Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

It's a good time to be a liberal. The US Democrats have taken over the house and the senate. Stephane Dion is the new leader of the Liberal party. Far-right Alberta PC leadership candidate Ted Morton was rejected, as was corporatist Jim Dinning and a more centrist Ed Stelmach is our new premier.

Harper's minority government Conservatives have bungled their way through their first year of governing while managing to anger families, seniors and businesspeople with policies like the measely $100/month for child care, the scandalous income trust decision in which companies and investors lost billions, the pathetic so-called Clean Air act championed by an Environment minister who won't even show up to testify at the environment committee, the vote on extending Canada's mission in Afghanistan without even presenting a plan to do so while the situation deteriorates rapidly...and so on and so on....

All in all, the majority has spoken loudly and has said that the era of neocon-like rule is no longer acceptable. Americans and Canadians are overwhelmingly moderate and the small pockets of extreme conservatives no longer have the power to sway mass numbers of people to accept their bidding. Successfully managing the public's two most urgent concerns: the environment and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, cannot be trusted in the hands of ruling conservatives in the US or Canada. Bush and the GOP have failed utterly on both of those fronts and Harper is simply following in his footsteps.

Now is the time for renewal. The Democrats have a huge responsibility when it comes to making wise decisions about the future of Iraq, Afghanistan and the broader middle east. They must also fight back against the science-snubbing Bush machine to take charge of the environmental issues (along with so many other challenges of importance to Americans). Canada's Stephane Dion's strong environmental plans will trump the Harper government's nonsense hands down - despite the Liberals' past failures to deal with the situation.

In Alberta, a new era begins with a little known, quiet spoken premier who will most likely chart a very cautious course over the next while. Last election, Alberta's liberals finally made some small but notable gains and with the ever-changing boom population, it's not unthinkable to consider that more are on the way.

Overall, the stagnation of the past has finally been overcome and there's an energy in the air that has been absent for quite some time. Liberals (small 'l' like me and big 'L' supporters of the Liberal party, along with those who cheered on the Democrats) have been reinvigorated. Change is here, more is on the way and all I can say is that it's about damn time.