate with  calm and wit a la crutch,  with  Gilles  crustily  pretending his Bloc representation of Quebec in the Canadian National debate actually makes  a difference in said  National debate.
He scored  one for the Nipper  on  old Harper's  coalition-bent  letter though,  make that Harper's old coalition letter,   no doubt about that one.   Making bed with the Bloc, a paper enemy and pale-faced ghost, it was.  Stephen appeared uncomfortable with that timely reminder.
But, bottom line, no score was noted anywhere  by tired political observers; it's all been seen before, lies,  lies, promises,  loads of sheeple manure, and   Iggy's Liberal  "a chicken in every pot"  promises,  "gotta get after those guns",  ...and ....and.... and nothing has, or ever will  change.

Meantime, out in the real world,  with the Japanese Fukushima disaster now being compared to Chernobyl,  not a word was mentioned.  
Ominous silence. We don't wish to be told we're about to  be glowing in the dark anyway, do we? 

Perhaps we should  blame Ms.  May for that one too after all, she wasn't there to bring it  up.  We can't blame Elizabeth?    Excluded you say?    No  matter.  The Talking Heads have spoken and Canadian Politics is fine and well and predicable as can be. 
That's just as well, Canadians like talking heads,  high taxes, wasteful spending,  crooked politics,  $6.00/gallon gas  and predictability--and we all know nothing is going to change, no matter WHO is elected.
We'll go vote anyway, at least we get to see the neighbours  at the polling station and chat a bit.
That's my opinion  and I'm sticking to it.
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