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Canada's having a federal election.

I am Canadian. I was once active in politics here. But I can't say I care about this election. There is very little difference between the parties. I see very little reason to vote. I can accept any of the parties running as government except Berniers new party but he won't win.
 
Actually, this election is going to be a hard-fought tie, what the Brits call a hung Parliament and what we call a Minority Government.
It will be a Liberal coalition with the NDP and the Greens supporting them. We'll actually be tending more left and progressive than with just the Liberal Party because left to themselves, they are nothing more than Conservative Lite.

Arguably, Canada's greatest Parliament (s) were Lester Pearson's two back-to-back minority governments supported by Tommy Douglas' NDP and which gave us modern Canada. It gave us a new flag (well, OK, NBD), free and universal and free medicare (!!), kept us out of the Vietnam War, student loans (a radical idea at the time), and the Canada Pension Plan (over and above Old Age Pension). It de facto abolished capital punishment by restricting its use to a very few offenses for which it was never used prior to being abolished altogether.

Alas, Justin Trudeau is no Lester Pearson, but we'll see what we can do with the material at hand.
 
I wonder if Trump will win Canada's electoral votes in 2020. How many electoral votes does it get anyway.




* I am playing. I know Canada is it's own country and better off for it too.
 
It's hard to see that this particular election is going to change very much, but I am watching to find out. Trudeau came into office on such a wave of high hopes, even internationally. But as with Obama, I always (correctly) supposed that the reality was going to be a bit more disappointing than the hype. There was also talk at that time of radically restructuring the electoral system as I recall. This idea appears to have vanished like dust upon the wind.
 
Politesse said:
It's hard to see that this particular election is going to change very much, but I am watching to find out. Trudeau came into office on such a wave of high hopes, even internationally. But as with Obama, I always (correctly) supposed that the reality was going to be a bit more disappointing than the hype. There was also talk at that time of radically restructuring the electoral system as I recall. This idea appears to have vanished like dust upon the wind.
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Trudeau's win was nowhere close in terms of hopes as Obama's was. Trudeau was the legacy kid (putting him more similar to Bush Jr) and the driving force in that election was people being tired of Harper (who had simply been there too long). It didn't matter much to people who replaced him. There was very very little dream of hope and change etc like there was for Obama. Trudeau is nowhere near the orator Obama is either.

Trudeau was seen and remains today seen by many Canadians as a himbo. A good looking but dumb guy filling an empty suit, who happens to be leader of the liberal party that many prefer over the conservative party.
 
At the end of the day the election means little. Whoever wins won't change all that much. Canadians won't notice much if any change in their day to day lives regardless of who wins. Its a stark contrast to US politics where everything is so dramatically polarized.
 
I heard on the radio today that Trudeau is almost obligated to quit as PM if he can't form a majority gov't, due to something he said at the last election.

From what you say that wouldn't be such a worry.

Is there anyone in the line of succession in his party who might be a more dynamic leader?
 
spikepipsqueak said:
I heard on the radio today that Trudeau is almost obligated to quit as PM if he can't form a majority gov't, due to something he said at the last election.

From what you say that wouldn't be such a worry.

Is there anyone in the line of succession in his party who might be a more dynamic leader?
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Not really. Canadian politics are boring and so are Canadian politicians. Trudeau is probably the most interesting personality we have had in federal politics for a long time. Provincially Ontario has Doug Ford, who is definitely a character. He's Rob Ford's (the deceased crackhead mayor of Toronto's) brother.
 
Canadians have to live vicariously through Americans and other nation's politics to get our political drama. At home things are pretty good so nobody really cares. We do have people talk about abortion etc but it's more conspiracy theories that the consevative party wants to ban it even though they have repeatedly said it's settled law and have been in power at times and made no hint towards it. Same with gay rights, immigration and other potential hot button issues.
 
Well, the election is over and it turned out pretty much exactly the way that everyone expected it to. The Liberals are back in charge, only with a minority government this time instead of a majority.

That shouldn't be an issue for them, since there are a couple of other parties which get them to a majority that have absolutely no interest in collapsing the government and couldn't really improve on their situations in a new election, so it should be a fairly stable government that's exactly like the last one.
 
Tom Sawyer said:
Well, the election is over and it turned out pretty much exactly the way that everyone expected it to. The Liberals are back in charge, only with a minority government this time instead of a majority.

That shouldn't be an issue for them, since there are a couple of other parties which get them to a majority that have absolutely no interest in collapsing the government and couldn't really improve on their situations in a new election, so it should be a fairly stable government that's exactly like the last one.
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Yup. Nothing changes. I actually prefer minority governments, because it means should the Liberals do something crazy, there are enough votes in the other parties to stop them if they all join together against the Liberals. Something that will pretty much never happen unless the Liberals truly try something crazy, but its a safeguard nonetheless.
 
Trudeau has to represent the minority now, but fortunately for him, he's got just the outfit!
 
Tom Sawyer said:
Well, the election is over and it turned out pretty much exactly the way that everyone expected it to. The Liberals are back in charge, only with a minority government this time instead of a majority.
Click to expand...
Conservatives had more votes (6.2 vs. 5.9 million) and yet ended up with fewer seats. I guess liberals think gerrymandering is no big deal as long as it supports their side.
Also, are the only solutions a single party winning a majority outright or a minority government the only options? Are coalition governments (where say NDP would get a few minister posts) unheard of in Canada?

That shouldn't be an issue for them, since there are a couple of other parties which get them to a majority that have absolutely no interest in collapsing the government and couldn't really improve on their situations in a new election, so it should be a fairly stable government that's exactly like the last one.
Click to expand...
It looks like NDP (the one with the guy in turban) would be enough to comfortably support Trudeau.
 
Derec said:
Tom Sawyer said:
Well, the election is over and it turned out pretty much exactly the way that everyone expected it to. The Liberals are back in charge, only with a minority government this time instead of a majority.
Click to expand...
Conservatives had more votes (6.2 vs. 5.9 million) and yet ended up with fewer seats. I guess liberals think gerrymandering is no big deal as long as it supports their side.
Also, are the only solutions a single party winning a majority outright or a minority government the only options? Are coalition governments (where say NDP would get a few minister posts) unheard of in Canada?

That shouldn't be an issue for them, since there are a couple of other parties which get them to a majority that have absolutely no interest in collapsing the government and couldn't really improve on their situations in a new election, so it should be a fairly stable government that's exactly like the last one.
Click to expand...
It looks like NDP (the one with the guy in turban) would be enough to comfortably support Trudeau.
Click to expand...

I don't think you know what gerrymandering is. Hint - it's not this.
 
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