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Mulcair is going to spank them so hard. Looking forward to election night.
The "way the game is played" is partly tactics imported from the U.S. Would Harper have pushed for fixed election dates if he hadn't had the means to go into perpetual campaign mode while pretending it was just normal government announcements meant to benefit everyone?I make a conscious effort to avoid disgust at politics and politicians. Even Harper (I dislike many policies, and think he's the worst thing to happen to Canada in a generation ; and I loathe some of his policy choices), but I try to avoid disgust.
It's just too easy to condemn how the game is played, when we (the collective "people of Canada" are in no small part responsible for the game existing in that form in the first place. Negative politics work because we, the people, respond to it - because we allow ourselves to be disgusted at politicians, so trying to make people more disgusted at the other party than you IS a winning strategy). False promises work because the voters tend to demand to have their cake and eat it too and will lap up anyone who tell them it's possible, while cold-shouldering anyone who tell them otherwise.
It IS possible to do politics otherwise (Layton more or less pulled it off in his last campaign), but it takes an exceptional personality, and it may not even be something you can pull off twice.
Does the system not allow voters to cast blank ballots?I wish there was some way they could all lose.
I am predicting a Conservative minority government.
There is a possibility that there could be a Liberal / NDP coalition however I do not believe it would form with Trudeau as Prime Minister but rather Mulcair.
I suspect the Conservatives will carry Ontario outside of Toronto and Ontario as a whole.
The NDP should carry southwestern Ontario.
The Liberals should carry downtown Toronto.
Duceppe as minority coalition PM with his choice of Liberal or NDP. I'll vote Bloc in Alberta to make this happen.
There are two ways to cast a blank ballot:Sure, but they're counted in exactly the same way as any other ballot not filled in the correct (single selection) way. (That is, they aren't.)Does the system not allow voters to cast blank ballots?
Good luck with that.Bloc - 78
Liberal - 63
NDP - 63
Con - 129
Green - 2
Duceppe as minority coalition PM with his choice of Liberal or NDP. I'll vote Bloc in Alberta to make this happen.
No, it doesn't. The Bloc only runs candidates in Quebec.The bloc runs candidates in Alberta?
That's a story that goes back over 20 years, at least.So, what did Harper do to garner this much dislike? Is it just being a politician who has been in office too long, or was it something else?
Bloc - 78
Liberal - 63
NDP - 63
Con - 129
Green - 2
Duceppe as minority coalition PM with his choice of Liberal or NDP. I'll vote Bloc in Alberta to make this happen.
Don't forget about the POS in charge of Canada Post, who had the gall to say that senior citizens are glad that they'll be able to get exercise from having to struggle through snowbanks, and risk slipping on ice and breaking their hips (among other things) to get their mail. Apparently every senior or disabled person in the country has family, friends, or neighbors who would be only too happy to run and fetch mail for them if they're not mobile.There are a lot of things to be critical of Harper for: intrusive security bills that violate privacy, but undermining any and all attempt at gun control because "that would violate privacy". Trying to take the credit for Canada riding out the 2008 recession when he wasn't going to do anything about it until the other party arm-twisted him into it. Putting his morality ahead of the constitution. Actively trying to undermine the chief justice of the supreme court by publicly accusing her of interfering in the political process (when she had actually simply followed proper protocol). He's done his level best to destroy any and all Canadian public institution one after the other (Statistic Canada, CBC, etc). He's deliberately silenced government scientists. He's revoked environmental protection on half the environmentally protected landmarks in the country. And he made a large number of Canadian citizens into second-class citizens (including my nieces), whose citizenship can be revoked by government decision, on the basis of foreign criminal law. They've acted in bad faith in one trial after another. In one recent case, a federal court judge had to order the government to surrender a hard drive with the data that was the object of the dispute on it (data on the former gun registry, I think), because the balance of evidence led him to believe it wouldn't be safe in government hand.
The fundamental problem with the guy is - and his own party has been saying it - is he's a total control freak. He despise things he has no control over, and will stop at nothing to paint them as enemies, and to try and bring them down. Hence his repeated attack on any even loosely independent part of the government: the Supreme Court, Crown Corporations, the Provincial Governments (ask Wynne about it)...if Harper (or his allies) don't control it, it's an enemy that should be attacked.
All politicians are control freak to some degree, but Harper is gleefully crossing every line he can find.
Harper is lying, of course. How interesting that he didn't have the guts to say that in English.CBC.ca said:On Monday Harper called Alberta's new NDP government a failed experiment, a disaster uniformly rejected by Albertans.
There are 338 seats up for grabs now. Some riding boundaries have been changed and some new seats have been created. Red Deer used to be just one riding, but now it's been split in two. The useless backbencher who I'd thought had retired actually hasn't; he's running for the other Red Deer seat. So they get to deal with him and his rude, airheaded staff. I wonder what kind of potted plant they'll use at the public forums when he doesn't show up this time?I thought there was 338 seats up for grabs this time around?
Anyways, though I find your post amusing you can't possibly believe the Liberals or Bloc will be that successful.
I've been in and out of Ottawa enough lately from Toronto (I'll be back in Ottawa in a week), to have good sense of the mood in the capital thus far.
The people I've spoken to are sure of this: It is going to come down between the NDP and the Conservatives. Let's see if the debate tonight changes this mood!
There are a lot of things to be critical of Harper for: [list of achievements]