The best thing about a fall election...

[kEiThZ]

Clement was the health minister during SARS.

He may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but that's a bit of an unfair comment...

It's like saying that minister X in country Y was responsible for avian influenza, or BSE or hoof and mouth, etc. Crises happen because of way more than one failure...

 

[adma]

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.

Either that, or he's hoping for an early 80s Margaret Thatcher dynamic, i.e. stick to his guns, while allowing Dion to shoot himself in the (Michael) foot...

 

[ShonTron]

He may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but that's a bit of an unfair comment...

It's like saying that minister X in country Y was responsible for avian influenza, or BSE or hoof and mouth, etc. Crises happen because of way more than one failure...

I don't think I've ever made that claim. In fact, I think the man is very intelligent, but extremely ideological. He was one of the authors of the Common Sense Revolution. It's more that he has bad luck then anything being caught during these crises, but he is the architect for lot of it. SARS was a bigger deal than it should have been partly due to cuts to public health and hospital budgets. He didn't perform well then, now he's been trying to shut down the safe-injection site in Vancouver to satisfy the "base" and was an embarrassment on the AIDS file. And he has the looks and the charisma of Milhouse.

He was also my MPP until the people of Brampton West booted him out for a benchwarming Liberal, so I do have a lot against the guy. He also gave Brampton the "gift" that is Brampton Civic. He insisted that it be a P3, and look what it did for us. Thanks Tony.

The new MPP certainly isn't the sharpest tool in the shed (in fact, my OAC class grilled him badly in 1999, he couldn't answer questions asked by high schoolers!), he's a good backbenchwarmer, that's all.

Did I mention that after losing in Brampton in 2003 and again in the 2004 Federal Election, Milhouse had to run to Kamp Krusty and was elected by only 29 votes!

 

[jn_12]

A Liberal Minority is the best possible outcome of any election. Really, apart from some of the small-c conservative stuff, the Liberals aren't that much different from the Conservatives, but the NDP holding the balance of power drags them a bit more to the left and you find that work actually gets done. Majority governments are just happy dictatorships. Its the reason why we need electoral reform. Majorities either cause drastic changes (what we'd expect from a Harper majority) or years of nothing (Much of Chretien's run) and both are dangerous.

The more interesting thing is what happens if the election is held right around the US one. If it's before the American election will our election hide behind what's going on in the states, thereby allowing a lot of things to fall under the radar? and if its after, will the outcome in the US change the way people think of our election?

 

[Hydrogen]

SARS was a bigger deal than it should have been partly due to cuts to public health and hospital budgets. He didn't perform well then...

Not to let anyone off the hook, but the problems facing public health and hospitals already existed before Clement and friends.

While his performance wasn't prize-winning, his response was reasonably good considering what was (or was not) known at the time.

The performance of Lastman, however, was hysterical (in every sense of the word).

 

[interchange42]

I just saw a Conservative election ad on tv. It's not officially called yet, is it?

The ad featured quite a number of people of below average intelligence yammering about how they 'like' Stephen Harper, and it ends with a young adult claiming that this will be the first time she votes, and it will be for Stephen Harper. (We all have mistakes we look back on and realize that we cannot take back: do not judge this empty-headed twit too harshly.) Harper then smiles very uncomfortably for the camera.

I may not be able to eat for a week.

42

 

[scarberiankhatru]

He's been practising his smile...it now only takes him 2 seconds to break into his Grinch grin (back during the ought-four election it took him 4-5 seconds).

 

[Brandon716]

... 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?

I rather admired Gerard Kennedy. He seemed to spark a fresh Liberal image in people's minds, and the fact that people really haven't heard of him outside of Ontario and his home province of Manitoba really could have given the Liberals a chance to build a new image.

Oh, and Obama wouldn't necessarily win Canada if his policies were in the forefront.

Obama doesn't support single payer health care, he supports spending federal dollars in religious charity programs, he also has a much more militaristic mind than the Liberals or NDP in Canada. He is going to increase military sending, not reduce it.

Now if he were running in Canada, maybe he would support single payer insurance, avoid religious entanglements, and not feel the "need" to spend so much in the Canadian Forces... But the reality is that he's doing those things as part of his US platform.

As Canadians, I don't expect people on this forum to appreciate the gravity of domestic issues and how important they are to Americans. Its nature to only focus on world image and the US abroad from a Canadian perspective.

But for all intents and purposes, when it comes to domestic policy, Obama is very much like a Canadian Conservative in many areas. Hillary would have been the identical same as well.

 

[Brandon716]

Oh, and as far as a fall election, I find it refreshing that an election can be called in Canada AFTER the major party convention in the US that took a year and a half of campaigning to get to, and the election will be wrapped up many weeks before the US general election is to be done in November.

Talk about inefficiency, the US political system is a joke in that everything is all campaign, all the time.

As uninspiring as Dion can be, I am rooting for a Liberal comeback. Canada has given Alberta its nearly 3 years of "relief" by allowing the Conservatives to rule, and now its time for Canada to be Canada again.

Quebec obviously is coming to its senses again and you see Bloc support dwindling and Liberal as well as NDP support rising.

And the numbers in Atlantic Canada are looking fantastic for the Liberals.

Source:
http://www.nanosresearch.com/library/polls/POLNAT-SU08-T315.pdf

Note the Bloc has dropped 10 points since May, and the NDP has risen, and Liberals are tied with the Cons. Its looking like Harper's entire January 2006 surge is about to be erased before his very eyes.

 

[Dan416]

I can't wait for an election just to cast a ballot against the Cons. Gotta turf the turncoat.

 

[kEiThZ]

Oh, and as far as a fall election, I find it refreshing that an election can be called in Canada AFTER the major party convention in the US that took a year and a half of campaigning to get to, and the election will be wrapped up many weeks before the US general election is to be done in November.

Talk about inefficiency, the US political system is a joke in that everything is all campaign, all the time.

The purpose of the campaigns are different though. Our parliamentary elections are closer to the US senate and congressional elections, with the election of the executive a byproduct of this. In the US the candidates are campaigning for the position of the executive independent of the legislature. That's why they can campaign all year (and beyond).

As uninspiring as Dion can be, I am rooting for a Liberal comeback. Canada has given Alberta its nearly 3 years of "relief" by allowing the Conservatives to rule, and now its time for Canada to be Canada again.

I would argue that its not as simple as it looks. As Alberta grows economically...and they are quickly becoming the economic engine of Canada, any party that does not understand the impact of this could well trigger another Reform type of movement. Personally, I would worry about an Alberta separatist movement a lot more. They know they have the resources to pull of independence. The Quebecers on the other hand know at some level, that survival would be difficult without the billions that are pumped in by the feds. I want a government that works for all of Canada, not one that plays off one region against the other. The appalling ignorance and outright contempt for Western Canada demonstrated by the Mulroney/Chretien administration was devastating for the cohesion of Canada. I'd rather not see that again.

While I support efforts to combat climate change, I won't be voting for Dion's Green Shift, that is specifically targeted at robbing western Canada's energy revenue and directing it towards the East. This would be devastating in an era where Saskatchewan, Alberta and BC are benefiting from energy royalties. I think a carbon trading market would have been a much better policy and would have created a new financial industry that would have been based in Toronto.

Quebec obviously is coming to its senses again and you see Bloc support dwindling and Liberal as well as NDP support rising.

It's more likely that the Conservatives are becoming the federalist party in Quebec. The Liberal brand is on the ropes in that province. And with Dion at the helm.....

And the numbers in Atlantic Canada are looking fantastic for the Liberals.

Atlantic Canada has always been Liberal/NDP friendly. I wouldn't expect otherwise. They know how to keep the billions flowing.....

http://www.nanosresearch.com/library/polls/POLNAT-SU08-T315.pdf

Note the Bloc has dropped 10 points since May, and the NDP has risen, and Liberals are tied with the Cons. Its looking like Harper's entire January 2006 surge is about to be erased before his very eyes.

I wouldn't bet any money on those polls. People are always dissatisfied with the incumbents. Wait till the debates start on policy. Then we'll see where the Canadian electorate really lies across the political map. I predict another Conservative minority.....and if the Greens get into the debate (Yay!!!)....a possible majority for the Conservatives. Three parties dividing left in Canada, and four in Quebec makes it very hard for the Liberals to get traction. This a country of die-hard centrists, the policies of the hard left have just as much a chance as the policies of the old Reform party did. Don't confuse Toronto's liberal leanings for Canada's. With the exception of a few sacrosanct policies (public health care, social housing, welfare, etc.) the rest of the country is far more conservative in its mindset. For example, I would argue that is social issues such as same-sex marriage were put to a vote, there would still be many disappointed same-sex couples in Canada. We are just lucky that Canada has a tradition of settled politics, where debates once decided are not re-visited.

 

[afransen]

I think a carbon trading market would have been a much better policy and would have created a new financial industry that would have been based in Toronto.

Cap-and-trade and carbon taxes are essentially the same, especially when you don't just hand out the carbon emissions rights to existing emitters, which I something I would be indescribably opposed to. The advantage with carbon taxes is that the price is predictable, where something with perfectly inelastic supply (ie, we can emit exactly 700 million tonnes of CO2 this year) can see wild variations in price.

If there is a concern about the tax being overly burdensome for the west, I would entirely support giving transfers of some form to the west. Perhaps transfers to the provincial governments would be easiest. To be frank, however, this will have little to no effect on the current boom in the West, except to make oil companies more carbon-efficient in extraction.

Let's be clear: many Alberta oil-patch firms are generally in favour of carbon taxes, given the alternatives (cap and trade, regulation). Don't be sucked in, a carbon tax will be great for the economy.

 

[afransen]

"We are just lucky that Canada has a tradition of settled politics, where debates once decided are not re-visited."

I think mostly polling has support for same-sex marriage up to about 60%.

Secondly, the abortion debate is about the explode again, thanks to Harper. This isn't rumour; the well-known legislation making it illegal to harm fetuses would inevitably lead to a court challenge on the legality of abortion by pro-lifers. The legislation was canned about a week ago, but you will see it resurface after the election if they are reelected.

 

[Brandon716]

The polls suggest the Liberals are headed toward a minority government and the NDP is probably going to maintain its power, and the Bloc is going to lose its current level of support.

Not sure how you can lecture out of that keith.

 

[urbandreamer]

The polls mean zippo...as does an American interfering with Canadian politics....