It is troublesome
or
Thin ice
I ventured that as my personal opinion, I used a new method, the pattern of the pulp left on the glass after a few vodka's with orange juice. <g>
Seriously though, our American friends have to have a little bit of background to understand the Canadian way, not always clear even to Canadians. In the 1984 elections Brian Mulroney and the Federal Progressive Conservatives were elected with a huge majority, 210+ plus seats, 40 to the Liberals and 20 to the NDP. Eight years later, Kim Campbell would record the largest defeat in Canadian electoral history, the Federal Progressive Conservatives would go from 155 seats to 2. At that point Canada effectively became a one party state, the Bloc and the the Reform Party with 50+ seats each had 13% and 18% of the popular vote, the PC's had 16% of the popular vote, but only 2 seats, the NDP with only 6% of the popular vote had 9 seats. The distribution of the popular vote by region and province leads to some surprising inequities in Canadian politics, especially when it comes to referendums. Here is a good read on that subject for anyone who is not familiar with Canadian referendum history. parl.gc.ca
The new Liberal Government in 1993 would have roughly the same percentage of the popular vote as the Liberals earned in the 2000 election, about 40%.
My assessment of the intentions of Mr Chretien's efforts may not be correct, I will be the first to admit that, but I like to think that they are. The issues that he has to deal with as Prime Minister will make sure that he always has detractors, but hey, it is only December, the ice is still thin. Canada will sign the Kyoto Accord on Tuesday, that is my prediction for next week <g> |
