Harper Visits

Yesterday (or was it, time stops mattering when you're online) Prime Minister Harper visited Hamilton to announce some coin for healthcare in the province. He's getting generous because we've got an election on the way. So he chose to come to Hamilton, that bastion of un-Progressive (did you notice how quickly they dropped Progressive?) Conservative blue.

Wait! Hamilton never votes conservative and likely never will, until perhaps the economy and state are failing them and they decide that the Conservative's latest scapegoat (Jews, Arabs, homosexuals, criminals) is a lot better than freezing in the dark. Hamilton votes NDP and occasionally, on the mountain, Liberal. So what gives?

Harper was trying to ensure that the Liberals fail to take seats in Hamilton. He wants to suck votes away from the Liberals to the Conservatives and ensure that the NDP comes up on top. Many voters flop between Liberal and Conservative (I know what's wrong with them?) but NDP voters never flop to the Conservatives, they would be more likely to embrace delusion and choose the Liberals instead. The Liberals will lose votes from people who go where the money goes and the NDP is likely to prevail helping Harper to get an edge on seats in parliament once the next government is formed. He's a pretty smart guy, his visit to Hamilton was planned with the election in mind.

But of course all this election drivel, and I'm as guilty as any of us, keeps us from talking about the real issues like climate change and the problem of civilization. That'll suit Harper just fine.