Encore Une Fois

By Sniffles

We cats did not watch the final Presidential debate last night. We simply couldn't bear the thought of spending another evening with John McCain. We feel sorry for Senator Obama, since he couldn't avoid it.

But there already has been an election up here in Canada, and although the Tories added seats in Parliament, they've remained a minority government. The country seems stuck in a rut: It's awfully hard to put together a majority when you have four political parties competing to lead. So why did Stephen Harper go back on his word and call the snap election in the first place?

Because he thought he could reach, or even surpass, the magic number of 155 on Parliament Hill. The fact that he didn't has been laid at the feet of Quebec — because Quebecers, annoyed with Harper on a couple of issues, either stayed reliably Liberal on Montreal Island or stampeded back to the Bloc Quebecois in the rest of the province.

One of those issues was culture (*sigh*). We cats are so tired of conservative politicians railing against federal funding for what they consider to be "objectionable" art. This riled Quebecers who not only like their art unmeddled with, merci, but who also don't like Ottawa telling them what to do.

So, we cats HISS in derision at Stephen Harper, for throwing away his majority. And we PURR at Montreal's famous son Justin Trudeau and former astronaut Marc Garneau, both of whom will be sitting in the House of Commons when next they meet.