I know all my US friends are on pins and needles wondering how the fall of the Canadian Government will pan out. How many Americans can even name all 10 provinces (c'mon, there's only 10)? How many even know that Canada is a separate country? Until moving to Montreal, I have to admit, I didn't even know who the Prime Minister was. I didn't even know who the Premier of Quebec was until I just googled it...Apparently it's this G Dub Bush wannabe:

Yes, I have to use this as often as possible!

Since the "vote of no conficence" in parliament last week (I still don't really understand what that means) I've tried to follow the politics of Canada a little bit. I can't vote here anyway, so it doesn't really matter if I understand what's going on. Apparently the elections aren't held regularly every four years like in the US...the failure of the Harper government last week caused the election which will be held in TWO months. This is crazy. I just got an email from my bff Barack Obama telling me that he's gearing up for the next election in 2012....not in MAY! They get two months to campaign.

Since I couldn't find a copy of "Canadian Parliament for Dummies" I went to the next best source for accurate information....Wikipedia.

There are four main parties in Canada:
Conservative Party of Canada (the current administration-received 37.6% of popular vote in 08)
Liberal Party of Canada The "Grits" lie between centre and centre-left and were in the majority for most of the 20th century and championed Canada's "Progressive social policy"
New Democratic Party Has never "formed" the federal government, but has formed provincial governments. They promote stuff like equal rights, corporate tax increases, environmental protection, and water safety standards. I can see why they've never been in power.
Bloc Québécois (apparently the candidates only run in Quebec-and they promote Quebec sovreignity) Green Party of Canada (who have been excluded from election debates by TV execs)

There are many differences between the parties, but compared to the political spectrum in the US this appears to be "shades of left".

That's all I know. Apparently Stephen Colbert was going to run a week-long segment on the collapse of the Canadian Government, but didn't find it all that interesting...