Natural Allies

The national scene in Canada has two natural alliances these days: the Conservatives and the Bloc, both of whose main goal is to reduce the role of Ottawa; and the Liberals and NDP, who want a strong federal government that can assure social programs.

Harper is sweetening his alliance with Quebec with a goodly amount of monetary handouts and pandering. There may still be problems because the values of the Harperite Conservatives and the Bloc are so different. The Bloc may not be willing to make it formal. But it looks like we have to factor in an unofficial Conservative-Bloc alliance in the long term - a pretty scary proposition for the future of Canada.

Meanwhile the Liberals and NDP, whose values and goals are so closely aligned that we're like identical twins, are at each other's throats. Is there no way that we can call a cease fire for our mutual benefit? I don't have enough experience in these matters to know how to do this, but perhaps we could get creative. Start small, finding ways to benefit each other by cooperating. Maybe eventually we could get more bold... Is it preposterous to suggest that we each pull some candidates from key ridings instead of duking it out everywhere? (Perhaps.)

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