Canadian Election Thread

[jasignhagj]

As the majority of you probably don't know, the Canadian General Election is tomorrow, May 2nd. To fill you in, our Government system is largely like the British one, where you have a House of Commons that is elected, an appointed Senate (House of Lords) and a prime minister, who is normally the leader of the party with the most seats. The major political parties are:

 

Conservative Party - A Centre-Right party. They currently form a minority government, meaning they have the most seats but not the majority of seats.

Liberal Party - A Centre-Left party. They are the main opposition party, although their number of seats dropped sharply last election, and their poll numbers have been dropping steadily towards the end of the campaign.

NDP - A far Left party. They have only about 11% of the seats in the house, but tend to split the left vote and ironically help the conservatives get elected. This election, they have received much higher support, and could possibly even become the opposition party

Bloc Québécois - A party who's main issue is the separation of Quebec from Canada. Due to the high concentration of their supporters, they have the third most number of seats.

Green Party - A left wing party with a pro-environment platform, They currently have no seats, but their leader will likely win her riding this election, which would be their first seat ever.

 

I am hoping for a Liberal victory, but I think we will likely have another Conservative minority.

 

You can follow the election on any Canadian news website, or on the Wikipedia page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/41st_Canadian_Parliament

[Giordano]

Are Canadian conservatives bigoted and racist like the ones in USA?

[jasignhagj]

Are Canadian conservatives bigoted and racist like the ones in USA?

Not really, economically our Cons are like your Dems. We have our redneck Albertans, but otherwise we tend to be more liberal and accepting. There used to be two Conservative parties; the Reform party, which was farther right, and the Progressive Cons, who were more Centre-Right. They merged together in the early 2000s, which is one of the main reasons they won power in 2006, and now enjoy hypocritically accusing the Liberals and NDP of planning to form an 'evil' coalition.

[TrueBeaver]

Are Canadian conservatives bigoted and racist like the ones in USA?

Quoted for blatant hypocrisy.

 

I'm interested in how the elections turn out although I have no vested interest in it. What are the main issues this election cycle? I assume the economy is the major domestic issue and the Middle East is the major foreign policy issue but beyond that? Took a "What party should you vote for?" thing on CBC awhile back and there were, what appeared to me, pretty random questions. I think there was one about oil in the sand in Alberta or something along those lines.

[The_Gabe]

No one cares about Canada :twss:

[Faux]

i prefer not to discuss which party i'll go with, but i am going to vote tomorrow

 

the NDP surge might've taken away the chance of a conservative majority and screwed the liberals. i have a few friends who used to vote lib who will be voting ndp this time.

 

the biggest issue with the conservative party is they're looking more and more like little America. the military spending, not withdrawing from the Mid East, the copyright act that might be implemented, corporate tax cuts etc. it's harder to believe that they're with the people and not for American ideology/corporations

 

 

Are Canadian conservatives bigoted and racist like the ones in USA?

 

no. closer to dems than anything else. we don't have a far right party.

[obfuscator]

No, we don't really have a far right part as others have said.

 

I will probably vote conservative. Not because I particularly want to, or like them, but it's the best option.

 

With the NDP surge in popularity, if the conservatives come up short of a majority, there will likely be a liberal/NDP coalition, so basically an NDP government. That would be fiscally disastrous. The party has been in opposition for so long that they have no idea how to run a country. 70 billion dollars of new spending? Now? Where's this money coming from?

 

I wouldn't mind a liberal government as much but that's certainly not happening. So, conservative it is.

[Will H]

Questions for a Canadian: How did a minority government work out, and are the Canadian Conservatives like the British Conservatives?

[obfuscator]

Questions for a Canadian: How did a minority government work out, and are the Canadian Conservatives like the British Conservatives?

 

I don't know what the British Conservatives are like, but our Conservatives are really barely conservative.

 

Typically minority governments haven't been all that effective, but Harper's minority government over the past three years has been surprisingly effective at getting stuff done.

[marcustullius]

Conservatives suck and I'll be voting NDP, not that it matters since I live on the prairies

http://www.foreverfourth.ca/

 

 

http://whynotharper.ca/#printablelist

[obfuscator]

Conservatives suck and I'll be voting NDP, not that it matters since I live on the prairies

http://www.foreverfourth.ca/

 

 

http://whynotharper.ca/#printablelist

Ok. I hope you enjoy a debt that spirals out of control faster then you can say "jack layton" and massive tax increases.

[Sbrideau]

Harper is also spending a lot of money, just hiding it from everyone, just look at the military.

 

I am certainly not voting Conservatives, even if they have the better ideas because they are anti-democratic as far as I've seen. Also the quantity of scandals they had surpasses the scandal that Liberal had a while ago. Almost one coming up per day for a good part of the election period.

 

I am not going to say who I'm voting for, but you already know it's not conservative.

[marcustullius]

Conservatives suck and I'll be voting NDP, not that it matters since I live on the prairies

http://www.foreverfourth.ca/

 

 

http://whynotharper.ca/#printablelist

Ok. I hope you enjoy a debt that spirals out of control faster then you can say "jack layton" and massive tax increases.

 

You mean like the last two conservative governments have done?

[obfuscator]

Harper is spending a lot, sure. But he's making enough cuts to (largely) ensure he isn't spending money he hasn't got.

 

I'll be the first to admit that the conservatives aren't perfect, indeed their anti-democratic actions are pretty severe and would definitely change my vote were there an economically responsible alternative.

[marcustullius]

Harper is spending a lot, sure. But he's making enough cuts to (largely) ensure he isn't spending money he hasn't got.

 

I'll be the first to admit that the conservatives aren't perfect, indeed their anti-democratic actions are pretty severe and would definitely change my vote were there an economically responsible alternative.

 

I've got faith in the NDP. Have to be better than Harper and his not cutting subsidies while still spending more than he should, AND cutting social programs and wanting to cut even more. Not to mention cutting funding to planned parenthood clinics in Saskatchewan and a huge amount of the women's rights offices. Really, anything on here

http://whynotharper.ca/#printablelist

 

He's trying to hard to become America

 

Oh, and his promise to the US president to introduce copyright laws like American ones

[marcustullius]

Welp.

 

 

 

Sunday poll with twice the sample size has the cons back up to borderline majority territory:

 

http://www.nanosresearch.com/election2011/Closeout-Memo-2011E.pdf

 

Sunday, 1 May 2011 (n=702 decided voters)

Conservative - 38.7%

NDP - 30.5%

Liberals - 20.9%

BQ - 5.0%

Green - 3.7%

 

 

 

Here's Ekos

The final estimates of party support including today’s final sample are 33.9 points for the Conservatives, 31.2 for the NDP, 21.0 for the Liberals, 6.4 for the Bloc, and 6.0 for the Green Party. When we adjust this based on an index which predicts the most likely to vote we arrive at 34.0 points for the Conservatives, 31.6 for the NDP, 20.8 for the Liberals, 6.4 for the Bloc, and 5.9 for the Green Party.

 

...

 

After the ballots are counted tomorrow, we expect to see the following:

1) CPC: 130 to 146 seats

2) NDP: 103 to 123 seats

3) LPC: 36 to 46 seats

4) BQ: 10 to 20 seats

5) GP: 1 seat

http://www.ekospolitics.com/index.php/2011/05/our-final-words-and-a-few-more-numbers-may-1-2011/

[obfuscator]

Oh I agree, harper's far from perfect. But the NDP's economic plans will be disastrous for the country, and I cannot in good conscience vote for a party that is not prepared to govern.

 

You see this? http://www.debtclock.ca

 

If every person in Canada (the young, old, rich, poor) paid $16,000 out of pocket We'd still be in debt. You think it's going up fast now? At the rate layton plan's to spendi, it'll be $700 billion total by the end of 2012.

[marcustullius]

Oh I agree, harper's far from perfect. But the NDP's economic plans will be disastrous for the country, and I cannot in good conscience vote for a party that is not prepared to govern.

 

You see this? http://www.debtclock.ca

 

If every person in Canada (the young, old, rich, poor) paid $16,000 out of pocket We'd still be in debt. You think it's going up fast now? At the rate layton plan's to spendi, it'll be $700 billion total by the end of 2012.

 

There is a difference in what you say you'd like to do and what you will actually do.

[obfuscator]

Oh I agree, harper's far from perfect. But the NDP's economic plans will be disastrous for the country, and I cannot in good conscience vote for a party that is not prepared to govern.

 

You see this? http://www.debtclock.ca

 

If every person in Canada (the young, old, rich, poor) paid $16,000 out of pocket We'd still be in debt. You think it's going up fast now? At the rate layton plan's to spendi, it'll be $700 billion total by the end of 2012.

 

There is a difference in what you say you'd like to do and what you will actually do.

So you're voting for him hoping he's "just saying" he's going to increase spending massively?

 

By that token you might as well vote for the bloc quebecois, who are probably "just saying" they'll separate Quebec from Canada. (I do realize you can't actually vote for them)

[marcustullius]

Oh I agree, harper's far from perfect. But the NDP's economic plans will be disastrous for the country, and I cannot in good conscience vote for a party that is not prepared to govern.

 

You see this? http://www.debtclock.ca

 

If every person in Canada (the young, old, rich, poor) paid $16,000 out of pocket We'd still be in debt. You think it's going up fast now? At the rate layton plan's to spendi, it'll be $700 billion total by the end of 2012.

 

There is a difference in what you say you'd like to do and what you will actually do.

So you're voting for him hoping he's "just saying" he's going to increase spending massively?

 

By that token you might as well vote for the bloc quebecois, who are probably "just saying" they'll separate Quebec from Canada. (I do realize you can't actually vote for them)

 

No, I'm saying that he won't actually do most of those things, and IF he does, it won't be all at once and suddenly we're bankrupt. How can you argue that the conservatives are some how better at economics when they've been driving us into debt? If the NDP wins (hopefully), then wait for their Speech from the Throne and then judge

[obfuscator]

Because the conservative plan has always been to cut down on the debt. Stimulus (supported by the Liberals and NDP, btw) plunged us further into debt. They're making cuts as we speak to ensure that we don't move further into debt.

[marcustullius]

The conservatives wanted to deregulate the banks, and we all know what would have happened if they got their way (Hint: look at the US economy). We aren't going to agree on this, so lets just vote and see how it pans out. The results get released around 10 or midnight central, right?

[obfuscator]

Polls close by 9. They probably won't definitively know the result until midnight.

[jasignhagj]

We should have a rough estimate of what the government will be like by 8:30 PST, but the final results won't be in for a couple days.

 

I hope that most old Liberals will come to their senses and not vote NDP. If we end up with an NDP run government, I fear for the future of this country. To anyone who hasn't voted yet, and is planning to vote NDP, please reconsider and think about what you will be doing to your country. I despise Harper and his policies, but at least his party has experience and won't trash our economy.

[Sbrideau]

Thing is, it's hard to choose who to vote for this time, as there is the anti-democratic Harper government, and then there's the other parties, and any party that gets elected, it usually all comes to the same. Too much spending. Just spending on different stuff. No matter the party. This is why the voting rates are getting so low, people don't know who to vote for and they want change. This is probably why there is a popularity push for NDP this time, because voting for any government is the same, and that by voting NDP it can make things change.

 

On my part, I have voted.