Why it would not surprise me if there was a "Maple Spring" this year

While walking through the downtown today, I noticed the protest scheduled for today to demand the resignation of Rob Ford. The travails of Ford will, make my words, mark his imminent departure from politics, one way or another. The man, simply put, just doesn't have the brains to be mayor. He certainly is not displaying any aptitude in handling this crisis, when clearly everyone associate with his administration is jumping ship.

History is not going to vindicate Ford. Aside from the discontinuation of the vehicle registration tax and garbage privatization east of Yonge, name me any proposal or initiative Ford has brought to the table that has survived. I'll wait. World's largest Ferris wheel? The casino? Privately funded subway---hell, the friggin' monorail? He has not compromised, he has not proven to be reasonable; he has only gone on the offensive, charging headfirst into the windmills, and now is being lifted aloft for all to ridicule.

At the same time, Stephen Harper is weathering the Duffy/Wright scandal. Harper is deprived of a chief of staff in the PMO; and the economy, despite every attempt to convince Canadians of what their lying eyes is telling them, is not coming back as a roaring success. Combined with funding cuts, and attempt to muzzle, Canada's scientists has proven to be a huge disaster for the Conservative party. If the economy continues to soften, especially with regards to the housing sector, it will be difficult for the Tories to claim the high ground on the economy.

The 2010/2011 Conservative wave has broken and is beginning to recede. Harper now faces a feisty opposition in Trudeau, and any hope of mobilizing Ford nation in Toronto has fizzled. Things are not much better than two years ago, when the Occupy movement began, and it would not take much of a nudge for the protests to start all over. There are two years left in Harper's mandate, but he will have been in power for nine years, enough to exhaust voters, especially when he is burdened with scandal and stagnation.

Currently, Turkey is convulsed with protests denouncing the ruling party. Such a spirit may yet make it's way to Canada's shores.