It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

As the Liberals and Tories are having their post throne speech caucus meetings this morning, all the reporters are emphasizing the conrasting moods of jubiliation and panic in the respective Tory and Liberal caucuses.

Well, that's good news and bad news for both of Canada's two top parties. For the elated "not so new" government, after almost 2 years of governing, their consistent support has not grown significantly save a few polls showing their flirting with but not actually in majority territory. With an opposition that's to say the least divided, good economic times, and a fractured Liberal Quebec branch ther Tories should be wondering why it is that this is the best they can do. However, they might find some comfort in that it will take some time to repair the Quebec Liberal reputation, and they must find some way to capitalize on that. The bottom line is that they're leading regardless of the details, but Harper shouldn't become frivolous with this lead.

As for teh Liberals, well their problems are well documented. Problems in Quebec, not enough support for Dion, and that results in them being a weak opposition. Heck even the NDP who seem to think the Liberals are governing based on how they favour attacking the Liberals more than the Tories have mockingly suggested that they will be the official opposition rather than the Liberals. Someonw should tell the NDP that the real prize is governing, not being official opposition, but the NDP's never understood what it's about anyway. Back to the Liberls, to add to their problems, there's that quack from the Turner years that likes to berate the leader at every opportunity. That's the bad news, and frankly that's a lot of bad news, but if the party can get its house together, they'd realize that Harper has not won over enough Canadians, and many Canadians -- outside of Quebec at least -- are willing to see what the Liberals have to say before they give Harper their support. Unfortunately, the message they've been giving to Canadians as that they can't even manage their own house, much less a G8 country.

In terms of having a change in government, well the polls right now suggest that much wouldn't change if an election were held right now, but before the start of the Ontario campaign Mcguinty and Tory were neck and neck. Lesson: election campaigns matter, but of course that's elementary. The current situation tells me that even though Canadians might not fear Harper as they once did, if they had a reasonable alternative he would be booking tee times with John Tory faster than you can say faith based funding. And all this smack about people not being ready for another election, well it might be the case, but are people that irresponsible that they can't donate the hour or so (quite often less) to go mark an "X" for their, their family's, and their country's interest? Enough with the excuses.