*OFFICIAL* CANADIAN ELECTION THREAD

[tec699]

I usually vote Democrat and I think this is a good thing that Canadians voted Conservative this time. When you have a party in office for too long it tends to be a bad thing.

I'm from NJ and we've had a Democrat in office since the mid 90's. That's bad. Corruption is at an all time high. We're $6 billion dollars in debt, the unions are in it for themselves, etc...

 

[Stunt]

Originally posted by: tec699
I usually vote Democrat and I think this is a good thing that Canadians voted Conservative this time. When you have a party in office for too long it tends to be a bad thing.

I'm from NJ and we've had a Democrat in office since the mid 90's. That's bad. Corruption is at an all time high. We're $6 billion dollars in debt, the unions are in it for themselves, etc...

Harper called himself a Democrat in his speech.

 

[tec699]

Stephen Harper and his Conservative Party won national elections Monday and ended 13 years of Liberal rule, a victory expected to move Canada rightward on social and economic issues and lead to improved ties with the United States.

Am I missing something? I thought he was a conservative?

 

[Ferocious]

Originally posted by: tec699
I usually vote Democrat and I think this is a good thing that Canadians voted Conservative this time. When you have a party in office for too long it tends to be a bad thing.

I'm from NJ and we've had a Democrat in office since the mid 90's. That's bad. Corruption is at an all time high. We're $6 billion dollars in debt, the unions are in it for themselves, etc...

:thumbsup: Good point.

Here in Ohio the Taft and the Reps have also had control too long and have become corrupt. Time for a change here for sure.

 

[JavaMomma]

I'm fairly happy with the election results. I voted Liberal - but expected the Conservatives to win by more then they did. I was expecting 140 some seats. I think this election really shows how strong the Liberal base is, Martin sucked and the party has a ton of baggage and they still win over 100 seats, hmmm. If the Conservatives couldnt even get close to a majority with all those things stacked against the Liberals... haha Harper sucks.

Anyways, its nice for to have a change - the Liberals need a break from being in power - and with the Conservatives having a minority gov't its nice to know they can't really screw too much up. This break from power will allow the Liberals to clean themselves up, and there are few good things in the Conservative platform that will hopefully pass, and the things I don't like in their platform will hopefully get tossed out by other parties.

Overall, there is no reason to be upset about these election results. If things start getting bad, we'll be back to the polls in no time.

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: Stunt
Sandorski, I thought you were a Martin liberal...I guess you are straight up Liberal partisan

Guessed wrong. Just discussing the Liberal party options.

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: Stunt

Originally posted by: tec699
I usually vote Democrat and I think this is a good thing that Canadians voted Conservative this time. When you have a party in office for too long it tends to be a bad thing.

I'm from NJ and we've had a Democrat in office since the mid 90's. That's bad. Corruption is at an all time high. We're $6 billion dollars in debt, the unions are in it for themselves, etc...

Harper called himself a Democrat in his speech.

Not in that way. He also called the Bloc, NDP, and Liberals along with himself as Democrats. However, he didn't mean it as similar to the US Democratic Party, but as parties in a Democracy who believed in Democracy.

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: tec699

Stephen Harper and his Conservative Party won national elections Monday and ended 13 years of Liberal rule, a victory expected to move Canada rightward on social and economic issues and lead to improved ties with the United States.

The takeover of the Republicans of Canada is complete.

RIP Canada

 

[meltdown75]

Today I fear for the sovereignty of our nation.

 

[desy]

He hammered away on the Kyoto accord without putting forward a plan to meet its clean-air targets. He talked about national unity but offered no new ideas for bringing the country together.
He used same-sex marriage and abortion to paint the Tories as rabid right-wingers - while conveniently ignoring the dozens of his own MPs who sided against his policy.

"What are we doing talking about the notwithstanding clause?" he asked rhetorically Monday. "One-third of your caucus voted against same-sex marriage - so get off your high horse."

The Liberals needed to go
If you look at their strength its all in TO, Montreal ,and Vancouver
How is that representative of Canadians? It isn't, its why their support is holed up in large urban centers and their policies reflect that.

 

[meltdown75]

If I could go back, I might actually vote for the one party that had a chance of keeping the Tories out of power.

Oh well. I'm just glad we have the option to bitch and complain, and can go vote without bullets whizzing by and fearing for our lives. :thumbsup:

 

[coomar]

yeah, they will be no cabinet ministers from montreal, toronto or vancouver

but then again, why would we vote conservative, both the NDP and liberals were much more pro-urban centres?

828,431 + 247,303 + 1,108,139 = 2183873 for 46 seats or 15% of total seats for 13% of the total votes, vancouver and montreal had below average voter turnout

 

[coomar]

http://www.elections.ca/enr/help/map_39ge.pdf

the 905 was expected to swing conservative but it stayed a sea of red

the anglophone-dominated areas of montreal stayed liberal as well

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: tec699

Stephen Harper and his Conservative Party won national elections Monday and ended 13 years of Liberal rule, a victory expected to move Canada rightward on social and economic issues and lead to improved ties with the United States.

The takeover of the Republicans of Canada is complete.

RIP Canada

Uh, I think their version is A LOT better than ours.

1) Canada is running a surplus (IIRC), so Harper is proposing tax cuts. That sounds pretty reasonable to me.
2) The Liberals had CLEAR episodes of corruption and Martin is the head of the Liberal party . . . seems fair to toss them out of power.
3) Canada signed Kyoto and embarked upon ambitious targets . . . meeting NONE of them. It sounds like Harper is proposing more moderate targets but still reductions. That sounds pretty reasonable . . . depending on the details.

Harper did lay one turd, though. He talked about rebuilding Canada's military to protect its sovereignty and fulfill its role as an ally. Is Greenland or Iceland planning to invade? Aside from the pollution, I don't see the US on the march any time soon. Further, if he's endorsing Canadian participation in US escapades like Iraq . . . the Conservatives will have a decidedly short stay in power.

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: tec699

Stephen Harper and his Conservative Party won national elections Monday and ended 13 years of Liberal rule, a victory expected to move Canada rightward on social and economic issues and lead to improved ties with the United States.

The takeover of the Republicans of Canada is complete.

Well i don't know about that. They have a VERY tiny minority government, and won't be able to do anything extreme at all.

But they've been given Canada on a silver platter though. We have a surplus, and a strong economy. Lets see what they can do with it.

 

[desy]

He talked about rebuilding Canada's military to protect its sovereignty and fulfill its role as an ally. Is Greenland or Iceland planning to invade? Aside from the pollution, I don't see the US on the march any time soon. Further, if he's endorsing Canadian participation in US escapades like Iraq . . . the Conservatives will have a decidedly short stay in power.

Canada spends a disproportionately low budget on the military compared to almost every other industrialized country. We pride ourselves as peacekeepers and our Prime Mister Lester Pearson was instrumental in setting up the UN because we want to be global citizens.
With Global warming the North Atlantic Route will open up year round and Canada claims that shipping route as ours 'since it does run right through the middle' If we don't have a presence up there our ability to determine what goes on in our own country is diminished.
Our military has never been, never will be setup as a foreign occupier, but without one our international credibility is worthless and unable to respond even in cases of natural disaster. Who helped the Maritimes out after the Hurricanes ,Toronto in the Blackout , Montreal in the Ice storm? It is our only emergency preparedness agency with the ability to go and work where no infastructure exists.
In the Red River floods a decade ago in Manitoba the military ferried about Agriculture Canada employees who had the GIS capability and information to rescue rural residents trapped by floodwater.

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

desy, WTF are you talking about? What North Atlantic Route goes THROUGH Canada? Are you talking about Nunavut and the Northwest Territories? If that's the case then more power to you but I think foreign interlopers are going to be the least of your problems if global climate change has that dramatic of an effect.

As for responding to natural disasters, that makes sense, but that's not what Harper sounded like. Then again maybe it was just campaign bluster.

From a fiscal standpoint, the US spends a disproportionately large amount of money on its military and healthcare. Arguably, other industrialized nations would be foolhardy to emulate the who, what, why, and how much of either one.

 

[desy]

http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/canad...cle.jsp?content=20051003_113126_113126

Canada's fabled Northwest Passage could soon become the reality its early explorers hungered for. Study after study has shown that the polar ice cap is melting, and the Arctic Ocean might be enjoying ice-free summers a few decades down the line. While the Big Thaw is bad news for the environment, a viable alternative to the Panama Canal might just be just the ticket for the international shipping industry. A northern route to link the Atlantic and Pacific oceans -- to give China, for example, better access to European markets -- would cut days off current shipping routes, and mean major savings for companies wanting to move cargo around the world in an age of soaring fuel costs.

Our spending per GDP #77
Pretty low considering we are one of the worlds weathiest countries comparatively. Austrailia and GB both Islands spend more than 2X as much and similar in that we are of the British Commonwealths

 

[Martin]

Originally posted by: BaliBabyDoc
desy, WTF are you talking about? What North Atlantic Route goes THROUGH Canada? Are you talking about Nunavut and the Northwest Territories? If that's the case then more power to you but I think foreign interlopers are going to be the least of your problems if global climate change has that dramatic of an effect.

As for responding to natural disasters, that makes sense, but that's not what Harper sounded like. Then again maybe it was just campaign bluster.

From a fiscal standpoint, the US spends a disproportionately large amount of money on its military and healthcare. Arguably, other industrialized nations would be foolhardy to emulate the who, what, why, and how much of either one.

he's talking about the "North West Passage", not north atlantic route
http://www.spirasolaris.ca/nwp.gif

It does go right through Canada, however some countries seem to think its an international passage and the US regularly sends ships and subs up there to make that point. Saying this as an international passage is about as ridiculous as saying the passage between manhattan and long island is an international route.

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

I thought it was the Northwest Passage, but I didn't want to presume to know more than an actual Canadian.

I think the operative condition is going to be just how much thawing takes place. Are you guys talking about travel just north of Baffin Island? If that's the case, sounds like you guys need a backbone more than you need a Navy. Its obviously NOT an international route. But it seems a little radical to think only the barrel of a gun will keep interlopers out.

And if it its the US Navy, I don't think many Canadians are prepared to pay for THAT many guns.

 

[desy]

The Navy performs Search and Rescue We don't have a coast guard organization such as the US, or even a world class ice breaker. . .

Hey, I fixed it to passage

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

Originally posted by: desy
The Navy performs Search and Rescue We don't have a coast guard organization such as the US, or even a world class ice breaker. . .

Hey, I fixed it to passage

Fair enough but since that water is so damn cold and the wind is so vicious . . . how many morons are out there sailing?

 

[CanOWorms]

Mexico mounted a better humanitarian aid mission to the Indian Ocean tsunami crisis than Canada. Canada needs to upgrade its armed forces instead of pretending that they help a lot.

 

[CanOWorms]

Originally posted by: Martin

he's talking about the "North West Passage", not north atlantic route
http://www.spirasolaris.ca/nwp.gif

It does go right through Canada, however some countries seem to think its an international passage and the US regularly sends ships and subs up there to make that point. Saying this as an international passage is about as ridiculous as saying the passage between manhattan and long island is an international route.

Most countries reject Canada's imperialistic claims of the Northwest passage.

The US and Canada have an agreement that the US can send ships through the passage by just notifying Canada, and Canada cannot refuse permission.

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: Whaspe

Originally posted by: RichardE
"God bless Canada"


Oh boy...Ive seen this one before...

yah it's in the national anthem...

Stop being a negative, do you think we should boo our troops in Afghanistan? Or that alienation of provinces (Quebec, Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia) is an acceptable platform for a national party? I think a lot of positive will result from this campaign. We have a PM commited to creating a more efficient government, which doesn't step on other levels of government's toes.

Alienation of provinces is practiced by all parties. I mean come on, PQ as a federal party is a slap to the face, same with Reform.

I do wish Harper can cut back on all the Quebec favours Liberals bestowed on the belle provance.