Freehold, Canadian election

[nenya_kanadka]

So we went to see Freehold tonight, the movie about the New Jersey lesbian couple fighting for partner benefits. Which, a) was of course very sad because (as you know going into it) Laurel dies in the end, and the movie does a pretty good job of getting us invested in the relationship before the discovery that, shit, cancer, but on the other hand b) omg, ELLEN PAGE IS THE MOST ADORABLE. The most. <3 Also c), the last splash screen says something like "On June 26, 2015, the US supreme court ruled that all Americans have equal rights to marriage" and yup, it's months later and I still can't quite believe that's an actual thing that happened and the movie didn't skew off into science fiction for the last 30 seconds. Man.

In other news, I guess I better find out more about Justin Trudeau than "He has great hair"? I wish the man well, and hope he's going to be good in the job. I did want the NDP to win, even though I have no great feelings about Mulcair. That said, our local NDP MP was indeed returned to office, and also fuck yeah, no more Harper!

So, on balance, \o/?

Comments

[kore]

I almost don't want to see the movie because I know I will CRY BUCKETS, but I also want to see it in the theatre to support it and I am sure everyone else will be crying buckets too.

June 26, holy shit. It feels like it was yesterday.

I guess I better find out more about Justin Trudeau than "He has great hair"

This was about all I knew, and I fulfilled the stereotype of the Ugly American which horrifies me by knowing DIDDLY about the NDP. //facepalm of shame

-- Altho apparently Trudeau Jr is possibly seen as emblematic of the Trudeau Era which Harper was trying his best to dismantle? Or was that CBC broadcaster lying to me? (God, I know diddlysquat about Trudeau pere, come to think of it. Bilingualism and "Just watch me" and fuck you separatism/yay federalism and the Canada Act and that's it, wow that's pitiful, aside from the personal shit like meeting John Lennon. And sadly that's probably more than the rest of the people in my apartment building, say, would remember.)

[nenya_kanadka]

Trudeau pere was just before my time (the first prime minister I personally remember was Mulroney in the late eighties, I think?) and honestly the biggest thing I remember from high school history classes was the bit about "the state has no place in the bedrooms of the nation." So you may be slightly ahead of me, heh.

The NDP are, like, on the more actual-left-wing side of the left-wing parties. Liberals are kind of left-centrist? Like the NDP is your environmentalist, pro-gay, do something about student loans and minimum wage, sort of thing, though not as hipppie green as the Greens. (I tend to dither between the Greens and the NDP and usually go with the NDP as more electable, as in, one Green member of parliament now and the NDP often have dozens.) IIRC the provincial NDP in Saskatchewan was the first to bring us what eventually became national socialized healthcare--Tommy Douglas of story and song. :) And Jack Layton, the best prime minister we never had because he died just as his party was gathering steam a few years ago...also NDP, see icon. :)

The last time the Liberals were in (from around 1993 to the early 00s) they ended up embroiled in a bunch of financial scandals, which pissed people off. Hopefully they've sorted their shit out by now; guess we'll see. I read a similar news article to the one you heard, saying that Harper's entire career has basically been dedicated to tearing down everything Pierre Trudeau believed in, so this must really sting a lot. Which, you know, can't say I mind. :D

(Mucca is the Canadian politics expert in this house. I fell headlong into US politics during the Bush/early Obama years, and have thus confused myself a lot. :P)