You always know your "democracy" is in trouble when over half the eligible voters can't be bothered to vote. That seems to be the case with today's election in Ukraine.
That dismal turn-out comes in spite of the Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird having issued an inspirational paean to the virtues of freedom and democracy mere hours before the polls opened. Ya gotta love that bit about "resiliency and determination for a better future."
We'll see how the Ukrainians feel about freedom and democracy when they get the full course treatment of Frau Merkel's austerity enema!
Goodbye dreams of European integration!
You'll note that Baird boasts of Canada's generous complement of Ukrainian-Canadian election observers on the ground. That observer mission breaks the cardinal rule of election observer missions; don't empower partisans to determine the fairness of elections.
While that might look beyond sketchy in the rest of the world, the Harper gang is counting on big numbers from the Ukrainian-Canadian community in the next Canadian Federal Election.
Last time round, Big Steve won a majority on the strength of 25% of eligible voters.
Since then, there's been a lot of Canadians shaking their heads at the multiplicity of anti-democratic initiatives emanating from Harper's government.
If those grateful hyphenated Ukrainians turn up to vote, they could make all the difference in the next Canadian federal election.
The Harper gang's Ukraine policy is absolutely brazen self-serving political opportunism and little else.
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