Canada becomes the 51st state...

So that most dreaded of political events has happened -- the Conservatives have taken over my beloved country and I am preparing for the worst. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, let me briefly explain. In Canada, the Liberal party has been in power for the last long while. As a result, we've had a lot of progressive effects on Canadian society, which in my opinion includes such benefits as laxer marijuana laws and legalized Gay Marriage. Until two days ago we Canadians had lived in one of the truly free countries in the world. I say that because I always debate with Americans that despite America's motto, Canada is in fact much freer than the States have been for the last few years, mainly due to the influence of Bush.

I should point out though, I was not born a Canadian. I was actually born in Croatia, which is a beautiful, but very troubled country in Eastern Europe. Coming to Canada was like coming to the promised land, but at the time I did not know that much about it except that it was, as my parents said, "pretty much America". Everyone knew about America.

As we lived our lives and grew more and more attached to our new country though, we started to realized that Canada was not in fact America. I mean sure, it had most of the same amenities in terms of lifestyle and consumer goods, and almost all the same media (TV, movies, music, etc.) but it seemed a better place to live overall. However, we did often travel to America and I came to love several cities there as well, and in particular New York. America had its problems, but it still seemed a decent place to be. Then Bush ruined everything. Still, someone elected him. Presumably half the American people. In any case, two days ago this had all just been fodder for upseting any Americans that I came accross. Now, however, it has become personal.

The Conservative party was born a few years ago as a result of a merger between two right wing parties -- the Progressive Conservatives and The Canadian Alliance. The Canadian Alliance scared the crap out of me when they initially ran for power. Think bible thumpers, but not inbred, so with some actual brains and intelligence. In my eyes though, pure evil. Luckily, it seemed I was not the only person to think that way, because they did not get far. After the merger though, the new, stronger Conservatives seemed to hold a lot of the same viewpoints as the Alliance had, even though they seemed to do a better job of hiding their more extreme views. Still, it seemed they would never come to power in a forward and liberal country like Canada and so I felt reassured. Thanks to the Liberal scandal and people's unwilligness to vote for the NDP though, we now have our own little version of Bush sitting in power.

What does this mean for Canadians? Well here is how I see it. We can look forward to such wonderful things as increased military spending (oh good, a large military for invading third world countries and destroying civillians' lives so that we too can be a terrorist target in the future), pushes towards once again illegilizing gay marriage (it's basic human rights people, the gay issue is the same as the race issue was 50 years ago, why doesn't everyone see that? they aren't hurting anyone!), stricter drug laws (marijuana has been repeatedly proven to be a harmless substance, possibly even benificial in some cases, and as for harder drugs? well most heavy drug use is a symptom not a cause of illness. Besides....what's happened in America with stricter drug laws? Well, seems to me everyone is just addicted to the legal stuff. It's actually quite insanely illogical.), and I could go on but I am starting to depress myself. I am sure Canada - US relations will get stronger now. Yay. It's enough to make me never want to return from Japan!

The one good thing in all of this is the fact that the Conservatives are only a minority government as of right now. This means that they will have a hard time doing anything without the support of two other major parties. That puts my mind at ease for the time being. However, what worries me is that while in power they will actually be good for Canada in some ways, like taxes for example. I'm afraid this will lull the population into forgetting about the other issues until Harper wins again with a majority. That's when the transformation will begin. I can only hope that when the time comes though, most Canadians will not stand to let the things that make us a truly unique, peaceful, and accepting country be destroyed. If we have to fight with a joint in hand and a bitchy queen at our sides, then by God/Allah/Buddah/RuPaul we will!

The future of my beloved country does scare me now. Also, I'm pissed because I can no longer gloat and boast to my American friends about how wonderfully Liberal Canada is. When I return in a few years I don't know what it will be like. Will things change so much that I will no longer feel it is my home? Will Harper be our very own version of Bush? I really don't know.

In fact, the only thing that I have left to cling to right now is the knowledge that Harper, unlike Bush, at least has no problems pronouncing words longer than two syllables. It's only too bad they aren't words that I want to hear.