Oh, Right, Harvard's A Cesspool Of Relativism ...

Michael Ignatieff:

Politics is an art, not a science, and so the judgments that you’re making are about people, and they’re judgments about what’s possible, and those are very different than the judgments you make in the safety of academic life.

Actually, politics is a science. It is the branch of philosophy that applies ethics to the social context, having roots in both metaphysics and epistemology. And, like all branches of philosophy, it requires the scientific movement from certain premises to their proper conclusions and corollaries.

This subjectivist garbage is precisely the problem with Canadian politicians. Government should not be a playground for power-lusting pragmatists and intellectual adolescents. The functions of the state ought to be animated by and limited to the stature of a moral social system as determined by reason. When did this fall so desperately out of mode?

Ignatieff is sounding more and more like Stephen Harper's less intelligent and socially awkward cousin every day.

Grow a pair, Iggy. We already know what a Liberal Party with no chutzpah looks like and it ain't pretty.

Hey, Remember When Paul Martin Was Quiet For Two Years?

Boy, that was nice.

So says Martin:

"China is a superpower, as is India, and they have got to be able to play on a level playing field with the other superpowers but it's very important to us that they do it because that's what's going to make the world work.

"And it's very important for us 33 million people to be involved with these massive markets and their huge economies and we should be doing a great deal more."

Always fun to get your opinion, Paul. Could you crawl back under your rock now, please?

Election Predictions

Sorry it's been so quiet 'round these parts lately. To get us back in the swing of things I thought I'd offer some official Canadian Republic election predictions.

What's on the line? Well, that would be the very most precious commodity of all: pride.

Popular Vote

2006 Results

Tories: 36.3%

Grits: 30.2%

NDP: 17.5%

Bloc: 10.5%

Green: 4.5%

2008 Predictions

Tories: 39%

Grits: 25%

NDP: 19%

Bloc: 9%

Green: 7%

Seats In Parliament

2006 Results

Tories: 124

Grits: 103

NDP: 29

Bloc: 51

Green: 0

2008 Predictions

Tories: 135-140

Grits: 78-85

NDP: 32-35

Bloc: 45-50

Green: 2-4

Major Changes

Although it probably won't be hugely reflected in the popular vote, the NDP should see some major gains when the dust settles. Given the number of ridings in the last federal election which saw narrow Liberal victories (e.g. Toronto, Vancouver, etc), the NDP should have very little trouble picking up a handful of new seats.

Quebec - ever the battleground province - should finally allow Harper some gains as Grit and Bloc influence wavers in key ridings. A Mulroney-esque breakthrough is highly unlikely, but the Conservatives should still forge crucial inroads beyond Quebec City which could very definitely place them in striking distance of a majority for the next election.


I know my Tory predictions are a little conservative (pardon the awful joke). I've been talking to a lot of hopefuls who are predicting a majority this election. I'm very wary, however, of underestimating the power of strategic voting on the left. Only time is going to tell just how important a factor it turns out to be.

If you folks have any special insights I overlooked or want to share some guesses of your own, post 'em in the comments.