Who says Canadian politics is boring?

So the coalition of the willing is ready to go.

Well, good for the Liberals and NDP for coming together. But is it good for Canada?

Progressives--the majority of Canadians, if you believe most polls--will dismiss the question: the answer is self-evident. I'm not so sure.

While I recognize that this is a legitimate way to proceed in our parliamentary democracy, I'm just not comfortable with a transfer of power without an election. There is a complete lack of transparency towards the Canadian electorate here. Anyone care to guess what Dion and Layton have cooked up as regards an economic stimulus package?  (Is "economic stimulus package" only a fancy term for "flushing money down the toilet"?)

Do we have the slightest idea what our foreign policy will look like once "Taliban Jack" has had a go at it? Given that Liberal supporters deserted Dion in droves six scant weeks ago, how it is he's suddenly poised to become Prime Minister?

And another thing. To survive, this proposed government will need the support of Gilles Duceppe and the Bloc Quebecois. I like Duceppe as a politician and admire his tenacity. Pity about that traitor thing, though. How much will Dion have to shovel Quebec's way to keep his coalition intact? The CBC article linked above doesn't say but I can speculate in three words: bend over Canada.

Still anxious to escape the devil we know?  The NDP's looking at suing the Tories over taping their private caucus meeting...lost in all the righteous outrage is what that tape uncovers. They've been planning this for a while--since the election, if not before--and so the indignation at Flaherty's economic update was all fake. They would have seized any excuse to spring this. That pisses me off.

And no, I'm not excusing the taping of the meeting, any more than I'd excuse snooping through someone's private belongings in an effort to prove she's cheating on you. But should you discover irrefutable proof that she is, are you supposed to forget all about it because your eyes were where they shouldn't have been? I mean, the ends don't justfy the means and all that, but the means don't obliterate the ends, either.

One thing I will say: from now on, whenever elections happen, we'd be well advised to make damned  sure we elect a majority.