One of the first things Canadians living overseas have to get used to is how seldom Canada makes the news. Unless there’s been a natural disaster that looks good on TV or something as horrendous as a swine farmer slaughtering prostitutes instead of pigs, the last they’ll hear of back home for a while is the CBC News summary on their outbound flight.
We’re the Flanders to the Simpsons next door. Quirky but stable in contrast to drama-addicted and dysfunctio
nal.
So when the political crisis gripping my home and ignored land started to make the papers over here this week, I knew something big must be going on, especially because friends and family sent me emails the same day with links to petitions they wanted me to sign.
Here’s what I’ve managed to glean so far:
Just six weeks after a federal election, the country’s Prime Minister was being threatened with the axe. He didn’t have a majority in Parliament, but was acting as if he did. The opposition parties didn’t like that, so were threatening to band together to form a majority of their own. The coalition would pit the centrist Liberals and the left-wing New Democrats in alliance with the separatist Bloc Québécois.
All this without an election. Even though it was perfectly legal, it sounded to me like a bloodless coup, and with the help of the dreaded Quebec souverainistes, to boot!
Even though the Bloc Québécois hasn’t done anything to work toward separation for several years, in a televised speech to the country the Prime Minister invoked the threat of separation should the coalition succeed in forming a government with the help of separatists.
That smacked of the scare-mongering “terrorists” mantra you hear from politicians south of the Canadian border, but for once we’re not even going to mention that country.
This is huge stuff to Canadians. I’ve not seen the country this polarised since an election 20 years ago which led to Brian Mulroney signing a Free Trade Agreement with the other two countries Canada shares with North America.
Another thing you have to get used to as a Canadian expat is giving up your right to vote. I can’t vote in Germany because you have to be a citizen, and I can’t vote in Canada because you have to be a resident.
That’s my choice, though.
Unfortunately, the millions of Canadians who DO have the right to vote haven’t been given the chance. Considering that the crisis was based on actions on both sides I doubt anyone would have voted for, the only fair thing to do is for Parliament to reconvene long enough to call for a new election. Sure, it might result in a new minority government, but at least the people will have been given a chance to have their say.
What’s going on now looks just too much like the Simpsons.
You don’t know? Harper is refusing to allow Parliament to sit before the Holidays. He’s staving off career death as long as he can.
Remember, we did the same thing to Joe Clark, long ago.
Canada?
There was an amusing letter to the editor in this week’s Economist:
A patriot
SIR – Andrew Work posited that Canada is more politically colour-blind than the United States because its governor-general is a black woman (Letters, November 22nd). Canada’s governor-general is not elected, but appointed by the queen on the “advice” of the Canadian prime minister. It seems strange to mention her at all since she doesn’t exercise any real power. In any case, with barely half the population of Britain and slightly less than California, is Canada even relevant?
Sam Adams
Munich
Trouble in paradise, eh? Here in the UK there are rumblings from the electorate as well, thanks in part to the shenanigans of the UNELECTED prime minister and his government. I do wonder how all these people can mutter so loudly though, as the turnout in the last election was around the 30% mark – shocking (and we knew then that Tony Blair was going to hand over the reigns at some time in the five years!!
Like you, I am not able to vote in the UK – I am Norwegian, and Norway is only a member of the EEA, and not the EU. So I get all the same rights as EU citizens apart from the vote – go figure! I must say I’d like to be able to vote in local elections, not least because I pay taxes and council taxes, and I’d like to have a say on how my money gets spent. As it happens, in a recent survey, it would appear that more than 90% of my fellow parish residents agree that the current elected council are certainly not taken heed of the opinion of the electorate – here’s hoping my fellow parishioners vote elsewhere next time!
So are you French Canadian or from the British part?
There’s a country south of Canada?
Even though the Bloc Québécois hasn’t done anything to work toward separation for several years, in a televised speech to the country the Prime Minister invoked the threat of separation should the coalition succeed in forming a government with the help of separatists.
That smacked of the scare-mongering “terrorists” mantra you hear from politicians south of the Canadian border, but for once we’re not even going to mention that country.
As an American who has seriously contemplated and researched moving to Québec (Québec City, specifically), that sort of thing has always bothered me. I am not on the side of the separatists, but I am sympathetic (as a New Englander, I sometimes joke that Québec should join with New England, and we’ll both separate from our respective countries), and I hate it when other Canadian politicians treat them, as you so astutely say, as terrorists. “Oh no, if you do this, Québec will separate and kill all the Anglophones!” – now, that’s sarcasm, but I have heard quite similar things from the mouths of Canadian politicians (I’m a strange American who keeps track of Canadian politics).
I dunno. I think it’s a good thing. Maybe getting the Bloc Québecois integrated with the rest of politics might actually ease some of those tensions and stereotypes a bit.
I’m pleased to see the Liberals, NDP, and Bloc binding together and showing they have the concern for our country and the maturity to look past their political differences… and I’m positively disgusted with Harper and the the Governor General who have both showed a complete disregard and disrespect for members of the House of Commons. I hold a great deal of respect for the members of Parliament who possessed the ethics, the responsibility, and the decency to voice their lack of confidence in Harper’s policies. I agree with Driftingfocus that the integration of the Bloc with the rest of the parties may be beneficial… in fact, I think it’s rather ridiculous for people to complain about the Bloc being a bunch of Separatists and then speak out against them when they actually try to unite with the rest of the country. I also find it absurd how so many are screaming about the coalition being an act against Democracy. If anything, this coalition is Democracy in action… not concern for a select few, but for the entire country… and it’s pretty sickening to see so many of our citizens expressing such a warped view of Democracy.
Excellent post!
It has been an interesting week here for sure, hard on the nerves. From my view since the Bloc does not appear on ballots in 9 provinces and 3 territories, the deal that was hatched with Layton (NDP) was wrong as as it gave them veto power over money bills. Of course that meant exactly what Duceppe said, “what’s good for Quebec is good for Sovereignty (read separation).It was a plan hatched by Layton from the day after the election, to get Harper out at first opportunity. They still don’t get it, they lost the election but they seem to “know what’s right for us” and will again vote against Harper. Meanwhile nothing gets done and the economy suffers. how is that good for us? I’m not particularly enamored with Harper and he’s made some mistakes but he was willing to compromise by taking some offensive things out of the economic statement. Mattered not the the guys who wanted the keys to Sussex Dr. I actually thought they should have all been forced to go live there together, see how long their coalition would last, LOL…ciao
Hi Adam,
To the Economist letter-writer I’d say: consider the quality, not the quantity!
Thanks for all those who’ve written their thoughtful remarks on this. I’m certainly going to be paying greater attention through the end of January when Parliament reconvenes.
Meanwhile, whichever side of the fence you sit on, something for a lazy Sunday: If you speak German, and know the Canadian players, the following is a funny take on one of the most gripping scenes from one of the best German films I’ve seen in a while – Der Untergang – The Downfall.
http://harperdictatorship.ca/
Jul: yes indeed, it’s called australia
Just want to say that BEFORE Sarah Palin got to the national stage, we rather liked our anonymity here in Alaska — now we’re the butt of too many mooseburger jokes…
BTW, you’re tagged for the Commenter’s meme!
Hi Naturelady,
Thanks for the mention. A bit of what you wrote in that meme – that most Americans think Alaska is a part of Canada. Wha??? Did I read that correctly?
What surprised me the most is learning that Canadian non-residents are not allowed to vote in national elections. It sounds really strange. Americans abroad can vote, but we also have an obligation to file a tax return, each year, even if we pay no U.S. taxes.
Hi Indie,
It’s all in the way each country treats its expats. If our good nursemyra, for example, were to be living beyond her native shores and NOT vote in an election, she’d be up for a fine when she got back to Australia. They HAVE to vote.
What galls me is that I do pay taxes in Canada (will not say why) on top of the 5-figure sum I pay here, yet still can’t vote in either country.
Let’s just say that BEFORE Sarah Palin, when we’d be travelling in the “Lower 48 (what Alaskan’s call the main chunk of the US)”, many Americans would say things like: Alaska?!? is that even part of the US? Turns out they thought it was part of Canada — Americans are not exactly known for being geography-savvy…
I find that amazing about Alaska, but you’re right: Americans are famously unable to find their own shoelaces on a map. An urban legend going around Canada when I was growing up was one about how border guards asked a carload of Americans why they were driving to Canada with skis on the roof in the middle of summer. They said they’d heard all there was in Canada was ice and snow.
That’s just the parliamentary system, though. Believe me, many of us south of Canada wished we’d had it after the 2006 elections so we wouldn’t have to wait until 2009 to dump Dubya.
I should pay more attention.
Liberals centrist?
Liberals in any other country would be called “social democrats”, and the NDP “lunatic fringe”.
Conservatives in Canada are left of a centrist parties elsewhere, but would dearly love to be thought of as centre-right.
Mind you, the greatest advances Canada ever made happened under a Liberal minority badgered by the NDP when it was truly left-centre-right alignment of NDP-Liberal-Conservative.
Liberals being centrist in that in the range between loony left and the libertarian let’s-privatise-everything crowd, they’re somewhere in the middle. You have to remember that I was writing that out of a standpoint of someone who (I hate to admit it) doesn’t keep up with the news in Canada as much as he should, so if the weathervane has shifted in the 15 years left or right, I probably didn’t notice.
Cold there?