Canadian Politics

I don't know much about Canadian politics, but it's very interesting to learn their system and see the implications of our differences. Because it's a parliamentary system, they can call elections whenever they have the votes in Parliament, which is what happened on Monday night. While I think I like the stability the American system provides, knowing there are going to be elections every 4 years on the 2nd Tuesday in November, there is one thing I do like. The national elections will be in late January, so each party essentially only has less than two months to campaign. This balances the canidates out in terms of ability to use and generate resources, and it saves us from having to be bombarded by these issues for months on end. It seems to bring the democracy closer to home, since the current Prime Minster can be voted out after less than two years. Of course, if this was a mistake by his opponents, then they'll pay the price in January. My prediction, Paul Martin will still be the Prime Minister, but the margin in Parliament will be even slimmer. (This picture shows Paul Martin's biggest challenger, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper zeroing in on his target).