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A question for the Americans here
Topic Started: May 4 2011, 05:20 PM (867 Views)
scottkthompson
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That other moderator guy
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I don't know if I'm an average American or not, but I try to stay informed. I have NPR on the radio anytime I'm in the car, and CNN on the tv when my students are at lunch or during my prep hour. Yet I never heard a peep about Canadian elections.
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Hatman
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Mestrahd
May 5 2011, 12:13 AM
So what happened in the elections of the 51st state?
Some pretty monumental changes actually. The biggest being:

- We have a majority government finally, after the previous 2 or 3 elections have resulted in minorities where nothing could really get done.

- The New Democrat Party, which has previously held the fourth highest number of seats in parliment (and there are only 4 major political parties, with a couple of independents in the fifth spot), surged forward to get the second highest number of seats and become the official opposition party; this has led some to speculate we are on the verge of a 2-party system, since the other parties got crushed

- The Bloc Quebecois, the federal party that only runs in Quebec with the agenda to split Quebec into a separate country, got absolutely devastated in the election; even the party leader didn't win his seat, which is almost unheard of. They don't even have enough seats to officially be considered a party in parliment (which means loss of funding and some other considerations)

- The Green Party got their first MP elected ever; the Greens are the environmentally-friendly party

- The Liberals, who for ages have always been #1 or #2, were decimated down to the #4 spot. Their leader also didn't get elected.

It was actually a pretty exciting election; I watched a lot more coverage than I at first intended to because the boy didn't want to go to sleep. :)
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Canadian Bacon
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Mestrahd
May 5 2011, 12:13 AM
So what happened in the elections of the 51st state?
Basically, we're f**ked. Because the Conservative Party now has a majority government, there's absolutely nothing standing in their way to stop any of the socially conservative, shadow government, ridiculous military purchase bullshit that they've been trying to push through over the past 6? years with a minority government.

I weep for my country because the Harper government has been absolutely terrible but they've been somewhat held in check by the fact that at least one of the other parties had to be on board to get any legislation passed. Now they can pass any legislation they want because they just need the votes of their own party.

It's going to be a rough 4 years.
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KardKrazy
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Looks like Bacon and Hatman are on opposite sides of the panel:p. One is excited one is looking towards doom.
Interesting,
Kj
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BatHulk
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I do remember Canadian Bacon talking about the differences in their gov vs US's largely 2-party system in the past.

So from what I'm hearing, the conservative party is now in power where before it used to be even between the conservative and the liberal parties?

Does US politics have any influence on who the Canadians vote for? Could there be some factor that has to do with Obama and the Dems?
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Hatman
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BatHulk
May 5 2011, 04:03 PM


Does US politics have any influence on who the Canadians vote for? Could there be some factor that has to do with Obama and the Dems?
I don't think that has any bearing really, it certainly doesn't for me. Considering the news likes to exploit any possible story angle and I've never heard anything remotely like the US swaying Canadian voters, I'd highly doubt it.
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Canadian Bacon
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BatHulk
May 5 2011, 04:03 PM
I do remember Canadian Bacon talking about the differences in their gov vs US's largely 2-party system in the past.

So from what I'm hearing, the conservative party is now in power where before it used to be even between the conservative and the liberal parties?

Does US politics have any influence on who the Canadians vote for? Could there be some factor that has to do with Obama and the Dems?
It's not so much that the Liberals and Conservatives were equal, it's just that the Conservatives had less than half the number of seats in parliament. You need half the seats to vote with you in order to pass any legislation so in order to pass anything, the Conservatives needed at least one other party to vote with them.

They don't need that anymore. All they need now is for their own party to vote for the legislation and it will pass.

What sucks the most is that 38% of Canada voted for the Conservative Party whereas 44% of people voted for a liberal party (30% NDP, 14% Liberal Party), so more people in Canada wanted a more liberal option than what we ended up with but somehow the Conservative Party ended up with a majority. It just sucks.
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CaptainIreland
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DDH
May 4 2011, 06:17 PM
Parliamentary politics fascinate me since there are three or more parties in serious contention (a rarity in American politics). You'd think the "New Democratic Party" and the "Liberal Party" would just end up splitting the vote every time (see Ralph Nader circa 2000). But somehow it doesn't collapse into 2 parties.
So this pretty much happened (minus the last sentence)?
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Canadian Bacon
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CaptainIreland
May 6 2011, 06:21 AM
DDH
May 4 2011, 06:17 PM
Parliamentary politics fascinate me since there are three or more parties in serious contention (a rarity in American politics). You'd think the "New Democratic Party" and the "Liberal Party" would just end up splitting the vote every time (see Ralph Nader circa 2000). But somehow it doesn't collapse into 2 parties.
So this pretty much happened (minus the last sentence)?
Sort of. Federally, they didn't split the vote like that since the Conservative Party ended up getting a majority. But if you look riding by riding (where the parliamentary seats come from) then the NDP and Liberal parties probably did end up splitting the vote, thereby ending up electing the Conservative Party candidate.
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Orange_Soda_Man
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I knew about Harper winning, but only because I was still up near you when the campaigning was going on. I don't have the time to watch news on tv these days.
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Hatman
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Orange_Soda_Man
May 6 2011, 04:45 PM
I knew about Harper winning, but only because I was still up near you when the campaigning was going on. I don't have the time to watch news on tv these days.
You don't count anyway, we infected you with the Maple Syrup, you're one of us now.
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Orange_Soda_Man
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Hatman
May 6 2011, 07:31 PM
You don't count anyway, we infected you with the Maple Syrup, you're one of us now.
[cool]
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Eponymous
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As the director of a theatre company, I have to tell you the Harper majority scares me. He's been dismissive of the value of the arts, and, more importantly, keenly disrespectful of Canadian systems and institutions.

IMO, the Liberal fall was caused by a weak, weak leader, while the rise of the NDP was caused by a strong leader. The catch is that the NDP will struggle to get a majority in Canada because its policies and values are too far to the left for many people, so this combination enthrones a Conservative government, and in this case, turns a minority government into a majority.

And there you go. My opinion will now taint your view of Canadian politics FOREVER! [grin]
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DDH
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This is why 2-party system makes sense to me, despite there being multiple competing groups within the same party. The Republicans for example are dealing with the Tea Party/Libertarian insurrection right now. But if they actually split into two parties, it would only ensure Democrats win every time. So they stay together.
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