Don't Ask Me How I Dug This One Up

...but it's a keeper.

In From the Cold by Andrew Coyne

"AN outsider watching the Canadian election today may be forgiven for wondering what the fuss is about. A centrist Liberal government is about to be replaced, if the polls are correct, by a centrist Conservative one."

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"But beneath Canada's placid surface, the tectonic plates are shifting.

Slowly, by stages, rather than suddenly and violently, the Western world's most enduring political dynasty is cracking up. The Liberal Party of Canada, it is often noted, held power for more years in the 20th century than the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. It has governed Canada, with occasional Conservative interludes, more or less since the First World War. Not for nothing is the system sometimes called "one-and-a-half-party rule.""

[---]

"In 2004, the once-invincible Liberals were reduced to a minority, thanks in part to the scandal in Quebec, in part to disappointment with Mr. Martin, and in part to the resurrection of a united Conservative opposition led by Stephen Harper.

A dour economist from Alberta, Mr. Harper is no one's idea of a natural politician. But he is blessed with both a first-rate mind for policy and a sure strategic sense."

[---]

"The Conservatives had been so far from power for so long, he calculated, that they had become an unknown quantity to many voters. Fear of the unknown was the Liberals' last remaining political weapon, their sole defense against widespread public fatigue with their government. Deny the Liberals that, and they would collapse."

[---]

"The Conservatives must plan for when they are again out of power and remove the instruments by which they were kept out.

Previous Conservative prime ministers aspired only to run the Liberal machine for themselves, leaving the motor running for the Liberals when they returned. Mr. Harper wants to dismantle it, piece by piece."

Unfortunately, we haven't seen too much of that - yet. But, there's a whiff of impending election fever in the air. Expect a flurry of as yet unfulfilled promises finally kept, with the best waiting to be unveiled as election promises. If I'm right, remember, you heard it here first. And considering Count Iggula is a gaff-a-minute guy, the Natural Governing Party of Canada my have an uphill battle. If I'm wrong, well, it's back to the cold, frozen gulag in Soviet Canuckistan. Just in time to stop runaway global warming.