With Parliament suspended for the next 7 weeks I honestly don't think the coalition is going to stand a chance. Stephen Harper may have made some serious tactical blunders to get into this situation but you can be sure he's not going to continue his school-yard bullying tactics when he announces their budget on January 27. I have every expectation that there will be a number of things previously requested by the opposition parties which will undermine their argument that he's not interested in making Parliament work. I also have every expectation that it won't be long before he's back to his "my way or the highway" mentality. I am disappointed that things did not continue to allow the coalition a chance to govern as I am more confident in their abilities to represent Canadians than the Conservatives.
Perhaps most disturbing though is the inclination of people providing commentary online to go to the extreme. With so much activity on news sites and the individual commentary running fast and furious, I saw a lot of comments that were unequivocally black or white, 1 or 0. In light of this I found an interesting article discussing the concept of crime occuring where there are signs of neglect, and extending it to online spaces. I think that there are so many unmoderated avenues for people to provide commentary on anything and everything (my blog is a prime example) that people feel they can say anything. Including things that they might never say in a conversation with a "real" person. That also comes with a cloak of anonymity and both seem to make consensus-building difficult. That saddens me. One might hope that democracy relies on the voice of people being heard but I'm not sure that this method is a constructive step towards true democracy.
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