Canadian Election Thread 2008

As requested in the other non official election thread of the Canadian Election of 2008, I am taking the time to start an official Canadian Election Thread.

First off, for our American cousins who are ignorant of our ways, let us first begin with the traditional Canadian toast. Every body now:

Where's my Tims?

http://www.the-nextlevel.com/board/a...1&d=1220486923

OK that's out of the way, lets introduce you to YOUR political leaders in the House of Commons!

At the conclusion of the last election in 2006, the House of Commons was seated thusly:

At 124 seats were the Conservative Party of Canada

http://www.the-nextlevel.com/board/a...1&d=1220486923

Which made this man,

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Canada's 22nd Prime Minister. Say hello to Stephen Harper everyone!

Weighing in at 103 seats comes the Queens official opposition, the Liberal Party of Canada!

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Say hello to the still somewhat new at the job leader of the opposition Stephain Dion!

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Sitting in third place and thanking god they didn't dissappear completely was the Bloc Quebecois at 51 seats.

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And here is their leader, the cuddly Gilles Duceppe

http://www.the-nextlevel.com/board/a...1&d=1220486923

Lastly we have the NDP at 29 seats,

http://www.the-nextlevel.com/board/a...1&d=1220486923

And their leader, Jack Layton

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There we are. All caught up. Wait, whats this? A recent addition to the House of Commons, lets all give a warm welcome to The Green Party of Canada's Elizabeth May

http://www.the-nextlevel.com/board/a...1&d=1220486923

The Green Party didn't get anyone elected but DID convince a Liberal to become the first Green Party member of Parliament! Hurray for attention grabbing politicians!

OK. So while not exactly current, that seat total has remained roughly the same since 2006, and that means Mister Harper leads a minority government. He's been ok with that for some time now, but apparently something has made him decide that this is simply intolerable.

The Conservative spin: Dion and the Liberals have become too difficult to work with, and the Conservatives believe that Dion's Carbon Tax plan is simply too drastic a departure from their own ideals that the government simply won't be able to do it's job.

The Liberal spin: Harper knows that the economy is going in to the shitter sooner or later, and why wait for that and the Liberals to get their feet under them even if an election now looks like just another minority government for someone?

The Bloc spin: English pig dogs! Vive la Quebec Libre!

The NDP spin: Please vote enough of us in, we'd like to maintain official party status.

The Green Spin: Holy shit we just got in and you want to go out again? Motherfuckers.

Now then. Discuss.

The NDP guy looks like John Scherer, The Video Professor. You know, the "try my product" guy.

But anyways, are your liberal and conservative parties ideologically similar to our liberals and conservatives on the usual issues?

Also, any chance of another Quebec movement for secession in the near future?

Actually you're right, he does. And he's about as annoying.

As for your question, Yes. Sort of. Harper's biggest hinderance is named George Bush. Too many people in Ontario are afraid of what Harper would do with a majority government. His second biggest hinderance is that the majority of his government are morons, and so for basically the first year in office if there was something to be said, he said it. He's let up some in the second year, so now there are a few people that are capable of opening their mouths without directly inserting feet, but its still quite clear that he's riding a one wheeled bicycle.

The liberals tend to identify with the democrats, but until recently the parties weren't quite so ideologically separate. The Conservatives evolved out of 2 parties that grew out of the Progressive Conservative party. The PC's were much more liberal than this Conservative party will ever be.

As for separation, that's tough to say. After this last election the Bloc lost a lot of seats and everyone thought oh hey, maybe Quebec is getting over itself. But they've thought that before, and had the second referendum come damned close to biting them on the ass. For the moment it's not on the agenda. There's a federalist party in power in the province and the federals have been running a bit scared since 2006.

they're all assholes and layton STILL has that fucking pedostache

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Originally Posted by cka

they're all assholes and layton STILL has that fucking pedostache

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Yeah. This is the first federal election where I really don't care about who wins. I wager many voters feel the same.

The argument could go like this: Harper hasn't personality offended my sensibilities in the last year or so. Bonus points for not being as big a dirtbag as Dubya (*cough* minority government *cough*). So, whatevs.

Question: What's the record for minority governments? I've been trying to track this down. I think Truduea holds it, but I don't even know why I think that.

I will give it to harper for lowering the GST to 5% (if that was even his doing), but otherwise ehhh

I like the Conservatives, personally. I'm not a fan of babysitting Afganistan and having our men and women killed while America runs its whimsical war against an idea. That's fucking dumb, but Dion won't be doing anything more than Harper has. Remember that it wasn't even Harper or the Conservatives who put our troops there in the first place.

I'm also not sure how anybody thinks Harper isn't doing anything for the economy when the interest rates and economic policies he's put in place / upheld have stabilized Canada for the time being against pretty big economic threats. (the weakening US dollar is a problem for our economy, since 70% of what we do is exported to the US)

The Carbon tax is the dumbest fucking idea of all time. Do you HONESTLY believe that a tax on emissions is going to reduce anything? No, incentives and savings are. It's not savings when we have to pay something we didn't before. His plan is dumb, and I've yet to hear a plan from Dion and the Liberals that was actually well thought-out. Seriously. Give people cheaper or equal cost alternatives to the things they use now and they will. Mercury filled lightbulbs is a stupid idea. Do you know how hard it is to dispose of a Mercury filled fucking ANYTHING? It's hazardous waste!

Harper, like him or not, has made considerable tax advances and social program advances I like. His day care packages actually give mothers and new dads back taxes they wouldn't have otherwise seen. It's 200 per kid under 4 or something like that. Remember, this isn't money he's giving them. It's money he's giving them BACK from their taxes. Which means more money to spend on diapers, which means more money flowing through the economy.

NPD is dumb. They got in to the government of Ontario for one term and almost bankrupt us, one of the richest provinces and lucrative markets in the free world.

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Originally Posted by Drewbacca

I like the Conservatives, personally. I'm not a fan of babysitting Afganistan and having our men and women killed while America runs its whimsical war against an idea. That's fucking dumb, but Dion won't be doing anything more than Harper has. Remember that it wasn't even Harper or the Conservatives who put our troops there in the first place.

I'm also not sure how anybody thinks Harper isn't doing anything for the economy when the interest rates and economic policies he's put in place / upheld have stabilized Canada for the time being against pretty big economic threats. (the weakening US dollar is a problem for our economy, since 70% of what we do is exported to the US)

The Carbon tax is the dumbest fucking idea of all time. Do you HONESTLY believe that a tax on emissions is going to reduce anything? No, incentives and savings are. It's not savings when we have to pay something we didn't before. His plan is dumb, and I've yet to hear a plan from Dion and the Liberals that was actually well thought-out. Seriously. Give people cheaper or equal cost alternatives to the things they use now and they will. Mercury filled lightbulbs is a stupid idea. Do you know how hard it is to dispose of a Mercury filled fucking ANYTHING? It's hazardous waste!

Harper, like him or not, has made considerable tax advances and social program advances I like. His day care packages actually give mothers and new dads back taxes they wouldn't have otherwise seen. It's 200 per kid under 4 or something like that. Remember, this isn't money he's giving them. It's money he's giving them BACK from their taxes. Which means more money to spend on diapers, which means more money flowing through the economy.

NPD is dumb. They got in to the government of Ontario for one term and almost bankrupt us, one of the richest provinces and lucrative markets in the free world.

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You've pretty much summed it up.

The Liberals haven't presented anything other than, at least we're not the Conservatives. Ideals, dreams.

Harper will prolly get that majority he's so wanted.

Does Harper still intend on holding a referendum on gay marriage? Or has this been settled?

I don't think either party has made noise about gay marriage. Doesn't seem to be a keynote issue lately. But it's probably not a good idea to rely on the Conservatives when it comes to gay rights.