Unnecessary election? For whom?

Mr. Harper and his Conservative cronies have shamelessly used the term "unnecessary election" to describe the current political environment in Canada. Unnecessary for whom?

Pundits are citing the fact that Canadians will 'endure' their fourth federal election in seven years if the Conservative Government falls tomorrow. Well, it would have been one less if Mr. Harper didn't trigger the 2008 "unnecessary election". And make no mistake, the Conservatives are triggering this election too (see my previous post "Don't be fooled..."). The Conservatives are citing events in the Middle East and Japan as reasons for not having an election. MAHUH?!?!?! When in the last four decades have there NOT been significant events in the Middle East? When have there NOT been economic events like the one being caused by the Japan tragedy? Heck, the last election occurred on Oct 14, 2008. By that time, it was widely expected that the Canadian (and most of the rest of the world) economy would go into what turned out to be the greatest recession since the 1930's Great Depression.

The Conservatives keep saying Canadian voters don't want an election and it makes me wonder, are the Conservatives deliberately using this as a strategy to stay in power? Are they forcing elections every couple of years and then blaming it on the opposition parties so that voters (who seem to be tired of going to the polls so often) will either vote against the opposition, or even just stay at home so that the minority of Canadians that are hard core Conservatives have a better chance of voting the Conservatives to a majority?

Think about that and let it sink in for a few minutes....

Democracy is never unnecessary. If politicians can't play nice on Parliament Hill, then maybe it's time to switch it up a little. A political party facing scandal after scandal? Maybe it's time to change leaders, like what happened to the Liberal Party.

There is no such thing as an "unnecessary election", except when it is "opportunistic", like the one that the Conservatives forced in 2008, when they tried to shoot for a majority. The only reason this coming election can be accused of being "opportunistic" is that it gives the opposition parties to agree on a principle to cause the plurality of their votes to cause the Conservative Government to fall in their "coalition" to topple an overbearing ruler.

By the way, the Conservatives going on about how they want to focus on the economy reminds me of Bill Clinton's campaign for presidency when the campaign motto was "It's the economy, stupid." Another lesson the Conservatives are taking from the American political playbook.