It's easy to ignore Canada. For that matter, Anericans find it easy to ignore the whole world.
But we ignore Canada at our peril. After all, they're our largest trading partner.
Yesterday the Canadians went to the polls, a tale ignored by American media.
The results were striking.
The Conservative Party- led by the robotic Stephen Harper- finally won a majority after five years of minority rule.
What's more striking is that the Liberal Party- long the governing party of Canada- collapsed, and the New Democrats- winning over 100 seats- became the official opposition.
Canada seems to have gone the way of the US- the left going lefter, the right going righter. The other striking result is the failureof the Bloc Quebecois, long a power broker in Parliament even as they pursued independence for French-speaking Canada. The BQ salvaged only four seats, edging nearer to extinction than the Liberals, whose 35 seats does not include that of their leader, Michael Ignatieff.
What makes this all worth noting is SC's odd, if longstanding, tourism relationship with our neighbors to the north. The US' last ambassador to what Voltaire called "a few acres of snow" was, after all, SC power monger David Wilkins.
It will be interesting to see how far to the right the newTory majority will try going with their new mandate.
But we ignore Canada at our peril. After all, they're our largest trading partner.
Yesterday the Canadians went to the polls, a tale ignored by American media.
The results were striking.
The Conservative Party- led by the robotic Stephen Harper- finally won a majority after five years of minority rule.
What's more striking is that the Liberal Party- long the governing party of Canada- collapsed, and the New Democrats- winning over 100 seats- became the official opposition.
Canada seems to have gone the way of the US- the left going lefter, the right going righter. The other striking result is the failureof the Bloc Quebecois, long a power broker in Parliament even as they pursued independence for French-speaking Canada. The BQ salvaged only four seats, edging nearer to extinction than the Liberals, whose 35 seats does not include that of their leader, Michael Ignatieff.
What makes this all worth noting is SC's odd, if longstanding, tourism relationship with our neighbors to the north. The US' last ambassador to what Voltaire called "a few acres of snow" was, after all, SC power monger David Wilkins.
It will be interesting to see how far to the right the newTory majority will try going with their new mandate.
I saw Rene Levesque, the former Parti Quebecois leader, speak at a university-sponsored event some 25 years ago. Very interesting.
ReplyDeleteThings certainly have changed, though. Seems hard to believe that it was only in 1995 that Quebec voters came with 1 percentage point of approving an independence referendum.
After yesterday’s results, the Bloc Quebecois no longer even qualifies for party status.