Electile Dysfunction

      Paul Wells has a funny-- and typically on-point-- article in Macleans on, among other things, what might happen if nobody can form a majority in parliament. This blog's favourite bit is about Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson, and it sounds like it could have been lifted right out of Dave Barry: "I have been to Rideau Hall and I think it is only fair to warn you that she and her husband sometimes discuss literature when they think nobody can hear." Heaven forefend!   

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UPDATE:    Stumbled upon this funny prediction quoted on David Olive's blog (see Day 15):

David of Waterloo, Ont. writes: "My election prediction: Liberal majority. Once people realize the Alliance (let's face it) might actually win, they'll come back to reality and see how insane that party really is. Then again, if the Liberal slide keeps going, I wouldn't mind seeing Jean Chrétien ride down Parliament Hill, white horse and white beard, saying 'I come back to you now, at the turn of the tide.'"

Sorry, but I found that too good to resist. Just picture it.

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UPPERDATE (with a thought to blow your frickin' minds):    Excuse me a moment if I sound like Angela Lansbury, but it seems there's another possibility in all this that no one has yet considered. Say none of the parties can form a majority by any means possible-- the Conservatives can't sucker any Liberals over; the Liberals and the NDP refuse to work together, or if they do it's still not enough; et cetera, et cetera. The spoiler at this point is NOT the NDP but the Bloc, holding enough seats to spoil anybody's majority. There is an answer to this, beyond that of another election call. The three federal parties-- and they would never want to speak of having to do such a thing-- could, fathomably could, unite for one purpose and one purpose only, to create a makeshift government of the three parties that could band together to piece together and approve (wait for it) legislation that would disallow political parties whose stated goals are committed to the dissolution of Canada as we now know it. Whoa.

      Think about this a moment, not as a viable act but merely as a hypothetical. Does anyone remember the discussion after the Bloc's creation about whether or not the government should recognize them as a legitimate political party? The argument against the recognition of the Bloc was that its intentions were inherently treasonous, and thus should not be allowed to participate in parliament. This argument was defeated and the Bloc were "allowed" to exist within parliament. BUT, BUT, BUT.... Couldn't the other three parties, unable to form a majority in any way, align to disallow parties of such supposed intent? Would this mean the forced removal of such elected members from parliament -- and thus the evacuation of their seats? Couldn't this mean forced by-elections in as many seats as the Bloc wins, seats that would in the next by-elections have to vote for other parties (though not necessarily any of the Big Three)? Whoa.

      It won't happen, I'm sure-- and I wouldn't recommend it, either; the political fallout would be disastrous (and probably unconstitutional), and we'd no doubt be Meeching it all over again. BUT, BUT, BUT.... It's not entirely beyond the pale of technical possibility, is it? No, I'm not advocating any of this, but if the situation of government was stalemated, could the parties use the situation as a means to remove the Bloc as a political force? Could they? Would they? No, of course, not.... But.....

      Whooooooooa.