Canadian Elections...bye bye liberals?

[Makalakumu]

http://www.sfu.ca/~aheard/elections/

I heard on Minnesota Public Radio this morning that Stephen Harper of the Canadian Conservative Party is leading in the polls and will most likely throw the Liberal Party out of power. What is going on up there? Is Canada no longer the progressive place that alot of us liberals down here once thought? Harper has been described as Bush-lite by his opponents. Is fiscal and social conservatism a growing trend in Canadian politics?

upnorthkyosa

ps - Do you guys use electronic voting machines?

 

[Lisa]

Harper has been leading in the polls for a few weeks now but recently took an 8 point drop in the last week or so. My biggest fear is another minority government that will put this country in limbo again.

What is going on up here? Well it seems Canadians are tired of one scandal after another after another with the Paul Martin government and are seeking change. Gun owners are in an uproar at the proposed gun legislation banning handguns. However, all that being said, if I remember correctly, Harper was thought to win the last election as well dropped in the last two weeks of the campaign in the polls and lost.

Is Canada no longer going to be a progressive place? Well that is yet to be seen. I read a recent article (sorry I can't find it now) that gays were rushing to the alter pre-election in fear of the marraige laws being over turned. Harper has said he will let it go to free vote and see what the country as a whole thinks about it. I am not wondering, if that happens, if we will have a similar outcome that the US had.

No matter what happens it will be all over shortly after my polls close. The east holds more seats then the west side of the country (Ontario alone has 106 electoral seats where all of western Canada only has around 86) The "winning" party needs 155 seats to get a majority government.

oh, and...no we don't use electronic voting machines , at least not in the sense that we walk into a booth and push a button. We mark our ballot and it is fed into a machine and electronically tallied (sp?). At least that is how we do things here in Manitoba, not sure if it is the same across the nation.

Lisa

 

[Flatlander]

1. Is fiscal and social conservatism a growing trend in Canadian politics?
2. Do you guys use electronic voting machines?

1. No. There are a couple of issues that are setting the stage for what may potentially be a Conservative majority government here. To begin with, the Liberal leader, and current PM Paul Martin had taken over the PM job in our last election, 2 years ago. In that time, a significant government spending scandal, perpetrated by very high ranking members of his party has come to light. Further, the last 2 years of governance with a minority government has been ineffectual. Thirdly, the Liberal party's credibility in Quebec has been damaged, due to the above mentioned scandal. Lately, the Quebec federal scene has been divided about half/half with the Liberals and the Separatist Bloc Quebecois, with very little Conservative support. Due to their loss of credibility, the federalists in the province are now beginning to support the Conservative party as a federalist alternative.

So, I think what we're seeing here is a brief tilting of the balance of popular support. I believe that some Canadians are fed up with an ineffectual House of Commons, and are leery about the trustworthiness of the Liberal Party, at this time. I expect it to be short lived, however, this will be determined by the approach that the Conservatives take, should they be given a mandate. Time will tell.

If you're really interested, here's the details on the results of every election since Confederation: http://www.sfu.ca/~aheard/elections/1867-2004.html


2. No. We use manual paper ballots. Mind you, we have fewer votes that need to be counted than our southern neighbours.

 

[Andrew Green]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_in_the_Canadian_federal_election,_2006

Conservatives do seem to have a bit of a lead, but not enough to get a majority gov't.

Liberal party has been in power a long time, and have not been getting good press lately.

 

[sgtmac_46]

http://www.sfu.ca/~aheard/elections/

I heard on Minnesota Public Radio this morning that Stephen Harper of the Canadian Conservative Party is leading in the polls and will most likely throw the Liberal Party out of power. What is going on up there? Is Canada no longer the progressive place that alot of us liberals down here once thought? Harper has been described as Bush-lite by his opponents. Is fiscal and social conservatism a growing trend in Canadian politics?

upnorthkyosa

ps - Do you guys use electronic voting machines?

Perhaps they're not as leftist as some would hope. There goes the revolution.

 

[Makalakumu]

Perhaps they're not as leftist as some would hope. There goes the revolution.

That may be, but Harper...I mean "Bush-lite"...that's just crappy beer.

 

[Lisa]

Yup, Bye bye Liberals... bye bye.

At least for a while. Conservative minority government seems to be what is happening. Should send us back to the polls...soon.

Two consecutive elections... two consecutive minority governments. This country has some serious deep divisions in it.

 

[sgtmac_46]

Yup, Bye bye Liberals... bye bye.

At least for a while. Conservative minority government seems to be what is happening. Should send us back to the polls...soon.

Two consecutive elections... two consecutive minority governments. This country has some serious deep divisions in it.

Glad to see we're not the only ones. It's been my theory that humanity is evenly divided along ideological lines, because of two different fundamental ways of thinking about the world. It seems as our politics become more defined, those divisions solidify.

 

[Jonathan Randall]

Yup, Bye bye Liberals... bye bye.

At least for a while. Conservative minority government seems to be what is happening. Should send us back to the polls...soon.

Two consecutive elections... two consecutive minority governments. This country has some serious deep divisions in it.

Sometimes the best thing that can happen to a party, IMO, is to lose an election. Any party that holds power too long becomes stagnant and corrup - well more stagnant and corrupt.

I really hope that they don't take your guns, though - liberal party, I mean.

 

[Lisa]

What worries me the most is that it will be a time of nothing getting done because no one has the power on their own to pass any laws or make any changes. The Bloc probably won't form a coalition with the Conservatives because the conservatives took a fair amount of seats from the Bloc. The same could be said about a Liberal/New Democrat coalitition, the NDP made huge gains this election, taking seats from the Liberal party.

It just goes to show that the polls really know nothing at all and when it comes to which way the people will vote when they reach the polling station.

 

[jdinca]

http://www.sfu.ca/~aheard/elections/

I heard on Minnesota Public Radio this morning that Stephen Harper of the Canadian Conservative Party is leading in the polls and will most likely throw the Liberal Party out of power. What is going on up there? Is Canada no longer the progressive place that alot of us liberals down here once thought? Harper has been described as Bush-lite by his opponents. Is fiscal and social conservatism a growing trend in Canadian politics?

upnorthkyosa

ps - Do you guys use electronic voting machines?

Sorry, I support Bush but I also consider him anything but fiscally conservative. He's yet to veto a spending bill. It's my biggest complaint but what it shows on the whole, is that Democrats and Republicans are much more similar than they used to be. They just want to spend our money in different places.