Is it just me, or are more and more companies getting into April Fool’s Day nowadays? Yesterday, Gmail announced “Gmail motion”, which would allow users to check their e-mail in the same manner as they play PlayStation Move. Reddit, after having previously introduced a “Reddit Gold” account option, announced a new option, “Reddit Mold”. The Huffington Post announced subscription-only access, but for New York Times employees only. Kodak announced the introduction of “photo diapers”, and Ikea announced a new product, the Hundstol “dog highchair” (my dog would love that!). I could go on and on and on.

One group that seems to be missing from the flood of April Fool’s jokes are Canada’s political parties. With that in mind, I’ve created some of my own for them (one day late, sorry, but they kept me waiting):

• Conservative Leader Stephen Harper, who has been looking for star candidates to run in various Toronto ridings, announced that Julian Assange would be running in Toronto Centre. Harper brokered a secret deal with Sweden to have all charges against Assange dropped (the details of this arrangement have not yet been leaked, er, released).
• Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff announced yesterday that his party would be seeking better foreign relations with Russia, through pushing for the restoration of the Russian Empire. Ignatieff’s family, who would be nobility under the Russian Empire, would cultivate improved relationships with Canada. Ignatieff would also push for the return of Alaska from the United States to Russia.
• NDP leader Jack Layton announced yesterday that, in order for the colour spectrum to align with the political spectrum in Canada, and because his party is to the left of the Liberal party, he would be changing the party’s colour from orange to infrared. You can expect to see infrared lawn signs, TV commercials, and the like starting next week.
• Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe announced yesterday that his party, instead of only running candidates in Quebec as it has done up until now, would be running candidates in all ten provinces and three territories. The candidates outside of Quebec would run on a different platform than those in Quebec. Instead of promoting Quebec separating from Canada, they would be promoting the other nine provinces and three territories separating together from Canada.
• Green party leader Elizabeth May announced that she would, in fact, be on a nationally televised debate this year, due to a CTV network insider who is a Green supporter. That same insider has also excluded Stephen Harper, Michael Ignatieff, Jack Layton, and Gilles Duceppe from the debate. You can see the debate on CTV April 18th at 7:00. One thing that the news release didn’t mention is that it’s 7:00 am, Newfoundland time.