There’s an election in Canada, too
Posted September 15, 2008 on 12:04 am | In the category Canada, Election 2008, Uncategorized | by Mackenzie BrothersThe US presidential election with its seemingly endless foreplay followed by a curve ball from left field was bound to catch any gambler or sport fan’s attention, and the Canadian one, taking place almost simultaneously, is designed to go unnoticed in the great wide world. But it was announced last week for Oct. 14 by the governing Conservative Party, and its very shortness underlines both the strengths and weaknesses of the parliamentary versus the set-date systems of voting. On the one hand the US system has turned into such an expensive and long campaign as candidates jostle for media attention for the whole year preceding the set early November date that only the super-rich or those with super-rich friends can take a run. On the other hand, the voters do have a chance to find out everything and more that they want to know about the candidates, or at least they would if the press played an intelligent probing role. In this area, the sudden and completely unexpected appearance of a total outsider from Alaska as a vice-presidential candidate who had spent no money was surely a breath of fresh air even for her skeptics.
In the parliamentary system, in which the ruling party gets to announce the election date with only 6 weeks notice, there is by comparison very little money spent, but time does fly and instead of intelligent discussion and probing much of that time is spent by the press chasing down trivial events and meaningless mini-scandals and in the end the public hasn’t learned much about anything except the manipulated public persona of the party leader, who in not who you are voting for. You are voting only for the local representative who belongs to the caucus which will choose that leader. Thus the ruling Conservative Party spends its money on tv ads meant to show that the Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, is really a warmer and fuzzier man than he seems to be, and the challenging Liberal party does the same in an attempt to show that their leader, Stéphane Dion, is a better communicator than he seems to be. In private, M Dion, who once spent time with my brother and me in Iceland, is a charming, very intelligent man, who would obviously be an excellent Prime Minister. Those who know Mr. Harper well would undoubtedly say the same, but the actual election campaign does very little to actually show any of this.
So take your pick. My brother and i actually prefer the German system, but that’s another story.
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Hi! This isn\\\’t a comment on Bob and Doug\’s article (although clearly they need to get back to their brewery work so they don\’t have so much free time on their hands!). Rather a general question–Jeff, are you or is someone else going to write anything about the demoting/firing of Chris Mathews and Kieth Olbermann on MSNBC? I didn\\\’t see their convention coverage which apparently what all this hooplah is about (witness Jon Stewart\\\’s question to David Gregory \\\”What are you–Lord of the Flies?) so I don\\\’t feel competent to write anything, but it does seem newsworthy that the most liberal commentator on tv is getting the ax.
Bob and Doug MacKenzie forwarded your kind offer to make me your Ohio election coverage correspondent complete with an Ohio nom de plume. Sadly I must decline any offer that includes linking my name with the (in my view) ignominious Buckeye. Of all the universities with which to affiliate myself, I would choose one whose emblem is the fruit of a horse chestnut and around which one constantly hears people enjoining \\\”Go Bucks!\\\”–I tell you, the flesh crawls…
Comment by Marilyn — September 15, 2008 #
So far my favorite image of the Canadian election is that of a bird crapping on Dion\’s shoulder in a very un-Canadian ad being run by the conservatives. I am wondering when McCain will run his ad of the American eagle crapping on Obama\’s shoulders? We can learn a lot from our friendly neighbors to the North. Or are they learning from us?
In any case, the fact that there is an election in Canada has gone unnoticed down here but rest assured Senator Obama will take an interest once he learns that it is not an election for \”President\” of Canada.
Comment by jeff — September 17, 2008 #
Ah yes, but poor Mr. Harper had to fire the clown who came up with the pooping puffin, since it did not fit in with his newly-found image of a nice friendly chap, and then he had to fire a pal who suggested that a father whose son was one of the almost 100 Canadians who have died in in the Afghan war must be a Liberal for opposing the war and now he may have to dump his agriculture minister for making jokes about deaths from food-tainted meet happening under his meat inspection scheme. Of course the NDP isn’t doing too well, either, since two of its candidates in Vancouver had to drop out because of youtube proof of their pot proficiency. So it’s not all dull
Comment by Mackenzie Brothers — September 20, 2008 #