Another Election...

Another election, this time for some local talent...

Monday, October 5th is the election day here in Québec for the 127 ridings that will be elected into the province's National Assembly.

Still reading? That's impressive.

The only reason why I decided to start my riding day (sorry, writing day) with this topic is because of all of the free time now in front of me. You see, the school shutdown for the day for the election, as did certain other institutions for the privilege of choosing politicians who will not really represent their needs. One of the private companies I work for now admitted that they are only going to allow their workers a few hours in the day to choose their MP (Member of Parliament). Strikingly, the energy felt very low at the office and in our school when we were informed of the reduced hours (my college is actually having a 'professional development day', meaning that we get to see what we have done wrong and then find ways to make things even worse).

Yes, I digress.

I have voted early, as did about 25% of the voters in this province, a slight reduction from the early numbers in the federal election. As I said, people cannot be that excited about an election after seeing the players involved in their debate. I tried to watch it; I tried to care. The main problem was the people involved with Elections Québec kept making fatal errors with the voters.

First, it was monolingual.

Yes, it is a French-speaking province - although only New Brunswick is the officially French-province in this country (yeah, I don't get it, either; look it up). I know that the incumbent party, CAQ - Coalition Avenir Québec - Coalition for Québec's future; very tempting to say 'Coalition for Québec's Failure' - was about to learn a very important lesson from the hoi polloi in the polls. Their demand for more French-language rules came at the expense of English services, including the debate. All parties came to a weird conclusion that we Anglos did not need to understand what he party leaders wanted to do with us. Strangely enough, this brought many voters together across all political lines, including the centre-right members of the current governing parties.

And what are those parties?

We have the PQ (Parti Québécois), a political party who's whole meaning for existing is to separate from the rest of the country...as long as it is not too costly and their politicians can still keep their pensions. Guess which party has the lead in the polls? If they win, it will be the first time in a dozen years since they have been in power, and people may discover why they have spent so long in the political wilderness.

Then there is the QS (Québec solidaire), a 'left-wing, democratic socialist, and sovereignist party focusing on environmental action and social welfare programs' (thank you, Wikipedia). Yeah, all of the above and more... They don't have a chance here, but I wonder about their platform. Many of my students are volunteers and want them to win. I wish them well.

And we come to the QLP (Quebec Liberal Party), a political group represented at the federal level who often act as though elections are a slight to them because they should naturally be in charge. Imagine how popular they are with the people who want to leave the show. For an Anglo, they are usually the only option, but I do not think they should be so complacent. They may get into second place in the Assembly, and then be forced to play nice. Let's see how things work out.

Finally, there is the PCQ (Conservative Party of Québec), the great also-ran of Canadian politics. And let me be clear, when I say 'Liberal' or 'Conservative', I do not mean the sort of liberals and conservatives those few Americans still reading this are used to. They never really verge that far into insanity with their pronouncements, but we do keep them in our sights. And the Conservatives believe in low taxes, favouritism to big business, and private control of hospitals and utilities. They don't have a chance here...

So, that's how it stands. I think that I have amused myself by painting a fair picture of how the day stands. We will have a new leader tonight, and I am sure that my students will be eager to discuss things this week.

Me? I have laundry to do and an article to edit.

Stay tuned:

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You can find more poems, stories, and articles by Kendall Defoe on my Vocal profile. I complain, argue, provoke and create...just like everybody else.

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