Afghanistan has a way more democratic and representative senate than Canada

Just out of curiosity, I checked to see what kind of senate they setup in war-torn Afghanistan.  Here is how it is constructed, and it's way closer to a triple-e than Canada could ever be.

I - COMPOSITION
102 members, or three times the number of existing provinces (currently 34).
The Meshrano Jirga is composed of three different thirds of members:
1. one representative from each of the 34 Provincial Councils, indirectly elected;
2. one representative from each of the 34  local District Councils, indirectly elected;
3. 34 qualified personnalities nominated by the President 
 
II - ELECTORAL AND NOMINATION SYSTEM
Voting system: Two-round majority vote.
Term of office:
- four years for senators elected by the province councils;
- three years for those elected by the district councils;
- five years for appointed members.
Age of eligibility or nomination: 35 years
Half of the members appointed by the President of the Republic shall be women.
Representation of minorities :
Two members appointed by the President shall be disabled people, and two others shall be nomads (Kuchis).
Incompatibilities:
- a senator position with being a member of the local electoral council;
- a parliamentary with a ministerial position.
First elections: 18 September 2005
First nominations: December 2005

Nota: Due to problems related to the definition of certain boundaries and estimates of population figures, District Council elections were not held in September 2005. The National Assembly, once constituted, will resolve such issues. To fill the 34 seats reserved for members of the District Council, the Meshrano Jirga will include, in addition to its 34 appointed members, two representatives from each Provincial Council, or 68 other members. Half of these (34 members) will occupy the posts in question until District Council elections can be held.

Canada?  The prime minister recommends to the governor in council who he or she should appoint and they serve until 75 years of age.

O Canada! #1 in hockey. #1 in brand

I'd like to say that my frequent trips to the U.S. this past year has finally paid off.   Canada now has the number one country brand in the world.  I knew this day would come.

Ok, so maybe it was the Winter Olympics in Vancouver--especially the hockey gold medals.  Maybe it was the Canadian clothing put out by The Bay store.  Maybe it was our kick ass troops in Afghanistan.

I know for me, this year I finally forked out the cash and bought myself an authentic Canadian Olympic men's hockey team jersey as well as a 'CANADA' hoodie from Roots (with thumb holes in the sleeves!).  I went to Kelowna for Canada Day and rocked out some live music on a house boat in the middle of Lake Okanagan with my friends while watching the fireworks.

I don't know about you, but after being in the U.S. so much and now returning home, I'm feeling an immense pride for my country.

I know my American friends and co-workers there used to make fun of me being Canadian.  It used to be a running joke, "eh"?  Then I drank them under the table and pulled their jackets over their heads...

My father said it best...

I haven't made many comments on the Canadian federal political scene in a while. Many Blogging Tories are already doing a good job of pointing out the foibles of Stephane Dion and the Liberal Party of Canada--their so-called opposition to the recent budget, the Afghanistan mission extension vote, and the omnibus crime bill (which finally passed in the Liberal-dominated Senate), among other things.

NDP leader Jack Layton even had some fun with putting forward five non-confidence motions, which, in order to pass and call an election, would require the Liberals to vote in favour of them.

But did the Liberals vote at all? Most didn't even show up for any of the votes. They let the budget pass, the Afghan mission to continue, crime bill now law, and still apparently have confidence in the government.

With the way things continue, I don't think they'll be an election until October 2009, which is a for-sure because Prime Minister Stephen Harper introduced and passed fixed election dates a while back.

To sum this all up... my father said it best..

"Harper's got the opposition spinning around so much they don't know what's going on!"

How very true.

Quebec Tri-Election Analysis

While byelections don't amount to a hill of beans in relation to the next general election, the three byelections (or tri-election) in Quebec appear to have had a significant impact on each party's apparatus and confidence. All of this is good news for the Conservatives.

Warren Kinsella shows the total combined votes for all three ridings:

Conservative	31475	36.9
Bloc	23983	28.1
NDP	14587	17.1
Liberal	12118	14.2
Green	2197	2.6

So what does this show?

1. Exposed Liberal infighting. Rumours are that 2nd place leadership hopeful and deputy leader Michael Ignatieff, and perhaps third place leadership finisher, Bob Rae, secretly orchestrated the Liberal defeat in the traditionally Liberal-friendly riding of Outremont in Montreal to shed darkness upon the "leadership" of Stephane Dion. If this tactic continues, and there aren't big changes in the party apparatus by Dion and he stops appointing candidates, undermining the grassroots (not that the Liberals really have any), look to see Dion's Liberals get trounced next election, especially in Quebec. The sharks are circling around him big time. The question is how much of a bite do these sharks want to take out of the party?

2. False Hope for NDP. I like it when the NDP win where the Liberals should have. People have been wondering where Jack Layton's been lately. Apparently he was busy getting votes in one riding. One riding. Not 308. Outremont is a fairly wealthy riding and it seems the NDP appealled to the rich socialists who used to vote Liberal, because it was the "in" thing to do. The NDP candidate had slick looking signs everywhere--way more than the other guys. All in all, this "all-in" NDP riding only means Jack gets to be leader for another election or two and does not mean an NDP breakthrough in Quebec. It will mean that the NDP will put more wasted effort in Quebec and hopefully for the Conservatives, the NDP won't put as much time in British Columbia like they did last election where the Conservatives lost 8 ridings to the NDP. And keep in mind that the Green Party will continue to bite away at soft NDP voters.

3. Conservatives are strong in Quebec outside Montreal. In these two ridings, they easily won one of them, and came a close second in the other. The Liberals were wiped out. Either the Quebec "Nation" resolution earlier this year appears to have had a significant impact on Quebecker's minds, that the clear federalist option now defaults to the Conservatives because Dion is seen as a weak leader, or both. Harper can only dream that Dion stays on as leader for the next election. This tri-election means that the Conservatives are now well established in Quebec and provides a lot of confidence to build toward a majority next election, now likely in 2009.

Updated House of Commons party standings (from Wikipedia):

Parties		BC	AB	SK	MB	ON	QC	NB	NS	PE	NL	YK	NT	NU	Total
Conservative Party	*	18	28	12	8	41	11	3	2		3				126
Liberal Party	*	7		1	3	51	12	6	6	4	4	1		1	96
Bloc Québécois	*						49								49
New Democratic Party	*	10			3	12	1	1	2				1		30
Independent	*						2		1						3
Vacant	*	1		1		2									4
Total		36	28	14	14	106	75	10	11	4	7	1	1	1	308

Conservatives (126) + Bloc Quebecois (49) = 175
Liberal (96) + NDP (30) = 126

Even the Conservatives + NDP = 156 which is more than 50%.

These are the reasons why Harper won't call an election until 2009. He doesn't need to. The big issue then will be the mission in Afghanistan. This, however, won't play well in Quebec, where support for the mission is low. It will be interesting to see how Harper spins this.

In other news, Prime Minister Harper will be meeting His Holiness The Dalai Lama next month, despite objections from the Chinese communist government. Note that the Conservative government awarded honourary Canadian citizenship to the Tibetan Buddhist leader last year.

Schmolly Poll

While I'm not big on polls, this one isn't surprising. The latest SES Research poll (which are usually the most accurate) has the Liberals one point ahead of the Conservatives for the first time since before the last election.

Where the big flip happens is in Quebec, where the Liberals have gained at the expense of the Conservatives. And this can mean only one thing: Afghanistan. The recent Liberal motion to withdraw troops sooner than later was obviously favoured by Quebeckers. As well as the contradictory statements coming from Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor, Foreign Affairs Minister Peter Mackay, and less so from Prime Minister Harper regarding regarding Taliban prisoner abuse. What gets me is that Opposition Leader Stephane Dion's statement about bringing the Taliban prisoners to Canada, just before all that government confusion, was about the dumbest thing I've ever heard, but it just didn't stick to Dion.

But the Conservatives gain in Atlantic and Liberals drop. Basically, since Dion has been leader, Liberals have remained stagnant.

Another striking trend on the graph shows the Greens in double digits at 10%, but Conservatives dropping at their expense. Green leader Elizabeth May has done everything she could to grab the spotlight for her party, and this has drawn the attention of environmentally-minded protest voters who used to vote Liberal in in 2004 and voted Conservative in 2006, would never vote NDP, but are parking their protest with the Greens.

What this means essentially is that the Liberals have lost the environment issue, but the Conservatives haven't gained it, which really ticks me off because I don't like some of the Conservatives new environment policies with banning lightbulbs and costly CO2 emissions bullshit.

I like them beefing up our military, letting farmers decide on whether they want to be a part of the Wheat Board, and the family-friendly agenda. I don't like them taxing income trusts or not finally bringing in some needed middle and lower class tax cuts. I don't like how they threw a bunch of cash at Quebec again.

This past month hasn't been a good one for the Conservative government with the environment and with Afghanistan, hence the hit in the polls. Understandable. But I think this is just a blip and that they'll be able to rebound back up a bit.

But whenever Conservative governments stop being conservative, they lose, because then voters might as well just go Liberal. Careful now.

Pinkos confuse me

So let me get this straight.

The Liberals recently brought forth a motion to have Canadian troops pull out of Afghanistan by 2009 (the NDP want us out NOW), which would leave the Taliban to continue their fascist regime and terrorize the population by stripping their human rights away (especially from women), yet they lambast Defense Minister, Gordon O'Connor, due to alleged knowledge of prisoner abuse by Afghanis?

While pinkos (eg. Liberals, NDP, and Bloc) have been asking Western governments to do "something" about the massacre in Darfur, Sudan (what, they don't really say), they want us to pull out of Afghanistan and leave the women and children to further abuse.

I don't get it? Do they expect these situations to be all roses, sunshine, and hackysacks when we go in? Don't they realize it takes time to secure an area before you can build infrastructure like housing, schools, hospitals, and markets?

What utopian dreamland do they think this is? "Hello Mr. Terrorist, I love you, will you be my friend?"