Sunrise, sunset (clause)

Hey blog. It's been ages. What's new? I feel we haven't talked since June. I started a new job over the summer, one that is awesome and so much fun, but required a bit of an adjustment period. I think I've found my sea legs now, and I may even have enough time to blog. 

A couple of interesting things that have happened in the last couple of weeks.
I hear that we're coming up on the bicentenary of the War of 1812 and the Historic Harper Government is going to make something of a big deal of this. Harper himself is a huge War of 1812 buff, which is a side of him I never thought we'd see. 

This is actually something I'd like to see the government do. I like a good historical recreation, and this seems like the perfect opportunity to bring out the costumes. It will also be interesting to see our government try and commemorate a war we had with our current largest trading partner, closest ally, and symbiotic host country without offending them. I bet no-one will bring up the burning down of the White House

It was actually the British who did it, but Canadians have been trying to steal the credit ever since.

Second thing I found interesting was the conservatives bringing back two clauses in the anti-terrorist act that seem frightening from a human rights perspective. The first would allow the police to hold anyone suspected of terrorist activity for three days without a police warrant. The second would allow judges to question suspects in private, with the threat of imprisonment if the suspect refuses.

It seems that the scope for abuse there could be pretty large, but I'm just speculating. As a wooly liberal/sheepish social democrat, this sort of news tends to push my buttons. Would I rather the government allow terrorism to thrive on Canadian soil? No, but I'm not keen on them selling out our human rights or due process either. 

It's not clear what burden of proof would be needed to label someone as a potential terrorist. Hopefully, it would be more than just racial profiling or people denouncing people they don't like.

I have misgivings more about the fact that these clauses are going to be in effect semi-permanently. When they were first passed in 2001, they were sunsetted. The means they would expire after a period of time, in this case five years. I don't know if that period of time is typical for all 'sunsetted' clauses. The happy Harper government has said that it won't sunset these clauses when they bring them back into effect. Which means they will be in effect for the foreseeable future.

I needed a picture. This really doesn't belong here.

last week of election.

School ate me alive two weeks ago, and I have just managed to crawl out from under it. To all five people who read this blog, I apologize for my absence.

It's unfortunate too, because a lot has happened in the last two weeks. I left you people at the English language leaders debate. I regret to say I missed the french language debate. Every time, I intend on seeing it, and I just don't. Probably because everyone who is not a French-speaking Quebecker is not remotely interested in it.

People should not have been so damn snotty about it; turns out, it could be the watershed moment of the election. Apparently, Jack Layton of the NDP really pulled a fast one on Duceppe, and has been winning support in Quebec ever since. Approval ratings of the NDP nationally are at 30% according to one poll, which compares favorably to the Tory  ratings of 35%.

Well so what? Firstly, this is a crushing humiliation to the Liberals, who for all their posing for being the only real alternative to the conservatives haven't managed to really set fire to the average Canadian's imagination. I feel bad for Ignatieff.

Secondly, this is a rebuke to both the Conservatives and Liberals for running such unimaginative campaigns in Quebec. I think both parties had written this province off as the territory of the Bloc Quebecois, and the  NDP success who that this is not altogether true.

Thirdly, it shows that you can experience success at a national level with a likeable party leader. This seems obvious, but the other parties have forgotten this. It might not be fair to judge a party by its leader, but I think this lack of connection between party leaders and the public explains why Harper's Tories are still begging for a majority five years after coming into power, and why the Liberals are being relegated to also-ran position.

Layton, unlike the other leaders, does not come off as either a doughy sociopathic man-child or ivy tower ex-aristocrat. Disagree with his politics all you like, but he looks like an approachable and hardworking kinda guy. Someone you could have a coffee and a donut with, someone you could form a connection with. 

Plus he looks like Popeye, which should play well with the voters. 

I feel I should say something in favour of the other parties to at least keep up the pretense of non-partisanship, but hell, it's my blog. So I'll be honest: as an NDP supporter, I'm pretty excited by this.

But I'm going to try and reign in my hopes. There's five days left to campaign in, and that's a long time in politics.