Up here above the 49th, we’re in a Federal Election. Like our southern cousins, we have leadership debates, but being a parliamentary democracy, we have a few extra parties compared to the US. Elizabeth May is the head of the Green Party, a straight-up environmentally-oriented party. The Greens have one elected representative and it isn’t Elizabeth May. For the record it is Blair Wilson in the West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country riding.
A consortium of the broadcast networks wanted to do a televised Leader’s Debate, as they have for just about all the federal elections since the mid-60’s. In asking the various parties for their terms and conditions, it came to light over the weekend that the Conservatives and the NDP would not play in the same sandbox with Elizabeth May as she was not actually elected to a seat in the House and "she’s smelly and has cooties and she’s a girl too…ewwww…"
The other two parties, the Liberals and the Bloc Quebecois essentially said "Sure, why not?" Consequently the broadcast consortium didn’t invite Elizabeth May to the Leader’s Debate, in order to get the NDP and the Conservatives into the tent.
When this came out in public, there was what could be charitably described as a collective manure rain by actual voters, descending on the Conservatives, the NDP and the broadcasters. The polite calls and emails to the usual suspects started with "You pudknocking rat-violators, pull your heads out of your colons and…"
Yesterday evening the Conservatives and the New Democratic Party changed their collective minds and agreed to let Elizabeth May participate in the Leader’s Debates. This is a good thing.
For starters, the Greens actually have a platform for environmental change. Less oil, less carbon, more wind and solar, more recycling.
The Conservatives eco-plan is to not drill for oil in downtown Calgary with illegal aliens during daylight hours as it will bother the crews of prisoners building the coal-fired generation plant with the asbestos chimney.
The NDP has a Green Plan, which is in the Witness Protection program and lives in a trailer park near Oshawa under an assumed name. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is the platform.
The Liberals Green Plan is a combination of taxes and rebates for farmers whose last names end with vowels, on alternate Tuesdays, but only if they made less than $11,614 in 1994 per Box 7 (a.1) on their T-4 for 1995. In trying to make sense of the Liberal plan, Stephen Hawking said, via his voice box "I can’t figure this out, screw it…"
The Bloc Quebecois is the easiest to understand: "It is our right as a sovereign nation within Canada to ensure that all the environment belongs to all Quebecers, except the ones we don’t really like and No Anglos."
What is happening is Elizabeth May, on the one issue that Canadians actually agree on, has sawn the enviro-plank out of the platform of all the other parties. She’s going to mop the floor with Harper, Layton, Dion and Duceppe. It’s all thanks to regular Canadians screaming like the enraged stewards of the democratic process they’re supposed to be.
Maybe this election won’t be as smelly as originally anticipated.
RoadDave 