We cats don't know if this is good news or bad news: America isn't the only country with right-wing crazies. Canada has them, too.
Specifically, in the western province of Alberta. It's historically been Tory country. Think of it as the Canadian Texas — lots of oil, swaggering, and, of course, the Calgary Stampede. Prime Minister Stephen Harper may look silly in a cowboy hat, but this is one part of Canada where his Conservative Party reigns supreme.
But in Alberta's provincial election this week, the Tories were in trouble. Why? Because a fringe-y party named Wildrose, headed by a Michele Bachmann knockoff named Danielle Smith, was poised to take over the Albertan government by a double-digit margin.
And then — it didn't. Wildrose went down to defeat by 10 points, and took Bachmann-Smith with it.
What torpedoed them? Well, a proposed provincial pension plan, which it turned out people didn't like, and a sudden questioning of climate change science, which people really didn't like. But another death blow was something the Wildrose folks called "conscience rights."
You'll recognize it. "Conscience rights" legislation would give healthcare providers cover if they don't want to prescribe birth control, and would allow marriage commissioners to turn away same-sex couples — even though marriage equality has been the law of the land since 2005.
As if that weren't enough, some of Bachmann-Smith's supporters didn't help matters by saying gay people will burn in "lakes of fire" and that being white is a good thing.
Gosh, it all sounds so familiar! We cats applaud the voters of Alberta — with whom we suspect we'd otherwise disagree on a lot of issues — for turning these right-wing nutbags away.
Meanwhile, anticipating the next round of elections in 2016, Bachmann-Smith says her party will rethink its more controversial positions. We'll be interested to see how elastic they'll be — or if they'll inflict on the Tories the GOP's dilemma of Romneyesque malleability versus the true believers.
(IMAGE: Danielle Smith: Scary, isn't she? Photo by Jason Franson of The Canadian Press)
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