Voting Day

If all goes to plan, Bill C-38 will be passed by the House of Commons today, finally ending a process which has gone on for far too long. I'll be thrilled to finally have some closure on this (and even more once the Senate has passed it).

I'd comment on the whole "federalist voters oppose this" line of argumentation, but others have already handled that particular gaffe - needless to say, I don't think Harper will be winning any seats in Quebec next year.

I do, however, question whether it was really necessary to invoke closure on debate last night. It's one thing to extend the House sitting so that the bill can be dealt with, but it's quite another to limit debate. Much as I think that the Conservative opposition to Bill C-38 is a delay tactic at this point, I also think that the Liberals should have let them babble on within the time constraints that were already established for debate. Then there would have been no rallying cry about "limiting debate" on the bill, which Peter McKay has been setting up for the past few days. Yes, it would be nice to be finished by Canada Day, but it wasn't necessary, and the optics on the bill would have been better if closure had not been invoked at this penultimate stage.

If the Liberals have a particularly weak spot with voters, it's the appearance of arrogance. It did in St. Laurent in 1957, so you'd think they wouldn't open themselves up to it on a socially charged issue, especially when it's a matter of a few days.

That being said, I've got some wine chilling in the fridge for a celebratory drink when C-38 passes. Let's just hope that the waffling Liberals don't get a collective case of cold feet today.

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