Congrats' to Harper!

[Matt Kidd]

As sick as everyone probably is of hearing about Proportional Representation you have to suspect that it would get more people out to the voting booth. Everyone seemed surprised at the 6% for the Greens when polling put them as high as 14%, but many fewer are inclined to vote when no seat is forthcoming.

 

The Cap and Trade is about setting strict limits on pollution and I would bet my last dollar you won't see anything like that out of Mr. Harper.

 

The whole Green Shift phenomenon was a disappointment to me. Clearly showed that you don't have to argue against the facts, just aim to muddy the waters. If Dion was as strong in English I think that this might have played out differently.

 

I'm expecting that the Conservatives will treat these results like they got a strong mandate to govern. It will be interesting to see what is tabled (probably crime legislation). It will also be interesting to see how the Liberals choose to behave. Clearly they can't bring the house quickly, but they did get punished for failing to bring any real opposition to Parliament.

[Skeezix]

Fairweather needs to get it out of his system now, because in three weeks he's going to find out that he's been on the losing side all along, and his predictions of McCain by a landslide are going to blow up in his face.

Easy there, Skeezix. It aint over yet and McCain said he's got Obama just where he wants him.

Oops... Almost forgot the Lesson of Bush: Never underestimate the capacity of the American electorate to put an idiot in the White House.

[hafilax]

The front page article on cbc.ca today is basically calling for Dion to step down. I'd have to agree.

[tvashtarkatena]

Everything would be all better down here if we just got rid of our defunct 2 party system and went to a three party system. It's the solution to everything.

[tomtom]

congratulations to canadians, who have a campaign lasting 45 days!

This *is* something to admire. The US campaign has been going on for 20 months already, and I swear both candidates were starting their campaigns for re-election with their "It's going to take more than four years ... " statements.

 

what canada has is a solid economy, budget surplus and plenty of Celion Dion CDs to last for a few decades.

 

That pretty much balances out, though.

[prole]

Canadians are getting smarter..despite the impression left by the few hosers who post here.

 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canadavotes/story/2008/10/14/elxn-main.html

 

A right wing party in Canada is still pretty left by US standards.

 

That's true, but the direction is encouraging.

 

Keep 'em coming buddy! Hilarious.

 

Will Canada's Government Fall?

Stephen Harper tried to play politics with his country's economy. Now he may become a victim of the financial crisis.

 

The trouble began two weeks ago, when Harper belatedly unveiled his government's plan to tackle the current economic crisis. The proposal included a proposal to eliminate much of subsidies political parties currently receive, a decision that many deemed to be ideologically driven, given that it would be far more likely to harm the financially ailing Liberals than Harper's own party, who gain a greater share of contributions from individual donors. The economic plan focused almost entirely on cuts to sectors considered unfavourable to the Conservatives, and no fiscal stimulus plan was revealed, leading to outcry by all major opposition parties, who claim Harper is not doing enough to tackle the economic crisis.

 

As the Liberal, New Democrat and Bloc Quebecois political parties combined have a larger number of Parliamentary votes than Harper's Conservatives, the parties intend to force a vote of no-confidence against the prime minister on Monday, after which the governor-general is likely to ask the opposition to form a new government.--from Guardian 12/3/08

 

The Canadian government won a reprieve today when the governor general agreed to suspend parliament until late January, putting off a no-confidence vote that the prime minister was expected to lose.

 

In a controversial decision, Michaëlle Jean agreed to the suspension request from the prime minister, Stephen Harper, who is trying to cling to power less than two months after winning re-election.--from Guardian 12/4/08