Anna: My elder daughter and I joined over 500 people from all political stripes at our local Rally for Canada. Aside from 2 people with signs counter-protesting, this was a rally in support or our elected government and against a coalition attempting to unseat our PM. This past Thursday, there was a pro-coalition rally at this location that drew a reported 300 people, while a student lead pro-federal government rally of about 200 people was held in another part of the city.(I've made my first attempt to upload video to flickr with the rest of today's photos. Actually, the second one is still uploading as I write this. They'll be here, when it's done.)
If nothing else, these political shenanigans are getting people involved who've never been political active before. Interestingly, current polls show that if an election were held right now, our current government would win with a record majority vote of 46%, while 61% say that they think our current government, with our current PM, is the best to lead our country right now. It seems to me the coalition attempt has alienated a LOT of people. I imagine, whenever our next election is held, we'll have a much greater than 59.1% voter turn out!
Note to visitors from outside Canada: We don't vote directly for our PM. We vote for representatives in our ridings, and currently there are 5 parties eligable at the federal level, though one is only in Quebec. The party that has the most elected representatives, out of a total of 308, wins the election. The leader of that party becomes PM. Our PM wears three hats - s/he is an MP, plus leader of their party (elected as party leader by registered members of that party), and finally, Prime Minister. The only people who get to vote directly for the PM - as their Member of Parliament - are those that live in his/her riding. Our PM has a riding in Calgary, where a reported 2000 - 3000 people showed up for their Rally for Canada.
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