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Canadian Federal Election


Oerwinde

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I know there are quite a few Canadians on the boards and I would just like to know your thoughts on the campaigns and who you're voting for and such. Personally I'm planning on voting NDP. The liberals are too corrupt, though they do have the most sound financial plan for the country, and the Conservatives... well they are pretty much the ideological opposite of everything I stand for.

The area between the balls and the butt is a hotbed of terrorist activity.

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I want to vote NDP. They have a good platform and good ideas, and I think Layton is doing a great job of pushing the party. They might actually be able to make a comeback. However. I loathe Stephen Harper and the Conservatives with a passion; I hate them more than I like the NDP, which leads me towards the inclination to vote Liberal, if only to keep the Conservatives out. It's not so much voting for, as voting against this time.

But then, I wonder that if I vote Liberal, and they lose to the Conservatives anyway, it's a wasted vote that would have been much better served going to the NDP and helping to give them a bit more leverage.

So I'm torn, really. I don't like the Liberals very much; they are corrupt, but the Conservatives are wallowing in a hidden agenda much larger than their election platform, and the dread shadow of Brian Mulroney looms over them like some hideous demon. Paul Martin is a terrible politician, and he is not doing wonders for the party, but I think he'd be ok as PM. He hasn't really had much of a chance to do anything yet, being plagued by the sponsorship scandal for the majority of his run so far. I kind of think he's giving a good show of faith by calling the election when he did; it's rather honest of him to not linger unelected in office for a long time. He's in a bad spot, and all he's been doing is dealing with fallout from the Chretien years, and thats a lot of fallout.

I'd like to give Martin a chance. But whether I'm simply trying to justify voting Liberal, or whether I really feel that way, I'm not sure.

The only thing I'm certain of is that if the Conservatives win, the country is going into the crapper (unless you're right wing and rich, in which case it'll be paradise).

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WHAT?! DO I SMELL AMERICANS PLANNING TO DOMINATE THE WORLD IN THIS THREAD?

 

Hrmm, I don't seen any. I must have been mistaken. *moving along*

Swedes, go to: Spel2, for the latest game reviews in swedish!

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New Democratic Party...

 

they fit our definition of liberal from what i was reading. green, social programs, high taxes, etc. maybe not far left, but certainly left. chretien is probably as far left as you can get in NA w/out moving to a socialist economy...

 

taks

comrade taks... just because.

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Don't forget to vote for Dave Hendee, he's running for Minister of the MTEWP. I think he deserves your vote after a fantastic run as undersecretary.

 

Oh wait... I made that whole thing up.

 

BTW, anybody from Vancouver?

I'm moving to Vancouver next month.

 

And joke's on you! Ministers are appointed!

 

And yeah, the NDP seem great, they're more green than the greens, more liberal than the liberals, and hate the conservatives. Sounds good to me.

The area between the balls and the butt is a hotbed of terrorist activity.

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BTW, anybody from Vancouver?

I'm moving to Vancouver next month.

 

And joke's on you! Ministers are appointed!

Appointed... and to think I donated to his campaign fund.

 

Vancouver is a great town. It's probably the safest, cleanest city I've ever been to. The "bad" parts of town make some of the cities around here look like some kind of post-apocalyptic nightmare.

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Although I'm a wee bit too young to vote, I probably would vote NDP, and I have quite a bit of sway with my family regarding politics (Everyone has an opinion, and we listen to each other). There are three voters in my house, one of whom will probably vote NDP, one Liberal (Maybe), and I have no idea about the other. It almost seems pointless to vote at all since the votes will just be cancelling each other out. <_<

 

I really, REALLY dislike the Conservatives, since (as the first poster also said) they are basically against all my most fundemental beliefs (Which I won't name because of the CoC :( )

 

The Liberals... I could see voting for. I didn't like Paul Martin's general manner during either of the debates (Both French and English. Biligualism rulez!). He does have the fact that he made three consecutive balanced budgets in his favor though. All governments have scandals, and while the sponsorship scandal was particularly nasty, I think that I can reasonably expect fiscal sanity from the Liberal party (It's more the Conservatives I worry about...).

 

The NDP share most of my ideals, but they haven't ruled for a long time (And almost certainly won't after this election) and I wonder how good they'd be at it. I like their platform; from what I gather, they basically stand for paying whatever is necessary for MediCare and other programs, and just taxing the bejeesus out of all of us to pay for it. I like that.

 

P.S. I'm from Beautiful British Columbia (Surrey).

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New Democratic Party...

 

they fit our definition of liberal from what i was reading. green, social programs, high taxes, etc. maybe not far left, but certainly left. chretien is probably as far left as you can get in NA w/out moving to a socialist economy...

 

taks

The NDP are not about high taxes, their tax strategy is to more evenly distribute the tax burden, so the high income earners pay more than the low income earners. A graded tax scale, basically, and I think it's a good idea.

They are the most environmentally-conscious party (moreso than the Green Party, even), and definately support social programs. They're the working-class party, unlike the Liberals or Conservatives who cater to the upper classes.

As far as taxation for health care goes, we in Ontario are about to be paying extra for it anyways, and more unfairly than the NDP would allow for. The NDP of course are not going to win (we'll never have an NDP PM), but they might gain ground this election. Or be utterly destroyed. One or the other.

 

Chretien was not far left, he was just eccentric and didn't bow to American pressure. Chretien is the man behind the current sponsorship debacle that's been hounding Paul Martin since he took office.

 

As far as the Conservative platform being "centrist" in the USA, I'm not sure. The Conservatives would limit or remove gay rights and abortion, would hinder arts funding and artistic freedoms and boost military spending, bring in for-profit health care (essentially decimating the health care system for the average or low-income Canadian), give tax cuts to the wealthy, and hinder environmental protections (they say they support agriculture, but they don't; as evidenced by their desire to remove the Kyoto protocols, amongst other things), and bow to US pressures.

Stephen Harper has been "mentored" by Brian Mulroney in this campaign, and Mulroney is probably the most hated PM in recent Canadian history.

The Conservatives present a nicely-dressed platform, but they really demand a good between-the-lines reading, and when that's done, they're pretty scary. There are often Conservative MPs whom require damage control from Harper, as they say something they really shouldn't (like homosexuality should be outlawed, and that bilingualism will not be supported under a Conservative government), and Harper has to say that's not party policy. But it is policy, just not the policy they're running for election on. Harper says anyone who doesn't tow party line will be removed, yet the people responsible for the example comments still have their jobs.

The only thing I agree on with the Conservative platform is military spending. While I'm not a supporter of war, the Canadian military is a joke, and if we want to be taken seriously, and have a role in global peacekeeping, we need a better military.

 

Looking at the PM contenders, I think Martin has the greatest capacity to run the country. He's a lousy politician, and really needs better speech writers or handlers. He strikes me as a person who knows what needs to be done but isn't very good at communicating it to the people, and he's a lousy debater.

He seems popular with the leaders of other countries, too. He was well-recieved at the G8 summit, so I think he's capable of doing well for Canada on the world stage.

I think that if Kerry wins in the US, we'd have a new, positive time of Canada-US relations, with Kerry and Martin as leaders.

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...I's prolly gonna waste me vote (again) an' vote NDP, e'en though methinks Jack Layton be a complete maroon...I wouldna trust Martin as far as I could toss the corrupt S.O.B. an' Harper reminds me too much o' Brian Mulroney ta trust him e'en that much...funny thing be that me mother an' our local Conservative MP (an' one-time leader o' the Progressive Conservative Party) Peter MacKay be friends an' he's a fine lad; I jus' couldna bring meself ta vote fer them wit' Harper as theys leader...MacKay was a putz not runnin' fer the leadership, IMO... :angry:

 

 

...WHO LUVS YA, BABY!!...

A long, long time ago, but I can still remember,
How the Trolling used to make me smile.
And I knew if I had my chance, I could egg on a few Trolls to "dance",
And maybe we'd be happy for a while.
But then Krackhead left and so did Klown;
Volo and Turnip were banned, Mystake got run out o' town.
Bad news on the Front Page,
BIOweenia said goodbye in a heated rage.
I can't remember if I cried
When I heard that TORN was recently fried,
But sadness touched me deep inside,
The day...Black Isle died.


For tarna, Visc, an' the rest o' the ol' Islanders that fell along the way

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McKay also sold the party (the Progressive Conservatives) out to the Alliance (for those not familiar with Canadian politics, the Conservative Party is a new party, formed from the merger of the Canadian Alliance (formerly the Reform Party) and the PC's). He promised Orchard that he wouldn't in exchange for Orchard pulling out of the leadership race and supporting McKay.

Fine lad or not, he strikes me as an utterly dishonest backstabber and made a public display of how untrustworthy he is. And I think it's indicative of the Conservative party's general (lack of) honesty.

 

Edit: I didn't know you were Canadian, Sarg. Learn something new every day I suppose.

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...e'er hear o' Peter's father, the "Honourable" Elmer MacKay???...Peter's a saint compared to him...'course, Elmer was a good MP fer 'round these parts, in most aspects, anyways...Peter's jus' carryin' on a long line o' dishonesty fer personal profit... :p

 

 

...WHO LUVS YA, BABY!!...

A long, long time ago, but I can still remember,
How the Trolling used to make me smile.
And I knew if I had my chance, I could egg on a few Trolls to "dance",
And maybe we'd be happy for a while.
But then Krackhead left and so did Klown;
Volo and Turnip were banned, Mystake got run out o' town.
Bad news on the Front Page,
BIOweenia said goodbye in a heated rage.
I can't remember if I cried
When I heard that TORN was recently fried,
But sadness touched me deep inside,
The day...Black Isle died.


For tarna, Visc, an' the rest o' the ol' Islanders that fell along the way

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Well, I'll be on Vacation on election day so I went to the advanced polls and voted NDP. I think it would be really funny if the NDP surprised everyone and got a majority government. Personally I'm hoping for a Liberal/NDP coalition government.

The area between the balls and the butt is a hotbed of terrorist activity.

Devastatorsig.jpg

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Once again, this election comes down to a choice between evils for me, not actually voting someone in so much as I'm voting to keep someone out. Or get someone out.

 

Martin and the Liberals are corrupt, wasteful, etc etc, although I do think that Martin himself has gotten a bad rap from all this. Chretien dumped a whole truckload of crap on him. He might actually be sincere when he says he wants to clean up his party after the corruption and patronage of the Chretien decade. Who better than him to set things right?

 

To me, Harper is like a little George Dubya, only without the same degree of religious zealotry (at least, not that I can see at the moment). Tax cuts, vast increases to military spending (I know we need to boost spending to the military in Canada -- Martin's promising the same, only not as much -- but I just can't see Harper's number adding up), same sex marriage issue, Supreme Court judges appointed on the basis of their agreement to defer to the government (a rather important issue, since the next PM is going to have to appoint 2 of them... I can easily see our Supreme Court becoming almost as partisan as the one in the States if Harper starts appointing judges on that basis)... nope. There's a lot that I don't like about Harper's platform... at least when he bothers to say anything specific about it at all, that is. When he hasn't been smearing everyone and everything in his way, he's been pretty vague on quite a few things.

 

Gilles Duceppe... I don't live in Quebec. :unsure:

 

Layton... Maybe I just missed it, but I don't recall him actually saying much about his party's platform. With all of the talk about the child porn issue and Harper's tactless comments about that, it's entirely possbile that I just missed it. Regardless, I don't know enough about what he or the current incarnation of his party are really about to give them a vote. In general, though, the NDP are a bit too far to the left for me. Too much social spending, too many taxes, etc etc.

 

The Christian Heritage Party... the Green party... Libertarians... the Communist Party of Canada... oh hell, maybe I'll just vote for the Marijuana Party and be done with it.

 

Right now, though, it's looking like a Liberal vote for me. I guess. It's hard to tell when that last provincial election with Dalton McGuinty has completely shattered what little trust I had left in the promises of politicians.

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Once again, this election comes down to a choice between evils for me, not actually voting someone in so much as I'm voting to keep someone out. Or get someone out.

 

Martin and the Liberals are corrupt, wasteful, etc etc, although I do think that Martin himself has gotten a bad rap from all this. Chretien dumped a whole truckload of crap on him. He might actually be sincere when he says he wants to clean up his party after the corruption and patronage of the Chretien decade. Who better than him to set things right?

 

To me, Harper is like a little George Dubya, only without the same degree of religious zealotry (at least, not that I can see at the moment). Tax cuts, vast increases to military spending (I know we need to boost spending to the military in Canada -- Martin's promising the same, only not as much -- but I just can't see Harper's number adding up), same sex marriage issue, Supreme Court judges appointed on the basis of their agreement to defer to the government (a rather important issue, since the next PM is going to have to appoint 2 of them... I can easily see our Supreme Court becoming almost as partisan as the one in the States if Harper starts appointing judges on that basis)... nope. There's a lot that I don't like about Harper's platform... at least when he bothers to say anything specific about it at all, that is. When he hasn't been smearing everyone and everything in his way, he's been pretty vague on quite a few things.

 

Gilles Duceppe... I don't live in Quebec. :p

 

Layton... Maybe I just missed it, but I don't recall him actually saying much about his party's platform. With all of the talk about the child porn issue and Harper's tactless comments about that, it's entirely possbile that I just missed it. Regardless, I don't know enough about what he or the current incarnation of his party are really about to give them a vote. In general, though, the NDP are a bit too far to the left for me. Too much social spending, too many taxes, etc etc.

 

The Christian Heritage Party... the Green party... Libertarians... the Communist Party of Canada... oh hell, maybe I'll just vote for the Marijuana Party and be done with it.

 

Right now, though, it's looking like a Liberal vote for me. I guess. It's hard to tell when that last provincial election with Dalton McGuinty has completely shattered what little trust I had left in the promises of politicians.

Yep, this election is a vote against situation, not a vote for. It's a continuing trend as well which is inevitably going to lead us into a US style two-party system, since it probably won't be too long before the NDP merge with the Liberals.

Martin has got a bad rap from the Chretien years, but he's not exactly blameless (don't forget Canada Steamship Lines, his multi-million dollar shipping business that is registered off-shore and so exempt from Canadian taxes). I do think he is sincere about wanting to clean up after Chretien, though. He clearly did not like Chretien, and I think it's clear now why. So far, Martin hasn't had much of a chance to do anything, he's been on the defensive since day one.

What baffles and angers me is that people cannot seem to see through Harper; his entire campaign has been to smear Martin and keep people angry. When you step back and really look at Harper and the Conservatives, there's nothing but shallow, right-wing mandates there. They're counting heavily on two things to win this election; that people will be mad at the Liberals over the sponsorship scandal, and that Ontarians will be angry at the Liberal provincial budget. The budget should be a non-issue. If the Conservatives win, the budget isn't going to vanish, rather things will be worse for Ontario in the realm of health care. We'll be double-hit with the budget premiums and with the Conservative's for-profit health system. So those who wish to use provincially-funded medical services will be paying for low-grade care (since all the good doctors will go into the for-profit sector), or get hit with premiums plus the payments for private care.

 

At any rate, I want Martin to have a fair chance at getting things cleaned up, and I want Harper to lose. So I'm voting Liberal. Again.

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Canada sux0rs!!! America r0x0rs!!! America pwnz0rs Canada!!!

 

 

 

Stupid white boy runs like hell again

...remember this in 5 years when ya wants clean water...or timber...or real beer... <_<

 

 

...WHO LUVS YA, BABY!!...

A long, long time ago, but I can still remember,
How the Trolling used to make me smile.
And I knew if I had my chance, I could egg on a few Trolls to "dance",
And maybe we'd be happy for a while.
But then Krackhead left and so did Klown;
Volo and Turnip were banned, Mystake got run out o' town.
Bad news on the Front Page,
BIOweenia said goodbye in a heated rage.
I can't remember if I cried
When I heard that TORN was recently fried,
But sadness touched me deep inside,
The day...Black Isle died.


For tarna, Visc, an' the rest o' the ol' Islanders that fell along the way

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Five years? Heck, if the Conservatives win they'll be selling off water and timber to the US in less time than that, and at bargain prices. Oh, and Americans need not worry about any language barriers with French Canada when taking their water, as bilingualism will no longer be officially supported by government. They'll be required to deal with you in good ol' Americanized English.

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...ya think the Liberals'll do it any different??...hell, Chretien didna 'ave a great relationship wit' ol' Howdy Doody Bush, but he still kept the production line goin' that Mulroney started...one o' Martin's first plays as PM was ta try an' jump the Liberals back inta the sack wit' the US right away...either way the vote goes, we're screwed, lad; plain an' simple... :angry:

 

 

...WHO LUVS YA, BABY!!...

A long, long time ago, but I can still remember,
How the Trolling used to make me smile.
And I knew if I had my chance, I could egg on a few Trolls to "dance",
And maybe we'd be happy for a while.
But then Krackhead left and so did Klown;
Volo and Turnip were banned, Mystake got run out o' town.
Bad news on the Front Page,
BIOweenia said goodbye in a heated rage.
I can't remember if I cried
When I heard that TORN was recently fried,
But sadness touched me deep inside,
The day...Black Isle died.


For tarna, Visc, an' the rest o' the ol' Islanders that fell along the way

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