Poli-Picks! (27/06/04)
		On the eve of our national election, the Hawk Road has tried to dip its feet in the icy waters of politics in an effort to sway the minds of those undecided or uninspired voters who may or may not choose to visit the polling stations tomorrow. After waiting in line at the Oxford Theatre in Halifax to see "Fahrenheit 9/11", a pimply popcorn server came out and told the mob that stretched down Quinpool Rd that it had been sold out for the ninth straight showing in the past three days. The Hawk Road saw a flicker of anxiety in the big city, as people frantically read the papers and chatted hurriedly, hoping to be given a concrete reason to cast their X one way or the other. While most will likely keep their final decision to themselves, the Hawk Road has decided not to. For those of you who are looking for a relatively ignorant point of view to agree with, this Hawk Talk is for you. Several of those that had seen "Fahrenheit 9/11" and were waiting in line for a second time were surprisingly passionate about the bad taste it left in their mouth. Michael Moore followed Bush's stale bread crumbs back to his roots, passing a dark collection of eye-opening alliances with Middle East Big Oil and political terrorists along the way. Essentially, releasing the movie before the US election is the equivalent of releasing "Sea Biscuit" the weekend before Smarty Jones' took a shot at the triple crown. Everyone will rush to see it and this can be nothing but disastrous for Bush, and most everyone agrees that's how it should be. On this side of the border, the implications of its release may not be as evident in the final stats on Monday, but it nevertheless will coax Canada's citizens to ponder the wild and whacky world of the sinister Suits that run our country. The Hawk Road finds Moore a strange poster-boy for change, with his goofy ball caps and plumber-butt spreading controversy in a relatively soft-spoken manner as far as documentarians go. This, his second triumph after "Bowling For Columbine", will pave the way for martyrdom, especially if he is felled by a .22 calibre at point-blank range as many predict. On this side of the fence, Liberal leader Paul Martin has his own trail of bread crumbs, though they are fewer and much less lethal. Before the election was announced, it was predicted he would land more ridings than Mulrooney, with estimates of between 210 and 230 seats in Ottawa after the smoke cleared. There are different opinions on why last week's premature survey showed the race to be within a percentage point for the two front-runners. Some say Martin fucked up when he pushed Chretien's experienced campaign managers aside and put some of his own rookies at the wheel. Instead of focussing on Martin's impeccable record as finance minister in which he and Chretien cut away at the deficit for many years while maintaining their integrity, this new team of bull-shitters decided to declare war on the Progressive Conservative's Stephen Harper. Canada does not enjoy this form of name-calling and bullying, and they let Martin's gang know it. Early surveys actually had Martin behind at one point. It is in these last weeks that the true colors of both party leaders have flickered through the fog like a limp lighthouse. As Martin and Harper scrambled to drive home their fundamental differences last week, it was Martin who had shed his thick skin of indifference and appealed to the cameras and journalists with a huge level of conviction. Like the Hawk Road, it was almost as if he feared that Harper may actually win, and that his Canada would never be the same again. The reality of the situation is that a minority government will likely result, meaning that one party or the other will hold more seats, but not enough to wear the immunity necklace. Martin changed his strategy when he realized this, and beckoned out to the praries, mountains and coasts to think twice about voting for Jack Layton's NDP party. While he is correct in saying that a vote for the NDP is essentially a vote for their ally PCs, it will have the early founders of democracy rolling over in their graves. Layton's promise-list is indeed more appealing than Harper's, and voters should not be faced with the moral choice of denying the favoured party leader their vote because of far-reaching consequences. While it is more ethical than out-right slandering Harper as he has been doing, it is still dirty pool. Before we pass judgement, however, we must peel Martin's orange and see what's at the core. When Chretien (God bless him) left, he and a few others left a bad spill for Martin to mop up. The sponsorship scandal is still fresh in everybody's minds, and while there's a corporate crook born every day in the States, Canadians do not take the wasting of their beefy taxes lightly. As finance minister, Martin had to share the blame even though he strongly denies being directly involved. (Part II below)
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