Democracy at work in Canada

[St Leo]

Originally posted by Zylka


"Skyrocketed" back up to 75 cents. We'll see how long this last. Otherwise, there was a time where the CDN dollar had a "1" in front of those decimals. The united right are the ones bring that back.

Uhm, I'm pretty sure the right-wingers want to actually lower the dollar back down because that will allegedly help exports.

[KrazyHorse]

Why do people want a high dollar? Some sort of **** competition?

[Zylka]

No and Yes

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Boris Godunov
And what do fags in their right frame of mind support?

Pistachio ice cream and the Toronto Maple Leafs?

[KrazyHorse]

Mmmm...pistachio.

[Sprayber]

Is someone missing from this discussion on Candian politics. It just seems like something is missing.

Anyway, first JimmyCracksCorn is called a dumbass and then mistaken for an American. Just brutal..

[KrazyHorse]

I could swear he used to fly the stars and stripes.

[Uncle Sparky]

Originally posted by JimmyCracksCorn
You people are still missing the point. Paul Martin is the PM of this country, and he was never elected. Not to mention he has the right to appoint an entirely new cabinet, which is in no way in the hands of the Canadian public.

Canada has an ENTIRELY NEW GOVERNMENT WHICH WAS IN NO WAY ELECTED BY CANADA.

Exactly what any *** from outside of his right frame of mind would support.

Think about it. Paul Martin is your head of state (essentially) and you NEVER ELECTED HIM!!!

DO YOU NOT GET THIS!?!?!?!?!?!?!

(taking over KrazyHorse's CanPol 101)

Paul Martin was elected. He has sat for about 15 years as a Liberal MP from a Montreal riding. In Canada we do not, and never have elected the Prime Minister. The PM is the leader of the party with the most elected (there's that word again) members in the House of Commons. Parties can change there leader's according to their own constitutions. Most parties, including the Liberals, can pass non confidence motions against their leaders at their annual conventions. Therefore it is theoretically possible for the PM to change annually at the whim of the voting (oh, another word, similar to "elected") members of his/her party.

The PM always appoints his or her own cabinet. They sometimes change the composition of their cabinet several times during their term. This is their right. While the PM is under no obligation to appoint any elected (that word again) members of the Commons to the cabinet, all PMs to date, including Mr. Martin generally appoint the bulk of their cabinet from elected (that word again) MPs. I believe the only unelected member of the current cabinet is the Leader of the Senate (senators are not currently elected.)

Queen Elizabeth II is Canada's head of state - she was not elected and I will agree that she should probably not be our Head of State. Paul Martin is Canada's head of government. He was elected at the riding level as an MP (just like Jean, Mackay, Copps, Harper. et el) and elected as leader of the Liberal Party, just like Jean was befor him.

DO YOU NOT GET THIS!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Originally posted by Boris Godunov
And what do fags in their right frame of mind support?

The NDP. Not the new Conservative Party, that's for sure ! (Gee, suddenly I miss Asher )

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Fve Crathva
And NYE is an asshat.

SP

Such eloquence....

[Agathon]

Actually I take that back. You are an asshat NYE.

I just read what you said about the Maple Leafs. You bastard! Well suck it up baby, points in 12 straight games and heading to the top of the Eastern Conference.

It's gonna be this year...

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by cinch


I'm not 100% sure on this, but I was pretty certain that cabinet ministers had to be appointed from either the House of Commons or the Senate. No non-legislatives allowed.

AFAIK even the PM is not required to be an MP.

[Tingkai]

Whenever an American president bites the bullet, the unelected vice-president takes over.

Non-MPs have been cabinet ministers. I think the last one was dion, appointed Minister of Intergovernmental affairs.

Krazyhorse is correct that an non-MP could become Pm in theory. If a party won a majority, but the leader lost in his/her riding, the leader could become PM in theory, but at the same time, the GG could refuse to appoint him/her as PM and instead call another election.

[RedFred]

I think we have a mathematical type of problem. The only type of PM that seems successful in central Canada is a bilingual white male from Quebec. Since Pearson no one else has been elected to lead a majority gov't.

Say that there is 8 million Quebecers. Say 4 million males. Say 2 million pro federalist males. Say 1.5 million white pro-federalist Quebec males. The talent pool is just too small.

We need to think outside of the box and actually get more leaders from the other 30 million or so Canadians.

And more pistachio ice cream. We need that too.

[Richelieu]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse


AFAIK even the PM is not required to be an MP.

There's a precedent in provincial politics. Robert Bourassa was defeated in his own riding of Berthier in the dec. 2, 1985 elections. He still became Premier.
He was then elected in a by-election in the St-Laurent riding in january 1986.

[RedFred]

...I forgot about the bilingual part. So that shrinks the talent pool to say, 750,000.