Harper Finally Pulls the Trigger

It is official. On October 14th Canadians will go to the polls (or at least slightly over half of all eligible voters will). Prime Minister Stephen Harper finally made the trip to Rideau Hall and asked Governor General Michealle Jean to dissolve the government.

Stephen Harper decided that Parliament was "disfunctional" - that work could not get done because party philosophies were too dichotomic. Nevermind that his party has never lost a confidence vote (having faced 40 or so in 2 years). How can a government with that kind of success rate be disfunctional? The answer lies squarely on the shoulders of Harper and his minions. PMSH's strategy in Commons committees has been to stonewall, filibuster, and otherwise stall - by any means necessary. When any Commons committee turned in a direction PMSH didn't like, the Tory committee chair would simply walk out. That creates disfunction. The Tories have also mired themselves in scandal - Bernier Affair, Cadman Affair, In-and-Out Scheme. A parliament simply cannot work when half of the governing party is facing some form of legal investigation. That creates disfunction.

So today, with the opening speeches from the party leaders, an election begins. And things nearly began squarely. The NDP and the Conservatives both launched campaign ads even before the election was made official (this contravenes Canadian law). Remember those Tory ads where "common Canadians" talked about how much they love Harper? Remember the young voter at the end? The young lady who tells us that she'll be voting for the first time and that she'll be voting for Stephen Harper? That's an election ad and it aired long before the election began.

But I won't begrudge these little cheats. They're not as critical as actual party policies. What are those party policies? Here's a quick rundown for those of you looking for somewhere to start:

Conservative Party - Stephane Dion is not a leader, and the Green Shift is not proven. Otherwise, we don't really have a policy.

Liberal Party - We believe in a fairer, richer, greener Canada and we're giving you an actual policy platform to prove we can deliver....and Harper sucks.

New Democratic Party - Some Canadians have financial issues and we're going to fix that by spending taxes on massive, comprehensive social programs...and Harper sucks.

Green Party - We're all going to die if we don't fix the environment, and we're going to eschew the usual political gamesmanship...and Harper sucks.

Bloc Quebecois - Canada sucks - we're going to make Quebec an independent nation...and Harper sucks.

I hope that was helpful.