Carrick to Calgary

Today is a big day in Canadian politics - later this afternoon (about 4pm Rocky Mountain Time), there will be two votes in Ottawa to determine whether the Canadian parliament has any confidence in the elected minority Liberal government. This time last week it seemed certain that the opposition Conservatives and the Bloc Quebecois would put the Liberals out of their misery, but that was before the 'Blonde Bombshell' was dropped on Tuesday morning. That was when one of the Conservative MPs, the blonde-haired multi-millionaire MP Belinda Stronach, defected from the Tories to the Liberals in return for a seat in the Cabinet. She's been roundly criticised for doing this to advance her own career, and also because, by defecting she's managed to dump her boyfriend, a guy called Peter McKay who is deputy leader of the Tories (he's apparently shell-shocked). This "girl-dumps-boy-for-political-career story" has created a huge storm of intrigue here in Canada:




The Blonde Defector


The Jilted Boyfriend

Because of this, the number of votes of each side is now dead even, with 2 independent MPs left unaccounted for. If both vote for the government, it will stand. If both vote for the Tories, the government falls. If it's 1 each, then it will be a tie and the speaker of the House (a Liberal) will vote to break the tie and sustain the government. So at the moment, it looks like the Government has the upper hand, barring a last minute surprise. A few MPs are sick and may not be able to get to the vote, so that may have an effect. Even so, if they do win, they'll be winning a vote of confidence by one vote, hardly a ringing endorsement. Either way, there's another election coming soon, and Canada is more divided than ever.

More news later from your Calgary political correspondent (eat your heart out, John Cole!)


Where is he now?

J

PS. Queen arrived safely in Saskatchewan on Tuesday night, will come to Calgary next week, getting the flegs ready for her, have no fear, NO SURRENDER!