Election thoughts

First of all, if you voted, good on ya, regardless of who you voted for.

I'm no political expert by any means, but the game of politics has always intrigued me, and this particular federal election had me more opinionated than any that came before it.

While it is disappointing that Harper now has a majority government, it is not all that surprising. Third time is a charm, I suppose. The biggest surprise was the downfall of the Liberal Party of Canada.

Since Paul Martin took the throne from Jean Chretien, the party has been on a steep decline to obscurity, and after Monday's results, I'm left to wonder who gets the big red house back in order. To use a sports analogy, its a rebuilding period for the Grits.

Now that the PCs have a majority, they'll have four years to make the general population hate them, in which time the Liberals have to find their "go - to" leader, and four years just happens to be enough time to prepare the prodigal son for his turn in the spotlight.

Enter Justin Trudeau.

The son of former Prime Minister Pierre is a young, bright mind in the political landscape, and has been for quite sometime. By the time the next federal election occurs, he'll have four more years of experience under his belt, and the timing just may be perfect.

The one thing I took out of this election is the disdain for the smear campaign the Tories leveled on Michael Ignatieff. In my opinion, that campaign is the primary reason for the Liberals having their worst showing ever. American style politics are sickening.

And 40% of the voters bought it. Actually, that may not be fair. Not all people who voted Conservative did so because they think Michael Ignatieff is an American. But the ill-informed did. They were told that by their parents, grandfathers, or in laws that have voted Conservative forever.

Its ridiculous that people knocking on doors for the Liberals had to answer questions like "Why would I vote for an American?" Some people believe everything they see and hear, and thats frustrating.

Speaking of 40% of the vote, is it not dumb (for lack of a better term) that that gets you majority government? 60% of the voters did not vote for the PCs. I know this has been a long standing debate in Canadian politics, and every time there is a majority government elected, the other side cries foul over these numbers. The likelihood for the way we count votes and elect a government to change is not good.

Enough with the negatives. There were some bright spots that came out of the election. Elizabeth May won her riding. Baby steps, Greens, baby steps. The Bloc Quebecois is all but decimated. Maybe the biggest surprise of all was that Jack Layton's NDP got more seats in Quebec than any party has ever had. I can't help but think this was more protest voting against the BQ than it was an outcrying of support for NDP policies. It will be interesting to see if the Orange Wave can remain strong in La Belle Province.

So the floor is yours, Mr. Harper. You have your majority. Now lets see what you do with it.

Top 10 SNL Cast Members No. 7: Mike Myers

Over the next couple weeks (err, months), I'll be counting down my choices for the all time best cast members from Saturday Night Live, one of my favourite shows over the years.

Two certain criteria need to be met: 1) no cast members before 1990, because I didn't watch the show before that time, and 2) no members of the current cast, because it just isn't that good.

Mike Myers (1989-1995)

When I think back to when I first started watching the show, Mike Myers is the first cast member that comes to mind.

His characters are perhaps some of the most memorable in the show's history.

The was Wayne Campbell of course. The Wayne's World sketches always played toward me as a hockey loving Canadian kid, because Wayne was usually wearing a Blackhawks jersey and the sport got incorporated into the conversation more times than not. Not only that, but the skits were always good old juvenile fun.

There was "Coffee Talk" where Myers played host Linda Richman, a worried, stereotypical Jewish woman with a New York accent. The skit was predictable after a while, but then again aren't they all? "Grape Nuts... it contains neither grapes nor nuts... Discuss!"

A character I liked that only saw the light of two episodes was Phillip, a kid chained to a monkey bars set because he had "hyper hypo" disorder. Myers' facial expressions and great sense of physical humour in the Phillip character deserved more than two skits.

Of course there was also "Sprockets", the German talk show hosted by Dieter. Admittedly, this skit was a bit over my head as a 10-12 year old, but I found it hilarious watching Myers squirm in his black tight ensemble.

My favourite Myers character was without a doubt Simon, who hosted his own show from his bathtub. I can still hear Ryan Demille doing a bang on version of "Oh, you know my name is Simon...and I like to do drawrings.." in Mrs. Hair's P.E.C.I. drama class.