September 07, 2008

The writ has been dropped. Canada's election is on.
posted by Capt. Renault 16 years ago
  • The third in four years, I believe? You must be getting a trifle tired of voting.
  • Canada has erections?
  • "We must live on this planet as if we plan to stay," That is poetry.
  • you guys were just jealous that we were having an election!
  • You must be getting a trifle tired of voting. Personally, I've rather enjoyed this series of minority governments. It's been a refreshing change from the usual vote-in-your-own-dictator. Complusory cooperation on all sides, to some extent.
  • I've enjoyed watching that wax-haired, glassy-eyed, Bush-hugging zombie saying what a good father he is. Go be one full time, pliz!
  • Well it looks like I'm registered to vote still, but I'm going to have to wait a couple of weeks before I can apply for my absentee ballot. This time 'round I'm in the awkward situation of being rather luke warm on the only MP I can realistically consider voting for.
  • The view from the south. Jeez, ya'd think were a banana republic or somethin'. I agree with you, Cappy. Minority governments tend to keep the honest ones honest while reining in the worst of the misguided crusaders. As much as I think that yet another election will be a waste of taxpayer money, avoiding a Harper majority would be the best possible outcome. Hi path! Glad to see you up and around!
  • Yes, we've given your lot a shining example of what happens when partisan politics erode checks and balances.
  • Personally, I don't understand the rise in support for the Conservatives at all. Over the past couple of years, there have been hints at the old Reform/Alliance craziness, and that former Tories don't have much of the old red Tories left. It wasn't all that long ago that the Reformers were seen to be a bunch of nuts, and we couldn't wait to throw the Conservatives out on their ass, either federally or in Ontario. Yes, yes, the Liberals grew fat with power, as they always did after a while. In 2006, they were thrown out for the Sponsorship Scandal, which was only fitting, but perhaps they've had their time in the penalty box, and do we really want to stretch that sitting-out for six years and have these right-wingers in power for four years? Who would we be punishing then? Us or them? Again, perfectly fine with another minority. But Dion has to be willing to stand up once in a while.
  • Plus, I don't want to have to look at Harper's beady little eyes and storebought haircut for another four years.
  • Personally, I don't understand the rise in support for the Conservatives at all I'll tell you exactly why it's happening. The Liberals chose a pasty, spineless, gutless, weasely, pantywaist Casper-milquetoast so-called leader who struggles with the English language. Stephane Dion is the only guy in the Canada who can make Stephen Harper look strong, decisive, and trustworthy in comparison. Back when the Libs selected that waste of a suit, I knew immediately that the Tories would be in power for as long as it would take Dion to shrivel up and blow away. As a matter of fact, I think I'll officially join the Liberal Party just so I can help make that happen.
  • ...who struggles with the English language. I've never understood this criticism, either. Sure, his English is accented, and he sometimes puts the stress on the wrong syllable, but it's not that he can't make himself understood. Certainly, he's better than Chretien, and why one should be seen as folksy because of his poor pronunciation, and the other torn apart for it, I've no idea. Putting aside the fact that people are free to listen to him in French, too. The man is making an accommodation for you*, and here you are kvetching about the quality of it? Certainly, Harper's French ain't hot shit, either. Entirely robotic. Which shouldn't be a surprise. But why he's not held to that same standard as Dion is for his English, I've no idea. Plenty of people in this country have accents, or work in English as a second language, and it doesn't mean they can't perform to the same ability as someone else. (Sorry. Longstanding burr up my butt.) *Not you specifically.
  • This Stephane Dion, he is related to Celine Dion, yes? I need to beginning figure out this Canada politics thing. I don't like the singer, I not voting for him.
  • I can understand him just fine. It's entirely an electability issue. Leading a party in a one-person-one-vote democracy means not just being the candidate with the best ideas (which Dion isn't either). It means getting as many Canadians as possible to vote for you. You can write off everyone west of Ottawa as bigoted rednecks but they all get a vote, and they're tired of an endless stream of Liberal leaders from Quebec. I guarantee that if Gerard Kennedy or Michael Ignatieff were the Liberal leader this election would be a horserace.
  • Sorry rocket -- I have to disagree. No matter who would be heading the Grits, no-one would be changing the party’s fortunes west of Ontario. I said during the leadership convention that the party’s problems were in Quebec, and that it would take a Quebecker to fix them. Nothing was going to improve the Liberals’ performance in Quebec (and by extension, nationally) until those problems were addressed. Dion was the one guy who could do that. He may not be well-liked in Quebec, but he certainly is respected – he was the point man for Federalism for Chretien and Martin, his credentials were peerless, and he could not be written off as a tool of some other agent, by simple reason of his being one of their own and simultaneously on the Federalist side so forcefully for so long – and without any attachment to the Scandal itself. Ignatieff was, for all intents and purposes, an American who supported the war, and Kennedy an obscure politician with only provincial experience. Dion needed time to rebuild, and those two-and-a-half years haven’t been enough. Separation is on the wane (and will surely wax again), and the Bloquistes are suffering. That Quebec should turn to the Conservatives for a new Beau Risque shouldn’t be surprising, since Conservatives were so good to Quebec during the Mulroney years (before that all collapsed under its own weight, anyway). I’d say that the Liberals would be this weak no matter who was at the helm. It’s going to take time, and not enough time has passed yet. Conservative fortunes in Quebec have little to do with the platform they offer, nor is it in the slightest way anything but ephemeral. As for voters west of Ontario, the Conservatives have been very good to them, and there's no reason for them to change. I can't see a Liberal switch no matter who would be the leader. And, in the meantime, Dion is the only one who can fix the party where it needs to be fixed. All of which is respectfully submitted, IMHO, IANAD, YMMV, etc., etc.
  • Well, the West is a write-off for now, but I think it's in Ontario where you will see the biggest shift from Liberal to Conservative, and where ultimately the Tories might earn their majority. The Carbon Tax is an incredibly tough sell here, and Dion is less than useless as a salesman. I'm kind of surprised by what you say about the conservative shift in Quebec (not by your assessment itself, which is probably 100% correct; but by the implications, if true). Are Quebec voters that dense that they don't see the enormous difference between Mulroney's Progressives and Harper's Reformers? Also, if Dion was selected to rebuild the party within Quebec, the cost has been (and will be) the party outside of Quebec. By the looks of things he hasn't made a difference in Quebec either, so failure all-round. You can tell I'm not a fan of the guy, so my ideal outcome of this election is another Tory minority, with fewer liberal seats and more NDP or even Green wins to make up the difference. All culminating in a resignation from M Dion, and a new leadership change, hopefully with McKenna or Tobin stepping up this time.
  • Green Party shut out of leaders' debates. Conservatives, NDP, and Bloc Quebecois all say they won't participate if Green Party leader Elizabeth May is invited. Only the Liberal Party is open to her participation.
  • Long story short, it's their ball, and they can take it and go home. Even if the legal challenge succeeds (which I doubt), the other leaders can still choose not to participate, or do like the States, and form their own private corporation for debates owned by the parties they want in, which absolutely leaves no avenue open for challenge. (Frankly, I'm surprised that hasn't been done already.) In the meantime, however, it's great publicity for May and the Greens, and will get them a fair bit of support.
  • Heh...they said "poop"
  • They also had 'dumping' in the lede. Heh.
  • Traffic on that 'notaleader' site must be going crazy. All there is is 'percent loaded' thingy and a message saying "Do you think it's easy to load websites?" Yes. And if it isn't, it should be. Overall, it's shades of Campbell's question 'is this the face of a leader?' Definite gaffe.
  • Can I call "Ontatio Tories," "Ontariories?" Or simply "Ontorios?"
  • The Guardian on the Candian Election: scary prospect of Cons(REFORM)ervative party majority
  • I'm convinced that Harper's saying that the election will likely produce another minority is just to quiet fears of a Conservative majority -- to say "don't worry about voting for us, nothing's going to change, you are getting very sleepy..."
  • I don't think the current Tories have all that much in common with the old Reform Party. I think when the reformers merged with the Progressive Conservatives there was an ensuing chaos which the NeoCons used as an opportunity to take over both parties. For all their faults, the Reformers were a grass-roots, open government party. The current group under Harper's leadership are tightly controlled from the top, with minimal media access and almost no power in local riding associations. Karl Rove would be proud of them.
  • True. They are, in many ways, scarier than the pre-rebranding REFORM!! party. However, I feel that it is necesary to stress that they are not the Progressive Conservatives. That party is dead.
  • Those campaign posters aren't going to stay up on the wall for very long...