Canadian Elections

Splintered · 09-05-2008, 10:04 PM

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/...-election.html

So, it looks like Canada is going to call another election. Again. No. Seriously. Again. (The last one being 2006, the one before that in 2004, the one before that in 2000).

Does anyone have any preference to the politicians that may potentially run?
Does anyone even know the politicians running?
Does anyone even care?

It seems like the last election was two months ago. Fortunately, the election will be fairly short. Assuming it's called Sunday, the voting will commence October 14th.

Saya · 09-05-2008, 10:12 PM

I have no idea how I'm going to vote

I don't like the Liberal party, but I prefer them over the Conservatives, I guess I agree with the NDP more than anybody, but I just dunno if they can run the country (and Prime Minister Jack Layton is just a weird thing to say), they are still a small party......

I guess what I'd really like to see is NDP getting more seats, and the Liberals getting a minority leadership. I know that means we'd look forward to another election in a year or two, but I like having a minority government, it means that one party doesn't have a huge control over Parliament. I'll have to think about it some more though before I vote.

Splintered · 09-07-2008, 04:41 PM

Well, I'd say very few people care.

However, the elections have been officially called. You can read about them here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/08/wo...canada.html?hp
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/...f-98c0219d632e
http://canadianpress.google.com/arti...lEpZktQAHFljCw

I'd like to see someone like Stephane Dion take it, if for no reason other then to get Harper out of office. Jack Layton would be the best choice of all, but good luck in getting him elected. At least, that's what I think.

Saya · 09-08-2008, 04:45 AM

Apparently in the polls Harper has a good chance of getting the majority. wtf? He supported the Iraq War, took us out of the Kyoto Protocol, was agaisnt gay marriage, said we are no longer a peacekeeping nation, wants to increase our troop numbers in Afghanistan.....and he's popular?

Splintered · 09-08-2008, 05:31 PM

I don't get how Harper could get a majority. I though most Conservatives hated the man, but only supported him because he was their ticket in, and most Liberals wouldn't vote for him, period.

Saya · 09-08-2008, 05:39 PM

I think its because Bloc Quebecois is losing a lot of voters, and most of those are going Conservative.

Splintered · 09-08-2008, 07:58 PM

That never made sense to me. Bloc Quebecois are, to my memory, focused on Quebec's nationalism in defiance of Ottawa while promoting more "left-wing" ideas, while the Conservative Party is focused on Canadian nationalism in compliance with Ottawa, promoting "right-wing" ideologies.

You'd figure Bloc Quebecois would jump ship to the Liberals, not the Conservatives.

Saya · 09-09-2008, 05:12 AM

Probably has to do with the sponsorship scandal, and the seperatist movement in Quebec is apparently dying. But yeah, you'd think where the Bloc was left wing they'd just to Liberal or even NDP.

One of your links did make a point that most people who vote, vote for their individual MP rather than the federal leader. Our MP is Fabian Manning, Conservative, a lot of people voted for him even though they hate Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party. Actually, I gotta find out where I'm supposed to vote, I'm from the Avalon district, I went out there to vote last time, but where I've been here so long I don't know which I fall under.

7734¯7IA3 · 09-13-2008, 08:06 PM

Preferences: Lets see:

My vote goes to the right Honorable Stephen Harper because, in my opinion, the other leaders are not ready to represent Canada on the global stage.
(and NO, that's not the only reason, as I realize to expound my argument fully would require a Ph.D Dissertation)

I don't think anyone knows the politicians running (at least not on a personal level)...But they know their names and their respective parties...And if they had some more brains (I hope they do) they would look into what policies/ideologies those parties stand for.

Yes, I care (and so should YOU) because this is democracy at work.

You can vote for what ever party you wish, it is YOUR right.

I can only comment that you should seriously think before you decide...

7734¯7IA3 · 09-13-2008, 08:07 PM

Saya,

Please, please, think carefully about who to vote for….Do you want another liberal leader that speaks Her Majesty’s English from one side of his mouth (C’ mon, no one understands him) and his momma’s tongue from the other side of his mouth? That has a disturbingly close resemblance to that “Fiberal” Jean Cretien (more like “Cretino”, for the Italians on the board, LOL!), who spent millions of tax payer dollars to that sponsorship scandal…We both know that Harper is ONLY choice for strong leadership, because, like it or not (and I know YOU don’t like it), this election is only about LEADERSHIP, and Stephen Harper, in my opinion, is the best face that Canada can put forward…In all honestly, I really don’t see how the rest of the world can take the other leaders seriously. I want some one who can speak English properly (it is, after all, the international language) and can demonstrate STRONG leadership skills. My vote goes to the Right Honorable Stephen Harper for a Conservative majority.

Of course you are free to your own opinion, and I respect that, but I got a strong feeling that many, many (working) ppl in Canada are getting fed up with a minority Gov’t. that cannot do any thing because it does not have support in the house. This is democracy…the ppl will speak, and I predict a Conservative Majority J

Even ppl in Ontario are fed up with this ridiculous liberal government…(McGuinty is a total Jackass) Ontario is now in a “have not” status thanks to your liberal government who seems to think the only way to economic growth is to raise taxes??? BTW Have not status means a province that has to rely on transfer payments from the PROSPERITY of other provinces. Ontario is no longer the central economy…It is now Alberta, BC, heck even Newfoundland is doing better than Ontario, with its recent offshore Oil drilling ops. J What was the slogan in the Mc Cain campaign?? Oh yeah..”Drill Baby Drill”, “Drill Baby Drill” YeeeeeeeHaaaaW!

You will note how I didn’t mention NDP…Simply because NO one likes NDP…I’m old enough to remember what Bob Rae and his degenerate morons did to Ontario in the 1990’s….That was pathetic…They almost bankrupted us, and it took a Conservative (Harris) govt. to finally set things straight – that’s when I really enjoyed a buoyant job market, and got paid top dollar for my skills– unlike today, companies only hire top talent for the lowest wage (because of the Fiberal taxes)… It’s fucking pathetic.

Down with socialism….Get a job and stop taxing me!

Saya · 09-13-2008, 08:30 PM

So I should not vote Dion because he's Francophone? This is a BILINGUAL country. French is an official language as English. Harper on the other hand struggles with the French language. Harper is a CONSERVATIVE, as I have already said, he voted agaisnt gay marriage, tried to take the Atlantic Accord away from us, supported the Iraq war, wants privatized health care and wants to send MORE troops to Afghanistan. Why would I vote for someone who is like Diet Bush?

Also, this is a vote for my MP, not for the Prime Minister. You fail to realize that the prime minister isn't the same as the president of america, the prime minister doesn't have a whole lot of power, he is still an MP.

The other candidates aren't great either, but for me its about settling for the lesser evil. And you seem to be confused over Provincial government and Federal, don't look at your premier but look at your MP. And you seem to think that the country revolves around Ontario, if you haven't noticed but the other provinces are just as important. "Even Newfoundland is doing better?" Ever since we joined Confederation we've been getting fucked up the ass, its about time we were allowed to keep our own oil. Go look up Smallwood and Churchill Falls.

I like a minority government, Harper can't get his agendas done and I like that the parties have to work together to make things work. I hope once again to get maybe a Liberal minority with more seats for the NDP, so the NDP has more of a say and can gain experience.

EDIT: English is the international language? Are you shitting me? Dear lord what is wrong with the Ontario education system?

vng2 · 09-25-2008, 01:45 PM

I think personally elections are coming up too much, but I guess that can't be helped, it's already called for yet another election.

The liberal scandal was upsetting but that can't be helped now and we had a surplus just before harper stepped up and now we have a deficit. Our economy was doing better before.

I agree that I don't like the conservative party much except for Stronach before but she switched parties anyways. Harper was going for more troops and was supporting agenda item's I didn't much agree with like the privatized healthcare you said.
I also think we had too much rainfall this summer, so I agree with the Liberals that something should be done about the climate which is the aim Dion said he was going to go for.

Lihualee · 09-29-2008, 05:16 AM

Thanks! Bump!

Saya · 10-04-2008, 12:42 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sa3CY9YauGQ

I just found this news clip from CBC news, they went to my university and asked people very basic things about Canadian politics, and some people didn't even know who our prime minister is. >.< The girl who thinks Jean Chretien is still our prime minister deserves a slap upside the head. I really don't understand why people don't care about politics. Man, Jack Layton was there a week or two ago and they couldn't name him as a candidate, or say he was the leader of the NDP.

I laughed though at the end where the anchor said "I'll never laugh at Talking To Americans again." XD

Visum Res · 10-06-2008, 07:25 PM

Quote:

Also, this is a vote for my MP, not for the Prime Minister. You fail to realize that the prime minister isn't the same as the president of america, the prime minister doesn't have a whole lot of power, he is still an MP.

Actually, the Prime Minister has a lot more power than one would like to think. They DO after all maintain the ability to kick someone out of their party. No party? Oh to bad. No funding in the next election for you. Also, stop associating provincial politics with federal. Ralph Klien, while being a drunk, managed to pull us Albertans out of debt. This debt was brought around by Trudeau with his whole "balance the wealth across the country" idea. This doesn't mean that Harper will pull all of Canada out of debt, nor does it mean Dion will put Alberta into debt again.

Also, I'ld like to point out that right now the world is suffering economically thanks to the US banks genius mortgage plans. Harper isn't the soul cause of our slowly declining economy.

Saya · 10-06-2008, 07:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Visum Res

Actually, the Prime Minister has a lot more power than one would like to think. They DO after all maintain the ability to kick someone out of their party. No party? Oh to bad. No funding in the next election for you. Also, stop associating provincial politics with federal. Ralph Klien, while being a drunk, managed to pull us Albertans out of debt. This debt was brought around by Trudeau with his whole "balance the wealth across the country" idea. This doesn't mean that Harper will pull all of Canada out of debt, nor does it mean Dion will put Alberta into debt again.

Also, I'ld like to point out that right now the world is suffering economically thanks to the US banks genius mortgage plans. Harper isn't the soul cause of our slowly declining economy.

I did say not to confuse provincial with federal. Danny Williams is a conservative but urges Newfoundlanders to vote agaisnt Harper. And the prime minister does have power, but its not the same as the american president at all. The party does have the right to elect a new leader as they see fit, and the prime minister is still an MP.

Canada is not in debt right now, but its a risk that we may be losing our surplus. The Liberals left us with a surplus and its still there, but its not as much as it was before, and with the economic scare right now we may lose it. Especially if Harper is pulling a McCain and insisting that the fundamentals of the economy is strong.

Visum Res · 10-06-2008, 07:36 PM

Actually, we ARE in debt. Most countries are. Thing is though, we're in debt to ourselves. Therefore the government doesn't technically have to pay it back, much like how the US functions. And, technically, our economy is the steadiest in the G8, and we are much steadier than the US, mostly because of our vast natural resources. While this doesn't mean we're immune to declines, we are much less vulnerable than most other countries.

Saya · 10-06-2008, 07:50 PM

We have debts, but the country is making more money right now than it is spending, therefore we have a surplus. There is speculation however on if Harper's next budget will put us in deficit or maintain the surplus. He says that there "is no need to go into deficit at this time." Out of all the G8 countries we have the lowest rate of debt.

But boy howdy did the tsx plummet when that bail out plan got rejected last week. It recovered a bit, but its still very depressing to watch right now. We are being affected, like it or not.

Visum Res · 10-06-2008, 08:05 PM

Of course we are being affected. The whole world is, and if they aren't they soon will be. That's what happens when the biggest internationalist country decides to take a nose dive.

Saya · 10-06-2008, 08:18 PM

And thats the frustrating thing, Harper denies there's any fundamental problem at all.

Visum Res · 10-06-2008, 08:24 PM

In the long run, I doubt Harper could really do anything about it, even if he did, short of something overly drastic like War Communism or WW3. It's the sad but true state of the world at large, not just Canada

Saya · 10-06-2008, 08:40 PM

WW3? Canada? War? Yeah, lets hop into our canoes and attack Japan with our arsenal of sling shots.

And why war communism when regular communism or anarchy would do the trick?

Visum Res · 10-06-2008, 08:44 PM

hey this IS WW3. make some sniper deal with the US and become the official snipers for our side. besides that, ship off a crap load of uranium, and we become the biggest resource centre on the globe...

war Communism is the closest thing I've studied to theoretical communism, and technically theoretical communism IS anarchism. Straight anarchy would crash any economy, not improve it. Too many human flaws

TheBloodEternity · 10-06-2008, 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saya

WW3? Canada? War? Yeah, lets hop into our canoes and attack Japan with our arsenal of sling shots.

Lmao. fuckincharacterlimits

Saya · 10-06-2008, 09:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Visum Res

hey this IS WW3. make some sniper deal with the US and become the official snipers for our side. besides that, ship off a crap load of uranium, and we become the biggest resource centre on the globe...

war Communism is the closest thing I've studied to theoretical communism, and technically theoretical communism IS anarchism. Straight anarchy would crash any economy, not improve it. Too many human flaws

Your first paragraph made no sense. Just to let you know.

And no, communism is not anarchy. Communism still demands a centralized system, which anarchy does not have. However this is a discussion we've had many times on this board, and Jillian recently went into much more detail on the differences of communism and anarcho-communism, so I'll give you the link to that thread:

https://www.gothic.net/boards/showthread.php?t=12371

And as to whether there are too many "human flaws" to make anarchy work, we've already debated that to death as well. Let me just say that too many "human flaws" is destroying capitalism, to the point where the rich are profiting by driving the banks into the ground and the poor are losing their homes, and America has to nationalize the banks to save itself. Its a broken system we have.