The best thing about a fall election...

[ShonTron]

...Is that I'll be out of the country for the first half of it!

Seriously, let's look at what will die on the order paper:

- C-51, the Big Pharma bill
- C-61 (Flaherty's overreaching copyright law, where unlocking a cellphone or ripping CDs to your computer will be illegal)
- Epp's back-door anti-abortion bill
- Some of the "justice" reforms

Any others?

Otherwise, I don't see a lot of change overall. It just reduces the chance of a full defeat later on, especially if some of the opposition parties have another leadership change. But damn, I hope Dion is ready to take this on.

 

[kEiThZ]

Or the "Opposition" might just cave again and let them live....although I met with my MP's assistant yesterday. He said there is an 80% chance of an election.

Too bad the old PC party died....they would never have proposed idiocy like this.

 

[lordmandeep]

really whats wrong with Harper?

Why doesn't he just shift more to the centre.

Like he knows he will be forever stuck in a minority with such policies.

He has to become like the old Tory party to ever win a majority.


However the old tory party where a bunch of idiots to.

Sure, Trudeau caused all the debt but Mulroney did nothing to fix it and made it even worse.

 

[Hydrogen]

Hasn't the "back door anti-abortion bill" already died?

 

[Solaris]

if we must have yet another election ... SIGH ... I hope a majority government comes out of it ... at least we get some peace for couple years, and the government would stop wasting our tax dollars on elections

 

[interchange42]

Any chance we have of throwing the Tories out is worth whatever it costs.

42

 

[lordmandeep]

Now this election will lead to a Conservative Minority.

Unless the NDP and Liberal pick up 13-14 Tory seats, no way.


Anyways, I think there will be at least two Liberal pick-ups, Wajid Khans riding and David Emerson riding.

That already sets the Tories back.

 

[CDL.TO]

if we must have yet another election ... SIGH ... I hope a majority government comes out of it ... at least we get some peace for couple years, and the government would stop wasting our tax dollars on elections

Geez. I can't help but think that only in Canada do citizens complain that elections are a waste of money.

 

[MetroMan]

... is that the Liberals will have to pick a new leader after the Conservatives win another minority.

I like Dion's policies but the man has no charisma, no ability to inspire, and no balls.

I wish they had elected Gerrard Kennedy or Bob Rae.

It's painful to watch the incredibly inspiring speeches of Barak Obama in the US and fearing that Americans will still elect boring McCain, all the while knowing that a candidate like Obama would win a landslide in Canada.

Where are our visionary, inspirational candidates?

 

[W. K. Lis]

Tony Clement was Ontario Environment Minister from June, 1999, to March, 2000, and at the time of the Walkerton E. coli outbreak in May, 2000, he was Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Today Tony Clement is Minister of Health and the Minister for the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario. The Maple Leaf listeriosis outbreak occurred during his watch. During his watch he downloaded inspections and reduced the number of federal inspectors and had them to do more paperwork.

Sounds familiar.

If there is a fall election, this listeriosis outbreak will be bounced around alot.

 

[ShonTron]

Clement was the health minister during SARS.

 

[urbandreamer]

An election seems pointless. I must admit Stephen Harper is the first PM I've not followed too much--I gave up on boring Canadian politics/reading the politics section of newspapers about when Paul Martin took over....

Still, I'll be voting for Harper again. (He's from an old Toronto family.)

 

[PukeGreen]

dark days

This is a painful time to be a "small-l" liberal in Canada, and particularly in much-hated Toronto.

The Liberal party made a huge mistake by voting Dion in as leader. It seemed to happen by accident. Dion seems like a decent enough guy, but even here in Canada where we have some dorky leaders I just can't see him as PM. I can't help but think that many others in the party are just biding their time until he loses an election and they can take his place.

The Conservatives were elected last time more on the basis of anti-Liberal votes than pro-Conservative votes. It was the whole "teach them a lesson" thing as punishment for the sponsorship scandal. Only now instead of the fumbling ineptitude of the Martin government we have the sneaky, nasty vindictiveness of the Harper government. I preferred the former. Scandals have befallen all parties in the past, and we need to choose our governments based on their current policies not in knee-jerk response to mistakes made by some party members several years ago.

Jack Layton and the NDP seem to do nothing more than pop up occasionally to complain on behalf of random special interest groups. They've drifted to the centre and differ little ideologically from the Liberals. Their eternal platform seems to be one of protest against the status quo rather than new solutions. And at any rate, as always there seems to be little likelihood that they will ever have a realistic chance of winning a federal election in our lifetimes, so why throw your vote away?

The Greens are a more tempting protest vote, but like the NDP, they won't come to power anytime soon. As the economy dips, green policies will sadly look less attractive because other parties will throw down the old "green policies will hurt the economy and you'll lose your job" trump card. And that card always wins.

Best case realistic scenario? Another Harper minority, which will keep his ability to make drastic damaging changes to a minimum. Then, hopefully a new unifying and electable Liberal party leader will come along. It does seem hypocritical of Harper to call this (probably) meaningless election even as he makes painful budget cuts in so many other areas of society. I guess spending taxpayer dollars is fine when it benefits him personally.

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

...Is that I'll be out of the country for the first half of it!

Seriously, let's look at what will die on the order paper:

- C-51, the Big Pharma bill
- C-61 (Flaherty's overreaching copyright law, where unlocking a cellphone or ripping CDs to your computer will be illegal)
- Epp's back-door anti-abortion bill
- Some of the "justice" reforms

Any others?

Otherwise, I don't see a lot of change overall. It just reduces the chance of a full defeat later on, especially if some of the opposition parties have another leadership change. But damn, I hope Dion is ready to take this on.

what's wrong with C-51? isn't its purpose to keep big natural from making false & misleading claims?

 

[afransen]

Geez. I can't help but think that only in Canada do citizens complain that elections are a waste of money.

This is a old workhorse line from the Canadian Taxpayer's Federation. They are one of my least favourite lobby groups, and not because I'm particularly fond of tax. They are just so damned knee-jerk in their responses and policy positions.

Clement was the health minister during SARS.

Wow... that guy sure has presided over quite a few SNAFUs--I'm sure it's at least parly coincidental, so he must have some bad luck.


--------------------------

What I find amazing is how many Conservative partisans talk about how the Liberals have a weak, pathetic loser for a leader and insane, ruinous policies (Green Shift) yet fail to consider what that might say about their party and its chances. Given that that is the situation in their estimation, shouldn't they be terribly concerned that they are no more popular than the Liberals?