To sum up...

Things that mattered more to Canadians than the campaign to form a Canadian government:

• the campaign for the White House
• liquidity
• the plummeting value of all we hold dear – houses, crude, the loonie, Dubya memorabilia
• Merrill Lynch, excuse me? Merrill Lynch no longer exists?
• the listeria outbreak
• Sarah Palin’s up-do
• the Alaska Independence Party. Who knew?
• the near-bankrupty of Iceland. And Pakistan. And California
• the passing of Paul Newman
• the passing of anything-goes capitalism
• the impending merger of GM and Chrysler, or of Ford and Chrysler, or of Ford and GM, or of Ford, GM and Chrysler
• the Cubs’ continuing rendezvous with futility
• the Canadian debut of Bed, Bath & Beyond

Issues barely, if at all, debated in the campaign:

• healthcare
• the Canadian mission in Afghanistan
• foreign policy generally (Do we have one? What should it be?)
• squalid conditions in Native Canadian communities
• education reform
• immigration reform
• conventional pollution, specifically the proliferating toxic lakes in the Athabasca tar sands, and the continuing disgrace of the Sydney tar ponds
• the infrastructure deficit
• the widening gap between rich and poor
• the flat-lining of middle-class incomes
• And so on.

Issues that did register: 

• Harper’s sweaters
• Elizabeth May’s fight to participate in the leaders debates
• pooping puffins
• whether Harper will be returned with a majority or minority - as if it matters, since he’s governed since January 2006 as if he had a majority
• candidates forced to drop out because of ill-advised past views expressed on the Internet and elsewhere
• laments that “Corner Gas” is entering its final season

Conversion on the road to Drummondville: Margaret Atwood endorses the BQ

Conspicuously AWOL:  Rick Mercer, mockery of Layton's moustache, Tory converts in Quebec

Fun couple:  Danny Williams and Stephen Harper

Least explicable campaign gambit, first place: Harper starts out practically campaigning against a majority, later claims only a Tory majority stands between prosperity and ruin

Least explicable campaign gambit, second place: Elizabeth May guarantees fellow Greens she won't lead them in the Commons by contesting Central Nova, among the safest Tory seats in the country

If I Do Say So Myself Award:  “In many ways, I’ve won already,” Elizabeth May said Sunday, noting that since she became leader of the Greens, the party’s support and donations have grown.

Most convincing sign Harper is aware of the electorate: “It will be the people of Canada who decide who wins and who loses,” Harper says Sunday

Most quickly forgotten campaign theme:  leadership (Tories)

Duration of Canadian campaign, in days: 38

Of the White House campaign: 730

Most memorable debates moment:  Give us a week and we’ll get back to you

Most ludicrous outsider observation: “Beneath the calm exterior, Canada’s political system is in turmoil...Canada is quietly becoming a political basket case, and this latest election may make things even worse.” –online U.S. magazine Slate, Sept. 12

Prominent Grit campaigners:  Bob Rae, Iggy, Ralph Goodale, John McCallum, Carolyn Bennett, Gerrard Kennedy

Prominent Tory campaigners:  Stephen Harper

Best political promise:  Tories commit to “setting a minimum package size for cigarillos”

Comments

[MLC]

and missing from the 38 day campaign and found in the 730 day campaign:

"pumped up the Weimer-like rage...violent escalation in rhetoric...an unattributed quote from Westbrook Pegler,famous for his violent rhetorical excess, by a potential VP at a national convention...candidate's loose inflammatory talk but also their refusal to step in promptly and strongly when someone responds to it with bloodthirsty threats in a crowded arena...to stay silent is to pour gas on the fires." (-Frank Rich)

[Owen Rafferty]

Dear Mr. Olive,

Thank you for your sustained and articulate criticism of the Canadian Election, for urging politicians and ordinary Canadians to put pressing issues, like our role in Afghanistan, health care, inequality, on the agenda. You are right: we should be asking questions like "do we have a foreign policy, and if not what should it be?¨ Unfortunately, for the (strong minority) of Canadians, Harper´s sweaters stole the day. Perhaps, in the very near future, when they can no longer afford to buy that new i pod to rattle their brains around with listening to the TOP 40, or when they begin to see that Harper has more in common with Mike Harris than with Joe Clark (sorry Joe), Canadians will begin to take a closer look at the state of our country, and wished they´d paid more attention to writing like yours.

Sincerely,

Owen Rafferty.