Shame on you Canada

[pbreak]

whether it lasts or not, it still sucks. sucks sucks sucks. I hate him i hate him i hate him i hate him. At least the person I voted for actually won for once.

[Ree Fresh]

Hey look on the bright side... Pual Martin is now resigning as liberal leader :)

Im not too pleased that the Conservatives kinda won... but look at it this way:
Conservatives up only 17 seats
NDP up 21 seats
Liberals and the block both went down a bunch of seats

Like Kyle said its still a minority government. Infact it's even more of a minority. The conservatives wont be able do much with out suport form the other partys. Although we have to deal with Harper as a leader ehhhh.

[decypher]

Although it is possible that the partitioning of the parliament seats suggest that it will be hard for the Conservatives to put through any major policy issues, we have to look at it from a different perspective.

Duceppe of the BQ said that if Harper follows through with fixing the fiscal imbalance and recognizing Quebec's provincial autonomy, he would support the Conservatives. Who is to say the BQ wouldn't support the Conservatives on some of their socially conservative and foreign policy. I can just see it now, Canada wasting millions on some pipedream missle defence system.

[Liqwid]

Originally Posted by Sidekick

i highly highly doubt this government will last more than 2 years.

let's just hope the liberals clean up their act for the next election and win back a majority so we don't have to deal with this conservative crap.

here here!

[justa~gurl]

Originally Posted by MC Hammered

I am insulted that you are comparing us to Americans. :(

well.. if this keeps up, soon there will be only a fine line between canada and the u.s. and that will be the boarder


i am really nervous for whats to come.. we've got to get the conservatives out of power..


they are going to completely ruin canada and our reputation.

other countries will start to hate us because we will be just like the states and then we will be targeted and put in danger, not to mention we could all be drafted to go to war

i can't believe they won.. :(

[decypher]

I don't think our government could ever be the same as the US. The American system is spread out over three levels of government with checks and balances. Canada is a parliamentary system with a more centralized government. The PM of canada has more power then the President of the US.

I'm more worried about Canada partaking in US style foreign policy.

[rustybob]

Originally Posted by miss.myra

yeah cause bush has lasted what? six?

Comparing the length of time that Bush is in office to anything Canadian politics is no comparision at all. For Bush to get dropped as President, he must get impeached, or resign. In Canada, the Bloc, NDP, Liberals, and Independant guy can kick the Conservatives out of office at any time. Unlike the States, we don't have fixed election dates, which is good and bad. Good, because a shitty party can get kicked out at any time, and bad because a party (like the Liberals did for many years) can buy up lots of votes by wasting tax dollars to appease certain people, and then call an election when their popularity is high. Technically, a party can stay in party for 5 years, but the whole popularity thing always seems to make the terms much shorter than that.

[Sykonee]

I STILL don't see what the big deal everyone's so concerned about regarding the Tories in a minority government.

Any radical changes are going to have to be backed by the other parties to be passed, and you know they're going to keep Harper on a short leash.

Also, the Tories have to be careful they don't rock the boat as it is. They are being given a chance by Canadians to correct the mistakes the Libs made. Parlaiment needs to clean house, and the Tories can provide that.

BUT, in the process, they aren't going to be able to alter the things that made the Libs popular in the first place, otherwise, the Libs will be voted right back into power in no time at all. If Harper says we should go to Iraq, you can rest assured, with such an unpopular idea with Canadians abroad, there would be yet another Vote of Non-Confidence by the other parties (what better time than when the ruling minority makes an incredibly unpopular motion, after all), and they'd get booted out of power in a flash.

Yeesh.. the way some folks are reacting to this, you'd think Canada had turned into a fundamentalist state scarier than Iran.

[galaxie]

The average length of a Canadian minority gov't is 18 months.
Enjoy them, Harper, they'll be your first AND last.



On another note, yesterday I asked my mom if a Canadian Prime Minister has ever been assasinated. She said no, and my brother quickly replied with a hearty "FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING!" hah :P

[galaxie]

Originally Posted by justa~gurl

i can't believe they won.. :(

I can.
Take a look at the election results. If, instead of splitting the vote between the NDP and Liberals, we had strategically voted for the Liberals, they would have won more seats than the Tories. Watching the results last night it was SO frustrating to see the Tories take ridings with say 9,000 votes when there were 11,000 votes split between the NDP and Liberals!

[fable]

like i mentioned before, if we are all about looking at the bright side, then this give a perfect opp. for the "left/progressive" to unite. People will start waking up from their lucid dreams.

On a side note, i got referred to a book by ______tussman, the book is called the "beligured(sp?) college. Apprerently the author comes from a stance that believes most citizens in a country, know nothing about being citizens, that they know a relative little of how their choices effect everyone else, and vice verca. Appprerently he also goes so far as stating that there should be atleast two years of tertiary political education in the school systems. From what ive heard, as peoples rationale for voting conservative, Id say this cats, right on the money with his beleifs.

-once again, its not only about whos in power, but who are the people who supported that party, what is their stake in how the country is run, or run into the ground?

-The Cons essentailly represent a Liberal ideology that is even closer to a radical right.

-The comparisons between ourselves and the US are REACTIONARY!!! I think it was either the brilliant revolver of jay auto that mentioned, ~ we are far off better than those of other countries~ what does this mean? That we are less oppressive?, less prone to wanton violence? we steal less from indegenous peoples? we make less imperialist war? we put profit before equality less? we give more and more power to capaitalist canada, and the military lobby less? ITS NOT ABOUT DOING THINGS AT A LESSER DEGREE, ITS ABOUT TRYIN TO BULLDOZE TO THE CORE IDEOLOGIES< WHAT THEY MEAN<WHO THEY FUCK< AND HOW ARE WE GOIN TO STOP IT.

Bush? FUck bush - we went to war in Afghanistan, and Haiti on our own. We will further oppress indegenous peoples and attempt to assimilate people on our own. We will double the miliary budget(again) alone. Stop using the "were better than the US" line to scapegoat the source of our problems nationally. People in the US, the common people of the US are in the same fucking mess we are in. The sooner people realize this, the sooner we can get focussed and stop debating over peripheral bullshit, when we are ignoring the cores.

I would completely support some sort of grass roots organized and perpetuated, system of political learning, and societal studies, in the school system. I can give two shits if only 63% of population votes, if of that 63%, only 40% was informed, THATS THE REAL ISSUE. Education about where the fuck we fit in, in this grand chaos, and how OUR choices can effect everyone else.

And yes, i, aware that i used 'we' through this whole post.

[Mangle]

Originally Posted by ja_raul

I agree, i say within 2 years were gona be heading over to the polls again, to vote for our faith in the conservatives, and to decide if they've been doing a good enough job to keep them in power. Its all about the next election people, this one was just a minority power shift.

That's what scares the hell out of me.

[Skyles]

Originally Posted by MC Hammered

We were all snowboarding.

Next time they should have an election during the fall when everyone is at home doing nothing.

There are 4 scheduled dates prior to election day set out if you will be away for it.

[Skyles]

Originally Posted by Sykonee

I STILL don't see what the big deal everyone's so concerned about regarding the Tories in a minority government.

Any radical changes are going to have to be backed by the other parties to be passed, and you know they're going to keep Harper on a short leash.

Also, the Tories have to be careful they don't rock the boat as it is. They are being given a chance by Canadians to correct the mistakes the Libs made. Parlaiment needs to clean house, and the Tories can provide that.

BUT, in the process, they aren't going to be able to alter the things that made the Libs popular in the first place, otherwise, the Libs will be voted right back into power in no time at all. If Harper says we should go to Iraq, you can rest assured, with such an unpopular idea with Canadians abroad, there would be yet another Vote of Non-Confidence by the other parties (what better time than when the ruling minority makes an incredibly unpopular motion, after all), and they'd get booted out of power in a flash.

Yeesh.. the way some folks are reacting to this, you'd think Canada had turned into a fundamentalist state scarier than Iran.

100% agree

[shift]

I just read an article in the Georgia Straight that quoted the Washington Post saying Stephan Harper is "the most pro-American leader in the Western world, a free thinker who is pro-Iraq war, anti-Kyoto, and socially conservative... Mr. Bush's new best friend internationally and the poster boy for his ideal foreign leader."

Scary stuff.

[MissMarz]

I'm just amazed at how many replies this has, and how strong the political views of people like us really are. AND YET...
people dont vote. The things said in this thread show very strong opinions about the way things run in Canada... and still I bet only half the posters here voted... if that.

[sungoo]

Originally Posted by miss.myra

Seriously.
Four years of bullshit!

I don't get why people say things like this.

[decypher]

Originally Posted by MissMars

I'm just amazed at how many replies this has, and how strong the political views of people like us really are. AND YET...
people dont vote. The things said in this thread show very strong opinions about the way things run in Canada... and still I bet only half the posters here voted... if that.

Well the youth vote was up from 2004.

It just takes scandal and cliche bush bashing to get the youth moving.

Maybe we should get some beer sponsors and saucier storylines in parliament to get a higher voter turnout.

[(val)Liam]

I was watching the news and they were talking about potential cabinet ministers... Stockwell Day was one of them...

shit! stephen harper isn't the only guy to fear here!

[miss.myra]

Originally Posted by Sykonee

I STILL don't see what the big deal everyone's so concerned about regarding the Tories in a minority government.

Any radical changes are going to have to be backed by the other parties to be passed, and you know they're going to keep Harper on a short leash.

..

I apologize for the delay but I've beeeen on vacation..but..

I understand completely that this is a minority government, but doesn't everyone realize that the entire world tends to view a country and its political psyche based on their elected leader alone?


In the 2000 American election, a candidate won the presidency but lost the nationwide 'popular vote' and George W was voted in by a very very small margin, do you think anybody in the world really cared that there was still a large democratic presence in the united states government, they just saw that the country is being lead by a total douche.

[Skitzo_Style]

i voted conservative, but my mp didn't make it into parlament, some dumb ass liberal mp made it in instead. none the less, i am happy as hell with the way the election went!

GO HARPER! TURN THIS COUNTRY AROUND FROM THE CRAP HEAP THAT THE LIBERALS CREATED!!!!

[Sykonee]

Originally Posted by miss.myra

I understand completely that this is a minority government, but doesn't everyone realize that the entire world tends to view a country and its political psyche based on their elected leader alone?

Um... Australia has a pretty conservative government going right now (more so that ours), yet folks still think of the Aussies as free-spirited Outback rangers talking like Paul Hogan.

[fable]

Originally Posted by Sykonee

Um... Australia has a pretty conservative government going right now (more so that ours), yet folks still think of the Aussies as free-spirited Outback rangers talking like Paul Hogan.

I think myra was talking more in terms of generalizations and stereotypes. As well its important to note that Australias involvement in Iraq which is a direct result of a conservative tendencies in government, and recent isolated outbreaks of violence between "white" citizens and "arabic" citizens (please note in the reports, those of arabic decent where not considered citizens?) have somewhat tarnished the view of our funny loving, beer guzzling, whistler invading "aussies".

Personally i think the racist fights were isolated, but the support of the Iraqi war by their government is more an example of the government and not the people.

[dapimpstress]

Originally Posted by decypher

Well the youth vote was up from 2004.

It just takes scandal and cliche bush bashing to get the youth moving.

Maybe we should get some beer sponsors and saucier storylines in parliament to get a higher voter turnout.

haha! <3

it seems the conservatives are trying to take over everywhere.

[Ms.Chop]

this prob means more bad news for people in the Reg Force & Reserves..
AS im planning on joining the reserve's..
if harper somehow gets our military to goto Iraq..
well hey..

say bye, bye to Gia.