Need an Electoral Fix? Look North

Looking for a fix of election intrigue and partisan wrangling? Still in withdrawal from the end of the U.S. elections? Looking to see yet another conservative government go down in smoke and try to take democracy with it? Tied of the bland choices offered up by the American two-party system?

Well, then turn your gaze to the Great North where our Canadians friends are in the midst of a full-blown constitutional crisis that makes Bush V. Gore look like a dispute in small claims court.

In short, the recently re-elected minority government headed by Conservative Steven Harper (an economist from Alberta, the Texas of Canada) is refusing to enact stimulus measure, is attempting to ban public-sector strikes and is seeking to abolish public financing of political parties. This has outraged the left, which is made up of the following parties that you never would find in the US (taken from Slate.com):

• "A once-dominant Liberal Party, undone after a kickback scandal some years ago. Leader Stéphane Dion ..., a nerdy, target-friendly political scientist with broken English, is stepping down in May after taking the party to its worst popular vote result since 1867.
• "The Bloc Québécois, a "separatist" party that supports sovereignty for Quebec and holds the third-most seats, all in Quebec. To many Canadians, the bloc is like the pervy uncle at the family Christmas dinner—he's full of strange ideas, but he keeps getting gifts and a return invitation. It's led by Gilles Duceppe, a former Marxist janitor who has now contested five elections as party leader.
• "The New Democratic Party, which advocates higher corporate taxes and immediate withdrawal from Afghanistan. It's led by Jack Layton, a trash-talking, mustachioed former political scientist with a fondness for bike riding.
• "On the sidelines is Elizabeth May's Green Party, which won no seats but took almost 7 percent of the vote in October's election, helping to return Conservatives in some districts."

Because folks ares outraged and because Harper leads a minority government, the opposition parties are trying to withdraw their support and organize a new government. This led Harper to go to the Governor General (the Queen's representative) and get Her Excellency Michelle Jean to prorogue (what a kick-ass word for "suspend") Parliament until sometime in January.

This can only get more surreal ... Who knows? Maybe the Marxist janitor will win?