I once heard that the word Canada comes from an aboriginal word meaning 'The Good Place'. I wonder lately if those long forgotten first Canadians ever foresaw the quagmire we are now finding ourselves in.

Many excellently worded posts and comments on our fallen government have been made, and if you are at all interested, I invite you to read the words of the Red Ensign bloggers on my left. Very eloquent folks, these lot. Sometimes they get a bit riled up, but I envy that. Rather than being apathetic and disgruntled, they speak up while others furl up their newspapers and hide until things calm down a bit.

In the past two weeks, our leader lost the confidence of the government. At that time, he should have recognized that his time on the Hill was done, and dissolved the government to allow a new election. The allegations about his party are so severe and so corrupt, that even Michael Jackson's trial lawyers likely couldn't put a positive spin on it. But he chose to ignore that vote, and made May 19 the day for the vote he would count. During the 7-10 days between the votes, his party wooed the others. Backroom deals, shady offers, taped conversations all over the place. It worked for Belinda Stronach...not only did she cross the floor to the other side but dropped her boyfriend too. Power is a dangerous drug, indeed.

She was called a whore for what she did. It got a lot of people riled up at the word, but you know what? A rose is a rose is a rose. She made a choice for much personal gain, and not much for the people that elected her. If I was in her riding, I would be white hot with rage. She turned her back on everything she apparently stood for, because she felt she wasn't getting the respect she deserved in the Conservative Party. Guess what, sweetheart? Politics is nasty business. Get used to it. When the shine is off her crown at the Liberal Party bench, you can be sure she'll be soon forgotten.

In the end, it was Chuck Cadman who held the most power. An independant MP from Surrey who listened to what his riding wanted and voted that way. The Liberals staved off an early election and will remain in power for the time being. But Mr. Cadman, the father of Jesse Cadman who was murdered a decade ago, stood his ground against what was likely a very heated scene behind the curtain. I didn't like his choice, but I'm also not in his riding. Those that were, spoke up and he listened. I have to wonder though if he didn't take into consideration the Liberal Party's choice to dump him in favour of a different candidate in the last election. He chose to run as an independant and won hands down. I'll bet there were more than a few people that had some explaining to do over that choice.

I've always admired Chuck Cadman from the time he ended up in the public's eye. When Jesse was murdered, even in his grief he was well-spoken and gave off the feel that he was going to make something good come of an evil act. Jesse was a friend of my nephew's, and I remember when he was murdered, it felt far too close to home. It's got to be a surreal experience to think that when Mr. Cadman lost his son that the road he chose to take would end up being one of the most powerful people in Canada. He's independant, he's strong and well, I'd vote for the man every time. This is the type of person we need more of in politics. One who believes in what he's doing and does it for his community, rather than his party.

We now sit with close to a hung government. 152 seats are on one side, 153 on the other. Effectively, it's unworkable and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future. All the while, spending will remain over the top and we continue to watch like some slow moving trainwreck that we're powerless to stop.

Makes you wonder what is the good of the political parties in general if this is the outcome, and that an independant can have so much sway in the result. Take our newest province of Nunavut, for example. They made their government without the political party structure when it was set up in 1999. Nineteen independant officials were elected from that region. Through secret ballot, those 19 elected a speaker, a premier and cabinet ministers. From that, they work through governmental issues and it seems to work. I'm sure I'm probably being glib here but in light of our current chaos, it certainly does add a perspective to what is quickly becoming a disastrous and expensive mess.

In any case, I am becoming more and more disillusioned of the direction my country is taking. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like there will be chance for change anytime soon. Maybe it's finally time to make a case for the new country of British Colberta.