http://www.canadiandimension.com/alert
If you are a Canadian, you'll be aware of this situation; if not, I wouldn't be surprised if you haven't heard much at all about it.
The Conservative Canadian PM Stephen Harper, it seems, has lost approval, primarily over his handling of the economy. (He lost approval with me when I heard he wants to keep Canadians in Afghanistan as long as possible - I believe they are due to return by 2011, and Harper is pushing to stay with ISAF right the way up to the deadline; popular opinion wants out sooner.)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7764071.stm
Now you can tell I am not as well informed about Canadian politics as maybe I should be. However, I can spot a conservative a mile off. Harper was due to face a vote of confidence on Dec 8 (yesterday), which he was certain to lose and therefore lose power.
Instead, he closed Parliament until January. What a principled, honourable conservative.
Thankfully, the Canadian Liberals and other progressive parties are apparently 'working behind the scenes' to form a coalition of parties, which would have more seats in Parliament than Harper's minority Conservative government.
Coalitions are, of course, notoriously unstable (memories of learning about 1920s German party politics in my GCSE History class are flooding back). People disagree. Bicker. The coalition is often short-lived.
Which is why these parties have to make it work. I've heard small pieces of information on the Canadian Conservatives, such as their pushing to build pipelines across natives' territory, or their record on deporting US war resistors - they sound more like US conservatives than EU-zone conservatives (i.e. more to the right).
They don't sound like a good party to be left in power, which is all the more motivation for what I hope will be a successful takeover.
Canadians, the world is watching. And the world wants a coalition.
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