I like Brigette DePape. She pisses off the right people. The people she pisses off are Conservatives and Liberals who are offended by her use of the term, "Arab Spring". "Surely", they bleat, "we are not living in a dictatorship (well except for that whole G20 thing)? We just had a free and fair election!" Well, it was mostly free (except for the whole robocalls telling people that their polls had been moved and forcing people to bring their identity papers with them to vote), but fair? Not quite.
We have a sick electoral system. Canada has neither representation by population nor a voting system that returns governments that reflect the majority will of the country. So, by what definition is that fair? Well, if you are a Conservative or Liberal it is fair, in that it tends (or has tended) to elect Conservative and Liberal "majority" governments, with less than majority of voter support. So, what we have here are people, whose parties have benefited from an unfair system, defending the status quo. C'est la vie. But, until we get democratic reform in this country, there will be more Brigette DePape moments. There will be more calls for a "Canadian Spring".
And a note to Jack Layton. You can talk all you want about decorum, but unless you are willing to stand up and denounce the present political system, loudly and often, then you are no better that the rest of the political establishment. You can, lead, follow, or get out of the way. The choice is yours.
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