The whole “fall of the Ontario government” thing is just ridiculous. Does anybody seriously think that any opposition party wouldn’t immediately try for a vote of non-confidence if they thought they could get away with it? The only thing that caused it to happen this time is the series of coincidences that made all of the planets align for Harper, et. al. in order to give him the votes he needed.
Every government is riddled with mistakes and things that go wrong. It’s never been any different (and it doesn’t matter who’s in power), and this is no exception. The Liberals didn’t get knocked out because of anything specific, per se, but because all of the things that they could be criticized for added up to an opportunity for the Conservatives to try to oust them.
So, everything being equal, the only thing that this election is going to do for me is aggravate me by interfering with my personal life. If I had to choose between the 3 main parties, I’d probably vote Liberal. Not because I care any more about their politics than the other parties (although Harper frightens me more on a personal level than does Martin, and I think that Layton’s out to lunch if he thinks throwing his support behind the PCs will help his own party in any way) – but just because I’m so pissed off with the childish maneouverings of the other parties that caused all of this to happen.
As it is, I’m not voting for any of them. If I vote at all, it will be for the Green Party. Just like last time. Because they, at least, haven’t “grown up” enough to forget their ideals in the face of political squabbling for its own sake.