Power Envy

Election, schmelection.

No, I'm not talking about the one South of 49. We've known this day was coming for what, 200 years? Some people (*cough* Hillary *cough*) have been preparing for it for more than 50 of those years, and more power to her. Others are Johnny-(*cough* Edwards *cough*)-Come-Latelies, and I will resist making several obvious snide remarks. (Setting aside the truly hurtful parts of the situation, and they are legion and the hurt goes deep, can I just ask this: was he not paying attention during the whole Gary Hart/Donna Rice thing?)

No, Prime Minister Harper is trying to whip up some election fever on this side of the border. People of the non-journalistic variety up here seem to be more interested in the positive energy surrounding the Democratic National Convention than in seriously considering elections up here, and Harper isn't having any of it. So he's rattling sabres by ordering around the Governor General--this week he kept her from attending the Paralympics in Beijing on the pretext that she might need to dissolve the government and call an election.

Andrew Coyne, a Macleans politico, in his column this week reminds us all that the Governor General has a some discretion when the Prime Minister says the government is dysfunctional.

My theory about the reason for the sabre-rattling is that Harper knows people here are interested in the U.S. Presidential election and he wants some of that attention. But that's my knee-jerk response to his public persona. The man just rubs me the wrong way.

My husband's theory, which is based in something resembling fact and includes actual information, is that his advisors have said that the economy is going for a poop and in another year, Harper might lose an election.

And I say that losing an election now or a year from now might not be the worst thing for Harper. The campaign to permanently label the opposition leader, Stephane Dion, a buffoon has succeeded beyond anyone's wildest expectations. It's unlikely that Dion as Prime Minister would be able to weather a roller-coaster economy and ongoing casualties in Afghanistan--not so much because he would handle them worse than Harper has, but because nobody would support whatever it was he wanted to do because "everybody knows" he's a buffoon.

Thus, the government would fall quickly and there would be another election, and Harper might just get his majority government, which would be scary. Sort of like a President who doesn't know how to handle natural disasters because none of his friends "believe in" science.

In any case, regardless of Harper's reasons, and regardless of the outcome of an election on either side of the border this fall, leaders in this hemisphere had better be steady, principled, and smart in the coming years. They have full plates, both at home and abroad.

So let's all remember that elections don't signal the end of our responsibility. The people we elect will be acting on our behalf, and we need to hold them accountable for their actions. That's where I hope, and believe, true CHANGE CAN occur. Yes, it CAN, because yes WE CAN.