Canada is fucked....

[ohiosmith]

if the Tories win control of Parliament. They're like Republicans with better haircuts.

The EKOS poll, taken after revelations last week of kickbacks to the Liberal Party, showed support for the Conservatives at 36.2 percent, compared with 25 percent for the Liberals -- their lowest showing since taking office in 1993.

[terrya]

1. I just hope that the same-sex marriage bill is ratified...

if/when Stephen Harper and motley company take control of the government.

[Zuni]

2. Better haircuts? Check out some GOP doos

[Teaser]

3. Well, the liberals screwed their own pooch.

Hopefully they can atone for it rapidly.

[Telly Savalas]

4. Canada is most certainly not fucked.

If there were to be an election anytime soon, it is highly unlikely that the conservatives would win a majority of the seats. They'd need to hold on to everything they have now and win another 56 seats I believe, and that just aint gonna happen. So at best they would have a minority government. Such a minority government wouldn't have much room to enact a radical right agenda since the other 3 parties are either centrist (Liberals) or leftist (NDP, Bloc). If the Tories tried to pull any bullshit, the other parties would trigger another election and they'd get their asses handed to them.

Furthermore, it's not entirely certain they'd even win an election now. They may be winning in the polls now, but these same polls suggest that Canadians don't want an election yet. So if they were to trigger one, it would undercut their support. Also, right now it's exclusively the Liberals who are under the microscope. During a campaign, there would be more focus on the conservative agenda, which is only going to hurt their numbers. Finally the Liberals may be bleeding a lot of support right now, but it's a big question as to where this will translate into ridings that'll flip to the conservatives. I'd be shocked if the Tories won a single seat in Quebec, and in many ridings scattered throughout the country (most notably in Toronto) the NDP will be the biggest beneficiaries of outrage at the Liberals.

People knew the Liberals were corrupt last June, but they voted for them anyway because they don't appreciate the fact that the Conservatives are largely a bunch of right wing nuts. If the writ is dropped, Paul Martin needs to constantly remind people that if Stephen Harper had had his way, Canadian troops would be dying in Iraq. With a well run campaign, they could still hang on to the government.