Canadian Federal Election 2015

[Oerwinde]

So there was a UK and US one, with everything starting to ramp up for the election here, figured it might be time to add this one to the mix.

 

So far the major developments seem to be the Conservatives rejecting doing televised debates on the major networks, and the NDP taking first place in opinion polls for the first time pretty much ever (although with margin of error its a statistical tie)

 

I think a lot of the NDP support comes from them pushing the national child-care program, which can be up to 1/3rd of a family's income (we pay $900/month for part time care 3 days a week and thats a deal). Also, Trudeau's support for c-51 likely sunk his support amongst actual liberals, because no one in their right mind supports a law that allows imprisonment for people who speak out against the government.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Who opposes the TPP?

[Meshugger]

Who opposes the TPP?

 

Those that will not win. There of course those who claim that they oppose it, but will eventually cave in when entering office. Boy, do i hope that i am wrong about this.

 

Oerwinde: cliff notes about the major parties and what they wish to accomplish?

[Walsingham]

How big a deal is immigration in Canada?  I only ask because in the last couple of years we've seen several stories implying issues with recent ballooning second gen immigrants. Similar stories to what you're seeing across the border in Minneapolis and Chicago.

[Oerwinde]

 

Who opposes the TPP?

 

Those that will not win. There of course those who claim that they oppose it, but will eventually cave in when entering office. Boy, do i hope that i am wrong about this.

 

Oerwinde: cliff notes about the major parties and what they wish to accomplish?

 

 

Full disclosure, I'm a left leaning centrist, that tends to vote Liberal or NDP, depending on the platform of the parties, and how capable the leaders seem. This may paint my portrayal of the parties.

 

Conservative Party: Current government. Anti-science, authoritarian, pro-corporate. During their years in power they have reduced corporate taxes to the lowest in the western world, pulled out of any international climate agreements, spent more on advertising than any other government in the history of canada, tabled omnibus bills of up to 800 pages then limited debate on them in order to force them through, was found in contempt of parliament when they wouldn't release spending data to the commons, the first government to ever be found so. Was connected to widespread electoral fraud in the last election. I would need to find a supporter to actually name anything good they have done. Basically they want to lower taxes and sign on to any and all free trade agreements they can, no matter the consequences. Supports TPP. Lead by Stephen Harper.

http://www.conservative.ca/

 

Liberal Party: The party that governed canada for pretty much the century previous to the Conservatives taking power. Was understandibly corrupt due to the sense that they were the natural rulers of Canada. Despite the corruption they actually did a pretty damned good job of running the country, losing power with a balanced budget, 13 billion dollar surplus, and a ton of accomplishments pretty much a hair away from implementation when their minority government was taken down in a no confidence vote. Were reduced to the lowest seat count in their history in the last election. They are in reality a centrist party despite the name. They support legalization of marijuana, free trade, etc. A mix of left and right policies. Have taken a blow to their support after coming out in support of C-51, a Conservative bill that increases the spying powers of government agencies, and allows for "preventative detention" and the arrest of people speaking out against the sitting government. Lead by Justin Trudeau, son of the late Pierre Trudeau, who was named in pretty much every poll ever done as the best Prime Minister in Canadian history. Supports TPP

https://www.liberal.ca/

 

NDP(New Democratic Party): Social Democratic party, though have moved slightly away from the far left since Mulcair took power after the death of previous leader Jack Layton. In the last election following the leadership debate Michael Ignatieff of the Liberals basically collapsed, while Jack Layton kicked all sorts of arse giving the NDP a huge boost. Quebec voters abandoned the Quebec nationalist party the Bloc Quebecois in favor of the NDP, which gave them the biggest seat total they had ever had, becoming the official opposition. They support a federal minimum wage of $15, a national childcare program, increased taxes on the wealthy, and measures to increase refining and manufacturing in canada rather than exporting all our natural resources. Lead by Thomas Mulcair. Have not come out in support or opposition to TPP, but supports more transparency in negotiations and opposes Investor/State Dispute Resolution clauses that allows corporations to sue the governments of signatories if the state's laws hurt the corporations profits. These clauses are in every Conservative free trade agreement, and has caused Canada hundreds of millions in damages.

http://www.ndp.ca/

 

Green: Currently only 2 seats in the commons, 1 of which was a defection. Lead by Elizabeth May, pretty much the hardest working parliamentarian, if a little bit whacko. The greens got their first seat in the last election by only running one candidate, May herself, in the one riding in Canada considered to be the easiest for her to win, and devoting all of the party resources to getting her elected. It worked, and got the greens a lot more exposure, and until recently, May had shown herself to be an extremely capable MP who works her arse off for her party and her constituents. Lately she's had to make a lot of apologies for going off the rails on twitter, interviews, or speeches. Greens are pretty standard pro-environment party, but other than supporting heavy environmental restrictions and subsidies of green industry, are pretty centrist in their policies. Opposes TPP.

http://www.greenparty.ca/en

 

Bloc Quebecois: Quebec nationalist party. During years of separatist support they are the nationalist party, during years without separatist support they are the Quebec First party. In their policies they are essentially the NDP, except Quebec only and with the eventual goal of Quebec sovereignty. Were annihilated inthe last election with the mass migration to the NDP, and are currently the 4th place party in Quebec according to recent polls.

http://www.blocquebecois.org/ (in french)

 

Thats my biased primer. If there are any Conservative supporters on the board they might be able to give a better view of what the Conservatives have actually accomplished, but there have been a lot of articles in news lately that talk about how Stephen Harper may go down as the worst Prime Minister in Canadian history due to his lousy economic record, disdain for science and evidence based policy, his anti-democratic methods, and authoritarianism.

 

edit: added official party websites

Edited May 23, 2015 by Oerwinde

[Oerwinde]

How big a deal is immigration in Canada?  I only ask because in the last couple of years we've seen several stories implying issues with recent ballooning second gen immigrants. Similar stories to what you're seeing across the border in Minneapolis and Chicago.

 

Immigration is our largest source of population growth. I believe last year we had something like 300,000 new immigrants or some such. There has been a pretty big scandal recently due to the Temporary Foreign Worker program, which was designed so that companies, if there was a lack of labour in an area, could import workers until there were enough Canadian workers. It was also a foot in the door for some of the temporary workers as well. Problem was the biggest users of the program were fast food restaurants. And major corporations were laying off their entire Canadian staff and bringing in temporary foreign workers who did the job for half the price.

[BruceVC]

So there was a UK and US one, with everything starting to ramp up for the election here, figured it might be time to add this one to the mix.

 

So far the major developments seem to be the Conservatives rejecting doing televised debates on the major networks, and the NDP taking first place in opinion polls for the first time pretty much ever (although with margin of error its a statistical tie)

 

I think a lot of the NDP support comes from them pushing the national child-care program, which can be up to 1/3rd of a family's income (we pay $900/month for part time care 3 days a week and thats a deal). Also, Trudeau's support for c-51 likely sunk his support amongst actual liberals, because no one in their right mind supports a law that allows imprisonment for people who speak out against the government.

 

I'm going to be honest but there has been very little coverage about this on the international news channels I watch...so I see this election as a non-event in the global stage 

 

It will only be interesting for those that care about the Canadian elections ...and that will be very few people. I imagine the South African election is similar ?

[Oerwinde]

 

So there was a UK and US one, with everything starting to ramp up for the election here, figured it might be time to add this one to the mix.

 

So far the major developments seem to be the Conservatives rejecting doing televised debates on the major networks, and the NDP taking first place in opinion polls for the first time pretty much ever (although with margin of error its a statistical tie)

 

I think a lot of the NDP support comes from them pushing the national child-care program, which can be up to 1/3rd of a family's income (we pay $900/month for part time care 3 days a week and thats a deal). Also, Trudeau's support for c-51 likely sunk his support amongst actual liberals, because no one in their right mind supports a law that allows imprisonment for people who speak out against the government.

 

I'm going to be honest but there has been very little coverage about this on the international news channels I watch...so I see this election as a non-event in the global stage 

 

It will only be interesting for those that care about the Canadian elections ...and that will be very few people. I imagine the South African election is similar ?

 

 

Well, there really isn't a lot of coverage until the election is actually called and parliament is dissolved. The fixed election date is October and the campaign usually runs like 2 1/2 months, so there won't be a ton of news till July, but there has been more movement than usual before an election. The conservatives are using a ton of federal funds to run ad campaigns to try to make themselves look good as the sitting government. The NDP has been releasing policy info early to get people used to the idea that they actually have policy ideas, since they have never formed government. The Cons have also been running negative attack ads against Trudeau for like 2 years, which he's mostly ignored, a tactic that has mostly worked since his approval has gone up every time the Cons run ads, but either way the Liberals are starting to make their policies public now as well, since part of the attack ads have been about how he has no ideas.

 

You are probably right about it not being big internationally though. I just saw the other threads and a lot of local news coverage and figured I'd get a head start.

 

I think elections are interesting. If you wanted to do a thread and keep people updated when the SA elections happened, I would definitely check it out.

[BruceVC]

 

 

So there was a UK and US one, with everything starting to ramp up for the election here, figured it might be time to add this one to the mix.

 

So far the major developments seem to be the Conservatives rejecting doing televised debates on the major networks, and the NDP taking first place in opinion polls for the first time pretty much ever (although with margin of error its a statistical tie)

 

I think a lot of the NDP support comes from them pushing the national child-care program, which can be up to 1/3rd of a family's income (we pay $900/month for part time care 3 days a week and thats a deal). Also, Trudeau's support for c-51 likely sunk his support amongst actual liberals, because no one in their right mind supports a law that allows imprisonment for people who speak out against the government.

 

I'm going to be honest but there has been very little coverage about this on the international news channels I watch...so I see this election as a non-event in the global stage 

 

It will only be interesting for those that care about the Canadian elections ...and that will be very few people. I imagine the South African election is similar ?

 

 

Well, there really isn't a lot of coverage until the election is actually called and parliament is dissolved. The fixed election date is October and the campaign usually runs like 2 1/2 months, so there won't be a ton of news till July, but there has been more movement than usual before an election. The conservatives are using a ton of federal funds to run ad campaigns to try to make themselves look good as the sitting government. The NDP has been releasing policy info early to get people used to the idea that they actually have policy ideas, since they have never formed government. The Cons have also been running negative attack ads against Trudeau for like 2 years, which he's mostly ignored, a tactic that has mostly worked since his approval has gone up every time the Cons run ads, but either way the Liberals are starting to make their policies public now as well, since part of the attack ads have been about how he has no ideas.

 

You are probably right about it not being big internationally though. I just saw the other threads and a lot of local news coverage and figured I'd get a head start.

 

I think elections are interesting. If you wanted to do a thread and keep people updated when the SA elections happened, I would definitely check it out.

 

What I also meant to add is this topic is interesting to me but don't get disheartened if there is a lack of general interest in this thread. Its not the topic but rather what I think people on this forum find interesting 

[Malcador]

I kind of want to see how the NDP would do, but with a minority government (best kind in our system)

[Oerwinde]

I would like an NDP lead coalition with the Liberals. NDP ideals held in check by Liberal financial stewardship.

[ShadySands]

My support goes to the party that's tough on maple syrup 

 

Actually, I'm totally confused on how things work upstairs in Canadia. Do they vote for people or parties?

[Oerwinde]

My support goes to the party that's tough on maple syrup

 

Actually, I'm totally confused on how things work upstairs in Canadia. Do they vote for people or parties?

Technically we vote for people. Westminster system. We vote for MPs, the party with the most mps forms government, and the leader of that party becomes Prime Minister.

[ShadySands]

Thanks for that

[Oerwinde]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/fixed-election-date-eroding-campaign-rules-ex-elections-chief-says-1.3084146

 

Basically, the fixed election dates are making campaign spending limits pointless. The way it worked before, the government called elections and the campaign lasted 32 days from the date the Governor General dissolves parliament. So an election could be held pretty much any time. With fixed election dates the election date is known far ahead of time, so the rich parties can spend whatever they want until the 32 days prior to the election.

[Oerwinde]

 

 

 

First round of ads from the Conservatives and Liberals.

[BruceVC]

I 

 

First round of ads from the Conservatives and Liberals.

 

I have to say the ads seem much less vitriolic and personal than the USA ones during elections. I really like both of them but I prefer the Liberal one  because it seems really sincere 

 

Or does this change and get more malicious the closer to the election?

[Oerwinde]

The Liberals really try to stay civil until the last minute, focusing on policy and such, then they pull out the attack ads because they work. The Conservatives don't really have a positive record to build on or appealing policies so they usually just go with attack ads from the start. Usually using out of context quotes or outright lies to try to get people to fear voting for their opponents.

 

The NDP usually use humour while focusing on policy, but they haven't released one yet.

[Guard Dog]

 

 

Who opposes the TPP?

 

Those that will not win. There of course those who claim that they oppose it, but will eventually cave in when entering office. Boy, do i hope that i am wrong about this.

 

Oerwinde: cliff notes about the major parties and what they wish to accomplish?

 

 

Full disclosure, I'm a left leaning centrist, that tends to vote Liberal or NDP, depending on the platform of the parties, and how capable the leaders seem. This may paint my portrayal of the parties.

 

Conservative Party: Current government. Anti-science, authoritarian, pro-corporate. During their years in power they have reduced corporate taxes to the lowest in the western world, pulled out of any international climate agreements, spent more on advertising than any other government in the history of canada, tabled omnibus bills of up to 800 pages then limited debate on them in order to force them through, was found in contempt of parliament when they wouldn't release spending data to the commons, the first government to ever be found so. Was connected to widespread electoral fraud in the last election. I would need to find a supporter to actually name anything good they have done. Basically they want to lower taxes and sign on to any and all free trade agreements they can, no matter the consequences. Supports TPP. Lead by Stephen Harper.

http://www.conservative.ca/

 

Liberal Party: The party that governed canada for pretty much the century previous to the Conservatives taking power. Was understandibly corrupt due to the sense that they were the natural rulers of Canada. Despite the corruption they actually did a pretty damned good job of running the country, losing power with a balanced budget, 13 billion dollar surplus, and a ton of accomplishments pretty much a hair away from implementation when their minority government was taken down in a no confidence vote. Were reduced to the lowest seat count in their history in the last election. They are in reality a centrist party despite the name. They support legalization of marijuana, free trade, etc. A mix of left and right policies. Have taken a blow to their support after coming out in support of C-51, a Conservative bill that increases the spying powers of government agencies, and allows for "preventative detention" and the arrest of people speaking out against the sitting government. Lead by Justin Trudeau, son of the late Pierre Trudeau, who was named in pretty much every poll ever done as the best Prime Minister in Canadian history. Supports TPP

https://www.liberal.ca/

 

NDP(New Democratic Party): Social Democratic party, though have moved slightly away from the far left since Mulcair took power after the death of previous leader Jack Layton. In the last election following the leadership debate Michael Ignatieff of the Liberals basically collapsed, while Jack Layton kicked all sorts of arse giving the NDP a huge boost. Quebec voters abandoned the Quebec nationalist party the Bloc Quebecois in favor of the NDP, which gave them the biggest seat total they had ever had, becoming the official opposition. They support a federal minimum wage of $15, a national childcare program, increased taxes on the wealthy, and measures to increase refining and manufacturing in canada rather than exporting all our natural resources. Lead by Thomas Mulcair. Have not come out in support or opposition to TPP, but supports more transparency in negotiations and opposes Investor/State Dispute Resolution clauses that allows corporations to sue the governments of signatories if the state's laws hurt the corporations profits. These clauses are in every Conservative free trade agreement, and has caused Canada hundreds of millions in damages.

http://www.ndp.ca/

 

Green: Currently only 2 seats in the commons, 1 of which was a defection. Lead by Elizabeth May, pretty much the hardest working parliamentarian, if a little bit whacko. The greens got their first seat in the last election by only running one candidate, May herself, in the one riding in Canada considered to be the easiest for her to win, and devoting all of the party resources to getting her elected. It worked, and got the greens a lot more exposure, and until recently, May had shown herself to be an extremely capable MP who works her arse off for her party and her constituents. Lately she's had to make a lot of apologies for going off the rails on twitter, interviews, or speeches. Greens are pretty standard pro-environment party, but other than supporting heavy environmental restrictions and subsidies of green industry, are pretty centrist in their policies. Opposes TPP.

http://www.greenparty.ca/en

 

Bloc Quebecois: Quebec nationalist party. During years of separatist support they are the nationalist party, during years without separatist support they are the Quebec First party. In their policies they are essentially the NDP, except Quebec only and with the eventual goal of Quebec sovereignty. Were annihilated inthe last election with the mass migration to the NDP, and are currently the 4th place party in Quebec according to recent polls.

http://www.blocquebecois.org/ (in french)

 

Thats my biased primer. If there are any Conservative supporters on the board they might be able to give a better view of what the Conservatives have actually accomplished, but there have been a lot of articles in news lately that talk about how Stephen Harper may go down as the worst Prime Minister in Canadian history due to his lousy economic record, disdain for science and evidence based policy, his anti-democratic methods, and authoritarianism.

 

edit: added official party websites

 

Ok this was very informative. But it wasn't funny. When Wals did the UK version of this post it was both informative AND funny. So, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you for a re-write.

[Oerwinde]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who opposes the TPP?

Those that will not win. There of course those who claim that they oppose it, but will eventually cave in when entering office. Boy, do i hope that i am wrong about this.

 

Oerwinde: cliff notes about the major parties and what they wish to accomplish?

Full disclosure, I'm a left leaning centrist, that tends to vote Liberal or NDP, depending on the platform of the parties, and how capable the leaders seem. This may paint my portrayal of the parties.

 

Conservative Party: Current government. Anti-science, authoritarian, pro-corporate. During their years in power they have reduced corporate taxes to the lowest in the western world, pulled out of any international climate agreements, spent more on advertising than any other government in the history of canada, tabled omnibus bills of up to 800 pages then limited debate on them in order to force them through, was found in contempt of parliament when they wouldn't release spending data to the commons, the first government to ever be found so. Was connected to widespread electoral fraud in the last election. I would need to find a supporter to actually name anything good they have done. Basically they want to lower taxes and sign on to any and all free trade agreements they can, no matter the consequences. Supports TPP. Lead by Stephen Harper.

http://www.conservative.ca/

 

Liberal Party: The party that governed canada for pretty much the century previous to the Conservatives taking power. Was understandibly corrupt due to the sense that they were the natural rulers of Canada. Despite the corruption they actually did a pretty damned good job of running the country, losing power with a balanced budget, 13 billion dollar surplus, and a ton of accomplishments pretty much a hair away from implementation when their minority government was taken down in a no confidence vote. Were reduced to the lowest seat count in their history in the last election. They are in reality a centrist party despite the name. They support legalization of marijuana, free trade, etc. A mix of left and right policies. Have taken a blow to their support after coming out in support of C-51, a Conservative bill that increases the spying powers of government agencies, and allows for "preventative detention" and the arrest of people speaking out against the sitting government. Lead by Justin Trudeau, son of the late Pierre Trudeau, who was named in pretty much every poll ever done as the best Prime Minister in Canadian history. Supports TPP

https://www.liberal.ca/

 

NDP(New Democratic Party): Social Democratic party, though have moved slightly away from the far left since Mulcair took power after the death of previous leader Jack Layton. In the last election following the leadership debate Michael Ignatieff of the Liberals basically collapsed, while Jack Layton kicked all sorts of arse giving the NDP a huge boost. Quebec voters abandoned the Quebec nationalist party the Bloc Quebecois in favor of the NDP, which gave them the biggest seat total they had ever had, becoming the official opposition. They support a federal minimum wage of $15, a national childcare program, increased taxes on the wealthy, and measures to increase refining and manufacturing in canada rather than exporting all our natural resources. Lead by Thomas Mulcair. Have not come out in support or opposition to TPP, but supports more transparency in negotiations and opposes Investor/State Dispute Resolution clauses that allows corporations to sue the governments of signatories if the state's laws hurt the corporations profits. These clauses are in every Conservative free trade agreement, and has caused Canada hundreds of millions in damages.

http://www.ndp.ca/

 

Green: Currently only 2 seats in the commons, 1 of which was a defection. Lead by Elizabeth May, pretty much the hardest working parliamentarian, if a little bit whacko. The greens got their first seat in the last election by only running one candidate, May herself, in the one riding in Canada considered to be the easiest for her to win, and devoting all of the party resources to getting her elected. It worked, and got the greens a lot more exposure, and until recently, May had shown herself to be an extremely capable MP who works her arse off for her party and her constituents. Lately she's had to make a lot of apologies for going off the rails on twitter, interviews, or speeches. Greens are pretty standard pro-environment party, but other than supporting heavy environmental restrictions and subsidies of green industry, are pretty centrist in their policies. Opposes TPP.

http://www.greenparty.ca/en

 

Bloc Quebecois: Quebec nationalist party. During years of separatist support they are the nationalist party, during years without separatist support they are the Quebec First party. In their policies they are essentially the NDP, except Quebec only and with the eventual goal of Quebec sovereignty. Were annihilated inthe last election with the mass migration to the NDP, and are currently the 4th place party in Quebec according to recent polls.

http://www.blocquebecois.org/ (in french)

 

Thats my biased primer. If there are any Conservative supporters on the board they might be able to give a better view of what the Conservatives have actually accomplished, but there have been a lot of articles in news lately that talk about how Stephen Harper may go down as the worst Prime Minister in Canadian history due to his lousy economic record, disdain for science and evidence based policy, his anti-democratic methods, and authoritarianism.

 

edit: added official party websites

Ok this was very informative. But it wasn't funny. When Wals did the UK version of this post it was both informative AND funny. So, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you for a re-write.

[Oerwinde]

So with the fixed election dates, we now have US style PACs starting up ad campaigns before the election starts in order to bypass election spending restrictions.

 

 

Also, the NDP, Liberals, and Greens have all made electoral reform part of official party policy, with the NDP and Greens supporting proportional representation, and the Liberals supporting preferential voting. Either way, if either method is passed, its not likely we would ever see another Conservative government, as they have pretty much never had more than 34% support during an election, and outside Alberta and maybe Saskatchewan I don't believe they've ever won a seat with over 50% of the vote. Proportional representation would likely result in a long line of NDP/Liberal or NDP/Green/Bloc coalition governments, and preferential ballots would likely see a back and forth between Liberal and NDP governments.

 

Also, a prominent former Conservative MP was sentenced to a month in jail for electoral fraud

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/06/25/sentencing-today-for-disg_n_7660148.html?ir=Canada+Politics

Edited June 25, 2015 by Oerwinde

[Gromnir]

you guys have elections?  we always kinda figured that once a year y'all agreed to go to the same bar after a leaf's game to kinda decide stuff.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Malcador]

we always kinda figured that once a year y'all agreed to go to the same bar after a leaf's game to kinda decide stuff.

 

HA! Good Fun!

That is an election.

[BruceVC]

you guys have elections?  we always kinda figured that once a year y'all agreed to go to the same bar after a leaf's game to kinda decide stuff.

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

 

I am of the opinion that Canada should just become part of the great and noble USA ....you guys do share a border and you are very influenced by the USA so what have you got to lose...think of the superior military you will gain ?  

[Gromnir]

 

we always kinda figured that once a year y'all agreed to go to the same bar after a leaf's game to kinda decide stuff.

 

HA! Good Fun!

That is an election.

 

not necessarily.  formal, organized and vote is typical inherent qualities o' an election... 'least 'ccording to basic dictionary definitions. 

 

HA! Good Fun!