Please let me introduce myself …

Threats of an election seem to be in the wind. There is a chess game being played here. The leaders position their parties to maximize their advantage, and certainly to embarrass their opponents. Duceppe is the most active in this respect, lobbing his ‘nation’ question into the middle of the Liberal Party, like a hand grenade. It turned out to be a dud. He tries another move, this time a motion on Afghanistan. His idea is to force federalist politicians to expose themselves.

Jack Layton is in one of his silent periods, also by design.

This one of those times of year when ugly announcements are made by politicians on the way to the airport. Another clarification about Income Trusts perhaps. Or the purchase of a fleet of heavy lift aircraft for the military.

In Ontario, the politicians are giving themselves a 31% raise!

I’m Simon, I am hoping to bring Ontario into a higher focus on this forum.

Simply because Ontario is so electorally overwhelming, it is hard for us to imagine that many Ontarians are as discontented as anyone in Quebec or Alberta. We imagine Ontario, as the power center of the country, to be taking care of itself first.

In the next day, and continuing over the Christmas lull, I can promise you I will post some background on Ontario — a little study I am doing, hoping to explain Ontario’s electoral behaviour over the last three or four elections. After that, a summary of the gossip going around Caledonia, full of suggestions about what is really going on.