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May. 19th, 2005
Incoherency, Day 2
May. 19th, 2005 05:19 pm( Still more Alias talk, which include spoilers for 4x21. )
Through this incoherency, I'm still managing to live life and care about other things, if you can imagine. In particular, Canadian politics.
The House of Commons (that's like the Canadian version of Congress, for you Americans) is having a seriously important vote tonight. They're voting on the budget, and then voting on a budget amendment. The amendment vote is doubling as a vote of confidence. If it passes, the Liberal minority government remains in power. If it doesn't, the Prime Minister is forced to ask the Governor-General to dissolve Parliament and he must call a new election. (Although, Her Majesty is currently IN CANADA. She should so be the one the dissolve it, since the Governor-General is only Her Majesty's representative, but I don't think it's on her schedule and I think she's out west, not in Ottawa right now.)
Anyways, the quirky thing about Canadian politics is this whole minority government thing. It means that, in our House of Commons, one party has more seats than any other party. In the current Parliament session, that party is the Liberal party. However, they do not have enough seats to outnumber all the other parties. This is a minority government, because they form the government, but are in the minority in the House of Commons.
So the New Democratic Party (NDP -- and not all that new, by the way) has sided with the Liberals. The Conservative Party of Canada (run by a bastard by the name of Stephen Harper) has teamed up with the BLOC QUEBECOIS (a federal party dedicated to separating Quebec from Canada that ONLY runs in Quebec, and, mathematically, can NEVER form government!) to try to shoot down the budget/budget amendment.
The budget is expected to pass. The amendment is iffy. It could go either way. The Liberals and the NDP have one seat less than the Bloc and the Conservatives, but there are three independents. If two of them vote with the Liberals and one votes with the Conservatives (one has already said she's voting Liberal. Actually, there's a GREAT quote... Carolyn Parrish may have an ovarian cyst, and she said: "Come hell or high water, there's no frigging way I'm going to let one ovary bring the government down." Honest. Here's the link!) then the Speaker of the House (a Liberal) casts the deciding vote.
If the amendment doesn't pass, it's linked to a confidence vote, and that would mean that the Prime Minister has to ask for Parliament to be dissolved. Now, if Parliament must be dissolved, since the Queen is IN THE COUNTRY, she should be the one to be asked and the one to dissolve it. But I hardly think she's made an entry in her dayplanner that says "Stop by that quaint little town of Ottawa to dissolve Parliament." But at the same time, SHE MUST BE ASKED and if they ask that poor excuse for a Governor-General (Adrienne Clarkson. I hate her.), I WILL BE FURIOUS.
Ahem.
If it doesn't pass, an election is called, and we'll vote in like, five weeks. Which, on the one hand, I'll get to work as a Deputy Returning Officer again, probably, but it would likely be a minority CONSERVATIVE government. Conservatives? Are evil. So we want a minority Liberal government to stick around a while.
And where will I be when the vote takes place?
SITTING IN A CLASSROOM. I'm going to leave for class in about 15 minutes. But yay, I should manage to reload cbc.ca enough to figure it out.
Chuck Cadman is the Independent MP we don't know about. He may or may not vote with the Liberals. Gah, stress!
Okay, must get ready. Have company coming over after class, too. :)
Through this incoherency, I'm still managing to live life and care about other things, if you can imagine. In particular, Canadian politics.
The House of Commons (that's like the Canadian version of Congress, for you Americans) is having a seriously important vote tonight. They're voting on the budget, and then voting on a budget amendment. The amendment vote is doubling as a vote of confidence. If it passes, the Liberal minority government remains in power. If it doesn't, the Prime Minister is forced to ask the Governor-General to dissolve Parliament and he must call a new election. (Although, Her Majesty is currently IN CANADA. She should so be the one the dissolve it, since the Governor-General is only Her Majesty's representative, but I don't think it's on her schedule and I think she's out west, not in Ottawa right now.)
Anyways, the quirky thing about Canadian politics is this whole minority government thing. It means that, in our House of Commons, one party has more seats than any other party. In the current Parliament session, that party is the Liberal party. However, they do not have enough seats to outnumber all the other parties. This is a minority government, because they form the government, but are in the minority in the House of Commons.
So the New Democratic Party (NDP -- and not all that new, by the way) has sided with the Liberals. The Conservative Party of Canada (run by a bastard by the name of Stephen Harper) has teamed up with the BLOC QUEBECOIS (a federal party dedicated to separating Quebec from Canada that ONLY runs in Quebec, and, mathematically, can NEVER form government!) to try to shoot down the budget/budget amendment.
The budget is expected to pass. The amendment is iffy. It could go either way. The Liberals and the NDP have one seat less than the Bloc and the Conservatives, but there are three independents. If two of them vote with the Liberals and one votes with the Conservatives (one has already said she's voting Liberal. Actually, there's a GREAT quote... Carolyn Parrish may have an ovarian cyst, and she said: "Come hell or high water, there's no frigging way I'm going to let one ovary bring the government down." Honest. Here's the link!) then the Speaker of the House (a Liberal) casts the deciding vote.
If the amendment doesn't pass, it's linked to a confidence vote, and that would mean that the Prime Minister has to ask for Parliament to be dissolved. Now, if Parliament must be dissolved, since the Queen is IN THE COUNTRY, she should be the one to be asked and the one to dissolve it. But I hardly think she's made an entry in her dayplanner that says "Stop by that quaint little town of Ottawa to dissolve Parliament." But at the same time, SHE MUST BE ASKED and if they ask that poor excuse for a Governor-General (Adrienne Clarkson. I hate her.), I WILL BE FURIOUS.
Ahem.
If it doesn't pass, an election is called, and we'll vote in like, five weeks. Which, on the one hand, I'll get to work as a Deputy Returning Officer again, probably, but it would likely be a minority CONSERVATIVE government. Conservatives? Are evil. So we want a minority Liberal government to stick around a while.
And where will I be when the vote takes place?
SITTING IN A CLASSROOM. I'm going to leave for class in about 15 minutes. But yay, I should manage to reload cbc.ca enough to figure it out.
Chuck Cadman is the Independent MP we don't know about. He may or may not vote with the Liberals. Gah, stress!
Okay, must get ready. Have company coming over after class, too. :)