Phew!

Yesterday Canada went to the polls for the second general (federal) election since we arrived back on these shores in 2015; the first – that same year- having been won by pretty-boy Justin Trudeau’s Liberals.

The consensus here seems to be that the campaign that preceded this vote was one of the most bitter in memory. All I can say is that compared to UK politics – and of course to those in the US – the whole affair here has been relatively brief, painless and without any of the sort of rancour to which we have sadly become accustomed elsewhere in the world.

Some of that is because Canadians are such darned nice people whose instincts – in the main – seem to be slightly liberal (just left of centre). Maybe that’s just a west coast thing though; one does hear stories about Alberta!…

Anyhow – I am very happy to report that not only was the whole thing over in no time at all (the BBC helpfully points out that the entire Canadian general election campaign took about the same time as the gap between the third and fourth (of 12!) Democratic primary debates in the US) but also the now somewhat tarnished Liberals finally limped back over the line, albeit without their previous majority.

No matter! Given that the alternative would have been the rebarbative Tories we consider that we have had a very lucky escape (and there are those in the UK who would say an envious ‘amen’ to that).

And – of course – here on the peninsula we still have a Green MP, the redoubtable Elizabeth May. The leader of the Green party now has two companions from across Canada to keep her company, which will also be nice!