Someday we might have a Super Monday
The wheels of change turn very, very slowly when it comes to anything involving political systems. Bear witness, we still have a monarch. But more important, we might someday have a Super Monday. There’s change in the rare air around the Parliament Hill.
It seems that a bill has reached the point where Royal Assent (which does not involve a monarch, apparently) will soon be given, creating a predictable date for federal elections. Not as fixed as our neighbours to the south, but close enough for Canadian horseshoes. It received passage in the Senate (cold sober second though department) and the substitute monarch might sign, seal and deliver it real soon now. I’m impressed; PEI is also ready to go with this system, which means that the two most important elements of Canadian politics will be onside.
If you wonder whether a fixed date might require analysis, that’s been taken care of. I found an article in an old copy of Electoral Insight magazine that will give you more detail than you never knew you needed. Meanwhile, PEI is in full election fever, and there are only twenty-six days and nights of hyperbole, mudslinging and empty promise-making before we will know if Islanders hold a grudge for more than an afternoon.
There. Enough election fever for one day. On other fronts, Dave Thomas was interviewed on The Hour this evening, giving up the origins of the top comedy act of my youth; Bob (hoser) and Doug (hoser) MacKenzie. How’s it goin’, eh?
