So I hear...
...that Canada's about to choose a new government. Or so the opinion polls say. What I think (and what I read) is that you can't necessarily trust them. Some said that the Conservatives were going to win by a fair margin at the last elections, but the Liberals still clang on to power. Back in Quebec, the Charest government pisses off 8 out of 10 Quebecers. But in both cases, it doesn't mean we're in for a change in government nonetheless. I can't think of the Parti Quebecois being back in charge, with Bernard Landry, yet again as Premier. God help us! Nor do I think Stephen Harper and his Stockwell Day's will pass the test of social left-leaners of Ontario.
In the meanwhile, besides stuff about the Pope, newspapers here in Asia constantly run stories about Japanese and Chinese fighting over history books. My International Herald published in Tokyo by/with the Asahi Shimbun takes a concilliatory position with regard to Japan and its foreign policy. "Give a bit, to show good will", referring to some rock in the Sea of Japan disputed by JP and SK. I don't know about Japanese-language papers. Are the Japanese really such proud people to refuse taking a blame for their bloody history? I met Japanese people, and I can't tell whether they really care. It seems to me that they're as apolitic as people in Canada. I think it isn't appropriate to damn the whole Japanese people for the sins of their fathers (and mothers). S says it's because they feel as much as victims for suffering firebombing by the USA in the closing years of the war, or of course for Hiroshima/Nagasaki.
And of course, the Chinese vent out on the Japanese, while in Canada, they vent out in opinion polls. Not quite a parallel to make, but it's fun to just blah about politics with "someone" (beloved blog/surrogate girlfriend <3). It's more or less understood that what people say to opinion polls and what they do at the voting booth are two different things.
There's that much angst. So it's fine to focus it on the Liberals for now, but watch out it doesn't backfire... (In any case, we're bound for another minority govt, perhaps a Conservative one - and if that happens, then the Liberals are back with a majority in two years. :D)
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