Oh Canada!
One of the luxuries of living in the far corner of the country is that, come June, I can watch the Stanley Cup Finals on CBC, the Canadian station, rather than put up with the drivel from ABC and ESPN. People of good will can disagree on things like the Canadian health care system, but I think we can all agree that Canadians know their hockey. In addition to superior coverage and the flamboyant insanity of color commentator Don Cherry, CBC also provides an alternative reality of commercials that you don't see in the US. There's a particularly funny spot for A&W Restaurants (yes, A&W the root beer company has a chain of restaurants north of the border, which appear to be a hybrid of Dairy Queen and Arby's) and plenty of appeals to the nationalistic pride of Canadian beer drinkers.
Lately, however, the usual lineup of spots has been disrupted by a site already familiar to weary American eyes: political ads. Apparently, with great alacrity and little fanfare, Canada is having a national election later this month. The (relatively) new Prime Minister, Paul Martin, called the election last week to renew his mandate, and Canadians will go to the polls in a couple of weeks to vote in a new parliament. The entire enterprise, announced just two weeks ago, will be over and done with before Dominion Day. People wonder how Canada can afford their lavish public health care – it’s probably because they don’t waste billions on national campaigns every four years.
Word is that the Liberal Party, which has enjoyed a comfortable margin of support over the last 10 years or so, is in for a tough fight. I haven’t seen many ads for the Liberals, but, with little understanding of the actual issues, I find the New Democratic Party’s appeals to be sensible and their leader persuasive. I’m not sure how much pull the NDP has on a national scale, or if they really are as moderate and sensible as they sound, but it would be refreshing to have a player like that at the table down around these parts. Or maybe we do, since I don’t think there’s a domestic equivalent to the Canadian Liberals south of the border. To be honest, even the Conservatives up north sound a little more progressive and reasonable than the home-grown variety, although their ads seem to have that vaguely offensive conservative petulance about them.
In any case, the opportunity to debate and discuss this is mercifully short. One way or another, Canada will have a new government in place and ready to roll before the interminable American process will have even staged its party conventions this summer. And, with Calgary in the Cup finals, it will be a week before most Canadians even give it a thought. Imagine that!
8:30:09 AM 
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