Peter Brady Wants a Time Out

As you recall from yesterday's episode, Peter Brady was elected Prime Minister, but he acted like a jerk. All the other kids banded together and demanded to form the family government. Then everyone had to wait for Carol Brady to get home to referee.

The Prime Minister today asks the Governor General to prorogue Parliament. News outlets nearly uniformly refer to this as a "time out," but whether they mean it in the sports sense or in the family discipline sense is unclear. And it doesn't matter. Either way, it's a time for all involved to cool off and plan some strategy. And Lord knows Canadians deserve politicians who act like adults. Now that there's one in the U.S., waiting in the wings, we're all resting easier.

Even if I liked the Prime Minister, and by now we all know I don't, last night's address to the nation would have irritated me. He spent some four minutes talking in what he must have thought was a calm, rational voice about the sky falling and the world going to hell in a handbasket. He was quietly patronizing--a radical departure from his normal loud and sneering forms of condescension--and continuing to talk about the wrong things.

Oh, the missed opportunity. He could have shown himself to be an adult and a statesman last night. He could have talked about specific economic plans. He could have reassured Canadians that he and his party know the seriousness of job loss, unemployment, hunger, homelessness, and deficits. He could have inspired Canadians to band together to address the country's growing issues.

But he continued to talk ONLY about how TERRIBLE AND AWFUL Bobby, Cindy, Marsha, and Greg are--to say nothing of that awful Jan, who AS WE ALL KNOW has gone on record as wanting to be an only child and THEREFORE THREATENS THE UNITY OF THE FAMILY, WHICH CAN'T BE GOOD FOR CANADA. You know there's no hope for serious action when I break out the ALL CAPS.

I'm making light of this, but it really is a serious issue. What the opposition parties are doing is analogous to impeaching a sitting President of the U.S. in that it is an orderly succession of power in the face of wrongdoing by the chief executive. It's not an action of the same seriousness, though. Harper isn't guilty of offenses as serious as those that can bring on impeachment--breaking the law. Harper seems to be guilty mostly of making decisions in the midst of what seems to be a perplexing, uncharacteristic attack of stupid.

Fortunately, a "time out" is an option here. Canadians will likely then have another election in January. Unfortunately, unless someone else marries into this Brady Bunch, and quickly, Canadians won't have any new choices. No wonder Canadians just want to change the channel.