It's a sad day when Ralph Goodale makes sense

We libertarian types with separatist leanings are not exactly doing cartwheels as a result of the election of a minority centrist government. However, like many of my separatist compatriots, I was holding a modicum of hope for Stephen Harper and the gang. I anticipated the announcement of the new cabinet with great interest. Would our man Monte be the finance minister? What key roles would Diane Ablonzcy and Jason Kenney play? Okay, maybe my hope that Myron Thompson would be the Minister of Agriculture was going a little too far! Against that back-drop how was I to react when the first news I heard was that a Liberal – yes, a Liberal would be in the Conservative cabinet. Am I in a Chinese Western? Is there blood spurting out of my head?
But this government will be different. This government will have integrity. This government will lead by principles not politics.
My hope now holds by a mere thread.
As if that wasn’t enough for one day, this evening I received a nearly equally shock to add insult to injury. By some inexplicable sequence of events, I found myself listening to CBC radio while driving. Ralph Goodale was being interviewed. Consider my apoplexy when I found myself agreeing with him. He suggested that it was hypocritical for Stephen Harper’s to elevate to a cabinet position an MP who crossed the floor given his reaction to Belinda Stronach’s defection. Ralph Goodale was making sense. I was beginning to panic. What if I couldn’t keep my vehicle on the road? Fortunately Goodale continued to talk. To think that he would say two sensible things in the same conversation (or in the same decade for that matter) is unthinkable. It would stretch even the most pliable imagination beyond its elastic limit. True to form Goodale began to fume about how unfortunate it is for Canada that the Conservatives will have some cabinet ministers who are interested in making government smaller, less powerful and “less meaningful” to Canadians. Maybe things aren’t as surreal as I thought. I was able to regain composure and stay between the ditches.
Seriously, these Conservatives better start governing with the integrity that they said they would bring to Ottawa or that tiny thread of hope will snap.

If It's From Calgary It Must Be Illegitimate

Few things are more entertaining that watching Toronto react to the election of a government they didn't get to pick. Today's National Post has an article entitled "Harper May Not Need Big Cities" It concludes with a wonderful quote from a professor Barry Kay from Wilfred Laurier University. Speaking about the Harper government he says "There's a legitimacy issue. He should be thinking about the voters of Toronto rather than the voters of Calgary." That's right boys and girls, voters from Toronto are clearly much more important than those from Calgary. Apparently, a government cannot be legitmate unless it's endorsed by the centre of the universe. Votes from the 'hicks in the sticks' can't be taken seriously.
It's amazing how quickly the rhetoric changes once the tables are turned. The Toronto Liberals never tired of telling Albertans that if we really wanted in, if we wanted to be represented, all we had to do was vote Liberal. If we continued to vote for the Conservative (or Reformers) we wouldn't be allowed to play. Now that Alberta has gotten 'in' suddenly it's time to reach out. It's time to be inclusive.
Evidently Toronto still doesn't get it. I'm betting they never will.