Ask500

First, Belleisle Elementary School in New Brunswick stopped the singing of the national anthem: http://westernstandard.blogs.com/shotgun/2009/01/canadian-national-anthem-banned-in-new-brunswick-elementary-school.html

Today, the decision was reversed: http://westernstandard.blogs.com/shotgun/2009/02/belleisle-elementary-school-students-will-now-sing-o-canada-again.html

Context: http://westernstandard.blogs.com/shotgun/2009/01/canadian-georges-rush-stpierre-defeats-bj-penn-to-retain-ufc-welterweight-title.html

Context: http://westernstandard.blogs.com/shotgun/2009/01/western-standard-poll-conservative-budget-proves-tories-are-conservative-in-name-only.html

Well... Maybe you haven't been following the news in Canada. Here's a short summary: Conservatives won (with a Westerner, Stephen Harper, as minority PM). Now three parties are planning to oust Harper via a coalition government with the separatist Bloc Quebecois, the socialist NDP, and the Liberals, without an election. Some are calling it a coup. There is hardly anyone from out West who would get into Cabinet (Ralph Goodale is the sole exception right now).

Related poll: http://www.ask500people.com/questions/canadians-western-canadians-should-begin-to-explore-the-idea-of-forming-their-own-country

http://westernstandard.blogs.com/shotgun/2008/12/ws-poll-western.html

The Bloc-NDP-Liberal coalition government has strongly upset at least some Western Canadians. Proposals for cabinet positions do not include any Albertans. In 2005, fully 35.6 per cent of Westerners agreed with the idea of thinking about separating from Canada. We're curious if that number is higher or lower now.

How can you tell where the votes are coming from (apart from the location on the Google Map)? I'd be curious to know where people vote for on this poll.

The Western Standard Shotgun blog posted the poll. I also sent the poll to a few other bloggers, with instructions on how to embed the poll. It's possible that some other blogs have picked it up.

(The Western Standard blog was the #1 Canadian political blog in October, and #4 in November. We get a lot of traffic, so the number of votes shouldn't be all that surprising).

Here's the story: http://www.westernstandard.ca/website/article.php?id=2705

Or, they're Canadians, like me, living in the U.S., dej2.