We always knew that having fixed elections in Canada would cause the same problems as in the United States. You end up in an almost permanent condition of premature election. Take right now in Canada. The pundits and pollsters are already in full election mode when we are ten months from going to the polls. They are making their lists and checking them twice to try to tell us which politicians are naughty and nice.
Frankly, there is no percentage in telling you who has the best odds of winning that election before Labour Day of 2015. That will be when technically the Prime Minister is supposed to converse with the Governor General and the GG signs a Writ of Election. Mind you, Mr. Harper has lied to the electors before so you might want to hang loose in April for a surprise writ then.
If anyone is deluded about this election, it is New Democratic Leader Tommy Mulcair. He has found that Canadians are nice to him when he gets away from the House of Commons occasionally. What he has really found is that Canadians are nice people and they have no intention of hurting Tommy’s feelings. If they even let him keep his own electoral district next year, he will be lucky.
But the person headed for the worst surprise of the 2015 election is guy we affectionately refer to as The Hair. He is the most travelled Prime Minister in Canada’s history. Not even Brian Mulroney’s farewell tour to countries where people had once been nice to him was as impressive as the travels of The Hair and his hairdresser. Mind you old Brian never had his own Airbus A310 to do the job in style.
The Hair is also the most anal and micro-managing PM in Canadian history. At least Mackenzie-King got good advice from séances with his mother. And his dog helped too.
But the one to get the benefit of this premature election is Trudeau the Younger. While a better looking but shallower version of his father, Justin has been busy campaigning for the past two years. With occasional appearances back in Ottawa, Justin has been busy doing selfies with Canadians from coast to coast to coast. Nobody has a clue what Justin would or would not do as Prime Minister but he hopes to surprise people during the election by talking in continuous platitudes.
Somebody must have told Justin that people vote for the leader who annoys them the least. And what has Justin ever done to you?
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Copyright 2014 © Peter Lowry
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