How to lose an election in Canada

[Rust]

So it seems the conservative Christians in Canada are trying to take a page from the playbook of their colleagues in the US.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ ... /National/

The result is going to ensure the Liberals keep a hold on power in spite of the huge sponsorship scandal because, unlike our good neighbors to the south, we like to keep religion and politics apart.

'Voters in poll fear Tory agenda' (link)

--R.

[Wrath Child]

Maybe you could just repeat history by rounding the Christians up and putting them in re-education camps like you did your indians.

[Zanchief]

Maybe you could just repeat history by rounding the Christians up and putting them in re-education camps like you did your indians.

I think you're missing the point.

[Wrath Child]

What better way to keep religon and politics apart?

[Ciladan]

I, like most Canadians, am facing a serious problem when it comes to our government:

On one hand, the Liberal party are crooks and stole millions of dollars in the AdScam scandal.

On the other hand, the Conservative party come across as over-zealous and too far right wing then I am comfortable with (as most Canadians are moderates).

These two partys, unfortunately, are the only two partys that will ever have enough seats to govern because I, like most, feel that voting for the other partys is a waste of a vote (not that the other partys would, imo, know wtf their doing if they governed).

So now I'm facing apathy.

[Zanchief]

I'd vote NDP if my riding wasn't so close.

As it is, I'd rather see the conservatives lose one seat then throw my vote away.

[Ciladan]

Out of curiousity, what is the general attitude about all this over there in Ottawa Zan?

[Zanchief]

Hmm well people on the other side of the river are using this as a ra ra pro Quebec english suck thing.

But generally people here are mad but aren't gonna do anything about it. Shame we aren't in a position to hold them accountable.

[Ciladan]

I thought Ontario held the key ridings.

[Zanchief]

Shrug

[Snero]

they do, and the liberals are most likely not going to win with any kind of huge majority they usually do, but the conservatives under harper are way too right wing for most people and unless they come back closer to centre, won't be going anywhere in ontario. What could really sink the liberals is if the NDP keeps riding high, jack layton was the only one who looked good out of all that mess, he came accross as an effective politician, instead of bitching and whining like harper and trying to bring down the government because he wants to be the prime minister. Layton actually got something done, and pushed his agenda through because martin had to play ball or lose the non confidence vote. If the NDP is ever going to be a force in canadian politics, the time is now, nobody likes the liberals and they have to show they are a viable alternative

[Tikker]

NDP will pick up a bunch more seats


NDP in the last election ended up losing a bunch of seats in normal strongholds, cause people were voting liberal in a last ditch effort to keep the conservatives out


If everyone that was an NDP voter, had voted NDP, they would have picked up an extra 6 or 8 seats, and kept 5 from the PC's meaning they would have been able to form a true coalition government with the liberals and gotten more thru

[Snero]

the NDP will have to run a better campain then they did the last time though, I read their platforms and it was a joke, spending everywhere with no thought as to where the money was going to come from. It was almost like they had become a caricature of themselves, at least from what I read. I consider myself somewhat left wing, but that was too much for me.

[Rust]

The NDP should do very well in BC. The Bloc is going to kick holy hell out of everyone in Quebec.

--R.

[Ciladan]

Why can't Quebec just drop off already?

[Zanchief]

If they hold a referendum now they'd be a lot closer~

[Narrock]

This party will win:

http://www.conservative.ca/welcome/

Stephen Harper will lead Canada in the direction it needs to go.

[Zanchief]

HAHAHA

[Narrock]

HAHAHA

[Narrock]

Jaffer also said that the Liberal-NDP spending explosion could do harm to Canada’s economy. “Ask Ontarians what NDP budgets do to the economy,” Jaffer said. “They remember Bob Rae’s government and the coalition with the Liberals before that. They left some pretty ugly results for the economy, and it took Conservatives to turn it around.”

[Tikker]

You're not canadian, so you don't understand Mindia


Canadians in general, are slightly left of centre in their politics

The Tories are too far right wing





And Snero

You are correct. I don't think the NDP have what it takes to be a national governing party, but (imo) they have a better sense of social responsibility than say, the tories, and apparently the liberals


While Saskatchewan isn't exactly a model of prosperity, the NDP government here has done a decent job of debt reduction, and balancing the books


They do need to learn how to play with big business better tho, so if they steal anything, that would a good idea to liberate

[Lyion]

Except even with a Government that massively defrauds the taxpayers, it seems most Canadians are ambivalent about politics.

http://www.hilltimes.com/html/index.php ... tives/&c=1

Conservative Party Leader Stephen Harper plans to spend more time with party members and he's feeling more comfortable now that Belinda Stronach has left his party.
Conservatives will likely hold their fire between now and the summer break, say top Conservative sources.

One top Conservative source, who did not want to be identified, told The Hill Times that there's definitely no possibility of any election until early next year for the "simple reason that we don't have the numbers."

"Look at the numbers in the House. It all depends on how the Independents will vote next time if there's another vote. At this time, I don't have any reason to believe that they will vote any different than they did two weeks ago. So, unless something really dramatic happens in these two weeks that we don't know of, there's no election until next year. It will be after the Gomery report comes out and Martin has said that he'll call an election after that," said the top Conservative source.

The source said that the Conservatives intend to use their time between now and the next election trying to shore up and strengthen their political support across the country, especially in the key battleground of Ontario.

As well, the top Conservative said that during the summer break, Conservative Party Leader Stephen Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) will travel extensively in Ontario.

"You saw Harper in Ontario last week. You'll see him campaigning more actively in the coming weeks and months especially in Ontario and in other provinces. Our party will increase its visibility in the 905 area. We need to win a lot more seats in Ontario than we did last time if we want to form the next government."

Another top Conservative source, who also did not want to be identified, told The Hill Times that the Conservatives won't defeat the government between now and the summer break.

The source said after the sudden departure of Conservative-turned-Liberal-Cabinet Minister Belinda Stronach (Newmarket-Aurora, Ont.), Mr. Harper now feels more comfortable with his caucus and plans to spend more time talking to Conservative Party members and to Canadians over the summer months.

Mr. Harper is expected to play a much more visible role over the summer months, especially in Ontario, and has a number of key policy initiatives under consideration, said the source.

Meanwhile, last week, one top Liberal insider told The Hill Times that the next election would likely be next March. Under that scenario, and if the Liberals get through the first two weeks of June, the Prime Minister will announce in mid January that the next election would be held in March, launching a longer than usual 36-day campaign. The thinking is that the opposition parties wouldn't push for a fall election because the country would want to wait for the Gomery Inquiry report in December; that is, if the inquiry sticks to its schedule.

"The aversion to an election is going to ring more and more true over the next week or two or three. ...They figure they've had this vote, it's time to move on and I think that will resonate and pushing to get an election call and then having an election in the middle of July is going to royally frost people's gonads here. They're not going to go there," said the Liberal source.

Yet, despite the Conservative Party's defeat two weeks ago in the high-profile showdown in the House on the budget vote, some Tories are not ruling out the possibility that their party may still try to topple the government in the next two weeks before the summer recess.

"That's a possibility, that is a possibility, every day, that this Parliament sits and that is one of the options open to us," said Conservative Whip Rob Nicholson (Niagara Falls, Ont.) in a telephone interview from his riding office with The Hill Times. "We've been pushing for an election and there's a possibility we still may have a spring election. We're just keeping our options open."

Although the Liberals won one more seat in the House in the byelection in Labrador, Nfld., on May 24, and former Conservative MP Belinda Stronach defected to the Liberals two days before the critical vote, Mr. Nicholson nonetheless argued that the deciding factor will be the three Independent MPs.

Two of then, Carolyn Parrish (Mississauga-Erindale, Ont.) and Chuck Cadman (Surrey North, B.C.), voted with the government while David Kilgour (Edmonton-Beaumont, Alta.) sided with the Conservatives on the crucial budget votes in the House of Commons on May 19, forcing the House Speaker to cast a tie-breaking 152-152 vote in favour of the government and maintaining the status quo.

With the election of Todd Russell in the byelection in Labrador, Nfld. riding last week, the Liberals now have 133 seats in the House, excluding Peter Milliken's (Kingston and the Islands, Ont.) vote since the Speaker of the House votes only in the case of a tie. The Conservatives, meanwhile, have 98 seats in the House, the NDP 19 and the Bloc 54. Mr. Russell, however, will not be able to attend the House session before June 6 when he is officially sworn in as an MP, according to Elections Canada.

In the confidence vote two weeks ago, the NDP supported the Liberals in return for a deal according to which Liberals agreed to add $4.6-billion in the budget to be spent on social programs. The Conservatives in that vote were backed by the Bloc.

Last week, The Canadian Press reported that the NDP "could seek a long-term agreement to prop up the Liberal government" in exchange for support from the Liberals on issues such as electoral reform, the environment and protection for pensioners. The party will make a final decision this week in its weekly caucus meeting.

"It's possible that one scenario would be one agreement that would keep [the Liberals] in place," Jamey Heath NDP caucus director of communications and research told The Canadian Press last week.

"It's equally possible that it would be one step at a time..."

"In return for three or four items it is possible that we could certainly find an arrangement that would keep Parliament working."

Meanwhile, Mr. Nicholson blamed the Liberals for raucous Question Period sessions in the House. He said that the chief reason for the Conservatives' frustration in the House was that the Liberals

"stonewalled" and failed to answer questions. He warned that if the Liberals maintained their strategy of "not answering" questions in Question Period sessions, then "they're the authors of their own misfortune."

"What the government has to do is start answering questions. If they start answering the questions in a reasonable way then I think the Question Period may be a lot quieter and quite frankly more productive but if you get stonewalled on questions then they're the authors of their own misfortune," he said.



http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.c ... temID=7412

The opposition Conservative party would get roughly the same support if either of two politicians took over from current leader Stephen Harper, according to a poll by Leger Marketing published in the Globe and Mail.

In a regular voting intention survey, the Tories are in second place with 27 per cent, 11 points behind the governing Liberal party. With either New Brunswick premier Bernard Lord or deputy leader Peter MacKay leading the Conservatives, 26 per cent of respondents would support the Conservatives.

Harper became the Conservative party’s first leader in March 2004. The political organization was established after a merger between the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance and the Progressive Conservative party.

On Apr. 27, Harper criticized an agreement on the federal budget reached by prime minister Paul Martin and New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton, saying, "I will be asking our caucus to put this government out of its misery at the earliest possible opportunity." On May 19, the House of Commons accepted the $3.6 billion U.S. amendment to the federal budget. The motion passed after speaker Peter Milliken broke a 152-152 tie by supporting the government.

Lord has acted as New Brunswick’s premier since 1999. MacKay was the last leader of the Progressive Conservatives before the merger took place.

[Rust]

HAHAHA

[Narrock]

You're not canadian, so you don't understand Mindia


Canadians in general, are slightly left of centre in their politics

The Tories are too far right wing





And Snero

You are correct. I don't think the NDP have what it takes to be a national governing party, but (imo) they have a better sense of social responsibility than say, the tories, and apparently the liberals


While Saskatchewan isn't exactly a model of prosperity, the NDP government here has done a decent job of debt reduction, and balancing the books


They do need to learn how to play with big business better tho, so if they steal anything, that would a good idea to liberate

I'm not Canadian? Damn! Thanks for pointing that out, man.

The Canadian people aren't as "left-of-center" as you think they are... at least not anymore they're not. But you and Rust being lefties would like to think so. The whole world is gradually changing more conservative. Liberalism got people nowhere, and they're finally realizing that. It's time for global change. France and Germany will be next. Anyway, the general feeling here in America is that the conservative party will win in Canada this upcoming election. They've talked about it on a number of talk shows including CNN radio, which I listen to every morning.

[Tikker]

It doesn't matter what the general feeling in the US is, the tories will not win


The won't win seats in Ontario

They won't win seats in Quebec

that along means they won't win a majority government

The NDP and Liberal are closer in ideology than any of the other 2 parties


and if you look back in canada's history, generally the worst remembered governments were Tory governments