I'm still under the weather (though I've finally turned a corner, thank the stars) and too tired to put together a coherent post about the current Canadian political situation. Mostly I've been stressed about the rhetoric coming out of Stephen Harper and the Conservative party -- first of all, "socialist" is not a dirty word, and if it weren't for the "socialists", we wouldn't have some of the things that makes this country admired -- universal health care, anyone?
Second -- I may not agree with the Bloc Quebecois and their aims (though I do agree with them a lot on social/fiscal/environmental issues), but they are the legitimately, democratically elected representatives from the people of Quebec, and they have a right to participate in parliament and represent their constituents.
Mostly, I'm distressed that the Prime Minister of this country doesn't seem to possess any understanding of how Canadian Parliamentary democracy works, and seems to think he's suddenly working in an American style republic. It's not the case. But for a far more eloquent post on this very subject, please head over to Mark Blevis' blog, and read his post entitled "A New Education on the Parliamentary System". He's put the case more coherently and more thoughtfully than I can right now.
And as Valerie said on Twitter (actually, she tweeted several interesting thoughts, including some echoed in Mark's post):
"So when you listen to what the Harper says in the next few days, ask yourself what country's language he's speaking."

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