Mack the Hackistan

In solidarity with Trey and Matt

noreply@blogger.com (Mack the Hack) — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 14:52:00 +0000

practice

noreply@blogger.com (Mack the Hack) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:40:00 +0000

yes, it is

noreply@blogger.com (Mack the Hack) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 17:40:00 +0000

is this thing on?

noreply@blogger.com (Mack the Hack) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:30:00 +0000

Brilliant

noreply@blogger.com (Mack the Hack) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:55:00 +0000

Can't say enough about this one...

(h/t to Zerby)

Back, by slightly-popular demand

noreply@blogger.com (Mack the Hack) — Thu, 28 May 2009 05:05:00 +0000

Someone keeps hassling me.

Thanks.

How the NDP leadership race saved my life (pt. 3)

noreply@blogger.com (Mack the Hack) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 03:17:00 +0000

Even when you're dead inside, the offer of a home-baked apple pie with scratch crust tends to resonate. I needed something to do, he needed a wordsmith, and I was soon put to work. Being busy is its own boon, but something deeper occurred during the next six or so months.

After losing my job, I vowed that whatever future career path I chose had to accept that I had a point of view and could at the barest of minimums tolerate my general misfit tendencies. There would be no more selling out or pretending to be something I wasn't.

"We are the Island of Misfit Toys," one campaign veteran told me as I delved deeper and deeper into the uniquest of projects, a leadership campaign. And we were, most of us long on the outs with the party, or with labour, or both. For my part, I'd gone away, and that would always make me an object of suspicion among certain segments of the left and labour.

But coming back to the fold, after so many years away, brought a unique perspective. That I had essentially been imploding for the better part of three years made the perspective even more unique. After all, I'd pretty much gotten to the point of preferring not to talk to anyone. Hardly the best headspace for someone doing campaign communications.

And yet, there were parts I was strangely good at. Other parts, not so much. The campaign forced me to meet and speak to people, to interact. And funny things started to happen along the way.

To his credit, Michael tolerated and sometimes (I hope) appreciated my occasional rhetorical flourishes.

...to be continued (this gets wrapped up tomorrow!)

How the NDP leadership race saved my life (pt. 2)

noreply@blogger.com (Mack the Hack) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 13:47:00 +0000

Pogey, though, is a finite resource, and while the break was welcome, it was accompanied by an overwhelming sense of futility with and alienation from everything around me, everything I'd ever experienced. Hardly the best mindset to have when you're trying to figure out what you're going to be when you grow up, and 40 is a few months away.

I'd alienated myself from progressive politics seven years earlier. It's sort of required of you when you try and make it as a 'real' reporter. Truth be told, it was perhaps a good thing, to step outside the realm and view things with a fresh set of eyes. I'd gone to Yellowknife, Inuvik, Iqaluit, Fort McMurray, Toronto, Auckland and back to Toronto (tail between my legs). It wasn't that I stopped being a lefty. Hell, my last boss in journalism probably canned me in large part because with my long hair, sideburns and not buying all his bullshit about how the wages his readers had to pay their workers were outrageous, I was (to him) like some bad hippie posterchild put out by Nixon/Agnew.

In essence, I'd gone away for seven years to either (depending on your perspective) perform the noble task of 'bearing witness' the daily life of a community, or somehow 'rise above' my station in life. Mostly, I aspired to bear witness, but I woulda loved to cracked the big leagues, the Globe, or the Post or Dr. Foth's old spot on the back of Macleans. I thought I was close, but it never happened and getting to where I'd gone, then watching it and my mother die had essentially shattered any connection I may have felt with the broader world.

If I was alienated from my old world, the new world I'd entered into had become practically an object of hatred for me. It was filled with haters and people who would smile and look you in the eye while they slipped the shank between your ribs.

My faith-in everything-was destroyed. Nothing spoke to me, and nothing listened.

And so last September, I found myself sitting in Michael Prue's Queen's Park office, being handed a slice of homemade apple pie.

It's hard to be cynical when someone hands you a piece of pie they made from scratch.

For the record, Prue does a killer shortcrust.

...to be continued

How the NDP leadership race saved my life (pt. 1)

noreply@blogger.com (Mack the Hack) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 20:53:00 +0000

Losing my job last year was, in a strange way, one of the best things that ever happened to me.

When the axe fell, and I'd had a hunch it was coming long before it ever connected with neck, it just felt like mustard on the particular shit sandwich I'd been eating for the past three years.

My career in journalism had tanked after I'd invested a great deal into it. I'd quit a good-paying job at Chrysler (hmmm, autoworker to journalism-frying pan and fire?).
Laugh, if you must at the notion that an autoworker gig back in 2000 was a pretty sweet deal. But it would've been. I was young and could write, and the labour movement saw enough potential in me, either to be useful or to make trouble, that I could've made a decent living out of being co-opted.

'We all sell out' another former labour young turk and current rapidly-approaching-midlife labour person who'd stuck around told me once. I would've, too. But I wanted something different, so I struck out in journalism, taking paid gigs in Yellowknife, Inuvik, Iqaluit, Fort McMurray and Toronto, where I was building a rep for silly little column that was a lot of fun to write.

Then came the side trip to New Zealand, then hurriedly back to Toronto and finally to Mississauga, where my career died. My mother had died a few months prior and between watching my career and her passing away, I probably needed a break. My friends will attest, I was pretty shell-shocked.

But at least unemployment afforded me the opportunity to grieve and focus on the important things in life. Walks with the dog and cooking dinner for someone you love.

To be continued...

Getting the blood to boil

noreply@blogger.com (Mack the Hack) — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 02:39:00 +0000

I've given up trying to wrap it up in one post. It will be broken into two, and I promise to try and get them completed two. The first comes shortly.

Right now, I'm watching PM Harper and Peter Mansbridge. Harper's douchebaggery is almost fascinating.

Gone fishin'! (almost)

noreply@blogger.com (Mack the Hack) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 05:16:00 +0000

I'm trying to finish a magnum opus post that will be my last for awhile. It's taking too long to write, and I'm too freakin' tired. I'll have it it sometime tomorrow morning.

What the past two weeks tell me about the Canadian polity: The worst

noreply@blogger.com (Mack the Hack) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 04:24:00 +0000

As promised, here is my last post. Hackistan won't be backistan until sometime in Mid-March, although I will periodically post an observation or two here and there. When such momentous (monotonous?) occasions occur, I'll put a bulletin into the ol' Facebook, and I'm sure one most loyal reader will thoughtfully make sure it winds up getting a link on her own blog, which is awesome and gets (or at least deserves to get) scads of traffic.

The 'Gone fishing' sign will probably go up tomorrow. Somehow, it seemed a little flippant to put it up while discussing the troubling and hopeful aspects of the last two weeks in politics.

My support for a coalition appears to be a moot point now. Dion is truly toast now, and it looks for all the world like Michael Ignatieff has finessed his way into Stornoway. No admirer of the coalition he, so it also looks like Parliament is actually going to get down to getting some business passed. A semblance of normalcy seems to be returning to the Dominion.

But this is all so quintessentially Canadian, like feeling superior to Americans or Christie Blatchford muscling her way into whatever happens to be the Biggest Story in the Canadian Media Firmament At Any Given Time (which she finally did on in today's Globe and Mail in this morning's paper. You'll thank me for not linking to it) and no doubt pissing off every reporter on that particular beat. She's done it as long as I've been reading her, and there was no shortage of deskers I've met over the years who haven't been shy about relating her legendary tantrums when she doesn't get her way to anyone within earshot. Mais je digresse...

It's all so quintessentially Canadian. Every once in a while, some series of events lays bare some of the more troublesome aspects of the Canadian political psyche, things get a bit scary, everyone steps back from the abyss, then fall back into an uneasy slumber.

It was like this during the Meech Lake crisis, and it felt like this the night of the last referendum. I'm sure it probably felt like this during the October Crisis too, but I was just a toddler and have no real recollection of that event.

Everyone's starting to nervously nod off now, but the underlying problems remain both undealt with, and undiscussed. That makes me nervous, because nothing has really changed.

Strangely, though, I've come out of this with a sense of hope. While much of what has taken place these past two weeks has laid bare the worst of the Canadian polity, from the grassroots to the highest echelons, there have also been signs of the best aspects of our Dominion.

Here's a few of the worsts:

1. This whole mess started when Stephen Harper decided to take a page from the old Mike Harris playbook in Ontario (it was fitting that Harris henchmen Jim Flaherty and Tony Clement now sit on Harper's front benches as his Finance Minister and Industry Minister, respectively) and use an economic crisis to put the boots to the opposition, both inside the legislature and out. Make no mistake about it--this was as much about getting the unions angry as it was about freaking out the opposition. The Harris playbook always involves pissing off unions and getting them out into the streets, which seems to unsettle and anger a large segment of the population. Bare minimum, it firms up the base. It was about as naked and transparent a bit of bare-knuckle dirty-dealing I've seen in a long time. That the government saw fit to play that particular game while the economy is going into the crapper ought to give Canadians a nice glimpse into what passes for a soul in Harper Tory circles. Everyone's a bit brittle at the moment, but when this moment passes, I hope they remember this little stunt and how utterly vile it was. Playing this stupid little Parliamentary parlour game might be fun when the economy is humming, poverty has been eliminated and our troops are no longer in harm's way in Afghanistan.

Playing it now is practically evil.

2. The fear of 'the other' (aka 'separatists')--Once their stupid little game backfired, the Tories employed a scorched-earth policy. Perhaps one of the unintended benefits to come out this whole sordid affair is that it exposed just how far the Tories will go to save their bacon. They whipped up their western base into a frenzy, taking along a healthy number of Ontarians and Atlantic Canadians for the ride. Troubled as I am by my compatriots' viscerally negative reaction to what the Tory machine brilliantly painted as a 'coalition with separatists', the far more troubling aspect wasn't the reaction, but how shamelessly the Tories stoked it for crass political advantage. I feel like I'm somehow channelling Aquinas, but every single aspect of this crisis comes back to the same Prime Mover--Stephen Harper, and his failure to act in the national interest when circumstances demanded he do so. Not obliged, not 'would have been a good thing'. Demanded, both from an ethical and a practical standpoint. When people are losing their jobs, their homes, retirees are losing their savings. In the midst of a global economic catastrophe, a moral obligation exists to act in the National interest, not the governing party's. That's a compelling ethical argument, but it doesn't necessarily bind him to act in a certain manner.

What did was the larger number of MPs on the other side of the Commons. Those MPs, who represent the democratic will of people from all across Canada, chose to band together. What none of the coalition partners was able to successfully articulate was, 'hey, Quebecers elected these many people. Liberals elected these many. New Democrats elected these many. Like it or not, we were all elected by Canadians. More Canadians entrusted us with the responsibility for the affairs of state than they did your party. You get a chance to govern with the proviso that you work with one or more of us to form a working majority. You chose instead to attack us, and by extension, the people who voted for us.

Whatever the electorate may be saying right at this moment, based on polling is irrelevant to this particular argument. The voters voted, this is the Parliament they returned. Poking all three parties in the eye, then complaining that they teamed up to poke back is a bit like the kid who murders his parents, then begs the judge for mercy at sentencing because he's an orphan.

But again with the digressions. There's the Prime Mover, then there are the subsequent events, and much of the subsequent goings-on centred around the shameless stoking of anti-Quebec sentiment. Unless there are somehow hundreds of thousands of FLQ terrorists masquerading as ordinary Quebecers hiding in the Gaspe and the Eastern Townships, those attacks on 'separatists' really was an attack on the people who elected Bloc MPs.

Stay Classy, Calgary.

3. A war on language--Stephen Harper and the Tories are hardly the only people guilty of this in Canada. Any time a self-motivated wannabe kingmaker like Buzz Hargrove cozies up to Captains of Industry like Jerry Schwartz and Frank Stronach to deprive working people of basic rights like the right to strike or elect their own representatives, then laments that he is a 'socialist without a home,' you've got a problem with people getting into that Orwellian game of playing with language. It's a particularly sublime art in Canada. What Harper and the Tories have managed to do it better than most. I've dwelt on 'separatist' and 'socialist' a fair bit, but to watch 'treason', and 'sedition' making the rounds was way more troubling. But the worst was 'undemocratic' in response to the coalition. It's an attempt to change the rules of the game midway through the second period. Our country's major written legal principles are contained in the BNA Act(subsequently the Constitution Act of Canada) and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. However, our political systems are further descended down from the British system, which is an unwritten one. Well, there's the Magna Charta of 1215, but beyond that, the system is by and larged based on precedent and Common Law. In essence, when something unprecedented occurs that is outside the realm of the BNA or the Charter, then it falls to Canadian Parliamentary precedent. If it remains unprecedented, then we must look to our predecessors to see if a precedent exists there, and if not there, then to our other stable neighbours who employ similar systems.

Coalitions exist. In New Zealand, throughout Europe, in many other places. A coalition of three smaller parties banding together to thwart a larger minority party is not unheard of. To imply such a thing is somehow treachery is to denigrate our parliamentary system. If you have a problem with the system, articulate it clearly, based on the facts. Carelessly tossing out grenades like 'treason' and 'sedition' and ingoring that your system draws upon precedents far more ancient than our practically infant country is just stupid, crass, and frickin' dangerous.

And finally, 4. The Tory embrace of truthiness. The key messages deployed by the Tories, best exemplified in my howl, howl gargle, separatist, howl post of a few days ago, focused on treason and separatists, but a few particular howlers show that just on the cusp of the Obama era in the States, the Tories are now fully in the embrace of the Karl Rove playbook.

Here's to hoping it serves the Tories as well over the long term as it did the Rovians. A key component of the Rove book is in playing to your base and trying to grow it just enough to swing the elections in your favour. The best way to do this is to segment the electorate into ever-thinner slivers, then try to shake a few slices off your opponent's coalition. This requires you to more often than not get small groups of people worked up by messing with their heads, and the best way to mess with heads is to say things that appeal to the gut, rather than the head.

That means employing truthy little nuggets like, 'the coalition wouldn't even stand with a Canadian flag.' It's a demonstrable lie, but it feels true when you're attacking people for 'separatist' leanings and the 'socialists' cozying up with them. Same with other nice truthy things like the 'governor general has no right to deny prorogation,' and 'a coalition government is illegitimate'. In the end they're meaningless, but for the time, they serve a purpose for those employing them.

On a certain level, there's no point reasoning with them now (which is one of the reasons I'm not averse to a coalition government). They've clearly drank the Kool Aid, and while it's yucky to watch, I'm inclined to think they aren't long for this world. It's the nature of living in a self-imposed unreality.

Next time around, the best of the Canadian polity over the past two week

Reason 4. We Are All Separatists Now

noreply@blogger.com (Mack the Hack) — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 02:47:00 +0000

The rallies are over, but ambivalence and fear remain the order of the day.

To my reckoning, the coalition remains a flawed prospect, but less flawed than the alternative, which is a Tory government led by Stephen Harper, a man I (and many others) no longer feel has the temperament to govern or the capacity to advance the national interest over his own narrow partisan interests.

Stephane Dion gave a decent speech in Nathan Phillips Square today, as did Jack Layton, but the Dion, the coalition's putative leader, seemed to me to only get a lukewarm response from the 3,000 or so (CP put it at that number, which was about what I estimated) on hand.

But even with another leader (and make no mistake, given the current composition of the Commons, any leader will come from the second-largest party in the House), I suspect a great many Canadians share my ambivalence, if not my fear.

Indeed, even with the second and third-largest parties in coalition, the only way they can possibly govern is with the support of the fourth-largest party, the Bloc.

That brings me to reason 4.

While Quebecers have elected a majority of Bloc MPs in the province for the past five elections, support for sovereignty in the province is well below the 49.9 per cent the last referendum garnered for nearly a decade. Quebecers may be many things right now, like proud of being Quebecois, dissatisfied with their province's place in the federation or even nationalists--but they aren't separatists. At least not right now.

They elect a party they feel will best represent their interests in Ottawa. That the party advocates sovereignty is a rather moot point. Any time one of the Bloc or PQ hardliners starts pushing for yet another referendum, they are more often than not told to crawl into some hole or another, lest they completely destroy their party's chances of winning power.

In short, Quebec had been, or was, or is moving past the tired old 'two solitudes' trope that has defined its relationship with the rest of Canada for quite some time. The Bloc, I think, understands this. It's highly doubtful the party would have made it beyond the Lucien Bouchard era had they not.

The rest of Canada--not so much, apparently. From the moment the coalition was announced, to be supported by the Bloc, the notion of 'the Separatists' (in a way, it was almost like hearing Kathy Griffin talk about 'the Gays', but with none of the affection) whipped a segment of English Canada into a fury. That the fury got stoked for several days by the Prime Minister, many of his senior Cabinet Ministers, and the PM's odious Parliamentary secretary Pierre Poilievre, strikes me as particularly telling.

Faced with an opposition prepared to bring them down in retaliation for their BS, the Tories first panicked, then launched a scorched-earth approach to rally their base. Every Tory utterance, particularly those from the odious Mr. Poilievre, needed to include the words 'socialist' and 'separatist', with the occasional 'treason' thrown in for good measure. Quebecers can be forgiven for being a tad offended. After all, this is the same political party that cozied up to the Bloc in 2000 and 2004 in the hopes of bringing down the Liberals, going so far as to propose a coalition on at least one of these occasions. And for all the time the Harperistas have been in power, they have been nearly shameless in their courting of the soft nationalist vote in Quebec--the very same voters who mark their 'X' next to the Bloquiste candidate.

Now, those same representatives--and by extension their supporters--have been demonized by the Tory base, and by a great many others including some very irresponsible journalists in English Canada. Sun Media's Mark Bonokoski, a charming guy I shared many a smoke with when I worked at the sad-sack 24 Hours, darkly referred to democracy in Canada 'being raped' by the prospect of separatists having a say in of government. As if they don't have a say in government already, as members of the opposition. As if Quebecers' votes only count if the vote the way Mark thinks they should.

There are others, but I won't name more names. Yet.

What's saddest is that the coalition holds the promise of something different--a move past the paralyzing 'two solitudes' trope. A door opened a crack between Quebecers and the rest of Canada. In their haste to save their jobs, the Tories have done their utmost to slam it shut, fanning the flames of regional alienation and hatred against the 'other.'

Whether the door is open or shut now remains a mystery, at least for the time being. If the door is shut, the Tories are to blame, but we won't know unless there is an election that if it were held today, would probably result in a Tory majority. That's a shame, because if they do win such a mandate, it'll be in the strength of the anti-Quebec hysteria they've unleashed. My guess is that history is going to judge Stephen Harper and his minions very harshly. Whether a jittery, brittle electorate will remains to be seen.

In the meantime, rather than confronting our myriad economic problems, far too much attention is about to be paid to repairing freshly-frayed Franco/Anglo relations. Maybe the door isn't completely shut. After all, when you gete right down to it, Harper, Poilievre, and all the other truly small men of Confederation basically feel the same contempt for those of us in English Canada who believe in standing up to bullies as they did to all those scary separatists in Quebec.

In essence, I too, am a now separatist. We all are.

Reason 3. The predictable response of bullies

noreply@blogger.com (Mack the Hack) — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 11:51:00 +0000

Anyone who has had to deal with a bully shouldn't really be surprised at Stephen Harper's response to the fury he unleashed.

A bully will torment their victims mercilessly and without provocation, but when the torment becomes unbearable and victims stand up for themselves. Confronted with victims no longer interested in victimhood, bullies invariably go crying to the nearest authority figure to protect them from the consequences of their bad behaviour.

With that in mind, it's hardly surprising that the Prime Minister, confronted with an opposition prepared to do what was necessary to take him out, ran crying to hide behind the Governor General's skirts. It was entirely predictable. He and his government live to see another day (or 55 days), lick their wounds and wait for the most opportune moment to pick off their victims, all the while re-writing history to avoid having to take responsibility for what they have done.

We are now in the waiting mode. All of the parties have been weakened by the past two weeks' events (with the exception, perhaps of the Bloc). However, Stephen Harper remains strongest, the beneficiary of a Liberal Party in turmoil, a huge war chest and all the advantages that incumbency provides to a government.

So there he sits, safely protected from having to face the music by a Governor General who had little choice under our system but to grant his request to lock Parliament's doors. He sits, he waits, he schemes, and one day, he will exploit his opponents' perceived weaknesses.

Having been on the receiving end of this sort of behaviour in the past, as an individual and as a group, (Much of this bears a striking similarity to life under Mike Harris. The only difference this time is that the government doesn't have a majority in the House, thank God)I'm pretty sure I know what's coming. And I'm no longer interested in being on that particular ride this time.

If the bully doesn't strike tomorrow, or the next day, or on Jan. 27, he will eventually strike again. And all the while, his victims are going to wonder when the next blow will come.

It's time to take a stand, if not through a coalition, then through some other avenue.

Inertia is not an option.

Reason 2. From Loathing to Fear

noreply@blogger.com (Mack the Hack) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 14:32:00 +0000

As Stephen Harper makes his case to the GG, let's discuss my second reason for supporting an Liberal/NDP coalition.

In my nearly 40 years on this planet, there have been many conservatives I have either respected or even liked. Churchill comes to mind, as does Bob Stanfield and Joe Clark, Preston Manning and Deborah Grey.

Stephen Harper is not one of these conservatives. He has always struck me as a nasty, controlling man more interested in advancing the interests of a narrow group than he was in making Canada a better place.

But somewhere along this sordid path Canada finds itself on, I found my loathing turning to fear. That perception gets amplified with every passing development.

When the economic statement was tabled last Thursday, my loathing turned into fury. The fear began in the ensuing days. Using an economic crisis as a trojan horse to cripple the opposition, in my opinion, revealed the Harper Tories to be more interested in hyper-partisan gamesmanship than seeking common ground for the betterment of the country. In and of itself, that isn't scary, but subsequent moves by the Tories have been extremely unsettling.

First came the tape. The hows are spotty, its supposed boffo content pretty ho-hum. But the 'what' is indisputable.

By accident or by design, the Tories gained access to an NDP conference call, taped it, and released the contents of the tape to claim the NDP had been planning to ally with the Bloc Quebecois to topple the government long before the economic update ever came before the House.

This is a deeply disturbing development, chilling in its near-Nixonian amorality.

Not far behind the tape was an obviously well-calculated strategy to sow the worst seeds of division across the country, pitting region against region, English against French. The talking points were virtually identical, and haven't changed. Since the leaders of the three oppositions announced they were attempting to find common ground on how to form a working majority in the Commons, the airwaves have been ablaze with a veritable rogues' gallery of Tory cabinet ministers, flacks, hacks and flunkies engaging in the worst forms of demagoguery. Quebecers' elected representatives became 'Separatists,' another party's members (and by extension their supporters) were denigrated as 'Socialists'. Words like 'treason', 'coup', and 'sedition' have been thrown around as casually as a cigarette butt, with no regard for the potentially-disastrous consequences of such dangerous language. I am no supporter of limits on free speech. The Tories are free to say whatever they like, but they must also be prepared to take responsibility for whatever divisions they wind up sowing among Canadians.

Thus far, they have shown no inclination to do so.

While Stephen Harper and his partisans have busily been sowing the seeds of division, all Canadians are reaping the whirlwind. I have not seen our national discouse this coarsened in a very long time, since at least Meech Lake.

Harper is about to emerge from Rideau Hall. Now comes prorogation, according to the reports. The coalition must hold its resolve. This government must fall.

Know hope. Fight back. Hold them responsible. If not Monday, then at the first opportunity.

Reason 1. Stephen Harper has lost the confidence of the House, and of me

noreply@blogger.com (Mack the Hack) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 01:56:00 +0000

The roots of this current constitutional crisis lie in the new government's economic update, tabled by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty on Nov. 27.

Given the urgency caused by the global economic upheaval all around us, Canadians deserved a government that was prepared to act in the interests of the greater public good. There can be respectful disagreements about the size and speed of any government-sponsored stimulus package, but Canadians deserved--at the bare minimum--a statement that put the good of the nation ahead of any partisan considerations.

Instead, the government elected to engage what is perhaps the most cynical act of hyper-partisan brinksmanship I have witnessed in more than 20 years of being a close observer of Canadian politics.

On a certain level, the Tory calculus was quite flawless. They were flush with cash, their opponents nearly broke. The economic statement contained provisions with respect to the federal subsidy the major parties get for every vote received, stripped unionized workers of their rights to strike, and flew in the face of what every other developed nation has attempted to do to mitigate the effects of the downturn on their citizens by obstinately refusing to offer any meaningful sort of stimulus.

The Tory math seemed predicated on a phrase I always dreaded when it came out of the lips of the oilmen and developers I used to report on in the Prime Minister's home base of Alberta--The 'win-win' proposition.

If the opposition folded and allowed the statement to pass, they would appear weak, be bankrupted and ripe for the picking at a time of the government's choosing. If they brought down the government then parliament would be dissolved, the cash-rich Tories would both blitz the airwaves with a barrage of commercials claiming the opposition were responsible for bringing the government grinding to a halt during an economic crisis because they were afraid of losing their $1.95/vote.

But they miscalculated. Only the principals can answer the question of why they have responded the way they have. I can only speculate. Perhaps they reacted in the same way I did, which was more or less as follows:

I couldn't believe any Prime Minister, but especially a PM in a minority Parliament, would have the gall to engage in well-planned and calculated partisan thuggery in the midst of an economic crisis. I have never supported conservatives, and I likely never will. However, I have always respected the democratic will of Canadians to elect the government of their choice. In a minority Parliament, the party with the most seats gets first chance to form a working majority. Stephen Harper's party got it's crack, and failed miserably.

Despite having backtracked on most of the contentious issues contained in the Nov. 27 economic statement, the question lingers: If Stephen Harper is prepared to use an economic crisis as a subterfuge to destroy his opponents, what else is he capable of? And if not this time, then when?

That's reason 1. Up next, reason 2--from loathing to fear.

Why I am supporting a Liberal/NDP coalition in Ottawa

noreply@blogger.com (Mack the Hack) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 01:53:00 +0000

To the incredibly small, but gratifyingly loyal group known as the people who actually visit my blog.

Hackistan has been pretty much on hiatus while I navigated my way through depression, existential crises, a battery of personality tests to determine my employability, and what appears to be a very interesting opportunity to shift over to 'consulting' in the very near future.

The long and the short of it is this—With the exception of the rest of this week, Hackistan will remain on hiatus until Mid-March of 2009. I have made a volunteer commitment that will be taking up a great deal of my energy, creative and otherwise.

But I’m making another commitment here—For the rest of the week, up until Monday, Dec. 8, I will be making a series of posts on the topic of the current situation in the House of Commons. Due to my other commitment, I am unable to devote the attention I believe every Canadian needs to give to it. Normally in such situations, my tendency is to remain silent and let other who have more time, energy and effort speak.

But I cannot be quiet about this. Every Canadian needs to speak out about this. I will not tell you what to think, and many people may disagree with my points of view on the issue. That’s okay. We’re allowed to disagree in a democracy. That said, I implore people on both sides of this debate to resist the urge to engage in rhetorical excess. Very dangerous words like ‘treason’, ‘coup d’etat’ are being thrown around right now. I pledge to you that I won’t resort to such attacks, unless they can be proven.

That is one of the reasons I have chosen to publicly declare my support for a coalition government in the House of Commons, under the leadership of Interim Prime Minister Stephane Dion, until his successor is selected in seated in the PM’s seat in May.

I shall lay out my rationale for supporting this unusual, but not unprecedented measure below, and in the subsequent posts up until Monday’s decision by Governor General Michaelle Jean on whether or not to prorogue the House of Commons. While I promise to be blunt and plainspoken, and perhaps harsh in some instances, I pledge not to engage in petty demagoguery, baseless attacks, or misrepresentations. I further believe that the Canadian public should expect no less, from their elected representatives, partisans on both sides of the divide, and the media charged with the awesome responsibility to report objectively on this issue.

The reasons shall begin shortly. Please stand by, and please feel free to disseminate these arguments as widely as you can.

Prostetnic Vogon Poilievre

noreply@blogger.com (Mack the Hack) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:04:00 +0000

Ottawa is utterly bonkers these days.

Watching the Tories spin off the talking points like mad is beginning to sound a bit like listening to Vogons with a slightly dodgy Babel Fish

I'm trying to find a postable clip of Harper Parliamentary Secrectary Pierre Poilievre spouting off, but a rough transcript is below...

"howl howl gargle howl gargle gargle separatist howl separatist howl howl socialist gargle gargle howl separatist socialist howl howl."

For my peeps in Huntsville

noreply@blogger.com (Mack the Hack) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 13:25:00 +0000

From the hackistan broadcast network, a reminder of warmer, funner times.

Timing is everything

noreply@blogger.com (Mack the Hack) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 13:09:00 +0000

Finally have my computer back after the LCD display croaked.

Good thing it was a slow week last week and nothing happened out there that I shoulda been blogging about...what's that?

Oh.

Wow.

Nevermind.

New prediction

noreply@blogger.com (Mack the Hack) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 17:28:00 +0000

The papers are finally acknowledging the obvious. Barring some incredible flaw in the polling, Obama's going to run away with this.

My prediction? This thing will be in the bag before anything west of the Mississippi reports.

We shall see, shan't we?

Something amazing?

noreply@blogger.com (Mack the Hack) — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 11:26:00 +0000

Something incredible might be happening to me. It's a testament to just how rough the past few years have been that I'm so reluctant to gush. When things go as badly as they have for me in the past five or so years, it sometimes becomes hard to believe that anything good can happen to you. A little sad, no?

But we'll see. For the first time in a very long time, I know hope.

Tremble before my awesome prognosticating! Tremble, I said!

noreply@blogger.com (Mack the Hack) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 01:45:00 +0000

This is what I wrote before going to bed after the election two weeks ago.

Click the link, but the gist is that Justin Trudeau is on track to be the next Canadian Prime Minister....

Canada has spoken, or at least the National Post is reporting.

It doesn't matter if Trudeau is a 'lightweight', or a dilletante, or whatever. What matters is what Canadians are projecting onto him--to wit, an appetite for um...change. That his dad happens to be one of the most proficient shapers of our Confederation in the 20th Century is just gravy. If Justin didn't exist, Canadians would invent him, that's how badly we want our own Obama moment.

Much more on this in the next few days...

And now this?

noreply@blogger.com (Mack the Hack) — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 14:07:00 +0000

Well would you look at this

For the record, I am not the registrar of this domain, nor do I have an opinion one way or another about whether Trudeau fils actually follows the path I laid out election night.

On the other hand, if you're wondering why I think it's such a natural and logical fit, I have reams of stuff to back my assertion up...

Consider yourself warned.

Harper's three-way dilemma...(ew, that sounds nasty)

noreply@blogger.com (Mack the Hack) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 12:18:00 +0000

In the grand scheme of things, Stephane Dion was lucky. Any moment now, the networks are going to cut away from regular coverage to broadcast his resignation announcement. A few thank-yous, a fond farewell or two, and off he goes to a month or three of soul-searching and decompression, followed most likely by a return to the groves of academe.

If Stephen Harper wants to stay Prime Minister (which isn't necessarily a sure thing) beyond this Parliament, things are going to be far more difficult, mainly for three reasons.

First...

Having made the assertion during the campaign that a vote for Dion was going to throw Canada into recession, Harper is going to have to deal with the fact that it didn't matter a tinker's dam whose butt was occupying the chair at 24 Sussex. If the Prime Minister or anyone else thinks this country isn't going into recession, they are delusional.

I'll get a little deep here--If you ever want to ponder what constitutes one of the great themes of the Canadian body politic, ponder this: We are a small nation continually buffeted in the wake of much larger forces beyond our control. To be Canadian and believe that somehow we are SO unique, SO different or clever that we are not subject to the influence of everything around us is pure hubris, Canadian style.

Our next-door neighbour and biggest trading partner is in the midst of an economic near-meltdown. It might seem a tad abstract Up Here, or even within the confines of oh-so smug Toronto, but that's not going to be for long and the news is going to worsen.

Harper himself already acknowledged as much yesterday, as a number of media outlets noted.

Money phrase (interestingly, it's the author's words, not Harper's)

SNIP

"Yesterday, Harper said that Canada's economic fundamentals and banking system, unlike those of many countries around the world, are sound. But he acknowledged Canada's interdependence in a global economy that's in a major slowdown."

UNSNIP

In a wonderfully succinct graf, Messr. Chung has managed to sum up points one and two. Maybe that's why he's working and I'm not, but point two is even further out of Harper's control than point one.
Mainly, that hunger for a Change Agent our neighbours to the south are getting ready to feast on in a few weeks is probably alive and well here. It's the Canadian way. Anything--a recession, breakdancing, a burning desire for change--that happens in the States, filters up here a short while later.
As I said Wednesday night, Stephen Harper may be many things, but a post-boomer change agent is not one of them.

As for point three, that goes to the heart of it. Questions are being asked within Harper's Conservative coalition. As he acknowledged in his 'victory' speech, Conservatives have governed rarely in Canada. Left unsaid is why; namely, the Conservative coalition is rarely an easy thing to hold together, comprised as it is of Western social conservatives, Ontario free marketeers and bluebloods, soft Quebec nationalists and Atlantic Tories. In my lifetime, only Brian Mulroney held it together for two terms. Regardless of how lamentable I personally consider most of his accomplishments, even I have to acknowledge that achievement. It was remarkable, even if it did tear the party apart.

Harper now has had three chances to grasp what passes for absolute power in Canada. Two of those times, he was dealing with a badly divided Liberal party with a weak, ineffectual leader. I wouldn't be surprised if more than a few Ontario and Quebec Tories, as well as one recently re-elected Atlantic cabinet minister instrumental in helping Harper cobble together his coalition are activating stealth leadership campaigns even as we speak. 'It's my turn,' is probably on the lips of more than a few, along with one or two Western conservatives, perhaps a Stronach as well.

Dying is easy. So is comedy, compared to being a minority Conservative PM as the country prepares to enter what is likely to be a doozy of a recession. THAT'S hard.

Come New Year's, you will most likely find Stephane Dion relaxing in front of a roaring fire at some cozy Laurentian spot, catching up on his academic reading and very likely smiling a little smile.