I leave the country for one minute and this is what happens…

This guy is going to be Prime Minister of Canada?

If being in the US has done anything for my political views, I would say it has allowed me an opportunity to see life on the other side on the fence. Perhaps at this time—more than any other time in my life—I will be able to effectively (if not entirely objectively) look sympathetically at the arguments of both sides of the political fence.

Keeping that in mind, I shouldn’t be too worried about the impending minority government in Canada, right? I mean a Conservative in Canada is purportedly more left-wing than a Democrat in the US, and here I am under the rule of a Republican Presidency, so this should be no problem for me, right?

The reason the big-C Conservatives are a problem for me has more to do with their current leader than their political views (although there’s something to be said about their political views). Stephen Harper is as charming and charismatic as a block of cheese. He’s also a hardliner and an extremist. He’s an embarrassment and even the Conservatives were trying to distance themselves from Harper before I left for Republicland. Peter Mackay is a much-preferred alternative. I just don’t think that Harper speaks for anyone outside of Alberta, and his link to the former Reform Party is disconcerting, to say the least.

On the world stage, I think Harper will be as embarrassing as he has been on the home front. The Liberals represent exactly what Canada is: a diverse, balanced nation well-loved by most countries of the world. Although there was some distress with our southern cousins during the early Iraq war, under Paul Martin’s leadership we were making headway and mending old wounds. Harper has shown an interest in western Canada; I think he’s out of touch with the majority of Canadians. That goes to show you how effective voter fatigue can be in shaping governments.

There has been a diverse sampling of recent Conservative Canadian governments on a provincial level. Alberta has had a successful Conservative government for some time now, but if that provincial government eventually leaves office, will we see another situation like the one we saw in Ontario when the so-called fiscally-conservative Conservatives left a gaping $5-billion hole in the provincial coffers. And we can’t forget the last time the Conservative party was in power (not counting Kim Campbell, of course), they introduced the GST. That kind of financial management is in contradiction of typical conservative values, so it’s hard to predict exactly what’s going to happen.

If Harper’s government is able to better facilitate a relationship with America, then I wouldn’t count this day lost. But I’m not sure that’s going to happen.