Pie Palace

Fixed election dates stop leaders from trying to manipulate the calendar…
Unless we’re defeated or prevented from governing, we want to keep moving forward to make this minority parliament work over the next 3½ years.

Stephen Harper uttered those words less than two years ago. But times have changed. The opposition parties haven’t brought the government down – they’ve cooperatively supported the government on confidence motions. Most importantly, we’re heading into a recession, and voters tend to punish the party in power when a recession hits.

When Steve-O says he is “going to have to make a judgement in the next little while as to whether or not this Parliament can function productively,” he wants you to forget that the opposition parties have tacitly supported his government for the last two years. He’s hoping that you won’t remember that Parliament hasn’t even been sitting for the past few months.

When an election is called later this week, it’s going to be for all the wrong reasons: self-interested politicians making a power grab before the economic shit hits the unemployment fan. We’re going to foot the bill for Steve’s (and Stéphane’s, and Gilles’) power games. At the end of it, we’re going to see a House that looks very similar to our current Parliament (hopefully with a few more Green MPs).

So it’s finally happened. The Green Party has a federal MP. It didn’t happen through the blood, sweat, and tears of an election, but through a sitting MP switching his affiliation. More of a whimper than a bang.

Blair Wilson was elected as a Liberal in the BC riding of West Vancouver – Sunshine Coast – Sea to Sky Country. He left the Liberal Party under allegations of election spending irregularities (of which he was cleared by Elections Canada), but tried to rejoin as recently as last month.

How does this new, high profile Green effect the Party? His status as a sitting MP removes the most recent excuse for the television stations barring the Green Party leader from the televised national debates. The significance of that can’t be overestimated – it gives us credibility, and the ability to reach a huge audience. Of course, the TV stations could simply raise another barrier, as they’ve done when we met their requirements in the past.

Sadly, Mr. Wilson probably won’t get a chance to represent the Party in the House, since Harper looks to be gunning for an election at the earliest possible date.

Welcome aboard, Brian. We’re happy to have you. Hopefully you’ll have a few more GP pals in the House come this Fall. And do try to get re-elected.