The Progressive Coalition...Canada's "Obama Campaign"

For starters I'm going to strike Governor-General Michaelle Jean off my Christmas card list.

Her Excellency made a rather unexcellent decision. Steven Harper's government has been spared the axe till January. So I'll keep polishing my barbeque fork and leave the champagne on ice.

I'm no constitutional lawyer, but I can read. I'm also reasonably knowledgeable about history. The GG's stay of execution flies in the face of the precedent set in the "King-Byng" affair of 1926.

Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King's minority Liberal government was about to be defeated after a customs scandal. King went to Governor-General Byng and asked for the dissolution of the house and for another election to be called (there'd been an election in 1925).

Byng refused and called in Conservative leader Arthur Meighan to form a government. True, Meighan's government didn't last long and a few months later Canada was back into another election campaign. But nevertheless, the precedent has been set.

There is a "government in waiting", but Governor General Jean paid no attention to this and let Prime Minister Harper have his way. Our elected representatives have been defacto locked out of Parliament.

But there's a bright spot to all this believe it or not. I have an LP in my collection (yes I still have quite a bit of vinyl lying around) called "Precious Friend". It's a recording of Pete Seeger and Arlo Guthrie's concert tour back in the 1980's.

In an intro to a little rant about "the neutron bomb", (a big issue at the time), Arlo said that "You can't have a light...without a dark... to stick it in!". In other words he explained "You can't have one thing...without the other thing".

We certainly have a dark...namely the "Chicago Boy" policies of Harper's government...and the extreme vindictive nastiness of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty. To use very unparliamentary language, these dudes are a couple of pricks.

Pretty much every other government on earth has at least to some degree abandoned Friedmanite policies in the face of the crisis. But the Harper government simply saw the crisis as an opportunity to starve opposition parties of funds, beat up on public sector workers, and strip equality rights for women workers. The unemployed and the about to be unemployed were hung out to dry.

But we have a light too. A few short weeks ago, who'd have thought that the Liberals, NDP and Bloc Quebecois would have been capable of setting aside their differences to build a coalition based on activist government and expansionist economic policies.

When I first heard about it, I was knocking back margaritas with a good friend. I'd been busy and so not paying a whole lot of attention to the news. I was dismissive and didn't believe it at first.

But then I saw the announcement on the TV behind the bar. Holy Shit! It was happening! We had a government in waiting that was willing to take the country in a much more positive direction.

I'm face to face with unemployed manufacturing workers every day of the week. They're scared about what lies ahead. The coalition doesn't offer them miracles, but it at least gives them a little bit of hope. And that, as Martha Stewart would say is a good thing!

The other "light" in this situation is the social and political movement that this coalition has spawned. Within a matter of days, rallies have been organized in just about every major city in Canada.

I've lost count of the number of online campaign sites, petitions, blogs, Facebook groups, Youtube videos etc. that have been created. Everyday there seems to be a new one popping up somewhere.

Barrack Obama's presidential campaign mobilized millions of people who hadn't been mobilized before around the idea of "change" from the corruption, cronyism and warmongering of the Bush II administration.

Our election campaign seemed rather unexciting compared to what happened south of the border.

The campaign to support the "Progressive Coalition" or whatever you want to call it is our very own "Obama Campaign".

This is an historic opportunity to change the face of politics in this country. It's a chance to bring some relief to the victims of the economic crisis. It's also an historic opportunity to do something positive about the growing environmental crisis.

People around the world are increasingly coming around to seeing that these two issues are bound together...everyone except Harper and the neo-cons.

Harper must go!

So we'll see you at the meetings, rallies, on the picket line and if it's cold outside...in cyberspace!