The Issues, Gentlemen, and Lady

So what's gnu with the electioneering gaffes and lavish and costly promises with the leaders of the major Canadian political parties, during the 2011 election campaign? Well, a lot of people, viewing and hearing the election advertisements have got really turned off by their content. As though they weren't more than sufficiently irritated by the unneeded election, to begin with.

Let's see, Jack Layton is popping up here and there, hobbling with his trusty cane while recovering from hip repair surgery, even as he recovers from prostate cancer therapy. Going on about the critical inadequacies of Canada's universal health care system.

He, on the other hand, was fortunate enough to receive sterling care for his two maladies. Which is why he is up and about, here and there, hither and yon, castigating the Liberals, the Conservatives, their platforms and promises, while recuperating, thanks to the quality of care he received.

Michael Ignatieff is enjoying himself blasting the Conservatives for their corporate tax reduction which the Liberals first started, and for the looming acquisition of F-36 stealth warplanes and the prison and judicial-reform program they have launched. Which the Liberals also signed off on.

But one issue that the Conservatives refused to touch, at real risk of alienating Quebec voters and losing important votes, the Liberals promise to fund: Quebec City's professional-league sport arena. Along with a whole slew - in excess of $8-billion tax dollars - of other promises, all guaranteed to paint Canadian families' futures pink.

Canada's shame in supporting, or at least not wishing to upset Quebec on another issue, by passing legislation to disallow asbestos mining on Canadian soil - which still includes Quebec - has been addressed by Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe. All asbestos, even chrysotile which Quebec's industry lobbyists claim is 'safe' is carcinogenic.

But Mr. Duceppe duplicitously claims that asbestos can be produced and used safely within Quebec. "If (asbestos production) is done in a responsible way, then it's safe", he insists.

One must, then, assume, that even in Quebec the extraction process and installation is not done safely. For a new report has been issued suggesting that many construction sites in Quebec contain asbestos levels at or above provincial norms. This study was released by Quebec's Public Health Department.

Yet Quebec insists its asbestos industry is safe, despite air samples felt to be sufficiently elevated to present as an elevated risk for asbestos exposure. And this is the asbestos that is routinely exported to countries like India where workers there are exposed to cancer risks in a country far less concerned with workplace safety than Quebec.

And, it would appear, Conservative campaign workers have been going out of their way to produce situations certain to be of embarrassment to their leader. While Stephen Harper unveils one benefit after another for the Canadian electorate, highlighting the modest-but-appreciated goodies contained in the rejected budget, heavy-handed vetting by campaign workers, outing and ousting campaign-event attendees with connections to the Liberals in a show of undemocratic nastiness erupts.

As for Elizabeth May, long may she stew. She may not have the opportunity this time around to be present during the televised major party leaders' debate. Evidently it was largely felt last time around she added nothing of value to the debate; rather that her presence was detrimental in the exchange of ideas and information-values.

Her hubris in running against the Conservative-safe seat of Peter MacKay in Nova Scotia last time is only relatively reflected by her insistence that she is prepared to win the Saanich-Gulf Islands seat, and finally take her place in the House of Commons, from where it will be a short leap to the PMO.

What a collective performance. Yawn.