[YatesOfYore]

Most of the forum quietly asks themselves, what? The Canadians are having an election too? Pffft, copycats!

Anyhow, I know there are a few of you out there, and if you're interested... let's discuss! I'm hopefully going to have the internet back in a few days so I can actually HAVE a discussion. Hopefully.

But onto business. I haven't decided whether I'm voting NDP or Green Party yet. Normally I just go with the NDP, but I'm wavering a little this year. Mostly just cause I don't really care for Layton all that much. The Liberals and the Conservatives just aren't options for me. (Although I WAS very impressed by Harper immediately banning any bottle with BPA in it before there was an official Health Canada ruling, which generally takes months if not years to do. It's ALWAYS better safe than sorry, especially with infants.) The Liberals never actually DO anything and, as far as I'm concerned, they just stole the Green Party's platform this year. Meh!

Also! Did you know that the parties actually get $1.75 for each vote received now? It doesn't sound like much, but it REALLY adds up when you think about it. I think it's an excellent way for voters to feel like their votes really do count and to encourage people to vote for the smaller parties, if that's indeed where their sympathies lie, and not vote for the bigger ones so that "their vote isn't wasted".

Source: CBC.ca (you have to scroll down to almost the bottom to see the relevant entry.

Anyhow... any other thoughts?
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[devilman2045]

Yeah,... could you tell me a bit about the candidates that are running in Canada? And what's the NDR?

[Tinalles]

I'll second that request for more info.

I'm vaguely familiar with the parties involved -- you've got:

• the Bloc Québécois party, who are basically separatist about Quebec
  
• the Conservative party, who are roughly similar to Republicans
  
• the Liberal Party, which is more or less mainstream
  
• the New Democratic Party, which is further to the left
  
• and the Green Party, which is about as far left as you can go in Canada without wandering off into the Pacific Ocean
  

That's about all I know, though, and I'm none too sure it's accurate. And i have no idea who's running against whom on what issues.
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[devilman2045]

It's hard to make an informed decision without information.

[Violabelle]

My boy says he's going to vote for the Tories, which I think are the conservatives. He actually says the conservatives in Canada are more like the Democrats here, and everything else is more progressively to the left. Also you guys apparently vote for a party, not a leader, which seems a little strange after all of our personal attacks. ^^
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[JackAce]

As so often Wikipedia is your friend.

What Canadians will be voting for this year are the members of their House of Commons (eqivalent to the House of Representatives in the US). The HoC wil then proceed to elect a new Prime Minister (a position that doesn't exist in the US, or rather the job of Prime Minister is absorbed into the position of the President).

Technically, the people are electing individuals, rather than parties. But these individuals are different in each constituency, so there's no national campaigning for any single candidate throughout the entire country.

And the final decision who will become the new Prime Minister depends on the new distribution of seats among the political parties. That is why many voters will think in terms of voting for a party, rather than a candidate.

Presidential elections like those in the US never happen in Canada, because the formal Head of State is the Monarch, and thus is not elected.
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[PurpleCactusPlant]

Stephen Harper needs to be kicked out in my opinion. Sure, it looks like Canada flourished under his leadership - and for a couple years, I was quite impressed with Canada under a Conservative leadership. It DID seem to work well, and a lot got done. But we had a minority government in place, which prevented Harper from doing a lot of the things which would have put us in Bush's back pocket. My dad works for the government and has done a few international conferences over the years, and he says that Canada's reputation abroad has taken a hit. In respect to the environment, it appears to the rest of the world that we don't care. We dropped out of Kyoto, and have attempted to block several motions at reducing pollutions at different summits. This included CHOGM in Uganda - where Stephen Harper chose to instead stay in Kenya each night and fly into Kampala. This was a waste of taxpayer money, and an insult not only to the Canadians (friends of mine) who were involved in the event planning, but to Kampala itself, which was basically rebuilt so that the politicians could have appropriate quarters to stay.
His new platform in regards to tougher sentences on youths made me scratch my head. I feel that he is creating fear among people about crime, and if there's one thing I don't think belongs in politics, it's fishing for votes by eliciting knee-jerk, emotional reactions from the public. I've heard conservatives use sentences like "the elderly should not have to worry about being beaten by youths". What I'd really like to know are the statistics. I live in BC, and I hear that youth violence is more of a problem on the prairies, so it could be that I don't care for this issue because it just isn't an issue where I live. But even then, I fail to see how increasing sentences is supposed to deter crime. If Harper was really interested in stopping crime he'd address the factors causing it.


Jack Layton - the man who turned me off the NDP. I had high hopes for the party when he was elected leader. I really, really liked him at first. But after 3 years of Layton in parliament whining and pointing of fingers, I find him to be ineffective. I think he'd rather blame everyone than come up with solutions. He does not strike me as being very intelligent. I do like a lot of ideas in the the NDP platform, but Layton would not be a good leader in my opinion.

Stephane Dion - I was turned off the liberals when Paul Martin was leader, and was prepared to dismiss Stephane Dion. And then he came and spoke at my school, and he seems like an incredibly well-spoken, logical politician (yes, I just used those three words in one sentence, I'm stunned too). He's lifted his platform from the Green Party, and he's pushed environment to the forefront, but he's looking at environment in relation to health care and the economy, which often, surprisingly, seems to get ignored when people talk about going green.

Green Party - My safest bet when I want my vote to do the least harm. I actually think that in this case, a liberal-green alliance would be awesome for Canada.

Ultimately, I would like to see Dion as PM. However, I have to vote for a local representative instead, which means I have to figure out which is more important - voting for a party at the national level, or voting at the local level. I think Green will end up getting my vote. I'm not up to date on our local MPs, but the NDPs already have the vote in the bag for our area anyways. As the Lady said, parties are getting $1.75 per vote, so I think I'll vote Green. I think it's a fantastic idea - instead of having my vote wasted because I did not vote with the majority of people in my riding, I get to support a fledgling party!
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[YatesOfYore]

I have to admit that I don't vote locally at all - I couldn't care less who the actual person is that's running in my riding. MP's just never seems to make much a of difference locally, so I vote with the party instead. I'm sure there are instances where this isn't the case, but generally... I think it's so.

I'd be more inclined to care about who my MPP is individually than the MP (Member of Provincial Parliment and just plain ol' Parliment [federal], for all you non-canucks).

I agree with PCP, that the only reason that Harper has come out looking good at all is because of the minority government. It forced him to comprimise and choose his battles. Personally, I'd be delighted to see yet another minority government - they seem to represent the true idea of democracy to me. Having one party have all the power to do whatever they want? What's so hot about that?
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PS: Don't panic! I changed my username - I'm not an impostor!

[daydreamer_girl]

I would have went with NDP...but there is a new Party that has really caught my eye this year, the First Peoples National Party (FPNP). I really believe this is a big step for the native community because their voice is getting more and more heard. I don't think my vote will count anywhere else anyway.

Agh, too much to say why, because it's more than just what I wrote there...
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[devilman2045]

You know, I kind of feel bad for Lady. I think she started this post, trying to somewhat be supportive of my post. I feel bad though because hers didn't take off quite the way mine did (and I was hoping it would).

[YatesOfYore]

Gosh, no. I wasn't expecting it to be participated in by anyone other than the few Canadians that are on here. No else pays attention to our politics, and I don't really expect them too.

Mind you they're better than YOURS, but that never seems to matter to all you southerners.
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Keeper of Nanashi's Vambraces and the Amethyst Trees.

PS: Don't panic! I changed my username - I'm not an impostor!

[devilman2045]

[Tenshi]

@Lady: I find Canadian politics interesting, I just don't know what to say. Not only am I woefully under informed as to party politics, I don't even know the system of election very well in Canada. Not to mention, well, I'm not Canadian. ^^;

@Devil: Well, I don't think your thread was a "fiasco". I thought it was a well-structured discussion about politics, and went for several pages before going off topic. Considering we normally go off topic within five posts, that's pretty impressive. And considering this is the internet, and nobody got all fired up and angry, it's doubly impressive.
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Keeper of the Siderean Swords

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[Tyris]

[Maeniel]

Ditto; I'm really interested and am keeping tabs, but I have no input because I really don't know anything about them.
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