Canadian Politics

Well, they've triggered an election in Canada to be held in the new year. I've already faxed my required paperwork in, so hopefully I should be receiving an absentee ballot by post in the next few weeks. In the mean time, here is an interesting story to keep you entertained.

A little background before you read it:

So one of the campaign promises of the Conservative Party was that rather than give families childcare, they would just cut them a cheque each month for a certain amount of money (based on their family size, number of children, etc.)

So, a member of the Liberal party (which, for my British readers, is basically the equivalent to Labour) shot back saying that the money probably wouldn't go to child care but rather to 'beer and popcorn.'

So, an anti-Liberal party blogger decided to set up an on-line petition to question the Liberal party leader (and current Canadian Prime Minister) whether he agrees with his aide who suggested that parents would choose beer over their kids.

HOWEVER, in response to that, a famous (well, within Canada at least) comedian/satirist named Rick Mercer (he's kind of like a Canadian version of Jon Stewart...see above for some online clips) decided to set up his OWN petition demanding that the interests of beer drinkers be taken into consideration by the candidates. It can be found at www.beernotkids.com

I guess I've pretty much summarized the whole article now. And perhaps it's funnier if you're actually a Canadian citizen...ah well...