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Haight-Strawbury
Supporter
Username: Strawberry
Post Number: 6679
Registered: 10-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 10:21 am: | 
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060124/ap_on_re_ca/canada_election |
themp
Supporter
Username: Themp
Post Number: 2475
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 10:52 am: |
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"Mr. Harper did not emphasize his closeness to the Bush administration during the campaign, and there was no indication that Canadians had suddenly embraced American foreign policy. Mr. Harper pointedly promised not to send Canadian troops to Iraq, and said he would be a tough bargainer in trade talks with the United States.
In domestic affairs, Mr. Harper promised to provide allowances to families with children under age 6 to help with child care, to introduce mandatory prison sentences for serious drug trafficking and gun crimes, to reduce the national sales tax and to provide tax breaks for retirees.
Mr. Martin promised a vast government-financed child care program, tax cuts for the middle class and a ban on handguns, and said he was committed to cleaning up pollution in the Great Lakes. He emphasized the period of prosperity and social peace under the recent Liberal governments."
These "conservatives" make Massachusetts look like Texas.
Does go to show how corruption scandals can bring down a ruling party, though. |
themp
Supporter
Username: Themp
Post Number: 2476
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 10:55 am: |
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"Mr. Martin promised a vast government-financed child care program"
Socialist! Wish we had that - I'm gonna be out $2200 a month for the Y soon. |
Haight-Strawbury
Supporter
Username: Strawberry
Post Number: 6680
Registered: 10-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 11:05 am: |
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"relations with the Bush administration will likely improve under Harper as his ideology runs along the same lines of many U.S. Republicans.
Harper has said he would reconsider a U.S. missile defense scheme rejected by the Liberal government of
Prime Minister Paul Martin. He also said he wanted to move beyond the Kyoto debate by establishing different environmental controls, spend more on the Canadian military, expand its peacekeeping missions and tighten security along the U.S. border to prevent terrorists and guns from crossing." |
Hoops
Citizen
Username: Hoops
Post Number: 758
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 11:14 am: |
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I guess they have lots and lots of American "terrorists" slipping into Canada to get their cheap drugs. |
Thenewguy
Citizen
Username: Thenewguy
Post Number: 96
Registered: 4-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 11:14 am: |
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I think any change will be relatively minor as Harper and the conservatives did not get a majority and will have to form a government with other MPs. I tend to think conservatives in Canada have a slightly different stripe than in the U.S., too. |
themp
Supporter
Username: Themp
Post Number: 2477
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 11:26 am: |
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He is a little to the left of Bill Clinton, sounds like. The DLC at that time would scoff at those ideas. |
llama
Citizen
Username: Llama
Post Number: 722
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 11:39 am: |
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When "the town idiot" uses "hate" in his posts he can only be speaking for himself as he is filled with hate and frustration and sadly this seems to be his only outlet. (I also suspect he sucks his thumb, but I cannot verify that) |
ina
Citizen
Username: Ina
Post Number: 303
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 12:26 pm: |
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Conservatives in just about any country other than, say, Iran or Afghanistan are to the left of the US Republican party since Reagan. |
Scrotis Lo Knows
Citizen
Username: Scrotisloknows
Post Number: 489
Registered: 10-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 12:49 pm: |
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Why is everyone wasting their time talking about Canada? |
notehead
Supporter
Username: Notehead
Post Number: 2994
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 1:48 pm: |
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Bad news for Straw/Canada hates him.
I'm pretty sure that's about as accurate as the title of this thread. |
Eats Shoots & Leaves
Citizen
Username: Mfpark
Post Number: 2929
Registered: 9-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 2:13 pm: |
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I'm confused--how can Canada hate the US--isn't it the 51st state?
(And before I get tarred with maple syrup and feathered with Loonies, I am just kidding.)
(Bonus question for Straw, the expert on all things Canadian--what is a Loonie? A Goonie? And who is the current leader of the PQ?) |
Stuart0628
Citizen
Username: Stuart0628
Post Number: 203
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 2:17 pm: |
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The election was more a referendum on the incumbents' scandals than about ideology. |
Innisowen
Citizen
Username: Innisowen
Post Number: 1410
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 4:44 pm: |
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The town clown posting about what another country does!
That's rich!
He doesn't even have the facts about what's going on in his backyard (doesn't do his homework). On the other hand, Canada's election issues are well expressed in Stuart0628's posting above.
As one of our major trading partners, they have an impact on our economy too. That's why we should care.
Strawberry should find a way to stuff a sock in his brain. It might prevent the conclusions he always jumps to. He seems to be winning the gold medals in that event. But that's all. |
Nohero
Supporter
Username: Nohero
Post Number: 4984
Registered: 10-1999
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 5:16 pm: |
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From the article cited above -
Quote:Final results for the 308-seat House showed Conservatives with 124 seats; Liberals with 103; the Bloc Quebecois with 51, New Democratic Party with 29; and one seat to an Independent.
The Conservative "margin of victory" makes "Bush 2000" look like a landslide.  |
Southerner
Citizen
Username: Southerner
Post Number: 570
Registered: 2-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 6:20 pm: |
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Landslide or SC appointment. The results are the same!
Did anyone see the SNL skit with Gore/Kerry. Quite comical. |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 12045
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 25, 2006 - 12:15 am: |
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A loonie is a one dawler coin.
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Edisk
Citizen
Username: Edisk
Post Number: 18
Registered: 11-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 25, 2006 - 6:55 pm: |
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As someone who currently is living in Canada and who follows its politics, I would like to make a few notes regarding this election. This was a very complicated election, and not exactly a huge victory for the Conservatives.
Firstly, I'd like to note that the Conservative Party of Canada currently has a minority government. All that means is that they have a plurality of seats. Obviously, they can't get a bill passed with only 34 percent of the vote.
Let me throw some numbers at you:
There are 308 seats in the House of Commons.
* 124 are held by the rightist Conservatives;
* 108 are held by the center-left Liberal party (the "Grits");
* 51 are held by the Bloc Québécois, which is very liberal but favors separation of the province of Québec from Confederation and, unsurprisingly, the devolution of federal powers to the provinces;
* 29 are held by the New Democratic Party, a leftist party that favors social programs and decreased corporate power; and
* 1 is held by an independent member of Parliament (MP), a radio talk show host from the city of Québec.
Most votes in Canada, except 'free votes', proceed directly among party lines. That means that to win the required 155 votes to pass a law, the Conservatives must build a coalition by courting other parties - they need either the Liberals or the Bloc on board if they are to get anything done, and both are on the left of the political spectrum. So it's not as if Canada is going to be ending socialized healthcare anytime soon, so to speak.
Another thing to note is that the other parties can hold a vote of no confidence at any time, bringing down the government and sending Canadians into another election season. In fact, if any single law put forward by the governing minority party is voted down, this is considered a 'loss of supply' - equivalent to a vote of no confidence! Expect the liberals to lay low until they figure out who their next leader will be, but after they do so, the Conservatives will have to walk on eggshells to keep the government afloat - just as the Liberals have had to do during this past one.
As for the comment that Stephen Harper isn't terribly conservative: That's not true, and he'd fit right into the Republican party. The difference is that right now, his minority position has put him into a political straitjacket and exposing his true colors would make him completely unelectable in the liberal and cosmopolitan urban society that Canada is. But he's a social conservative up with the best of them: anti-gay marriage, anti-abortion, et cetera. He has said he wants to put "firewalls" around his home province of Alberta to protect its oil wealth (and one grievance Quebecers have against the federal government is that the eastward oil pipeline stops somewhere in Ontario). And yes, Harper supported the war in Iraq, and has said that he would have sent troops. Harper's election will inevitably lead to some rapprochement with the American government and the Bush administration.
It's hard to deny that this election was overshadowed by the Sponsorship Scandal, which is chronicled in the Gomery Report that was released a few months ago. But all of these scandals pass (did you take Watergate into account while voting for or against Bush?), and I doubt we'll see a Conservative majority in Canada anytime soon. |
Dave
Supporter
Username: Dave
Post Number: 8475
Registered: 4-1997
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 25, 2006 - 7:12 pm: |
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Thanks for the details, eh. |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 12072
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 25, 2006 - 7:42 pm: |
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That's funny that the Quebecois are for devolution of the federal government but they're also pissed off that the oil pipeline doesn't reach them. Is that as two faced as it sounds?
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Southerner
Citizen
Username: Southerner
Post Number: 587
Registered: 2-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 25, 2006 - 10:22 pm: |
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Edisk,
Numbers don't matter on this board. Just ask the liberals. Republicans hold the White House and Congress, yet somehow their views are always called the minority view. Besides, when you throw out numbers it means you're keeping score and that is not allowed either. This isn't a game!! It's serious, hand wringing business! |
Edisk
Citizen
Username: Edisk
Post Number: 19
Registered: 11-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, January 26, 2006 - 1:26 am: |
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Tom: Interesting point; I hadn't thought of it. I guess it's important to make the distinction between "Quebecer" and "Quebec separatist." A good portion of Quebec speaks English and has pro-Federalist sentiments; also, the business class tends to understand that Quebec is economically much better off under Canadian government than it would otherwise be. Rich, francophone ridings in Montreal and Quebec religiously vote Liberal (despite the party's ambivalence regarding corporate power); separation would mean not only the flight of whatever corporations haven't already moved to Toronto, but also the end of Quebec's millions of dollars of incoming transfer payments from Ontario and Alberta! I guess the mindset among sovereigntists in general tends to be, "Well, we want out, but as long as we're here...."
Southerner: I have no idea what your reply even means. |
Southerner
Citizen
Username: Southerner
Post Number: 593
Registered: 2-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, January 26, 2006 - 7:40 pm: |
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Stick around long enough and it will make perfect sense. |
Nohero
Supporter
Username: Nohero
Post Number: 4994
Registered: 10-1999
| | Posted on Thursday, January 26, 2006 - 9:54 pm: |
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Bad news, "cons" - Canada may not be so crazy about you, either -
Quote:OTTAWA (Reuters) - Prime Minister-designate Stephen Harper, who campaigned on the need to improve relations with Washington, rebuked the U.S. ambassador on Thursday for rejecting Canada's claims to the Arctic.
Harper, whose Conservatives won a fragile mandate in Monday's election, said during the campaign that Prime Minister Paul Martin had needlessly exacerbated ties with the United States.
But Harper showed little hesitation in slapping down U.S. envoy David Wilkins for making critical remarks about Conservative plans to boost Canada's presence in the far north.
"The United States defends its sovereignty, the Canadian government will defend our sovereignty," Harper told reporters during his first news conference since the election.
"It is the Canadian people we get our mandate from, not the ambassador of the United States."
Harper, vowing to boost defenses in the Arctic to stop incursions by foreign vessels, plans to buy three new large icebreakers and build a deep sea docking facility in the Arctic for a total cost of C$2 billion over 10 years.
The United States has long challenged Canada's claims to sovereignty over Arctic waterways -- fabled as the Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific -- saying it considers much of the region to be international waters.
This could have serious implications if ice in the Northwest Passage starts to melt due to global warming and shipping companies decide to send vessels through the area to save time and fuel.
Source - http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2006 -01-26T202336Z_01_N26175095_RTRIDST_0_CANADA-POLITICS-C-COL.XML
So, now we can't even get along with a conservative government?
What's next? Will we now be off to "liberate" the Arctic? |
anon
Supporter
Username: Anon
Post Number: 2538
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, January 26, 2006 - 10:12 pm: |
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Why would anyone care if Canada hates them?
Who cares about Canada? |
Nohero
Supporter
Username: Nohero
Post Number: 4995
Registered: 10-1999
| | Posted on Thursday, January 26, 2006 - 10:17 pm: |
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Of course, we care.
 |
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