Election vs. Coalition

More Canadians prefer election over coalition: poll

Personally, I don't see the coalition as a usurpation of voters' wishes. We voted the MP's in and 38% were Conservative and 62% were divided among more liberal parties. While those parties differ in ideology somewhat, they are all farther left than the Cons. As such, as near as I can tell, they are largely in agreement when it comes to major issues like the economy, environment, energy, education, and so on. So to discount the 62% figure by saying, oh but 74% voted against the Liberals, 82% against the NDP, and 90% against the Bloc, is a misnomer... because these 3 parties are a whole lot closer to each other in ideology than the Conservatives are. And if the Conservatives stubbornly refuse to work with the other legitimately elected parties, as they have been despite the expectation of cooperation implied by having only a minority, I consider that an abuse of the system. In such a case I expect the other 3 parties to take action, and my only disappointment is they didn't do it sooner, ideally before the election. If the only way for them to get this government's attention is to threaten to take it out of commission, and that certainly seems to be the case here, then so be it. At least they are injecting some checks and balances and representing their constituents.

Now I know some Conservative voters have gotten all bent out of shape about this and consider it a hijacking of government and an overriding of their vote. "My vote counts!" they say. But guess what: your vote only represents 38%, a minority of the voters, and if your leader can't get it through his thick skull that his "mandate" is to work with the other parties, then he needs a boot in his arse... because yes your vote counts but so does mine, dammit.

If people want another election, I'm happy to go vote again because I'm thankful for any option to express my wishes as a voter. But frankly I'm not sure what this would accomplish if it ends up putting Harper back in place in another minority government. He obviously doesn't understand the meaning of cooperation and doesn't care to unless cornered like a rat under threat of expulsion. So unless he gets a sudden personality transplant or the Conservatives pick a leader who knows how to play nicely with others, we'll be back to square one again if we don't elect a different party. So unless there's something I'm missing, another election strikes me as being potentially just as much of a waste of time and money as the last one, and delaying even further the start of some actual real governing and action on the economy. You know, the stuff Harper is supposed to be doing instead of playing partisan games.