Time Immortal

It’s all over but leadership race(s).

The final total gave the Conservative Party of Canada a tough-nut-to-crack minority with 143 seats, nearly double what the Liberal Party of Canada managed to win (only a mere 77 seats). Not quite the result my wife and I were hoping for, but not bad either. If nothing else, it would seem to be a vote of confidence on the part of the Canadian people — confidence in the Conservative Party’s plan for the country, in the direction they’ve led it in, and in the man at the helm. That’s the lowest level of popular support that the Liberals have had since…uhm…the formation of Canada, actually. That’s not something that Stephane Dion can survive, I would suspect…although it would seem that Dion expects to stay on as party leader.

I have to admit: I’m kind of hoping that Dion stays on in the role, or at least attempts to. Such a move would fracture the Liberals, probably irreparably. But I really can’t see him surviving long in the post: his party just lost 26 seats, mostly to Jack Layton’s NDP, and I’m pretty sure that the knives are being sharpened. There will be a leadership race soon enough, and the Liberals will put someone more…well…competent at the helm. I hate to frame it in such terms, but there it is: Stephane Dion was not an effective leader for his party, and it has cost them dearly. It could well be time for Michael Ignatieff to finally take over the party leadership. Then again, Justin Trudeau just got himself elected, and I could see Pierre’s boy throwing his name in the hat in a leadership race. Jay Currie has his money on Bob Rae.

Please to cringe now, good Reader.

Of course, the Liberal coffers are basically empty at the moment. This puts a very interesting spin on things, both in terms of the future prospects of the party itself, and on the tone that the Harper minority will set when Parliament resumes. It was the case, with this last election, that the Liberals weren’t well-equipped financially to fight an election. They’re in an even worse position now, and so will have to think very carefully about undertaking any voting effort which would see the Conservative government defeated on a confidence motion. The last thing they can afford is another election, no matter how badly they might want another shot at power.

I very much doubt they even have the money to hold a leadership race at present. That presents its own problems, given that Dion simply cannot stay on as leader if the party is to survive and recover. So what to do? We saw the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada die a couple of elections ago — could we be seeing the end of the Liberals as well?

That’s certainly one possibility — one hope, I might even say. As far as this election goes, the bleak future of the Liberals is one of the more interesting outcomes. As Jay Currie notes, they’ve basically been reduced to being the Toronto Party — that’s never a good sign.

There were a few notable upsets, too. Local to Edmonton, Rahim Jaffer lost the Strathcona riding to NDP candidate Linda Duncan, which came as something of a surprise (both CTV and the CBC had called that riding in Jaffer’s favour as of the time I went to bed). The big surprise for me was Garth Turner losing his seat — that was unexpected, but nice to see all the same. Karma’s a bitch.

(More than a few people were happy about Garth’s defeat. I also note that others observed, as I did, that the Elections Canada website went down — hard — yesterday evening.)

I’m not at all impressed with the fact that the NDP made some gains, although I suppose it was inevitable that it would happen. As Grace remarked to me last night, progressive Liberal voters wanting to flee from Green Shift and Dion were a shoe-in for the Dippers. That such people don’t have the best interests of Canada at heart is a side discussion. Still, it’s consoling to remember that Jack Layton’s people are still the fourth-place party in Canada; the Bloc Quebecois picked up more seats than them. I doubt that there will be a leadership race in the NDP as a result of this election…but one can always hope, can’t one?

Now, I mentioned that the stronger Conservative majority was a vote of confidence in the Conservative Party’s leadership and performance thus far, and I definitely stand by that opinion. At the same time, though, it should be noted that it was also a vote in favour of the status quo. It’s not likely that anything will change in the wake of the latest Harper victory, at least not in terms of shoring up the strength of the human right to freedom of expression. Section 13 of the CHRA will likely remain “on the books,” although there is some hope that the Young Offenders Act will be made more harsh.

Now, the only question that remains is how long this latest government will stand. A year? Two years? Longer? It would be strange to think that any minority government would survive the full legal duration of a term in office, but I suppose it’s possible. With the Liberals all but crippled — financially and at a leadership level — the Conservatives will have what amounts to an effective majority, though not an actual numeric one. That’s a condition that is not likely to clear in any expedient manner, either. I’m thinking it’ll be at least 30 months until the next election, if not 36.

Update: Welcome, Steynians!

The Conservatives don’t seem to be answering Lloyd Robertson’s questions…not directly, at any rate.

Personally, I’m of the mind that if one is a “guest of the state,” one leaves one’s right to vote at the door. But in Canada, inmates still get to cast a vote in national elections, unfortunately. And here’s the kicker: Canadian inmates constitute a massive, Liberal-supporting voting bloc.

CTV’s Robert Fife discusses a voting block that the Liberals have in their pockets. Inmates in federal prisons are not just withholding their votes from the Conservatives, but strategically pooling their votes for Stephane Dion and the Liberals.

…

Who’s tough on crime? I mean, how can the Liberals have any credibility on crime when the criminals want them to win?

Of course, the Liberal Party of Canada didn’t really have much credibility on crime to begin with. Kateland recalls what Dion said during a debate with Harper, and it’s reflective of his party’s generally lenient attitude toward crime.

During the leadership debate Stephane Dion accused Stephen Harper of not trusting justices to judge. Canada.com carries this exchange from the debate:

On Harper’s proposal to toughen sentences for teenagers, Dion said, “I trust judges and you don’t. This is the difference. It’s not that you’re tougher on crime it’s that you want to deprive judges to judge and you want politicians to decide things like for instance to send a child, 14-years-old, away for life.

I cannot speak for Stephen Harper but I can state vociferously for myself that I do not trust the criminal court justices to not only judge, but pass judgment and sentence which are proportional to gravity of the crime committed.

In her article, she’s talking specifically about the same thing I linked to earlier — the disgustingly lenient sentence given to a group of guys who used a cell phone to record and share a video of their gang-rape of a young girl. Certainly, on that basis, there’s a strong reason to completely distrust the judgement of Canadian “justices.” Were it the only example, it might be unreasonable to assume as much. But it’s not the only example, only the latest example.

Time and again, Canadian judges hand out pitifully small sentences to people who have committed the most depraved sort of crimes. Slaps on the wrist are handed down for all manner of evils, from rape to murder, from theft to deadly negligence and inebriation behind the wheel of a car. A sentence of 21 months for rape is not a punishment, and it’s not justice: it’s a joke. That boy shouldn’t even be in possession of his own genitals anymore, nor should any of his accomplices.

The age of the perpetrator doesn’t really matter — what matters is what was done. And there’s no reason to go easy on anyone. Stephane Dion might lament the fact that a Harper government would try and pass legislation that would mandate tougher sentences for Young Offenders, but let’s be realistic: whether you’re 14 or 44, you don’t deserve an easy break if you commit a crime. That’s doubly true of the “big” crimes, like rape or murder.

But not according to Stephane Dion, apparently. Which is in keeping with the general character of his party’s record in office concerning this issue, I suppose — more than not, it’s the fault of past Liberal governments that we have such a piss-poor criminal “justice” system in Canada these days.

So it’s not exactly hard to see why prisoners might tend to be ardent Liberal supporters.

Let’s hope this sticks. Stockwell Day += cool.

Canadian border guards have been told to bar a fanatic church group that was planning to protest the funeral of a man beheaded on a Greyhound bus, reports say.

NDP MP Pat Martin told the Winnipeg Free Press that Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day sent the alert to border guards Thursday.

The church group, described in a British documentary as “the most hated family in America,” told CTV.ca earlier Thursday that it planned to protest at the funeral of 22-year-old Tim Mclean on Saturday.

The Westboro Baptist Church nutters are all kinds of crazy. Heck, their crazy went crazy long ago, and they’re still dealing with the fallout.

To wit:

The daughter of the founder of the Westboro Baptist Church, based in Topeka, [Kansas], told CTV.ca she and several other church members will go to Winnipeg on Saturday to demonstrate against what she described as McLean’s “filthy way of life.” Shirley Phelps-Roper said his life was emblematic of Canada’s moral decay.

“God handed us a gift,” Phelps-Roper said in a phone interview on Thursday.

She said McLean deserved his death by beheading on a Greyhound Bus last week.

“(His death was) supremely unemotional. You got God shaking in rage. There is no emotional component…He was a rebel against God. He was taught to be a rebel by his parents. He came from a rebel country…They brought this wrath upon his head. And it sucks to be him and it sucks to be them,” Phelps-Roper said.

She said his brutal murder was a sign from God.

“You gotta connect the dots, people…from your idols to your filthy way of life,” she said.

“Here’s what I know. He is dead and God does not do that to people that serve in his truth.”

I think I speak for pretty much every Christian when I say: get out and stay out! There is little else I can say about the Westboro crowd without devolving into rage, and so will not comment on their odious practices further.

I’m glad Stockwell Day has taken steps to ensure these malicious people are not allowed into Canada. Now, if we could just do the same for Sharia enthusiasts and Hezbollah/Taliban supporters, we’d be off to a great start.

Update: Damn. Apparently some of ‘em got through That’s okay…we can arrest them for that, can’t we? Ah, well, no harm, no foul — it would appear that even those who got through didn’t have the guts to actually show up and protest.