This blog has begun to appear on Google searches. Of course given that Google is behind Blogger.com you'd hope it would be.

As we say in Canada the writ has been dropped. Paul Martin called a federal election this afternoon for June 29. Given the scandals of the last few months this could be an interesting election. Of course a lot of what happens will depend in the end on how the voters feel once they walk into the voting both, whether enough of them trust the other parties to form a good government when they actually have to make that X on the ballot. People can say things to pollsters without having to worry about the effect it has. Actually voting is rather different. And four weeks gives the other party leaders plenty of time to say something stupid, or more likely have their candidates say something stupid, and screw things up, letting the Liberals win.

My prediction is that if the Liberals do win Paul Martin will be a one term Prime Minister. Either he'll get voted out the following election or find the stresses of government too much.

For those Americans who might read this I'll note that yes, in Canada we still use paper ballots that you mark with a pencil or pen. None of those weird ballot machines you guys use, no hanging chads and so forth. Of course what a specific ballot has marked on it can be disputed, but there's less room for arcane examinations that what happened in 2000 in places like Florida.