I'm kind of wondering about the silence of Trudeau...Mulcair was quick to get over there and criticize the gov't for cuts to transport safety.

It's true what Emile Therien said - Transport Canada needs to be more involved. As Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi said during the Calgary bridge incident you listed, municipalities need to have more say on rail lines that go through their towns. Currently they have NO say on the rails, on the infrastructure or what is hauled through their towns and cities. It never works out when corporations are left to police themselves.

he would have run with this.

Not much substance to his statements, however. Nothing on his twitter either.

It seems to me Canadians are quite content with the status quo of resource extraction and the conservative agenda insofar as their home piggy-banks continue to get bigger. The last two elections were dismal. BCs provincial election was ridiculous. Where is the country's conscience?

My country's conscience is likely currently divided between 2 left wing parties. The cons are ruling by default. Two-thirds of Canadians (and growing) don't approve of this shit. And many of our conservatives are to the left of your Democrats. So cut the lecture.

I want Mulcair to push for better regulations on rail transport. That is all I meant. I wasn't alluding to the larger picture of resource extraction. I don't know what happened in BC's election - The NDP clearly blew it big time. I don't think Adrian Dix would have been likely to keep the pipeline out of BC anyway. I don't know why you think if the US can't keep big oil in check, then Canada - a country with 1/10 the population - somehow can.

But remember the Conservatives gained grown in the last election while Canada's conscious consolidated under Jack's orange wave and the Liberals were marginalized. There is no excuse for the "default" Conservative party to be the longest reigning conservative party (in my knowledge) and move into majority territory. Just as there was no excuse for the Liberals in BC to pull off a majority after fucking the people over and over again with lies and scandals.

The NDP clearly blew it big time. I don't think Adrian Dix would have been likely to keep the pipeline out of BC anyway.

The NDP didn't blow anything. They ran a solid, positive campaign with clear messaging. Everyone knew their choices. No one knows what happened now because its unthinkable and unjustifiable that a party with an 18% approval at one point, mired in scandal, can pull off a majority with a new (but tarnished) leader. But I suspect that yes, British Columbian didn't want the possibility of stopping the pipeline interfering with their economic position (though they are among the most indebted in Canada because their pseudo wealth generates massive shadow debt they drown in). Its just sad.

I don't know what to say. I'm not trying to be mean, but I think the current Canadian zeitgeist enjoys being the big boys at the table and see oil as the way to do it, so they beat back the cognitive dissonance. I know that may vast over simplification and over-generalization, but I can't imagine that isn't a part of what is going in.

long periods of rule from one party because of 3rd party splits are common. Yes, the cons gained ground - because the Liberals shit the bed. They were A1 horrible. Jack was wonderful, of course but there has been much demonization of the NDP from the right (socialist commies etc - you know the ones) so much so some just refuse to ever vote for them. This has changed with them as the official opposition, imo. So the joke-of-a-liberal party lost a lot of people to the conservatives. I think many of them will come back with Trudeau as leader.

As for BC liberals - scandals and lies are par for the course for BC. I moved to BC right after the last big NDP scandal (I'm back in Alberta now). Scandal and BC politics are married. I don't know why. I always thought BC politics was nuts. When I lived there I voted for the marijuana party. I still say Adrian Dix blew it. He flip flopped a few times and also acted like the job was his. The pollsters also messed up and maybe influenced the election (same thing happened here in Alberta - people were so freaked about Wildrose winning, that they voted conservative in droves). Also don't underestimate the charisma of Christy Clark. Yes, Canadians are vulnerable to shallow thinking when they vote, just like many people around the world are. Or maybe they just have long memories and remember the NDP scandal still. Canadians have a history of punishing scandal-ridden parties long-term. And the NDP scandal was worse than the current Liberal scandal.

What you say may be a part of what's going on, but there is also a shift happening. There is scandal going on in the conservative party currently and Canadians have little patience for this type of scandal (using taxpayer's money for bogus expenses) so I'm certain the pendulum will swing. There were several polls taken the day after the last election that showed Canadians had buyer's remorse. It seems most just wanted Harper to remain as a minority gov't even though they voted for him. A few of us Canadians thought that it wouldn't be long that the conservatives had a majority gov't before they'd start screwing up. Harper is just too much of a conservative not to screw it up. Sure enough, that's what is happening. That along with other gaffes (the internet surveillance bill for example) have made this gov't look mean and authoritarian. There is hope - the right has a history of coming up with new parties when they dislike the way the conservatives are behaving - maybe the Wildrose party will go federal and split the right again and we can have 12 years of rule from the left once again. I do sometimes wish the left would merge, but I think there are too many vast differences between the Liberals and NDP. Anyway, it's very complex and I'm not as pessimistic as you are.

What was that? Way before my time probably.

All I hear everyone moan about is BC Rail, which was the Liberals deal.

There is scandal going on in the conservative party currently and Canadians have little patience for this type of scandal (using taxpayer's money for bogus expenses) so I'm certain the pendulum will swing.

I hope so. But I also worry the Liberals new leader JT is just going to keep the left unconsolidated, right when it appeared that was going to be a fading issue. Of course, he may pick off conservative voters.

Anyway, it's very complex and I'm not as pessimistic as you are.

When I started paying attention I may of been more optimistic than you but I've seen a lot of disappointment since, so it fell hard. In any case, I just sort of lose hope in terms of people and politics, which is fine. Life is grand enough where I am at regardless of what shits are in charge.

Thanks for mentioning that. I forgot for a moment (don't ask me how...I'm blaming it on my new puppy who keeps interrupting me with surprises on the floor...)

That particular flavor of ghoulishness is a lot less popular up here compared to the US. Harper might try to use it to push pipeline-related agendas, but even that would likely blow up in his face even by the standards of the PMO's less-than-stellar PR the last few months.

He was crafty though - he was appropriately sympathetic to the family he met (who is missing a father) - he even choked up about it - and then started in about how this cannot happen again and cuts to transportation safety are something Conservatives have done. So he's already started. So far Harper and Trudeau have stayed away from it. We'll see I guess if it hurts Mulcair but I doubt it. He's good. I can see Harper trying to use it, but I agree - really bad timing for him.