The Winter Up There Must Give People Brain Freeze

[Mongrel]

Back on Ford again, I really hope someone accepts this Craigslist Ad: http://toronto.en.craigslist.ca/tor/tlg/4391257190.html

[Mongrel]

Given that the first mayoral debates have come and gone and no one so much as put Ford off message, people are concerned that the array of filing cabinets we have posing as alternate mayoral candidates might not get the job done. Taking matters into their own hands, a gang of local citizens have been putting up satirical election posters:

[Cthulhu-chan]

Tomkins has my vote. He's a man of action.

[Mongrel]

François, you must be shaking your head at the provincial election.

Seriously, the roller coaster of stupid left my astonishment behind about six drops ago. Might as well roll the dice on who'll win... for all you know now, even Legault'll get it.

The parade of hilarious racists (Janette Bertrand's imaginary pool, lol) is getting sort of embarrassing though.

And oh good God, only a pack of ravening unchained leftists could have conceived of Québec Solidare's nightmarish structure. It's sort of cute, you know.

[François]

Yeah, it's... quite the parade. I don't even follow all the details anymore, it's too depressing. On the Liberal side I would have a hard time trusting anyone who was there while Charest ran the place, but even by those standards Couillard comes across as slimy. Marois keeps dangling separation like a carrot on a rope in front of the hardcore while trying really hard to convince everyone else it's not on the agenda anytime soon; her actual implementation is vile and loses even me, and her party as a whole is supporting this quarter-baked piece of crap that the Charte is like it was a good idea. And Legault... I used to like him while he was in the PQ (despite how his stint at the helm of the Ministère de l'Éducation didn't seem to improve much of anything) but the CAQ's platform is too far right for my tastes, a state of affairs compounded by their recycling of the ADQ remnants.

As for Québec Solidaire, nightmarish structure or not, they've got the one platform I can read all the way through without feeling like weeping and/or vomiting, and they're still separatists so I can stand to vote for them at all. In the end I'm just glad that they exist, as flawed as they may be.

I guess it's a weird sort of comfort to know that a majority government is probably out of the question. Or, well, that's what I hope anyway.

[Mongrel]

If I lived there, I'm not sure I wouldn't vote Solidare. They're sort of adorable in their nerdy-kid-with-a-brand-new-shirt naivete, but would probably do about as well in government as Bob Rae did over here on his first time. But they don't seem so bad when you look at the other three parties... :mikey:

[François]

Liberals are in the lead. This province needs a new motto.

the horror

the horror

[Mongrel]

Haven't they polled a clear lead for most of a week now?

Look at it this way. Maybe the PQ will finally go full phoenix, dropping separatism (or saying they're "suspending" any such plan to save face) and just becoming a more generic nationalist-slanted Quebec-based party. Like Alberta's Wildrose party (okay, not so stupidly right-wing as Wildrose), BC's Social Credit, or the Saskatchewan party.

Because honestly, that's their best hope for survival and your best chance of actually having a real alternative to the Liberals.

They should have done that back during the time Charest was in power, but he made himself so hated that a dead dog could have beaten them senseless. With Marois in charge all they managed was a minority.

Actually the funniest thing about this was I remember that just about every editorial I read before the election was predicting a PQ majority. Har har.

[Mongrel]

Welp.

[François]

Aaaaand the worst possible option comes to pass, overwhelmingly. There is not enough atmosphere on this planet to maintain the sigh my soul yearns to emit.

Haven't they polled a clear lead for most of a week now?

I don't follow polls much but from what little I heard the CAQ had at least a shot. Not that I would have wanted them to win either but at least they don't have a long and recent history of laziness and... let's say "questionably ethical behavior".

Look at it this way. Maybe the PQ will finally go full phoenix, dropping separatism (or saying they're "suspending" any such plan to save face) and just becoming a more generic nationalist-slanted Quebec-based party. Like Alberta's Wildrose party (okay, not so stupidly right-wing as Wildrose), BC's Social Credit, or the Saskatchewan party.

Because honestly, that's their best hope for survival and your best chance of actually having a real alternative to the Liberals.

That would be its death. Pretending to want separation is the only thing holding these stooges together and claiming to be a center-left socio-democratic party doesn't mean a hell of a lot in this province. The latter of which remains a strange sort of comfort still.

[Büge]

Aaaaand the worst possible option comes to pass, overwhelmingly. There is not enough atmosphere on this planet to maintain the sigh my soul yearns to emit.

What are you talking about? This is great news, isn't it? It means the sovereignty movement has been kneecapped.

[Mongrel]

Uhhh, Frank has always been a separatist.

[Blossom]

That doesn't make it not great news.

[Mongrel]

Yeah, but if Buge did know that then it makes his post incredibly sarcastic.

I am pretty sure Buge did not know/remember this.

[François]

Yeah great fucking news we're stuck with the country that elected Harper twice. Can't blame you for wanting company in that handbasket.

OH WAIT i totally can because that is the douchiest move

And I've still never been by Canadians given a concrete non-asshole reason for not wanting us to jump ship. Not one that went much further than "BUT AD MARI USQUE AD MARE ;( ;( ;(" anyway.

[Blossom]

How about "the secessionist party and its members, like secessionists everywhere, are overtly and unapologetically racist", or "any secession by definition robs those citizens of Quebec who voted against it of their nationality", or the whole Cree thing? How about that the entire secessionist movement is rooted in ethnic supremacism and xenophobia? Are these not good enough reasons?

[Brantly B.]

So, what, the ROC is bravely shouldering the burden of keeping racists in their population so that they don't get TOO racist?

[Blossom]

Better than letting them pass the Muzzies Fuck Off Act.

[Mongrel]

How about it's economically suicidal, seems archaic and silly in a globalized world, won't work out the way most Quebecer separatists plan (due to the northern Cree and other nationalist groups with nominal claim on vast amounts of Quebec territory who will in turn secede to remain within Canada) mostly won't change the way you actually live when you're a member of a western nation rather than an oppressed minority of some dictatariat, and won't improve your own dismal political leadership (or hey, ask South Sudan how separation worked out for them).

What I'm getting at is, whatever problem you think separation will solve, will not in fact be solved by separation. On top of that it will probably create a great deal of problems and hardships, at least in the short and mid term, problems and hardships which it is largely unnecessary to suffer.

But really I'm long since past caring if some Quebecers want to separate. You could probably find separatists in just about any subdivision of a federal country. I'm sure there are Westphalians and Welshmen and Burgundians longing for the old feudal days. Whatever.

As for Harper, blame that on an electoral system that lets people win with 35% of the vote.

[Blossom]

mostly won't change the way you actually live when you're a member of a western nation rather than an oppressed minority of some dictatariat

Unless you happen to be Muslim or such. Then you get to stop being a member of a western nation and have the fun of becoming one of those oppressed minorities. Marois's Charter is just what they thought they pull off without alienating the Anglophones, imagine what gets passed when that's not an issue anymore.