Today did not start out to be a terribly auspicious or exciting day, but managed to become one inspite of itself. I thought I had to a lot more to write yesterday, but apparently didn't, so maybe some of it will trickle over to today. Wouldn't that be lovely?

Sometimes I really wonder what this country is coming to. I found out something today that makes me exceptionally angry, but unfortunately I've been able to find very little news coverage on it (click here for the CBC news story, which is pretty superficial). Basically, what I'm angry about is that the newly formed Conservative Party of Canada (born from the ashes of the Canadian Alliance [hardcore right wing--almost wrote white wing there, which might not be too far off] and the Progressive Conservatives [slightly less hardcore but still right wing] has passed a resolution that states that you must have a $100 000 deposit in order to be able to run for the leadership of the party. I suppose that in principle, this is in keeping with the conservative bent of the party, but isn't this an affront to democracy? Aren't we even going to try to pretend that this party isn't just for rich people? I do realize that democracy as I know it is mostly a sham anyway, but this really takes the cake. So only the rich are good enough to run our country, from a conservative point of view? Bollocks to that. It effectively excludes 95% of the country from ever having the opportunity to run for the party leadership...and I suppose that you could argue that there are few enough who would want that job with that party, but that isn't the point. The point is that as a Canadian, you ought to be able to run for the leadership of any party you so choose, regardless of how much money you make or can contribute to the campaign.

I'm opposed to the merger in principle, anyway, but this is ridiculous and there ought to be a law against it.

Funny tidbits from the CBC's site on the conservative history of Canada:

1987
Preston Manning becomes the first leader of the Reform Party of Canada. The party calls for free trade, demands an elected Senate, wants less government, less social services and less Quebec.

1988
Reform doesn't win a single seat in the federal election. (Of course, within 7 years they held a majority in the House of Commons...without a seat east of Manitoba.)

The only thing I can agree with on that list is the elected Senate...that's one aspect of the government that has always bothered me, as it smacks of patronage.

This is a good deal more political than I intended it to be...sorry about that (and feedback is always welcome).

The other good news from today is that I will actually be participating in winter classic this weekend, which is a first for my time at Nipissing, and it means that I can curl and bowl this weekend!

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