O (Conservative?) Canada

Canadians are going to the polls today for the second time in 18 months, and for the first time since 1993 with Conservative candidates leading in the polls. "The era of Liberal arrogance is ending," said local candidate Michael Smith at a campaign stop in Winnipeg on Sunday the 22nd. He and other Conservative candidates are heartened by recent polls showing a steady 7 to 12 percent lead for their party over the incumbent Liberal party leaders.
Conservative party leader Stephen Harper is running on a platform featuring lower taxes, less autonomy for the federal government, tougher measures against crime, lower health care waiting times and, above all, a cleanup of government. The current government, led by Liberal party president Paul Martin, was brought down in November after an inquiry found that Liberals in the province of Quebec took kickbacks in exchange for government contracts.
Harper also wants to repair Canada's often tenuous relationship with Washington. Martin has accused Harper of taking his agenda from "extremist U.S. conservative movements," but his rhetoric appears to be falling on deaf ears, as the world is expected to wake up tomorrow to a new, Conservative government of Canada mandated by the Canadian people.
Almost as important as the election itself, of course, is the opinion of the American filmmaker Michael Moore, who has adopted Canada as his homeland in an effort to escape "Jesusland," as he derisively refers to the majority-conservative U.S. In a letter to Canadians posted on his website, he said, "Oh, Canada -- you're not really going to elect a Conservative majority on Monday, are you? That's a joke, right? I know you have a great sense of humor, and certainly a well-developed sense of irony, but this is no longer funny." He further demostrated his contempt for democracy and his lack of understanding of the definition of "imperialism" by calling the possibility of free Canadians popularly electing a conservative government "helping George Bush by turning Canada into his latest conquest." It will be interesting to see what his next adopted homeland will be should Canadians do the right thing and oust the corrupt Liberal government currently in place.

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2006-01-22T204843Z_01_N19193346_RTRUKOC_0_US-POLITICS.xml&rpc=22

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/060121/1/3y2rn.html

http://www.michaelmoore.com/