(no subject)

[felis_ultharus]

Life

This is a nice day. My work schedule got rearranged this week, so I have today off -- which is night because a foot of snow fell last night and the city is beautiful. I love snow. For a moment it makes the world look brand new.

I reached 110,000 words today, meaning that I've written 50,000 words this month (my deadline is Saturday). This is the second month I'll have exceeded NaNoWriMo levels, which has become the standard I set for myself each month.

seal7 was right. Setting deadlines for myself has really helped.

Politics

All three opposition parties forced a bill through yesterday requiring the government to comply with the Kyoto Protocol. The bill uses fines and jail time to ensure that businesses actually do what they're supposed to.

Now the bill just needs Senate approval and Royal Assent -- that is, rubber-stamping -- before it becomes law. Then the government has 60 days to implement the changes.

Now comes the constitutional quagmire. See, the leading party controls the bureaucracy, who implement and enforce new laws. The people's elected representatives may have made this law, but the Prime Minister and the cabinet can simply tell the bureaucracy to ignore it.

I don't think this has ever happened -- there's generally been a certain kind of honour on Parliament Hill when it comes to this sort of thing -- but Harper is an evil bastard who'd do anything, and he says he'll ignore it. His environment minister simply said the legislation was "toothless" because the Conservatives couldn't be forced to comply. The Liberals have correctly pointed out that this amounts, morally, to a coup d'état.

What the other parties can do is bring down the government and force an election, which they've promised to do once the 60 days are up. Since the Conservatives are now moving into election mode, that's probably their answer.

Expect another election before Summer, people.

Comments

[seal7.livejournal.com]

And over the Kyoto Protocols too, sheesh. As long as the US doesn't sign and as long as China and India don't have to do anything, we're screwed anyway.
(Which doesn't mean it's not important that Canadia keep to it, too, but yaknow. Why provoke re-elections over that of all things -.- )

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

True, but it's not one of those deals that completely falls apart if not everyone signs on. Even if the big polluters take awhile, having the small polluters on board probably buys us a few years.

I'm glad for the election, whatever the reason. The man running the country is an embarrassment, and I'll be glad to see him gone.

But he's not just being forced out because of Kyoto -- he's being forced out because the government passed a law, and he's decided he's going to use a loophole in the constitution to ignore it, the will of the elected representatives, and the feelings of the Canadian people.

This heavyhanded style is typical of him. He's ordered the bureaucracy not to talk about anything until they clear it with him personally, and he's manipulated every loophole he can find to extend his power and push his agenda.

[rougemacabre.livejournal.com]

But if there's an election in summertime, I won't be able to vote. ;_; I get my citizenship in August.

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

:(

But even before this, there was a good chance there was going to be an election before August. The three other parties weren't going to sign on to another budget that did not include Kyoto.