2011 Canadian Election Turning Comical

[CanuckInUSA 0]

The 2011 Canadian Election is turning comical with every party attacking each other (except for poor Dizzy Lizzy May's Green Party who was not invited by the media to play with the big boys).

A few weeks ago I made a prediction (mainly that the Separatist Bloc Quebecois would sweep Quebec), but who would have thunk the NDP would be leading in La Belle Province. The NDP's surge in Quebec has definitely thrown a wrench into the election soap opera.

The Conservatives are still well ahead of everyone else in the polls. If the polls turn out to be true, there is no doubt the Conservatives will win the most seats. But it remains to be seen if they can win a majority or if they will be stuck in another minority. The Conservatives over the years have shifted to the center as a minority government, but the hidden "Bush" majority agenda always haunts them as Lefties across the nation continue to claim. So the Conservatives have no choice, they have no political allies and they do attack everyone.

The Liberals are in disarray. They view themselves as the "Natural Governing" party and despite being well down in the polls before the election even began, they triggered this election because they feel they can grab power after all the votes are cast with the help of the NDP and Bloc Quebecois. They started this election trash talking the Conservatives (no surprise here), but really their goal was to take votes away from the NDP (but still count on the NDP and Bloc support when the time comes to seize power as the 2nd place finisher). But this appears to have backfired on them big time. The Liberals appointed a poor leader few people like and now the Leftist support across the nation is swinging away from the Liberals and to the NDP. So the Liberals are now attacking the Conservatives and the NDP. The only people the Liberals don't attack are the Bloc Quebecois because they are still counting on the Bloc's post election support to seize control of power.

The NDP is a socialist party. They have never governed federally and this is part of their platform. They claim the two main parties (Liberals and Conservatives) are corrupt and well the Liberals and Conservatives don't exactly have clean records. But the NDP are socialists and only hardcore socialists think their ideology is right for the nation during these times of global instability. From the beginning of the election, the NDP was attacking the Conservatives, but since the Liberals and Bloc have lost support to the NDP, the NDP are now under attack from the Liberals and Bloc and the NDP is attacking back. LOL

The Bloc Quebecois is a Quebec separatist party. How they are allowed to run in federal elections is still a mystery. But they have ruled Quebec for over a decade now. Most Quebecois are socialist and are realizing the Bloc is not doing much for them. So now the NDP is being supported big time by Quebecers and the Bloc is not happy with this. The Bloc of course attacked the Conservatives from the beginning and now the Bloc is attacking the NDP. The only people the Bloc does not attack is the Liberals because the Bloc knows outside of Montreal, the Liberals are no threat to the Bloc.

Finally there is the Green Party. The Greenies had a chance to be different. But their leader is so obsessed with winning a seat in parliament, she has ignored the Greens national campaign and the national media appears to be punishing her for this as well as possibly punishing her for the pre-election deal she made with the Liberals in the 2008 election. Poor Greenies are being ignored.

There are really only three questions that remain to be answered:

1) Will the Conservatives win a majority or will it be another dysfunctional minority.

2) If the Conservatives only win a minority, how long will it be before the Liberals attempt their power grab. One week? One month? One year? You know it's coming. Constitutionally the Liberals are allowed to seize power if they have the support of the other opposition parties. But two wild card remain here. One is their leader is extremely unpopular across the nation (he is even unpopular inside of the Liberal Party). The other wild card is they will need the support of the separatist Bloc Quebecois to seize power. How will the nation feel when an unpopular leader who needs the separatist support seizes control of government all because the Liberals feel they and only they should ever be allowed to govern.

3) Finally the biggest question is what happens if the NDP wins more seats than the Liberals? Would the Liberals play 2nd fiddle to the NDP in a coalition government? I doubt this very much. The Liberals would never ever back an NDP government as the junior partner. So as popular as NDP leader Jack Layton is at this time, he does not have a hope in hell in becoming the PM. At least not if the polls are remotely close to being accurate.

I used to think US Politics was the worst, but Canadian politics is catching up and will soon surpass the US as the jokers that they are. They all suck, every last one of them. It's just that some suck more than others. In my opinion the Liberals are the worst. They are the most corrupt, most arrogant political organization this nation has ever known. But I am sure there are some Liberal supporters here on dizzy.com that would disagree with me.

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[pbwing 0]

Like I said in another post, I'm just glad that we only have to put up with a few weeks of this garbage - instead of months or years...

My take:

Conservative majority. Significant. Along the lines of the first Mulroney win.

Liberals will still be the Official Opposition. Iggy will have to step down. Thank Christ. He is the only reason why the Liberals can't win this election.

Bloc will fall dramatically - due to a swing vote to NDP. NDP will make significant gains in their seat numbers.

Also, you do know that the Liberals can't "seize power", right? If the Conservatives win a minority, they will be the governing party until they lose confidence of parliament (until they lose the first vote in the House that is deemed a vote of confidence). Only then can the Official Opposition approach the Governor General and ask to form the government. There is no power grab, or seizing of power. The GG can deny the request and dissolve parliament which will result in another election.

I know this'll sound strange, but I think it is in our national interest to see a Conservative majority. I think we need the political stability at this time. I would like to see what the Conservatives can do with a full mandate and a majority of seats.

We have some difficult years ahead with trying to get the deficit under control. The Conservatives are targeting 2015 to balance the budget. They will have to make significant cuts - including defence to achieve that goal.

We'll see about corruption and arrogance. The last sitting Conservative Prime Minister knowingly took bribes (and openly admitted it), introduced a 7% national tax and basically thumbed his nose at the entire population of Canada west of Ontario because he knew he didn't need them to win a majority. He also had the worst approval ratings of any prime minister in history and single handedly imploded the Progressive Conservative Party.

Let's see how well Harper does. My guess is that his term and his government will be filled with as many scandals and embarrassments as any other ruling government has had.

[HandsomeSalad 0]

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We'll see about corruption and arrogance. The last sitting Conservative Prime Minister knowingly took bribes (and openly admitted it), introduced a 7% national tax and basically thumbed his nose at the entire population of Canada west of Ontario because he knew he didn't need them to win a majority. He also had the worst approval ratings of any prime minister in history and single handedly imploded the Progressive Conservative Party.

Let's see how well Harper does. My guess is that his term and his government will be filled with as many scandals and embarrassments as any other ruling government has had.

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In 2009, Harper appointed a Minister of Science who refused to say whether he believed in evolution. Harper then cut science research funding by $138 Million (while the US invested $2.75 Billion). Since 2007 Harper has forced scientists at Environment Canada to get permission to do interviews, often screening their answers.

At the 2010 G20 summit in Toronto, Harper spent $1.9 million building a fake lake and nearly $1 Billion on security for the 3 day event. 1,105 arrests were made - the largest mass arrest in Canadian history. Only 99 criminal charges were laid. So everyone else was arrested, you know, just 'cuz.

On April 3rd, 2011 Harper had his people lurk a teenager's Facebook page and then kick her out of an event because she had posed for a photo with the Liberal leader Michael Igantieff. This should come as no surprise from Harper - he tried and failed (4 times!) to create a law that would allow the government to obtain your personal information from an internet provider - without a warrant.

Harper plans to double annual prison spending by 2015 (an increase of $5 billion annually), despite the fact that crime rates have been falling for a decade.

Since 2006, Harper has cut funding for women's advocacy by 43 per cent, shut 12 out of 16 Status of Women offices in Canada and eliminated funding of legal voices for women and minority groups, including the National Association of Women and the Law and the Courts Challenges Program.

One of Harper's top aides, Bruce Carson, had been convicted of 5 counts of fraud. Most recently he was lobbying the government to buy water filtration systems for First Nations communities. He wanted the government to buy the systems from a company where his 22 year old wife was working.

In 2008, Linda Keen President of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission reported that the aging Chalk River nuclear facility was at a risk 1000 times greater than the international average. Harper quickly fired her.

Stephen Harper weakened regulations so that more pesticide residue could be left on your fruits and vegetables.

Harper decorated the government lobby in parliament with photos of just himself, instead of the traditional portraits of former Prime Ministers.

The Alliance Church, to which Harper has belonged for decades, believes Jesus Christ will return to Earth in an apocalypse, won't ordain women, strongly opposes abortion and divorce, condemns homosexuality as the most base of sins and believes those who aren't born-again are 'lost.'

Harper likes being in power so much, he renamed 'The Government of Canada' to 'The Harper Government'. Creepy right?

In 2008, Luc Pomerleau, a biologist at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, discovered secret government plans to weaken regulations & allow corporate food producers to conduct their own safety inspections. Pomerleau leaked the news and was immediately fired. Then the listeriosis meat outbreak killed 17 Canadians.

In 2010, Harper eliminated funding for Sisters in Spirit. An internationally praised organization leading investigations into 600 cases of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls.

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Seems like a nice guy...

[CanuckInUSA 0]

Told it was comical. We even have murderers running for a seat in government.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/CanadaVotes/2011/04/24/18060876.html

This guy is running as an independent so no need to go on a partisan rant.

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[Amazon 7]

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Told it was comical. We even have murderers running for a seat in government.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/CanadaVotes/2011/04/24/18060876.html

This guy is running as an independent so no need to go on a partisan rant.

Politics in the varied "Banana Republics" was always funny.... but I do have to admit.. its getting almost as funny in the "Icicle Republic" of Canuckistan.

[CanuckInUSA 0]

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its getting almost as funny in the "Icicle Republic" of Canuckistan.

Except we are not a Republic ... at least not yet.

Canuckistan is a "Frozen Icicle Dominion of the English Monarchy" where we bow to the supremacy of our Royal Rulers in Windsor Castle. This coming weekend as we fight flooding from our melting igloos, we will gather around our TV sets in the middle of the night (in the igloos that have not yet short circuited due to the melting ice) to pay homage to our future King and Queen as they wed in marital bliss (well at least Kate is a hottie).

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[CanuckInUSA 0]

This just gets funnier and funnier by the day (except of course there could be some serious negative economic implications if what is being said by some on the campaign trail ever becomes reality). Not surprisingly many people in Canada are not happy with the two main political parties, the Conservatives and the Liberals. Both parties have skeletons in their closets. And the polls are showing the upstart NDP becoming more popular by the day. If the polls are accurate the NDP has already passed the Liberals into 2nd place and are even gaining ground on the front runner Conservatives where there is an outside chance the NDP could actually form government. Naturally the Conservatives and the Liberals are fighting back and the question about the quality of some of the NDP candidates has surfaced today (yes questions exist about the quality of the candidates for the two traditional parties as well).

But this is too funny to ignore.

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Voters in Ottawa-Orleans may have their NDP candidate in the city (as opposed to being on vacation as there actual are some NDP candidates who are not even in the country, they are away on vacation during this campaign). But they may not be seeing Martine Cenatus very often. The NDP candidate is not participating in debates or doing interviews because she is too busy working as an employee for the party itself. Cenatus works in the fundraising department where she was recruited to run two months ago. She said she wasn't really trained to run a campaign. "I haven't had any training per se as to how to be a candidate, nor do I think that there is a way of training a person as to be a candidate," Cenatus said.

You have got to be kidding me. She has no training on how to be a political candidate yet here she is, on the verge of possibly being sent to Ottawa as a member of parliament all because the public is riding this populous support wave for the NDP? Yes that's all we need, another clueless politician. What's next? Since NDP leader Jack Layton is making wild promises of hiring thousands and thousands of new doctors, I guess Jack isn't worried if these new doctors lack the proper training in medicine does he? You didn't mind we had to open up your chest cavity to remove your appendix. Our "How to be a doctor for idiots" book said the appendix was in here somewhere.

I have to say the Conservatives and the Liberals really have fucked this country up beyond all recognition if people are actually seriously considering allowing the NDP to form government.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadavotes2011/story/2011/04/28/cv-election-ndp-.html

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[mdrejhon 8]

"Does it really matter? We all know that every one of them is just a sith puppet."

(Copying a quote that a Facebook friend wrote.)

[Andrewwhyte 1]

For ages conventional wisdom has held that whoever captures the political centre wins the election. However we seem to be heading down the same road as the yanks with both sides abandoning the centre.
Traditionally the Liberals move left in opposition and right in power, while the Tories do the opposite. The Tories have certainly compromised left fiscally over the last two minority governments but have moved even more right socially. The Libs have not taken advantage of this but abandoned the centre completely to the point that their platform is not any different than the socialist NDP. It should not be a surprise that the mass of undecided voters on the left are going for the real thing.
What is going to happen is still up in the air. At the moment of truth will people actually vote NDP, or will they opt for the safety of the devils they know? Will the social media, vote mob driven 18-30 year olds (certainly NDP biased) actually show up at the polls? The difference between left vote splitting caused Tory gains and surging NDP driven Tory losses is probably less that 2% of the vote.
It looks certain now that the NDP will supplant the Liberals as the main opposition. Whether they can stay there is another question altogether. Jack Layton is not young, nor in good health. If he is replaced by, say, deputy leader Libby Davies they could fall right back to 20% for the next election. On the other hand we may see a situation like the US where moderates of all flavours find themselves on the sidelines. If that happens the Liberals will go the way of the UK Liberal party.

[CanuckInUSA 0]

I am not convinced yet that the NDP will pass the Liberals. Without a doubt the NDP are riding a wave of populous support among the Lefties (and the Youth vote will likely go mostly to the NDP). But most of the new NDP support is in Quebec and most of the new NDP support is spread out. The Liberals are definitely down, but their support is rock solid in most of Toronto and Montreal and the Liberals will still win seats in these areas. Will the NDP actually win tons of new seats or will they come 2nd in many riding and will the Liberal/NDP vote split? We won't know until all the votes are counted.

The Conservatives should still win the most seats, but will it be a majority? or another dysfunctional minority? If the Liberals finish ahead of the NDP in a minority you know Ignatieff will be declaring himself the PM (constitutionally he will be allowed to do this, but will the nation accept such an unpopular leader). But if the NDP does pass the Liberals (which means Ignatieff is toast and goes back to Harvard), who will the Liberals support? To me that is the wild card.

It is rather interesting to see the "Globe and Mail" endorsing the Conservatives. I guess the Globe still believes in Capitalism as Layton is the last person they want to see in power.

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[Andrewwhyte 1]

I hope you are right about the NDP support not actually turning into seats enough to unseat the Libs, but I am not sure. They will pick up 20 seats in Quebec at a minimum. The polls are reporting stronger support in BC where they came second in many ridings last time. The decision looks to be made in Toronto proper where the Tories usually run third. If they can pick up 10 seats in TO they will all be at the expense of the Libs. Liberal seats in non-GTA Ontario will also be big.
There was a story the other day about NDP gains in Edmonton, but living in the prime "vulnerable" Tory riding I can tell you I have yet to see a worker or a flier from anyone.
And while this is all going on CBC chief correspondent, news anchor and all around news head honcho, Peter Mansbridge is in London covering a wedding.

[CanuckInUSA 0]

NDP support is up in the Maritimes and of course Quebec. I can't see the NDP being much of an force in Ontario (thxs to Boob Rae). The NDP might pick up a few new seats in Manitobia and Saskatchewan, but there isn't that many seats in these two provinces to begin with. The contested Edmonton riding is interesting. I have heard that about 500 bogus voter cards were sent out in this riding. People will be voting from their business addresses? This has got to be a first for Canada? and Elections Canada has turned a blind eye to these 500 voter cards? It could be interesting if Linda Duncan wins by less than 500 votes. As far as BC is concerned, the NDP will likely pickup a few seats there as well. But as always the two most influential provinces to watch will be Ontario and Quebec. Looks like Jack has joined the club of politicians willing to sell out Canada if it means winning seats in Quebec. Not the first politician to do this.

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[CanuckInUSA 0]

The comedy continues.

Turns out NDP Leader Jack Layton, who we should call John? since his legal name is John Gilbert Layton, is a John in more ways than one. Well maybe maybe not. We have a "He said" "She said" story here. In 1996 John Layton was caught naked in a Toronto whore house while he worked as a city councilor. John claimed he was only there for a massage and he was never charged with a crime (the cop only caught him naked, he was not caught in the act). This is not a show stopper for John. John can continue his campaign to bring socialism to Canada and forever rid the nation of all evil corporations. In fact this story is sure to rally the Leftist base to get behind their John and he can now say "I did not have sex with that woman" whenever the press asks him about it (I just wonder if Bill Clinton will be wanting royalty payments for every time it is used).

Too funny ... and here we thought gutter politics only happened in the USA.

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[CanuckInUSA 0]

Not to discredit Conservative supporters in all provinces, but the cavalry in Ontario came in and saved the day if you wanted to see the Conservatives win a majority government.

But there are three other big stories of the night. The rise of the NDP at the expense of not only the Liberals but also the separatist Bloc Quebecois. The polls said the NDP would do well in Quebec but who thought they would decimate the BQ. The NDP has taken over official opposition status from the Liberals and Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff does not even look like he will win his own seat.

Big Winners of the night:
- Conservatives (strong in Ontario and Western Canada)
- NDP (strong in Quebec and BC)

Big Losers:
- Liberals
- Bloc Quebecois

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[Nataly 38]

Ohhh... I know someone who must be upset by this one... She is convinced Harper is synonymous with Bush (in her mind = evil) and that he is out to rid the world of all francophones...

Well, she doesn't think *exactly* that. But pretty much.


ETA - it's not me, btw... I don't know much about Harper at all... And I don't think Bush is evil - just very stupid.

"There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse."
- Chris Hadfield
« Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. »
- my boss

[mdrejhon 8]

Canada's new map is attached below.
We are a BLUE & ORANGE country -- RED is almost gone!

Honestly, our voting system is broken. We've voted a Conservative MAJORITY on only ~42% POPULAR vote.

[SkyDekker 1,465]

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Honestly, our voting system is broken. We've voted a Conservative MAJORITY on only ~42% POPULAR vote.

Didn't hear anybody on the left complaining about that that when their party won majorities with those numbers. These arguments from the left would carry a lot more weight if they were thrown out when their party was winning.

Bob Rae said the same thing on a Toronto Talkshow, how we needed proportional representation. He shut up pretty quickly when he was reminded he would neverhave been premier of Ontario with that voting system.

Happy to see we have elected a Conservative Majority and happy to see my local Conservative candidate won, upseating the incumbent Liberal.

[CanuckInUSA 0]

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happy to see my local Conservative candidate won, upseating the incumbent Liberal.

Who was it? A lot of big name Liberals went down last night. Of course a few big name conservatives also went down.

People who are happy with this result need to thank Jason Kenney for all the work he did in the immigrant communities. But this majority was won by Ontario. There was no way the conservatives would have won a majority had the GTA not supported them. There is an interesting trend going on in Ontario these days. First Rob Ford and now this. Unthinkable only a few short years ago. Of course it's all balanced out with Calgary's mayor Naheed Nenshi (who has done some good things for the city like going after the corruption at the utility company Enmax while doing some other not so good thinks like spending money that was supposed to go towards the schools on a few of his pet projects ... but this thread isn't about civic politics).

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[rushmc 23]

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happy to see my local Conservative candidate won, upseating the incumbent Liberal.

Who was it? A lot of big name Liberals went down last night. Of course a few big name conservatives also went down.

People who are happy with this result need to thank Jason Kenney for all the work he did in the immigrant communities. But this majority was won by Ontario. There was no way the conservatives would have won a majority had the GTA not supported them. There is an interesting trend going on in Ontario these days. First Rob Ford and now this. Unthinkable only a few short years ago. Of course it's all balanced out with Calgary's mayor Naheed Nenshi (who has done some good things for the city like going after the corruption at the utility company Enmax while doing some other not so good thinks like spending money that was supposed to go towards the schools on a few of his pet projects ... but this thread isn't about civic politics).

Lots to read about ti

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadavotes2011/

Seems the media is in morning too

On a side note
will this finally kill the gun registry?

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[SkyDekker 1,465]

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Who was it?

Three time incumbent Mark Holland was defeated by Chris Alexander, a former diplomat and ambassador to Afghanistan.

Rush, this should be the end of the long gun registry.

[CanuckInUSA 0]

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will this finally kill the gun registry

It should ...

For the most part I hope the Conservatives concentrate on economic issues and leave the "scary" social issues on the back burner. They were elected because they were perceived to do the least damage to the economy and social issues like abortion and gay marriage should NOT be touched with a 10 foot pole. If the Conservatives do change them, they themselves will be destroyed in the next election. But there are a few non economic issues that will likely be addressed:

1) End to the Long Gun Registry (stop punishing hunters).

2) End to political subsides.

3) Tougher crime bills (this will be controversial to some, but accepted by many).

4) Put an end to human smuggling (hard to imagine anyone opposing this, but there are some who will).

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[CanuckInUSA 0]

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Three time incumbent Mark Holland was defeated by Chris Alexander

Good stuff ... Alexander appears to be a good man and may well end up in cabinet. The election was non-existent for us in Calgary (it is true you can run a sack of rocks in Calgary as the Conservative candidate and we would still elect them. Rob Anders was re-elected LOL). But the NDP did win their Edmonton seat. However it was a large enough victory for Linda Duncan so the 500+ questionable voter cards sent out in the riding were not a factor.

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[SkyDekker 1,465]

[reply
For the most part I hope the Conservatives concentrate on economic issues and leave the "scary" social issues on the back burner. They were elected because they were perceived to do the least damage to the economy and social issues like abortion and gay marriage should NOT be touched with a 10 foot pole. If the Conservatives do change them, they themselves will be destroyed in the next election. But there are a few non economic issues that will likely be addressed:

1) End to the Long Gun Registry (stop punishing hunters).

2) End to political subsides.

3) Tougher crime bills (this will be controversial to some, but accepted by many).

4) Put an end to human smuggling (hard to imagine anyone opposing this, but there are some who will).

[Andrewwhyte 1]

I disagree. Our system designed with stability in mind. 42 percent has always been majority territory. It was good enough to give Cretian, Trudeau and Mulroney majorities. We now have a government with a clear direction. In four years if People are unhappy there will be no question of who is to blame.
The fact that Block is destroyed and the Liberals are decimated shows that the system isboth dynamic and responsive.

[JohnRich 4]

News:

Canada's Conservatives score massive election win

Canada's Conservatives stormed to a decisive victory in Monday's federal election, winning 54 percent of the seats in Parliament and securing a stable four-year term in power after vowing to focus on the economy.

The Conservatives grabbed 167 seats in Canada's Parliament, well above the 155 they needed to transform their minority government into a majority, according to provisional results. They won about 40 percent of the vote, beating expectations.

The victory, a relief for Canadian financial markets, left support for the separatist Bloc Quebecois in tatters and the party's leader without a seat. Bloc Quebecois advocates independence for the province of Quebec.

The Liberals, who have ruled Canada for more years than any other party, were reduced to a dismal third place showing with their worst ever seat haul...

Source: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/conservatives-head-victory-canada-election-022335447.html