The Election and other pieces of Trivia

So the election is only 16 day away from ending. We should all be thankful for small and relatively short spanned miracles.

I was watching Elizabeth May interviewed by Peter Mansbridge on CBC Newsworld, the show was her being interviewed by Peter and then given questions from ordinary Canadians about various parts and issues of the Green Party's platform. On the whole I thought she defended and articulated the Green's policies with clarity and succinctness. There was very almost no bafflegaff or the usual doublespeak that seems to be part and parcel of all elections. She defended the need to strengthen Canada's military while it remains in Afghanistan, although I thought the renaming the Department of Defense into the "Department of Peace" will not do much to change the image of Greens as being a flighty bunch of ex-hippie, granola eating tree huggers that would give daisies instead of weapons.

She talked about the Athabasca Oil Sands project and emphasized the need to set a moratorium on future development in the present. Her point was why the rush to develop all of it at once, since the a slower development would enhance technological advances so that it can become carbon neutral. She also said the tailing ponds can be seen from space. I was curious so I fired up Google Earth and sure enough from a distance of 742 km, which is higher then the typical low earth orbit, you can see them.

She was asked about the reason for running in Central Nova, when she should go to the spiritual home of the Green's, British Columbia. She said she was a Nova Scotian and still had a lot of family in the area. Which makes sense, plus she feels Peter MacKay is vulnerable.

I thought she did a good job of explaining the carbon tax and its impact on Canadians and how it is offset with lowering personal and payroll tax for both employees and employers. As well, there is incentive for companies to lower the carbon footprint, which is equally important.

Near the end, there was a discussion of her goals for the election, what is she hoping for that night. She said, to be personally elected and to have 12 Greens elected to the House, which would give the party Official Recognition. She was honest and said it was a challenge and she is not expecting to form the next government. i personally think the realistic goal is 3-4; listen, any Greens would be a major breakthrough.

What was also interesting was her reference to the more conservative nature of the Green Party, almost pushing away from the idea it's part of the Centre-Left of the Canadian Political Spectrum, she felt her party would be the natural home of former Progressive Conservatives and other right of centre supporters who are getting turned off by Stephen Harper, which in a way justifies my comment on the Teals, the conservative environmentalist.

Since she is not going to be the next PM, she was asked who she would support as the leader of Canada, immediately she said 'not Stephen Harper'. She listed a number of reasons, but when pressed again of the remaining two, she said the only other candidate would be Stéphane Dion. Just a comment on that, she's not reading the polls since if anything the support for the Liberal Party is crumbling and the likely leader of the Opposition will probably be Jack Layton.

Which leads me to:

Canadian Political Joke of the Day

What's the difference between Elizabeth May and the Liberal Party of Canada?

Elizabeth supports Stéphane Dion.

Thank you, I'm here all week, please try the buffet.