Hearty Congratulations to My Canadian Friends

It's good to see your wanna-be Bush is about to get his bottom soundly thrashed:

OTTAWA (Reuters) - The leaders of Canada's three opposition parties on Monday signed a historic deal to bring down the minority Conservative government and then form a coalition government of their own.

The Liberals, New Democrats and separatist Bloc Quebecois say the Conservatives of Prime Minister Stephen Harper -- who won a strengthened minority in an Oct 14 election -- are not doing enough to help Canadians cope with the worsening financial crisis.

[snip]

A confidence vote has been set for next Monday. The proposed coalition government would be the first of its kind in modern Canadian history.

"We're seeing a sad spectacle from Stephen Harper's government. ... (It) has shown it has no plan, no competence and no will to face up to the crisis," Liberal leader Stephane Dion said at a news conference after the signing.

"The opposition parties have decided it is time to take action. ... We're ready to form a new government."

And how, when the man won a "strengthened majority" just over a month ago, did it come to this? The power surge apparently shorted out his political prudence circuits:

While Americans are enjoying their tryptophan comas, up in the Great White North, the Conservative government of Stephen Harper has presented the opposition parties with a choice: castration or being in charge during the worst recession since World War II.

The Conservatives have presented a budget which:

1) has no fiscal stimulus to help the economy;
2) gets rid of public financing for political parties, since Conservatives don't need it and the other parties do; and,
3) which forbids public sector unions to strike for 3 years while they "reform", (read, get rid of) pay equity.

Harper figures this is a no lose bet for him. If the other parties bring him down, well, they get to be in charge during the upcoming recession, which will do nothing for their popularity. If they don't bring him down, he institutionalizes the Conservative fund raising advantage and gets to break the public sector unions. Rich people and corporations love giving money to folks like Harper who keep cutting their taxes, gutting regulations and letting foreigners make them rich by buying out their firms then moving the jobs and headquarters to other countries.

Can we say miscalculation, boys and girls? If the Coalition government can turn the recession around, Stephen's no-lose bet becomes a fool's gamble.

Stephen Harper is a noxious bastard who deserves the worst that can be dished out. If you want to know just what a fucktard he is, I urge you to visit Canadian Cynic and have a trot through the archives. The Cynics have been documenting the never-ending fuckery for quite some time. It's just pathetic that it took Harper's hubris in threatening public funding for political parties to finally rouse the opposition into actually opposing the sorry son of a bitch.

But the important thing is, Harper's about to get his teeth handed to him in a hat. It couldn't have happened to a more deserving con.

Canadians drink free tonight. Salud!