Distracted from moving by our government

[jbailey]

A brief distraction from moving - I find it fascinating that people should vaguely think that a coalition appealing to the Governor General is undemocratic. As far as I can tell, this comes from watching too much American TV. As Canadians, we don't elect the government or the PM. We elect MPs to fill seats, and the GG chooses the government based on the available people who can form the most stable government.

This bit is important! The MP you voted for is *still* your MP. Now the people elected to run the country have to try and figure which group represents the best chance of running smooth government. For those of us not around to remember the last time this happened (1926, Lord Bynd as GG), it's perfectly reasonable for the GG to ask the opposition to try and form a working government.

By some measure, this is extraordinary, but I think of going for another election 7 weeks after the previous one to be the equivalent of seeking marriage counseling 7 weeks after starting dating someone. As in, it's perfectly okay to write it off and try the other available options.

Time to get some sleep for our first night in the new appartment. =)

Comments

Britain's no better

[bruce89 [launchpad.net] (from livejournal.com)]

When Gordon Brown was made PM over a year ago, there was a large (mostly English) number of people going on about how he "wasn't elected".

Also, the Queen is the Queen of the the UK and the Commonwealth, not just England (which is not a country).