Goldkicks

Woke up this morning and read the second page editorial in the Globe & Mail: maybe it was the early hour or my lack of sleep, but where the hell has the author been hanging out?

That this experience has profoundly turned Canadians off was evident Saturday when, on a welcome free day, I drove up the coast, stopping at various White Spots and Tim Hortons and doing nothing but eavesdropping -- and never once hearing "the most important election in Canadian history" mentioned. Roy MacGregor

Hmmm, despite the fact that now living in Quebec, I'm now deprived of any small sliver of hope that my vote for an NDP candidate might result in a seat for her/him (and hence, am voting Bloc Quebecois! Really.), this seems like one hell of an interesting election, as Paul Martin makes little mention of what really makes him qualified to run this country - his damn astonishing manuveuring and orchestrating and record as Finance Minister - and runs in disguise as a traditional NDP candidate (the likes of which the NDP spent trying to distance themselves from under Alexa McDonough's dismal leadership)... Jack Layton's (middle initial "U") campaign has also had a profound impact on the revival of the non-ironic moustache. My friend Nick, sporting one inspired by the feisty former Toronto city councillor, has commented on an increased feminine interest in it, just as the campaign draws to a close. Gilles Duceppe's hypnotic icy stare has entranced me - I'm voting for the man, as well as other Anglos in Quebec - and he doesn't seem to be hurt by last week's article in the Globe & Mail by La Presse columnist what's-her-name that revealed he used to be a radical Maoist. (Hey, I spent grade 9 as a deeply committed Anarcho-Syndicalist.) Stephen Harper bears a strong resemblance to a kid in high school that my friends and I used to refer to as "Just-Fished-Out-Of-The-River" - the pale complexion, his ghastly hair. Anybody who thinks Stephen Harper has a "hidden agenda" is parroting a rather empty phrase that's been repeated far too often in newspapers and on television programs and hasn't paid attention to conservative politics for the past ten years or so, since the Reform Party appeared on the political radar in this country. Jesus Christ! Of course they're all from fucking Alberta! (Great letter in today's Globe & Mail about how 'Western Alienation' is usually code for "Alberta's Complaints" and disregards the three other distinctly different provinces that count as Canada's West)