enough. I don't care how phase iv of the softwood lumber dispute differed from the phases that came before. I don't care whether signing the Treaty of Versaille or the 1923 Halibut treaty with the US was our first act an an "independent" country. I don't care if we're considered a middle power, primary power... hell, we could be a pterodactyl power for all I care. I'm really frustrated by the extent to which we debate the minutiae of everything to the extent that it acts as a very effective decoy from getting anything done.

Take Lloyd Axworthy. I understand perfectly well that he was a human being not a saint, and it's true, he wasn't even THAT revolutionary, except for one thing: he was a guy who actually insisted on GETTING SOMETHING DONE. Maybe caring about people's rights and security is something we've done in Canada for quite some time, but we've been pretty short in the whole doing something to improve the situation end of things. But when Axworthy stood up and actually spoke loudly enough to make people listen and ACT ON IT, he gets accused of pulpit diplomacy. Yes, it's true, his policy didn't harp on the fact that in order to really put our money where our mouths are, well, we'd actually need some money to start with. No, instead, in an era of budget slashing HE KEPT TRYING TO DO THINGS ANYWAYS! That's right, the guy actually dared to try to make do with the resources at hand, and so he gets accused of pinchpenny diplomacy. These critics make me want to vomit. So what if someone's not perfect, why don't you shut up and try to DO something instead???

It's like the story about Canadian lobsters, how you don't have to bother putting those elastic bands around their claws to keep them from climbing out of the tank, because if any one Canadian lobster gets close enough to the top, all the others will drag him back down.

And just in case anyone's sitting around desperately waiting for my commentary on this whole debacle that is Gomery and our federal government, this is for you. Do I want an election now? Hell no. Get back to work you lazy parliamentarians, and spend your time debating something with slightly broader applications than your own worthiness. Do I want an election 30 day after the Gomery bru-ha-ha ends? Still hell no. Why? Because I'd have to choose between a giant douche and a turd sandwich (see Southpark) and I think this country deserves better than either. I actually believe Canada is a pretty special place with a pretty important role to play in the world, but our low national self-esteem levels sure do show up in our choice of the assholes we let shove their hands inside our nation and start yanking it around.

More local politics? But no one has even made it this far down the page... Fine, there is one more election looming I suppose. The problem here is that Gordon Campbell is literally the devil (no, he really is evil, we can e-mail debate this if you like, but I'm right) but I don't think this province is going to muster up even two brain cells to rub together and think about this election critically. So, sucking at the teat of Izzy Asper, I believe this province will re-elect GCam. Why? I don't know, maybe they actually like street people more than I thought and want to try to double their population in under four years again. The NDP seem to think this too, as evidenced by their own choice of leader. So I've given up. All I really care about is the electoral reform referendum. If you want reasons to support it, let me know. It is something this province and even this country need BADLY. Maybe I'll get around to doing a post on electoral reform soon. But my problem is thus: the candidate in my riding from my chosen party does not support electoral reform, which, as I've said, is all I really care about in this election, so I don't know if I can bring myself to vote for him.