Canada's Newest Parliament - Part I

So today was Canada's newest Speech from the Throne. Which, if you're into overkill and drama, is the cat's meow.

On any other year, there's military gunshots and a mini-parade just for the Governor General's arrival to the Hill! This was canned this year because well.. it was -32 and so it was borderline torture to do so.

Then there's a bunch of hoopla and fancyness all culminating in 8 minutes of the GG reading some of the most vague statements of all time.

The economy is in trouble - Check
People are losing their jobs - Check
Being in debt is bad - Check
Something needs to be done - Check

And then they call it a day.

For me, the only real riveting part of the whole thing is the chaos in the Chambers afterward, where the opposition leaders (who are supposed to act as though this is all news to them) react to the Speech. Ignatieff, newest leader of the Liberals, made what I think is a pretty smart move and said that the Liberals wouldn't respond until at least Wednesday. Seeing as though the Speech doesn't mean much without tomorrow's budget, I've gotta agree with the man. Why knee jerk react to 8 minutes of vague hoopla when you can instead crunch the numbers, read the fine print and come out with an educated decision?

Ignatieff isn't my favourite person in the world but smooth move, operator.

Layton on the other hand. Oy Vey! Before the Speech had even happened, he'd already stated that the NDP were going to vote down the latest budget because "We don't trust Harper".

I've got news for you, my friend (And I do consider us friendly, FYI). I don't trust Harper either and neither do most people. But they also have very little trust in a leader like yourself who is willing to see Parliament drag on forever with in-fighting rather than solving the damn problems at hand.

People didn't vote for you and I know Layton, that hurts. But seriously dude, think outside of the Party for once, will ya? You tout yourself as the people's person who cares more about kitchen tables than boardroom tables and yet you're playing unfairly in the sandbox to the detriment of us all.

Could you at least pretend that you're going to read the damn thing first before you cast judgement?

Seriously dude.

Personally, I'm hoping that the Conservative Party spin doctors are going to get a raise over this because it was mere months ago that Harper ran his entire campaign on the idea that there was no economic crisis, that the Canadian economy was sound and that the opposition parties were playing to people's fears. Now, they've re-branded themselves as the economic shithole salvation party.

Very clever. Very, very clever.

We'll see if they can actually put propaganda into practice. Stay tuned for Part II when the o'le numbers come through tomorrow.