Quebec Election

The Quebec election has come to a close. I have no clue what that means for me, since I have not been following politics and especially Quebec politics recently. However, looking at the numbers there are some surprising things. The seats were split up by:

Liberal Party – 48

Action Democratique – 41

Parti Quebecois – 36

That is a very drastic change from the last election (2003):

Liberal Party – 76

Parti Quebecois – 45

Action Democratique – 4

But in general, Quebec politics seems to be very swingy, if we look at the one more election back (1998):

Parti Quebecois – 76

Liberal Party – 48

Action Democratique – 1

It is good to see Quebec voting on the left and for me it surprising to see Quebec caring so little about PQ, especially with the recent Liberal scandals and such. The ADQ leader is definitely happy today. Good for him.

Conservative Canada

Since the start of the Canadian election I have tried to avoid talking about politics. I wanted to sit back and watch the can of worms from a distance. Now the lid is gone and the little worms are crawling out and voicing the ideas of a conservative minority government. That is right, if you have lived in a cave for a while, Canada is now lead by the Conservative party. For those not familiar with Canadian politics, the Conservatives are Canada’s least left wing party. That, of course, is not saying much. If you want a comparison, the Canadian Conservatives are well left of the American Democrats.
I do not mind the Conservatives, but their leader, Steven Harper, is a pain. I am also disappointed in Paul Martin’s resignation from leadership of the Liberal party. I will comment more on all my views at a later time.

Canada vs. Russia

Today Russia lost 5 – 0 to Canada in the gold medal match at Junior Hockey World Cup. It is time like these that make me struggle with my identity. On the one hand I am a Russian patriot; on the other hand I enjoy Canada. I decided that I would be sad at the Russian defeat for two key reasons. The main reason is that I am Russian and I need to hold onto my Russian pride. The second reason is that most people will be happy that Canada won, and I want to be a thorn in their side.
Picking between Russia and Canada is one of the hardest choices for me when it comes to allegiance. I mean picking between something like Russia and Ukraine, or Canada and U.S.A is a no brainer. In the resent Gasprom affair between Russia, Ukraine and Europe, I was quick to side with my motherland. I found myself ridiculing a Ukrainian on the radio who spoke for the Ukrainian side of the issue, because his points were absurd. I was also deeply disappointed when the EU did not give Russia or Gasprom any support against the thieving Ukrainian government. Ukraine spoke like we were raising prices unjustly, while we were just trying to bring them to the market standard instead of selling gas for ¼ of its price to those orange revolutionaries.
In the end, hockey is not a big part of my life. From a purely sport view, I have no allegiance to either team. The only thing binding me to the Russian team is national pride. What really matters is that the Finns beat the Americans and kicked them off the podium.

Gomery's First Report

Today, the first report of the Gomery Inquiry was released. The inquiry overseen by Justice Gomery was commissioned to look into the alleged sponsorship scandal. The sponsorship scandal erupted from allegations that the Liberal government under John Chrétien was involved in under-the-table dealing in Quebec. Gomery decided that there is no clear evidence to point to Chrétien’s knowledge of the money transfers; however, Chrétien was found politically responsible for the bigger issue. Gomery found Chrétien responsible for the waste of millions of taxpayer dollars in promoting federalism and the liberal party in Quebec. The current Liberal Prime Minister, Paul Martin, was absolved of any misconduct. The biggest blows of the report came to John Chrétien, Alfonso Gagliano, and Jacques Corriveau. The latter two were given a permanent ban from the Liberal party of Canada.
The commission might not be placing blame on Paul Martin, but the Liberals are in jeopardy as is federalism in general. The scandal has reignited the flames of separation burning in the PQ and Bloc Quebecois. I am afraid the separatist might once again push for an independent Quebec. The inquiry will also put the Liberals (who are already clinging desperately to a minority government) out of power. The Conservatives will most likely win the next election and the Liberal party just has to hope it can cling to as many seats as possible so that they (with the help of the NDP) can tackle down the government.
The minority governments and scandals are making Canadian politics much more exciting and I am looking forward to the next months. Paul Martin is not going to call an election until the second report and if he plays his cards right with the NDP, he will stay in power until April (or later) of next year.
After the conservatives take a minority government I think the atmosphere will become very interesting. There will be a three way split in parliament between the Conservative government, the Liberal and NDP opposition and the Bloc Quebecois. The biggest turn of events will be that the Liberals will be able to hold more voting power as the opposition, since now it will be them and NDP against Conservatives and not the two of them against conservatives and the Bloc.
I will continue to loosely follow the reports in the near future and see where the scandal is taking Canada. I will update more if anything exciting happens.