Trouble Up North

It is amazing that citizens in the United States could be unaware that Canada, our friendly neighbor to the north, is going through historic tumult with regards to its political system. Of course, the American media has yet to really focus on the crisis as it dissects every last angle to the Hillary Clinton nomination as Secretary of State.

Seven weeks ago a national election was held--in Canada. The conservative party won a plurality of the vote, 38%, and Stephen Harper became prime minister. Now, the minority factions have banned together in a coalition to unseat the prime minister and call for a no confidence vote. Harper has responded by suspending parliament.

These maneuvers make the 2000 Fiasco in Florida look tame in comparison. The coalition is composed of the Liberal Party, the New Democratic Party and the Bloc Quebecois, a fringe separatist party bent on independence for Quebec. Polls are showing that 3 in 4 Canadians are nervous about the situation and about half would vote for the beleaguered prime minister if the election were held now, significantly up from election day.

I'm guessing that some in the United States are secretly hoping for Quebec to split off and for Canada to break up. I have long heard of American secret and not-so-secret plans to annex parts of Canada should this happen. In fact, this is not recent, post-9/11 exercise. Plans have existed for decades. For interesting reading on the topic, check out the following WaPo article titled "Raiding the Icebox."