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squiggy
Stooge Two
Joined: 09 Mar 2004
Posts: 3007
Location: Messing with the fabric of Video Game realities. I'll summon Shiva on you! I SWEAR!
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 Thu Sep 11, 2008 9:57 am Canada Goes to the Polls: AGAIN??? |
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| Previous Topic wrote: | While the US braces for the final months of Election campaigning, Stephen Harper has called the country of Canada to the Electing Polls in October, 2008.
And, while this had massive advantages, AT THE TIME, for the Prime Minister, it would seem that he is going to be in a bit of a pickle, after his rather dirty campaign tricks, just the third, or fourth day into the campaign trail.
And while the Americans only have a few months left, Harper has pulled off what was originally a smart move, by calling the election at a very early date, but has since turned dissasterrific for him, and the Conservatives, according to new polls.
Much of this has to do with very mean-spirited campaigning, including the "Pooping Pouffin", and the decision by Mr. Harper, and ambulance-chaser NDP Leader Jack Layton to try to exclude Ms. May, leader of the green party, from the debates. This earned a great deal of slamming from Liberal Leader Stephan Dion, and Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe.
Stephan Dion, however, is not strictly, innocent on his own, either. While his auditory issues((Which, I, personally, respect him for having the gall to divulge. I rarely tell people I see at work that I have problems hearing, and read lips 98% of the time)), his "Green shift" plan, or as CTV News reporter Bill Good accidentally commented his "Green >impolite euphamism for fecal matter<" plan is still a 'work in progress', and he is establishing a few other 'campaign platform foundation posts' based on improving Conservative ideas, already in place.
And while NDP Leader Jack Layton promises a great deal of more 'green collar' jobs, his ideas have one major lacking issue: Funding. If you look at his running platform, the only real way it seems he is going to be able to pull all his spending off is by raising the GST back to 7%((And likely jacking up Income Taxes/Other taxes)), and unlike Dion's "Work in progress", or Harpers "Kyoto Accord-wannabe", or the Green Party's radical crazyness, or Duceppe's limited-function green plan, Layton hasn't really thought one up yet.
And then of course, you come to issues like gun control((Which the conservatives have vastly improved upon the existing budget-wasting joke of a system)), and weak-criminal justice outcomes.
When it comes to following his campaign ideals, I have to say that, despite the fact that Harper is RADICALLY Pro-life, and I am((Apparently)) radically pro-choice, he is still my candidate. He said he would fix the Gun-registry program. In 2007, it actually made it several million dollars UNDER budget. He said he'd get tougher on crime. He started too. I am certainly more inclined to give him another chance to finish it.
And the fact that he has now promised to END the Afghanistan mission altogether by 2011, bringing the country's men, women, and children back from an((in my view)) improper, and un-necessary war((which Canada should not have become a part of, again in my view)) adds greatly to his platform.
What I'd really like to see him do, what would be the absolute clincher for me, is not to just be getting tougher on Violent crime, but to also see the prime minister take on tougher crimes like pedophiles, rapists, and Child predators, as((as some of you may have noticed)), this is personally a very large issue with me, that someone can commit these crimes, en masse, and get vastly away with it, serving pitiful jail sentences.
And I'm actually surprised that none of the other party leaders are really taking him to task for only taking on Violent crimes. That would be something I would think Dion and Layton would be all over, but no, they aren't focusing on his platform, or his past ethics. They are taking on his smear-campaigns. Which actually are cleverly pointing out the flaws in the other parties.
While I'm not condoning the Conservative party's smear campaigns, I have to admit that they WORK. They point out every flaw in every other party's platforms, and most importantly, they offend the other parties SO MUCH, that the other parties don't pay, or draw any attention to the Conservative campaign platform's short-commings. And while a great many people have claimed Harper is 'cold', and 'un-emotional', he is still very much a family-oriented man, and he actually DOES care about diversity in this country. He even went rooting through, and sent every minority a 'happy new year' card, on that religion's new year. ((I didn't get one cause I'm registered as "Religion: Other".  ))
The biggest thing, that I have much respect for, is that Harper is very conservative in his own beliefs, however he is careful not to instigate his overly-conservative belief system into law. He has not out-right banned abortion((As several liberal campaigns claimed he would, last time around)), and is showing no intention of doing so, and has not horribly hindered the gay/lesbian marriage regulations((That was actually, oddly enough, mostly the Liberals, and the BQ.)). However, he has been highly CRITICAL of anti-conservative happenings, like the appointment of a personal hero of mine, Dr. Henry Morgentaler((Feel free to flame me for this, I personally have a great deal of respect for a man who fought for his beliefs to the point of going to jail, several times, for them.)) to the Order of Canada.
Harper slammed this, but he did nothing to influence the decision((As it is supposed to be religiously/politically unbiased)), and I greatly respect him for not demanding that it be rescinded, and for even telling the Catholic/Christian churches that, as much as he disagreed with the decision, it was something he had no control over, and would not attempt to TAKE control over, regardless of how it offended him.
Some people have noticed that, as this is an '8 election year((Which historically has amazing value for Canada)), that this campaign is LACKING an 'all star' prime minister candidate like Pierre Elliot Trudeau, or the like, however I disagree with that, altogether. First off, for the first time in history, the Green party has a fairly decent chance of actually making official party status((For the record, this requires atleast 12 seats in the house of commons, or 15% of the over-all votes)), for the first time in this DECADE, the NDP is actually re-surging in popularity, beating out the LIBERALS((Who are also at a first-time popularity record... down.)), and the Bloc Quebecois for the first time in a GREAT GREAT WHILE are not campaigning for SEPERATION, but rather AGAINST the other parties, attempting to actually be a NATIONAL party for the first time in Canadian history.
From my point of view, this IS a proper '8 election year for Canada, not because it has an 'all star' candidate, but because it is actually getting Canadians of ALL walks of life INTERESTED in a VERY short campaign((which has actually been much rather toned down than I initially predicted it would be.)).
This is, however, strictly my view point((With the exception of the party popularity stats, which I more-or-less stole and re-worded from an Ipsos-Reid poll.)), and I'd like to hear what other Canadians((And non-canadians who know enough about Canadian politics to form a decent opinion on it)) have to say/think about his one. |
So with the recent interesting scandals on Parliament hill, let's hear what everyone has to say on the subject?
Last edited by squiggy on Sat Dec 13, 2008 9:23 am; edited 1 time in total
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Republican_Man
STV's Premier Conservative
Joined: 26 Mar 2004
Posts: 14823
Location: Classified
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| Thu Sep 11, 2008 10:32 am |
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I'm sure you had a lot of interesting things to say in your perspective on the elections in Canada, squiggy, and I'd be interested in reading them, but might I recommend you separate the paragraphs with spaces? It's hard to read your views otherwise 
That said, go Stephen Harper!
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"Rights are only as good as the willingness of some to exercise responsibility for those rights- Fmr. Colorado Senate Pres. John Andrews
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squiggy
Stooge Two
Joined: 09 Mar 2004
Posts: 3007
Location: Messing with the fabric of Video Game realities. I'll summon Shiva on you! I SWEAR!
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| Wed Oct 01, 2008 11:26 am |
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I'm actually really surprised at how efficient the Conservatives are handling this campaign. Stephan Dion has practically eradicated the Liberal's chances of getting even a minority government, and Mr. Layton is beating him in popularity votes, probably setting him up pretty good for "Official Opposition leader", while Harper's strategy of trying to re-win a minority government seems to be netting him a majority government amount of votes. Quite effective strategies he's using, even if they ARE dirty, and under-handed.
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squiggy
Stooge Two
Joined: 09 Mar 2004
Posts: 3007
Location: Messing with the fabric of Video Game realities. I'll summon Shiva on you! I SWEAR!
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| Tue Oct 14, 2008 11:43 pm |
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Official Result:
Conservative Minority Government
-Difference between now, and before:
The Conservatives have gained a maximum of 3 more seats.
NDP Has also gained several seats.
Liberals are DOWN 3-8 seats.
Two Independents have been elected.
The Green Party has lost it's one seat.
What this means:
Either:
A) The Liberals no longer have a strong enough opposition to bring down any Conservative bills, if a FEW NDP, Bloq Quebecois, and/or independent support it.
B) The Liberals will garner enough NDP/BQ/Independent support to bring down enough Conservative bills to piss Harper off, and he'll call ANOTHER election.
In this event the Governor General may actually REFUSE him an election, in which case Mr. Dion((Liberal Leader)) will have to garner enough BQ/NDP/Conservative/Independent support to keep a ruling government running, which would fail. Horribly. Because the Bloc, the NDP, and the Conservatives are SO against most of the Liberal policies, that an election would be necessary anyway.
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Republican_Man
STV's Premier Conservative
Joined: 26 Mar 2004
Posts: 14823
Location: Classified
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| Thu Oct 16, 2008 1:06 am |
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Not too thrilled about the Parliamentary elections, but I'm glad Harper won.
-------signature-------
"Rights are only as good as the willingness of some to exercise responsibility for those rights- Fmr. Colorado Senate Pres. John Andrews
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Valathous
The Canadian, eh
Joined: 31 Aug 2002
Posts: 19074
Location: Centre Bell
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| Thu Oct 16, 2008 2:06 am |
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| Republican_Man wrote: | | Not too thrilled about the Parliamentary elections, but I'm glad Harper won. |
... We've always had a Parliamentary system, and I actually like it. Gives representation to more than just 2 parties since there are more than just 2 views in the nation.
Surprised no one from the Marijuana Party was voted in in BC, haha. They did get 0.017% of the vote, though... Neorhino.ca party did even better!
Harper's an ass. This whole thing was a waste of tax payers money because he thought he could win a majority. Time to stay the course and be back to the polls in 2 years again, most likely, 
It's too bad Elizabeth May is the leader for the Green Party and not someone viable like the Liberals. Jack Layton is also a strong character but NDP are a little sketchy. Both are very well spoken and intelligent. I watched one of the debates off and on and neither seemed to dodge questions. They tackled them head on. So did Gilles Duceppe, too, actually. Though he had the intelligence to say "I know I'm not going to be elected Prime Minister anyways, but this is what I'd do if in the position of your question." Good ol' separatists, lol.
What year was it? 1992 where the Bloc Quebecois actually formed the Royal Opposition? That was the year the PC totally died and only won 2 seats after Mulroney totaled them (I think it was Mulroney, anyways before the new guy came in). Fun stuff.
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squiggy
Stooge Two
Joined: 09 Mar 2004
Posts: 3007
Location: Messing with the fabric of Video Game realities. I'll summon Shiva on you! I SWEAR!
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| Sun Oct 19, 2008 3:52 pm |
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| Valathous wrote: | | Republican_Man wrote: | | Not too thrilled about the Parliamentary elections, but I'm glad Harper won. |
... We've always had a Parliamentary system, and I actually like it. Gives representation to more than just 2 parties since there are more than just 2 views in the nation. It's been around for a hundred, odd some years. We're used to it by now. And it should be pointed out that Harper didn't technically WIN, he just gets to be the guy hoping and preying everyone ELSE agrees with his bills.
Surprised no one from the Marijuana Party was voted in in BC, haha. They did get 0.017% of the vote, though... Neorhino.ca party did even better!Ninety Nine percent of the ridings in British Columbia didn't even HAVE a Marijuana Party candidate. lulz.
Harper's an ass. Yup. This whole thing was a waste of tax payers money because he thought he could win a majority. Time to stay the course and be back to the polls in 2 years again, most likely, If he makes it that long. I doubt it. His party's campaign platform is so opposite of practically every other party's that it is likely to fall from a non-confidence vote, rather than a PM-called election.
It's too bad Elizabeth May is the leader for the Green Party and not someone viable like the Liberals.The liberals would have OWNED if they had someone with that amount of charisma in charge! Jack Layton is also a strong character but NDP are a little sketchy.Less sketchy than the conservatives, mind you. Both are very well spoken and intelligent. I watched one of the debates off and on and neither seemed to dodge questions. They tackled them head on. So did Gilles Duceppe, too, actually. Though he had the intelligence to say "I know I'm not going to be elected Prime Minister anyways, but this is what I'd do if in the position of your question." Good ol' separatists, lol.I was actually really impressed with the honesty that Jack, Elizabeth, and Gilles showed in the debate. Even the liberals were more honest than normal. I believe that people voted for Harper because, either A) They were all super-stoned, and thought voting for him would be "Rad", or B) they were so scared about all the honest politicians opposing him, that they voted for the devil they knew, rather than the angels they didn't.
What year was it? 1992 where the Bloc Quebecois actually formed the Royal Opposition?Yup. That was the year the PC totally died and only won 2 seats after Mulroney totaled them (I think it was Mulroney, anyways before the new guy came in). Fun stuff. |
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