OT - Canadian Elections

This is Off Topic,

It is Election time in Canada, We have a week to go. Just trying to get a sense of what other Canadians from the rest of the country are thinking. I live in Ontario, and the recent poles say that it is pretty much a given that the Conservatives are in. What I don't get is that every one I talk too says they will not vote conservative because of Steven Harper. I wonder if this is the media trying to sway people vote, or if this is truly a done deal.

Alan,

There was an article in the Buffalo News addressing the upcoming election. The focus was on how friendly the Conservative candidate - Steven Harper was with President Bush, and that it could hurt the Parties chance for obtaining control of the parliment.

When the article is posted on the Buffalo News web site, I will provide a link.

Except for a few brief periods, Canada is a very liberally biased country. As a citizen who lived there for nearly 20 years, not much has changed, regarding the political thinking. Much has changed since moving over 20 years ago. Coming back to visit, there is an enormous difference than when I lived there.

Even with Martin's problems, under the Liberal party, they are showing a trade surplus and budget surplus (I think that makes 8 years in a row). They have reduced their debt burden to one of the lowest among the G7. Something that has taken years to correct. I find it difficult to believe that the majority of Canadians voting would change party alliance, given the prosperity they currently enjoy.

As much as it pains me to say this, James Carville was right when Clinton beat Bush senior..."its about the economy s&*!@". The people will probably vote with their pocket books.

Now the question is, will Martin get a majority...it is possible, but probably not.

As always, election night is always interesting.

We will see what happens.

God Bless,

The only party with any long term vision - i.e. not just buying voters at election time - is the GREEN PARTY.
If one has any concern at all for the future not only of this planet, but also your long term jobs and recreation, we MUST start thinking Green, so why not start by *voting* Green?

www.greenparty.ca

Allan

Maybe the mix-up is caused by the fact that "recent poles" don't actually constitute a statistically significant section of the electorate. How long have they been there, can they speak English, did they know what they were being asked ..?

Now, if you were to consider recent polls ...

Ken

Green party..Long term vision?? Damn the economy but protect the trees!!

Sorry..had to be said..
One thing i have come to realize is that ALL of them are going to screw you..They all make promises they cant keep..or they forgot..Cretian.."I don't recall saying i would get rid of the GST"????Its on tape about a million times for god sake.."Martin.."If the inquiry implicates me in the sponsorship scandal i will resign.."He is still here?? How as minister of finance can you say "i dint know.." This means one of 2 things..You are lying..cause for termination..I really didn't know..Incompitent..another reason for termination...

Hell if i ran my business like the government ran theres i would be bankrupt in a week..

Don't get me started!!!!!!

Politics in Nutsville.

Politics in Canada is crazy. Where else can a government steal multi millions and funnel the money back to their party and still be seen as a credible choice? Here we do not have the right to own property. The conservatives will add this right to the constitution and reduce my taxes. The greens want to end industrial Exploitation of BC's Crown land. This will end Logging and mining and create wonderful parks for tourists and rich people in the lower mainland. They will stop all oil pipeline construction and natural gas exploration. The Lennonists (sp) want to make us all socialists and the NDP wants to look out for the "average" Canadian. ( Is there such a person?) Remember AXE THE TAX? Promises are worthless in elections. If we were smart the public will never ever again give the slime balls a majority in parliment. But here we never learn. We have a separtist party that is allowed to participate in national debates. There will be a minority government, I dont know which party will win, all I know is We as Canadians will lose.. There.... I feel much better....

The way I see it.... All political parties lie through their teeth to get in power. For the most part, they have little actual power to make the dramatic changes that they say they will once in power.

Martin ****ed me off when he bashed the military, I am ex-military myself. Cretian was a joke as a leader, an ignorant boor that had no flair for diplomatic relations, the guy couldn't even speak either of the 2 official languages properly.

I really don't like the Conservatives because Mulroney put this country into a major recesion a few years back that we are just now getting out of.

The NDP, now thats a joke, I dont believe in their major belief, organized labor. Not that it wasn't needed or is still not needed in some cases, but that it will solve all of the countries problems if we all join a union.

Now this is a bit of a generalization here, most of our Prime Ministers have been Lawyers, the office of PM pays a rather paltry amount, say for arguments sake about $200K. Any Lawyer worth their salt can make 3 times that working on the street. So what kind of Lawyer is the guy that ends up being PM, generally a **** poor one.

I still don't know who I will be voting for, they are all corrupt to some degree. We need an everyman polititian, somebody that really has nothing to gain by getting into office. If someone like that was running, he would get plenty of votes.

Just my two cents.

Will

Consider

Sometimes less is best. Especially when you don't like what you are getting.
http://www.libertarian.ca/

The advantage the Canadians have is that minority parties still count somewhat.

Green Party economics

darrenj said:

Green party..Long term vision?? Damn the economy but protect the trees!!

Click to expand...

Incorrect.
The "big three" parties all spout the economy, but without considering and maintaining the rich resources we have, what good is money.
If we blast ahead and chop down all the trees and poison the air and water with chemicals, all the money in the world isn't going to bring back those precious gifts.

By CONSERVING and REDUCING the waste that we are so good at generating, the Greens know that what we have will be there in the future, not just in the short term.

The Green stance on economy:
http://www.greenparty.ca/article77.html

How ecosystems are important:
http://www.greenparty.ca/ecosystems.html

Hey Allen,

Yup, I am still at Sanden. Hope things going well.

Conservatives are in...they have to much of a lead. Harper would have to be gay or something like that for them not to win at least a minority.

Stupid liberals, can't keep there hands out of the cookie jar and now people are so disgusted with it they are going to vote in the Conservatives.

Thomas

So By the looks of this, we have 4 undecided, one green, and one Conservative.



I can't see the green party doing anything for a few decades, they have some good ideas, but that is about it. While the Environment is very important, they are going about it the wrong way. Green peace is bad for the economy. They should do things like stiffen penalties, and use that money to fund ecological recovery, and emerging "Green Technology".



Canada is a very socialist nation, and this should be inline with the NDP platform. Some thing about them just does not sit right. I don't know what it is, a lot of people I talk to say the same thing.



I just can't vote conservative to spite the liberals, which is what most people who support the conservatives at this point seem to be saying. Tom's comments are a prime example. I will be looking more closely at their platform before I decide, but voting conservative for spite seem silly to me (No offence Intended Tom).



The Liberals have done a good job of cleaning up after the last time the Conservatives were in. They have been working on bring Canada in to the global economy, and make us less dependent on the US economy. They have balanced the budget, any paid off some of the debt. How ever at the same time our health care system is in shambles and they have done nothing over the last 8 years to help. If anything they hurt our health care. For the most part I feel that we can squarely blame Cretian for the sponsorship scandal. With that said, it is hard to trust the Liberals (or any of them really).



As WillPower100 said it would be nice to have an every day person to vote for.

Allan Barnes said:

So By the looks of this, we have 4 undecided, one green, and one Conservative.




I just can't vote conservative to spite the liberals, which is what most people who support the conservatives at this point seem to be saying.

Click to expand...

This is the problem..People vote just to vote..I havnt voted in 15 years..and thats becouse there hasnt been anyone good enough to vote for..Wouldnt that be a slap in face if no one voted..It might send a message..

We just had a by election here in Orleans, Ontario..I think 22% of registered voters actualy voted..

If Joe Blow ever runs for office i would get off my *** and vote for him.. as for the crooks who run today..why bother..not one is better than the other

While i agree the Green party has some good ideas i still find it hard to consider them a credible party..It might have something to do with a picture of one of them years ago sitting "Budda" style in the middle of the pavement and trying to levitate..