There is an unwritten yet followed rule. “No governments wants unpleasant incidents within the eighteen month window prior to the vote. Let us take a peak behind the five curtains and look at the perception of the voters.

Curtain one is covered in political blood stains and we are not sure who’s worse off – the assassins or the intended victim.

We are not even sure who the victim is. Yes I speak of the federal Liberal Party. There is considerable dodging and weaving here.

By now I think most people believe the PMO used a heavy hammer to persuade the Justice Minister to just let the folks at SNC Lavalin go after all they are nice guys.

Instead of going behind the curtain and working it out all parties began stabbing blindly at each other through the curtain.

Behind curtain number two we see a party that has drifted from its well organized past. It retreated from it achieved goal of becoming a political party and reverted to being a movement again. They daggered their leader Thomas Mulcair in favor of an unknown without a track record. The NDP with few exceptions nominates and elects leaders that have no chance of winning. Their second problem is the don’t have their ear to the ground long enough to find out which direction the voters are going.

The Greens are getting smarter, but they are still a movement evolving into something as yet unknown. They have some good ideas and a massive perception problem. Sometimes they give an air of being an environmental religion and somewhat dogmatic in their approach. At least they are not trying to cut each others throats yet…..

There is one new group in the running this time round. A party born out of a temper tantrum after not winning the conservative leadership race, The Peoples Party Of Canada.

Their leader Maxim Bernier described them as a smart populist party. Well to the south of us many believed Trump was a smart populist and look how that’s turned out. They are in my view and the view of others to be further right than the conservatives.

Then there is the party of Andrew Scheer preaching the virtues of of politics done differently. The Prime Minister should resign for pushing his minister to defer SNC Lavalins sins instead of prosecuting the company for a litany of crimes,

Are you sitting down? At first it was shame Liberals shame, then there was silence, then an admission that on May 29th 2018 Opposition Leader Andrew Scheer sat down to offer a deferment if he became Prime Minister.

So what can we compare this too? A game of political scrabble and the best sound bite wins. For voters this is like playing hop scotch in a minefield. Are we going to listen and make the best choice for our country. Or are we going to do the same old thing mark an X and wait till morning to find out what is behind the mystery curtain? No I am not taking sides but I hope it starts a discussion.

Fred Steele