thinking about politics this afternoon...

Watching the results from the K-W by-election in Ontario yesterday, and of course talking through it with my left-leaning political junkie of a partner, it now seems inevitable that we will have an NDP federal government in my lifetime.

The old provincial PC strongholds are beginning to fall like so many 416 ridings did for the Liberals in the last federal election.

I, for one, am desperately looking forward to a renewal of our sad political culture in Canada.  Layton, for the first time in what felt like a living eternity, made people excited to be citizens and voters, to be political and engaged.  He died at the height of his achievements, thrusting the NDP into the oppositions benches on Parliament Hill, capturing that fickle mistress, Quebec, in spectacular fashion, and quite likely hammering the penultimate nail in the Liberal Party of Canada's coffin.

And so we lost Layton, and now we have Thom Mulcair.  Yes, Mulcair lacks Layton's folksy sincerity that made him a lovable leader, though in Mulcair we have an arguably more professional politician, who has been in power (albeit as a Quebec Liberal), and understands well how to walk a fine line in the circus of Canadian politics.  That is a skill much in demand in these wedge-issue times, with a Conservative government ready and willing to unleash every form of underhanded tactic in order to maintain power for what increasingly seems like a pursuit for its own sake.

I mean, can anybody name a single policy brought in by Harper's CPCs that will endure as his legacy for Canadians?  And no, the sudden monarchist turn or jingoistic militarism will not likely survive a left-of-centre course correction, I can only hope.

We are seemingly out of ideas.  Or rather, the current governing party has show that with a majority mandate it still can't find its footing and do anything better than minor conservative tinkering (though some acts of tinkering are admittedly more damaging that others).  And the "natural governing party" is leaderless, penny-less, and very clearly out of touch with what most Canadian affectionately call 'reality'.

But then there remains the NDP, which has not yet fully stepped up to the plate but if the past is a predictor of the future, are quietly polishing a prime ministerial treasury of good ideas, and biding their time, building their bridges and looking to the next election when we will all, hopefully, be offered something worth voting for.

I just hope the not-too-terribly-distant future is soon enough for Canada.