Did You Feel It?
I have it on rather good authority that the Centre of the Universe shifted on Tuesday night. A Conservative minority was elected, along with the first PM from Calgary since the 1930s. Toronto fell silent - Montreal fell silent - Vancouver fell silent - Calgary was jubilant. The Red Mile became the Blue Mile. But there is not one Conservative MP from those three major cities, and together they make up approximately one-third - yes, one-third - of Canada's population. That's a major problem for a Harper'government, as no Cabinet Ministers will come from those areas, arguably the main hubs of Canada's economy.
I've got a few other concerns too - there's the gender question. Only 38 of the 308 Conservative candidates were women, and only 14 were elected. And I think urban Canadian women do not trust Harper on the key issue of abortion. He dodges the issue, and can do a lot of damage while not actually re-criminalizing it (cutting funding to clinics, women's agencies, etc.). And if you believe he has a hidden agenda on a women's right to choose what to do with her own body, he might have other crazy ideas about women too. I'm not sayin' ...I'm just sayin'.
With a different leader (Peter Mackay, for example) we would have been looking at a Conservative majority. It really didn't take much to knock off the Liberals this time around. They were reeling. They ran a sloppy campaign with no real vision and still came home with over 100 seats. You just had to show up and shut up your "friends" (like Ralph).
Let's talk about his friends. You can actually know a lot about a person by his friends. This guy is surrounded by very dodgy people. I know (of) many of them, and I'm scared. But this is the slimmest minority government in Canada since Confederation. He's on a short leash. He can't do too much damage. I hope.
So my Toronto friends, take heart - the Centre of the Universe, your own hand-picked, coveted title, is still yours. We're the New West, and we're in the game now, so quite frankly, my dear, we don't give a damn anymore what you call yourselves.
I have it on rather good authority that the Centre of the Universe shifted on Tuesday night. A Conservative minority was elected, along with the first PM from Calgary since the 1930s. Toronto fell silent - Montreal fell silent - Vancouver fell silent - Calgary was jubilant. The Red Mile became the Blue Mile. But there is not one Conservative MP from those three major cities, and together they make up approximately one-third - yes, one-third - of Canada's population. That's a major problem for a Harper'government, as no Cabinet Ministers will come from those areas, arguably the main hubs of Canada's economy.
I've got a few other concerns too - there's the gender question. Only 38 of the 308 Conservative candidates were women, and only 14 were elected. And I think urban Canadian women do not trust Harper on the key issue of abortion. He dodges the issue, and can do a lot of damage while not actually re-criminalizing it (cutting funding to clinics, women's agencies, etc.). And if you believe he has a hidden agenda on a women's right to choose what to do with her own body, he might have other crazy ideas about women too. I'm not sayin' ...I'm just sayin'.
With a different leader (Peter Mackay, for example) we would have been looking at a Conservative majority. It really didn't take much to knock off the Liberals this time around. They were reeling. They ran a sloppy campaign with no real vision and still came home with over 100 seats. You just had to show up and shut up your "friends" (like Ralph).
Let's talk about his friends. You can actually know a lot about a person by his friends. This guy is surrounded by very dodgy people. I know (of) many of them, and I'm scared. But this is the slimmest minority government in Canada since Confederation. He's on a short leash. He can't do too much damage. I hope.
So my Toronto friends, take heart - the Centre of the Universe, your own hand-picked, coveted title, is still yours. We're the New West, and we're in the game now, so quite frankly, my dear, we don't give a damn anymore what you call yourselves.
Comments