Canadian Elections!

[Wrymouth3]

Discuss the topic.

P.S: I didn't know Justin Trudeau was an ISIS member

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Discuss the topic.

P.S: I didn't know Justin Trudeau was an ISIS member

I'm happy to discuss it, but you need more content in the OP. Where do you want to start (this comment about Justin Trudeau needs a link...)?

 

[Zelig]

All the leaders suck, I'll be voting for whichever local candidate seems most competent, regardless of party.

 

[warpus]

The two centrist parties are busy attacking eachother, while the left-leaning NDP is in the lead by a couple percentage points.. a couple months before the election.

Me, I'm voting NDP, because they're the only one of the 3 parties which is against Bill 51. They're also relatively populist, which appeals to me quite a bit. They seem to have a good chance of winning, so I'm behind them. Usually (read: always) it's one of the other 2 parties which is in the lead.

Not so now, and I think it's time for a real change.. so.. hell yes, bring on the NDP.

That orange surge on the right is them:

 

[Takhisis]

I'm happy to discuss it, but you need more content in the OP. Where do you want to start (this comment about Justin Trudeau needs a link...)?

Your sarcasm detector appears to be malfunctioning.

All the leaders suck, I'll be voting for whichever local candidate seems most competent, regardless of party.

Behaving like a rational person instead of an easily-influenced sectarian idiot? You'll wreck the political system!

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Your sarcasm detector appears to be malfunctioning.

Actually, given some of the nonsense that appears in the newsfeeds and blogs, it's not impossible that someone would say that. After all, his father, Pierre Trudeau, was good friends with Fidel Castro, and Castro sat with the family at Trudeau's funeral. And people are all too ready to say 'like father, like son' and claim that Justin is supportive of all kinds of groups and political leaders that most others find distasteful or abhorrent.

One note about the graph warpus posted: The "Conservative Party of Canada" is really the old Reform-Canadian Alliance. There is nothing "Conservative" about them except for the name they appropriated through backroom dealing. Some of them would be right at home in the American Tea Party.

 

[Evie]

The NDP oppose Bill 51 and a number of other Harperite measures, which is the best reason there is to vote for them. Harper, while not a fascist as many of his detractors portray him, is a control freak (his own party have criticized him on that and tried to make laws to limit his power to control them!), and a control freak whose government has already threatened to use hate speech legislation to silence criticism of Israel (specifically, the boycott movement).

I don't trust him with a law that enables him to strip anyone with dual citizenship (or eligible for it) of their Canadian citizenship ; nor do I trust him with a law that involve cracking down on protesters (to the point that a RCMP agent informed protesters against bill 51 that under the new bill their protesting would be illegal).

Team Orange has my vote on it, because those laws cannot be allowed to stand.

 

[Zelig]

I'll vote Conservative if they promise to get rid of the nickel.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

The NDP oppose Bill 51 and a number of other Harperite measures, which is the best reason there is to vote for them. Harper, while not a fascist as many of his detractors portray him, is a control freak (his own party have criticized him on that and tried to make laws to limit his power to control them!), and a control freak whose government has already threatened to use hate speech legislation to silence criticism of Israel (specifically, the boycott movement).

I don't trust him with a law that enables him to strip anyone with dual citizenship (or eligible for it) of their Canadian citizenship ; nor do I trust him with a law that involve cracking down on protesters (to the point that a RCMP agent informed protesters against bill 51 that under the new bill their protesting would be illegal).

Team Orange has my vote on it, because those laws cannot be allowed to stand.

If they'd had that dual-citizenship thing years ago, Maher Arar would never have survived long enough to get out of Syria.

Justin is crazy if he expects people to believe his "elect me and I'll repeal C-51." Last time I heard "elect me and I'll repeal it" was when Chretien promised to repeal the GST. Look at how well that promise was kept.

 

[Evie]

Indeed, but beyond that? He could get my brother-in-law and my two nieces with that law.

I don't care how little of a reason he'd have to do so. This is a law specifically against a category of people (those who have or could have multiple citizenships) that includes family members. It's personal.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Indeed, but beyond that? He could get my brother-in-law and my two nieces with that law.

I don't care how little of a reason he'd have to do so. This is a law specifically against a category of people (those who have or could have multiple citizenships) that includes family members. It's personal.

Hey, I'm very likely voting NDP as well, unless the Liberal candidate has a better chance. I'm willing to hold my nose and vote whatever it takes to get the Conservatives out.

During the last election, I went to the all-candidates' forum. The Green and NDP candidates were there. The Liberal candidate wasn't (due to illness), but sent a capable representative to stand in, and the Conservative-Reform-Alliance-Party candidate was conspicuously... absent. Like the dozens of other fake Conservative candidates all across the country who failed to attend forums. So the organizers did what their colleagues had done in other ridings, and set a potted plant on the table where the candidate should have been sitting. When it was time for the Q&A, my question was chosen (addressed to the absent Conservative candidate, but open to any others who cared to reply): "Given the number of candidates currently being represented by houseplants at these forums, will the House be constructing an arboretum in the Conservative section of Parliament?"

I was only half-kidding... but the candidates who were there gave serious replies about democracy and how the Conservatives were showing blatant disrespect to the people of Canada by dodging forums and denying their prospective constituents the chance to ask them questions.

 

[Harv]

The two centrist parties are busy attacking eachother, while the left-leaning NDP is in the lead by a couple percentage points.. a couple months before the election.

Me, I'm voting NDP, because they're the only one of the 3 parties which is against Bill 51. They're also relatively populist, which appeals to me quite a bit. They seem to have a good chance of winning, so I'm behind them. Usually (read: always) it's one of the other 2 parties which is in the lead.

Not so now, and I think it's time for a real change.. so.. hell yes, bring on the NDP.

That orange surge on the right is them:

Holy! I have been badly out of touch with Canadian politics. They recently won Alberta and I did not see that coming. (To Americans, that is like the Democrats taking Texas.)

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Holy! I have been badly out of touch with Canadian politics. They recently won Alberta and I did not see that coming. (To Americans, that is like the Democrats taking Texas.)

The Albertans didn't see it coming, either. I sat in front of my computer on election night, staring in stupefaction at all the NDP candidates that were leading/elected and wondering what strange dimension I'd wandered into. It's even more significant when you realize that our last change of government was 44 YEARS ago (I was 8 then, and am now 52). Two whole generations have grown up here never knowing a non-Conservative government (and the previous one was basically Conservative but moreso).

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Can people please stop keeping the Harper regime in power? That would be great, thanks.

 

[Harv]

The Albertans didn't see it coming, either.

My 97yo grandmother saw it coming. She told me it was going to happen. I did not believe her.

 

[warpus]

An infographic of the latest poll:

 

[shadowplay]

What really sets the Liberals and NDP apart at this point, as far as policies go? I'm getting the impression that Trudeau is running to the left of the NDP (which appears to have moved a little bit more towards centre-left).

A lot of the local long-time NDP supporters here in Toronto don't like Mulcair and are supporting Justin and the Libs instead. I strongly suspect his support of Israel has a lot to do with it. My sister is a registered member of the NDP and won 't support them with Mulcair at the helm.

 

[warpus]

No, the Liberals are centre-left, while the NDP is to the left of them generally speaking. The main difference, something to be summed up in one sentence - the NDP are a populist sort-of-socialist party, while the Liberals are a left-leaning establishment party which panders more to corporate interests rather than core populist ideals.

That's my interpretation of what the parties stand for, anyhow.

Here's a comparison of the Liberals and the NDP by someone who knows more about this than me:

The NDP is a social democratic, left-wing party that claims to be both economically and socially liberal. That is, it supports stronger regulations, stronger government services and tends to be very pro-labour. It's not afraid of it's strong union ties and occupies the part of the spectrum which is usually made up by "socialist" parties in European countries.

The Liberal party is centre-left, which on paper translates as fiscally conservative and socially liberal, but in reality varies by issue and by voter. For the most part, their base tends to be people who believe more in "fair taxation", i.e. not increasing taxes on the rich to "punish" them, while not being vehemently anti-union/labour organizations. In practice, Liberal governments have also been strong proponents of government services and worked well with public sector unions, but don't shy away from making cuts when necessary. Whereas the NDP's base is largely anti-austerity and Tories are more ideologically-motivated to push for privatization and deep government cuts.

You can compare the platforms of 4 of the federal parties vying for votes here.

 

[shadowplay]

Historically, yes. Presently, I'm not so sure. Trudeau seems to be going for the bolder left-wing policies at the moment, and Mulcair and the NDP in general are playing it safe and pandering more to the centre. That's my impression at the moment, anyways.

 

[warpus]

How do you come to that conclusion? Because that seems very backwards to me.