is set for October 19!
Which gives the Parties, Candidates, and Public
damned little time to prepare, to discuss, to learn
and to decide how to approach the election.

And THEN, the Green candidate has already
been excluded from the organized debates!

I tell ya, our Mr. Harper has learned a great deal from
his hero and master, George W Bush.

This old world may look very different
before the year is over.
Dang.
Old Hippies to the front!

I'm off to write a letter or two.
Too late to change the date,
but the Green Party must not be excluded.
I guess Ron Paul can sympathize, eh?

How come they are having an election on such short notice? An dwhy is the green candidate excluded?

Is it because the Canadian system is parliamentary? I wish WE could call for elections when we've lost our trust in the ruling party!

I wish we could, too.
No, the law states the earliest date on which an election may be called.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a Bush clone,
waited till the date was upon us,
then HE called the election.
He's using the current state of fear and crisis
to campaign for "stability",
ie, no change in leadership just now.

His stated reason for this shotgun election
is that he has a minority government
and "Parliament is dysfunctional",
meaning of course that whilst George
gets exactly what he wants from Congress,
Parliament sometimes fails to rubber-stamp Harper's desires.
Not that I can see why it matters;
Parliament passed a resolution on June 03
to receive and protect Americans refusing to participate
in the illegal terroristic invasion of Iraq,
yet Harper is deporting them anyway.
He appears to already be exercising dictatorial power.
And he strongly supports the war in Iraq,
he's accelerating the War on Drugs,
our prisons are terribly overcrowded,
our police are increasingly becoming a Secret Police,
enforcing, not the law, but the policies of the Federal government.

We're in trouble!
And we don't have many days to try to choose and elect an alternate.

The networks announced today that
due to overwhelming public outcry
the Green Party will be allowed to participate in the debates.
Cool!

This is the letter I have sent to each candidate
(well, not to Harper, as he has already made his Bush-like position clear and I wouldn't believe his promises now):

Dear -----;

I am prepared to support you in the upcoming election.
I know there are lots of issues,
but the urgent and most important to me
and the ones that will determine my vote are these:

1- welcome the US war resistors, per the June 03 Parliament resolution

2- legalize marijuana, per Senate recommendation and Supreme Court ruling.

The candidate who will do these two things
can be trusted to do everything else that really matters.

If you do these things I will be a loyal and active supporter of your administration.

Thank you for listening, and good luck.

Sincerely,

Shas

Please pray for us, as we do for the US elections.

Cool, indeed! You got the prayers and Blundervibes, always!

Sending my vibes towards Canada for a succesfull election. Don't know too much about your politics, but the few things you said, e.g. banning the green party, sending back the US war resistors, make me feel a change is also necessary for Canada.

Thanks, Ceashel and Brigette.

Oh, yes, Canada needs a change.
For reasons I cannot fathom
Canada is walking down the recent US path,
but copying only the worst
rather than the best of the American way.

The world is certainly a strange place at times.