Canada Votes! Who Knew?

Are you getting a little bored with the U.S. Presidential Election? Debates making you sleepy? Negative ads getting repetitive? The drama gone now that Obama is widening his vote margin in the polls? Or are you just looking for A CHANGE? Fear not, and look to the North! where there is another election ripe for drama and your attention. It's got three more major candidates than we have. It's got Liberals. It's got Conservatives. It's got Greens. It's got Canadian French. It's got newer Democrats.

And it's TODAY!

Canada chooses a Prime Minister today. Who knew! What with following the presidential election for over a year now, I forgot to pay attention to Canada which has been holding a national election campaign for the past month. (Hmmm. A one month long national election campaign. I bet it's cheaper when you do it that way. But probably less fun.) So if you have trouble waiting three more Tuesdays to see some election results, take a break and live vicariously through our northern neighbors. (Especially recommended for Republican/McCain supporters because polling shows the Canadian Conservative party eking out a win over the Liberal party). More fun Canadian Federal Election facts when you click through.....



Thanks to wikipedia, I learned that Canada held two Federal Election debates for this election. One in English and one in French...which blows my narrow little American mind. Bilingual debates! We demand so little of our presidential candidates.

I also learned that the Environment is a HUGE issue in the election, and is a very important issue to Canadians. They are so wacky up there. The issue even has it's own name: The Green Shift. Sounds like a sidekick to the Green Lantern.

By the way, if you never had or have (like me) somewhat forgotten any lesson on comparative politics, Canada has a Parliamentary form of government, which means they don't have a President like we do. They essentially elect party leaders who, if their party gets more votes than any of the other parties, becomes Prime Minister. So that's why their elections are pretty much completely different (and dramatically shorter) than ours.

For Canadian Federal Election Campaign Coverage, check out these Canadian newspapers:

• The Globe and Mail. (Includes polling updates in the bottom right corner.)
• The National Post. (Note that they also provide special coverage of the U.S. Election--We rule the world!!)
• The Star.