The Best Laid Plans (1)
Jack Tackles the Giants on the Beanstalk
Do you remember ever having the feeling your world has just been turned upside down? Perhaps you were nearing 50 when your wife came home and calmly stated: “Guess what honey, I’m pregnant?” Or, in the worst case, it was not your wife it was that less than full time girl friend (not as uncommon as you might think). In either case it was a game changer. I experienced the former but, thanks to my chaste behaviour, never the latter.
In another case perhaps it was your boss who came in and said: “Sorry, but due to the recession we are cutting back, ah, but not to worry, you are a good worker so you should have no trouble finding a new job!” Bummer dude! Perhaps we are about to experience a similar type ‘game changer’ on the national political scene.
Having closely followed the campaign over the past few weeks I was struck by how mundane
everything seemed to be evolving when, suddenly, late last week, the folks in Quebec decided they might just want to try something different. No, they did not start importing tons of the best BC Bud (not a bad idea through), they just found a new religion called NDP. It is now possible the Bloc might soon be a footnote in history. Can’t say I would be sorry to see them finally exit stage left.
Now what about poor Jack? How would you like to have the whole La Belle Province riding on your coat tails? All I can say is he had better have a strong ‘constitution’. After the election he could be leading a group of neophyte politicians, including a number of young student candidates with no political background, into the blood sport that is Ottawa. Perhaps that is just what we need in opposition, a bunch of young idealists with nothing to lose.
From my perspective, it would be an excellent outcome – a Harper minority (140 seats), NDP (90 seats, including a major position in Quebec), Liberal (60 seats) and Bloc (15), Independent (2) and Greens (1) as somebody has gotta finally throw poor Lizbeth a bone. Taken in combination it just might be the tonic we need to shake things up on the Federal scene. Just as 
the Conservatives moved to coalesce the right a few years back, the left needs an ‘earth shaker’ to cause them to put the left leaning house in order.
Given the heavy turnout in the advance polls and if the current poll trends portend future seat results, we might just go to bed on May 2, 2011 with a game-changing Parliament.
Cheers
(Harold is a card carrying Liberal but willing to look at alternatives)
1For a good chuckle on this very subject read “The Best Laid Plans” by Terry Fallis (McLellan Books, 2008), winner of the CBC Canada Reads Award, 2011. The book takes a peek inside the back rooms of national political parties where a crusty old Scot, Angus McClintock, is suddenly and unwillingly thrust into the fray. He quickly becomes a media darling and throws every party, including his own Liberals, into disarray. Just as has every movie and TV series hero that challenged the status quo found a cult following, so does the reluctant Angus McClintock.
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Comments (3)
Thanks for this Harold…especially the name cover photo of the book you and Lynn recommended …and I had forgotten 🙂
You got it, Harold. Except for the Harper minority bit, alas.
This post from Harold but cannot get my email to work:
Ya, the end result was a bit of a surprise, but, again, I think it can work to great advantage for the left. A large part will depend on how far the Conservatives push a far right agenda (beyond keeping some some of their budget promies).