Initial Election Thoughts

1) This election saw the lowest voter turnout in Canadian History. Before slamming Harper for calling an election that would only prove his government's parlimentary impotence, I think it is important to acknowledge the effect of the new voting rules and address/ identification rules which left many without their constitutionally guaranteed democratic voice. A number of friends lamented today an inability to cast a vote in their ridings because they had recently relocated to Vancouver or have changed addresses over the summer.

Students, those between jobs or locations, transients and the homeless are just a handful of voters who don't have the ID necessary to cast a ballot. I think what looks like high voter apathy can in part be blamed on these newly implemented rules which, below the surface, are perilously discriminatory.

2) I am also re-reading Succession re Reference of Quebec because I am angered by Quebec's clear show of support for the Bloc. This I find extremely distressing. I would encourage you all to read this as well if you are curious about the constitutional implications of the Bloc, and what separatism actually means.  Growing up in Alberta I suppose encumbered me to abhor, almost fear the Bloc; I don't know if that was because they represented a political virility Alberta could never mobilize or such anathema for us Anglophones that they wanted out of Canada.  It makes me nervous, these 49 seats.

Perhaps this is because they are an exclusive, French-only club that I am denied membership into. Or maybe, it is because I have secretly wished I was French all my life beginning with Immersion and later, a desire to wear the shiny red suits of Montreal Synchro.  Or maybe it just bothers me that Quebec has almost triple the seats we do and can mandate to topple to government and succeed, no matter what happens in the West. Perhaps, simply, it is because October 30, 1995 is a night that is branded into my national consciousness as one of extreme importance; a night when my family and I gathered around our Edmontonian, Anglophone T.V. and watched in fear as our country was almost torn apart. Awwww.  

I was reading a layman's bio on Mr. Gilles Duceppe at www.cbc.ca.  After watching his  post-election speech in which he reiterated the same seperatist jargon that defined his entire campaign, I couldn't believe how he kept referring to Quebec as a Nation: one that was under serious threat from Harper and the rest of us evil Anglophones.  Seriously? Man, the fear mongering in politics makes me not even want to care anymore. 

Anyway, I found this part of the bio particularly interesting:  "Duceppe has said he developed an early distaste for anglophones, even though his maternal grandfather... was British by birth.  Duceppe's English-speaking Grade 6 teacher slapped him for complaining when the French students had to stand in the aisles on a school bus, and he slapped her back" (www.cbc.ca/news/canadavotes/leadersparties/leaders-duceppe.html).  Sounds sorta similar to another left wing guy who wanted more liebensraum for his chosen people.

I kid, but you catch my drift. 

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't that racist? Or linguistcisim? Certainly that type of unabashed intolerance for a cultural or linguistic group isn't condoned in Canada! I wonder what we would all say if that same distasteful condescension was directed at Catholics or Muslims.   Obvoiously, the speaker of such temerarious things would be thrown out of public office without thought. 

So why, then, is it 'acceptable' ( I would argue here, that it is unacceptable) for Mr. Duceppe to speak this way? Is it simply because Anglophones are the majority? Does this allowance by the Canadian Public mean ipso facto that racist or intolerant speech is perfectly acceptable, as long as it is aimed at the group with the most members?  If this is the case, Canadians need to recalibrate what we deem acceptable and chastise Mr. Duceppe for his callous and unfair attack on Anglophones. And what kills me, is that the Bloc Quebecois website is in FRENCH ONLY! What about all the Angloes in Quebec? Are they evil too? Come on now. 

 Follow the link below. It may shed some light on this infuriating issue.

http://www.canlii.org/en/ca/scc/doc/1998/1998canlii793/1998canlii793.pdf