Cartoonist Politics

Although I didn't get a chance to note it when it was announced a couple of weeks ago, Canada is having a national election next month. Although Steven Harper initially promised to hold the next election on a regular schedule, but I guess when he saw an opportunity in which he expected his party to do well, he couldn't pass it up.

But I'm not writing about that. In one parliamentary riding in Toronto, Chester Brown, award-winning cartoonist of Louis Riel, Ed the Happy Clown, and Yummy Fur, is collecting signatures to get on the ballot as a Libertarian. That's an intriguing position. Canadian national politics is very strongly focused on party. You get things done by having the muscle of your party behind you. I don't know whether there are any other Libertarians in Parliament or not, but if there are, there aren't very many. An article in eye weekly seems to suggest that Brown's main motivation is to promote greater awareness of Libertarianism, so he may be able to accomplish that, at least. But that raises another question: What does Libertariainism really mean in Canada? Perhaps a fact-finding mission is in order.