So, is anyone here following Canadian politics? Canada is having a federal election at the end of June. What kind of government do you think Canada SHOULD have? Answer that in the poll. Use your posts, not the poll, to predict what you think WILL happen after election day.

Since Tigersong has recently become a card-carrying member of a political party (although they promised to send him a card and haven't yet-- damn political promises) I thought I should put aside my pessimism and learn about politics!

So, let's see what you, the MATAZONE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY, would like to see happen in Canadian politics.

Gosh durn it all, my gal's becoming all political.

Since I'm an NDPer, I have to support Jack Layton -- although, honestly, I'm not 100% impressed by the platform, nor Layton's personal feeligns on the Clarity Act, nor his attacks on Paul Martin which were somewhat a round of mudslinging. (When did the NDP become so keen on mudslinging? The last Saskatchewan provincial election was run on those tactics, and it worked, but... ick.) Anyway, the NDP can make fairly idealistic and not very practical promises sicne it's self-obvious they won't form government this election.

However, it is interesting that the NDP may hold the balance of power in the formation of a coalition. (Another reason I'm not terribly happy with Layton right now is he seems to want to refuse to consider a coalition with the Liberals, even at this stage in the game. I dont think he realizes how powerful a socialist force the left-leaning Liberals and the NDP could make together. Harumph).

On the other hand, so may the Bloq Quebecois. Both Mr. Martin and Mr. Harper have conceded that they may form a coalition with the Bloq should either the Conservatives or the Liberals win by a minority.

Somehow, I find the concept of a federal coalition with the separatists both frightening and highly ironic.

So, my dear, you forgot the poor ickle Bloq Quebecois in your survey. Alas!

too bad i can't see my choice ever happening.

but I'm wondering.. why is there no option for "Anybody but Harper"?

And as for the option, hehe, "Coalition of Conservatives and NDP", i can't imagine that one holding very long. at least not with this new conservative party. maybe if they had clark...

but a liberal / ndp coalition might. and that would be pretty awesome actually. better than if ndp had just opposition status, i think.

-cm

ah, you posted while i was posting.. so i post again.

i just saw on the news today (er, yesterday) that the bloc, if there's a minority gov't, would make no concessions on its stands on the issues. so they wouldn't exactly work at all in a coalition. however that seems just like posturing. as does layton's position on it, as you mentioned.

basically, i think neither of those parties likes being thought of as minor, just filler between the big liberals and conservatives. you don't get votes that way.

it's just too bad that the alternative to a failing liberal government always is the conservatives, and vice versa. if anyone ever mentions the NDP is a valid choice, you get a response of, "hahahaha NDP? is that, like, allowed?"

but i guess canada just isn't that left leaning

-cm

Would someone fill us Imperials in on what each of the political parties stands for? We can't be expected to know everything about Canadian politics after reading three cryptic posts.

Good idea.

Basically, the NDP is a green party (though there is also a Green Party in Canada, which is even more to the left..). The NDP's socialist. They're for universal healthcare, progressive taxation, social assistance, environmental protection, higher education spending.. and the like. and of course, to some degree then, higher taxes to pay for it, though there'd be less paid by the lower class. The leader of the party is Jack Layton, a former toronto city councillor.

On the other side of the spectrum, on the right, there's the "New" Conservatives. With the tremendous collapse of Mulroney and Progressive Conservatives government about 10 years ago, a new party was rising. Basically, it was the same right wingers but with a new name. Nice ploy, eh? So let's see if i get this right.. I think it started with the Reform Party. Then they were called the Canadian Alliance. And now they're called the New Conservatives. And in general, they're more right wing than the PCs were back in the nineties. And many former PCs don't want anything to do with them. So, they want lower taxes, privatize health care, raise defense spending significantly, they wanted to go to war in Iraq, they want closer relations with the US (or at least, as long as Dubya's in office), and also 3 strikes provisions against criminals (and the ending of conditional sentences), anddd.. ah, against gay marriage. well that's about it. And oh yea, of course since their platform is pretty much to drop taxes, their package is going to come with a big drop in spending on health, education, and social services. Their leader is Stephen Harper, a.. .. real creepy dude.

And in the middle is the Liberals. They've been in power the last 10 years under Chretien but he retired about 6 months ago. So Paul Martin became prime minister and just last last sunday called the election for June 28th. The liberals are currently in some trouble right now because of the Sponsorship Scandal. (Quebec had nearly voted to separate from Canada several years back and so Chretien put a lot of money into advertising in Quebec to make them think of being in Canada as a good thing. In some measure this worked, however much of the money was funneled out by the people in charge of the advertising in quebec. ) The liberals are also having problem in the province ontario because the provincial liberal party broke some campaign promises about taxes ( i think). But the elections called anyway. .. so. yea, the party platform, really.. is just a middle ground between the left and right. not much else to say about that.

And there's the Bloc Quebecois. they're based in Quebec, of course, and promote only really issues of importance to Quebec. they aren't particularly focused on separation at the moment though. and the leader is Gilles Duceppe.

Think that's all i can say for now.. gotta get back to work.
of course, as I'm NDP, better take that all with a grain of salt.

-cm

CANADA RULES!!!!!! WOOOOOOO
Even though I have a house there, I'm not really partictipating in the government and such.... Have fun voting!

Canada should pick a gouvernment that makes it illegal to slaughter those poor seals.



Not to mention these poor seals are not beeing shot.
No their beeing slammed 2 death with a baseball bat, hooked n dragged across the ice till they bleed 2 death.
This inhuman slaughter has 2 stop.

And for what?
Becouse they claim the seals eat 2 much fish, there is (supposed 2 be) not enough fish for the fishermen to catch.
What those brainless fools dont see is that even if they slaugter ALL the seals in canada, they still dont have enough fucking fish.
Plus, i dont really see why fish is so valuable 4 their country....

Most prolly just becouse its tastes gd 2 ppl.
Once again proves humans are sick. Innocent seals have to die cuz mr.doofus wants 2 eat a fish....

Well, cruelty towards animals as described by the method of killing you mentioned IS illegal in Canada... and therefore no longer practiced. The seals must be shot. Also, according to regulations, a blink reflex test must be performed to ensure a seal is dead before skinning or whatnot. Unfortunately, the regulations are difficult to enforce.

The seal hunt originally was an aboriginal practice.

As for fish, they are incredibly important to Canada's Maritime's economy. The cod are doing terribly in the Maritimes right now, and thousands of fishermen are out of jobs. Not to mention there's a lot of international illegal fishing that goes on off the Canadian coast...

But that's not really the point... seal populations are exploding right now. We allow hunting of a variety of animals, and as long as it's not ecologically causing a problem, and as long as cruelty towards animals is not being practiced, I have no qualms with hunting seals.

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But really, that's not an election issue... so this is kind of really off topic.

This country is 2 full of humans, maybe we should randomly kill humans they pollute the earth 2 much.....
kinda sounds stupid eh?

(this country really is 2 full)

Moot point. Humans lives, from a human perspective, are infinitely more valuable than the life of a seal.

Besides which, the meat and fur of the seal is sold.