Ohhhhh Canada....or is it Cana-duh?

Good friends you'll know now of my disgust with some Canadians for their furor over the 'Crisis' in Ottawa. The worst part of this whole thing is that the boarish, bizarre reaction of Canadians has drowned-out what could have been a huge galvanizing point in Canadian History that created the conditions for the solution of so many of the problems we face! It is toothless selfishness that reacts angrily to a coalition of elected officials representing over 60 percent of voters acts to take over from a government to avoid a costly election while investing in our economy.

I'm so tired of the Conservative's negative view of government. They seek not to solve problems but to disarm government of the ability to solve them, then complain that government doesn't work. It's cynical. It's old. Why can't we marry the good ideas of conservatism, particularly the fiscal approach, with those of the left, like using economic tools to curb carbon emissons. Huh? We have?

I have been thinking a lot about what the overall message is of what has happened in Ottawa and how the public has reacted in general. Canadians have fallen into two camps of course but they're odd in their composition because some partisan types are caught up in their own brands. Lefties generally support what is going on with the coalition and will believe that Harper's prorogue (hate that word) is simply stalling to avoid defeat and ultiamately it is the weakest economic package he could possibly propose - who's interest is Steve serving? If the Liberals don't use that in the next election it will prove that they haven't fired the idiots currently handling their communications.

If you don't support what is happening, even if you accept that it is constitutional, and if you're rational you must accept its constitutional since we do have rule of law in Canada and the coalition could not be doing what it is doing or proposing if it werent' constitutional, then you must conclude that our system of government is broken. If you are rational. If you are rational but are angered that the party in government could be overthrown by a majority of members of the House of Commons without an election but using instead the current composition of members and consensus to present a viable alternative to the Governor General then you must come to the conclusion that our government is broken.

Either way, you must conclude that our government is broken. Our system of government does not result in governments that reflect the desires of the majority of Canadians. I say we either go Presidential with a two-party system and a system of primaries for the selection of local candidates with candidates representing either generally right-wing and generally left-wing and running in local ridings with a multitude of candidates able to run for President. The Prime Minister would run the legislature and would be the leader of the party with the most seats. Add a reformed senate for good measure and you have Canada's own Republican form of government.

Or if you are not so enamored with that but think that everyone's views should be counted so that we have clear winners and losers but so that a range of views are allowed to be at the table then you must both support subsidies to parties for the amount of votes they get and you must ultimately support Proportional Representation as our form of government. Throw in a reformed senate for good measure and you have a Euro-Canadian form of government. Oh - and you could have either a run-alone Presidential Candidate or you could have the leader of the party with the highest vote share. These systems often allow people to rank the candidates or at least to vote for and against certain candidates.

So if Harper does stay in after the New Year (presumably we'll have a hiatus achieving no economic stimulus) I think the Governor General should commit him solely to the pursuit of electoral reform. Otherwise he should get out of the way gracefully and realize that Canada has once again set history with the most peaceful coup d'etat in the history of the world!