CanPol: Throne Speech

[Wezil]

Harper is also conscious of the "too friendly with the Americans" label. He's not prepared to hypocritically rail against the US as other parties do, so best not bring the matter up.

[Victor Galis]

The Bloc's amendment voted down:

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/10/18/bloc-throne.html

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion has already indicated if his amendment is defeated, which is likely, then the Liberals will abstain from voting on the main throne speech.

That would ensure its passage.

So it's looking like no election yet.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Dracon II
It seems that minority Government has been a problem for you guys for some time.... wasn't that the reason Paul Martin's Government failed? I might be wrong but you seem to have a more four cornered party-system over there... with the Libs and Cons as major players but the BQ and NDP getting more seats in the lower house than any Australian minor party ever would. I just checked Wikipedia and it seems that Harper is almost 30 seats shy of a majority. Who does he Govern with? Surely not the Libs or NDP. Must be BQ... though I don't know much about them.

It's not really a problem. It would be if it led to instability, but it hasn't. If it began to become a problem I'm sure voters would take that into account.

Some would go so far as to say that some of our better governments have been minority.

Harper has to govern with any of the other three on an issue by issue basis, or nothing would get done. He's had Liberal, NDP, and BQ support on various issues from time to time. However, the only really important ones are budgets and the throne speech since those are confidence issues.

[Victor Galis]

Originally posted by notyoueither


It's not really a problem. It would be if it led to instability, but it hasn't. If it began to become a problem I'm sure voters would take that into account.

Some would go so far as to say that some of our better governments have been minority.

Harper has to govern with any of the other three on an issue by issue basis, or nothing would get done. He's had Liberal, NDP, and BQ support on various issues from time to time. However, the only really important ones are budgets and the throne speech since those are confidence issues.

Except now he's trying to make everything a confidence issue :|

[notyoueither]

And he'll be punished for it.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Agathon
Not really. I just understood from being in Canada more than 5 minutes that the Liberals were the natural governing party. I would certainly never vote for any of the major Canadian parties, except for the BQ, as I hold them all in complete contempt. This is probably due to the fact that Canadian politics, like most democratic politics these days, is fundamentally managerial, and therefore rather meaningless. None of the leaders have any brains or panache (but then again, no-one since Trudeau has).

Add to that the fact that the opinions of anyone outside Ontario and Quebec simply don't matter, and you have Canadian politics.

I could not care less about Canadian conservatives. As is usual with such parties, it is the usual collection of bigots, morons and authoritarians. Like the British Conservatives, it is "the stupid party". I just don't subscribe to the usual fiction of pretending that they have a "point". The Liberals have a point. It's not one I agree with, but at least they are somewhat respectable, even though I would never vote for them.

But the *****, god botherers and racists have to have someone to vote for, hence the Tories exist.

That's comical coming from you. You have absolutely no clue as to how modern societies are organized, as you have demonstrated repeatedly on this forum. But then again, neither do conservatives. It's not an intellectually respectable position, because it's not a position. It's just a vague collection of prejudices dressed up in a blue tie.

As I said before, Canadian politics is largely managerial. Anything worth voting for will not be on the agenda, or will not be a point of difference, and so voting in Canada is essentially pointless.

Nope. You're going to have to do better than that Aggie.

As for clues, I'd ask for advice, but since when did frothing marxists have any clues to rent?

Originally posted by Agathon
What is it with candidates in English speaking countries these days? The French actually managed to put up two decent candidates in their last election. I'm not a Sarkozy fan, but he's no cretin, and I'd probably sleep with Segolene Royal if given the chance (she's pretty decent looking for an older bird).

The only interesting Canadian candidates I can think of are Belinda Stronach, who's a hockey slut, and that funny kleptomaniac from the NDP.

Thanks for the view of tabloid politics.

I get it. If you stand a chance of getting laid, you'd vote for it.

Other than that, the fact that our politics don't amuse you I should prefer to regard as a recommendation, not a shortcoming.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Wezil
Harper is also conscious of the "too friendly with the Americans" label. He's not prepared to hypocritically rail against the US as other parties do, so best not bring the matter up.

That's why he should go. There's no way in hell that ****er is Canadian.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by notyoueither


Nope. You're going to have to do better than that Aggie.

As for clues, I'd ask for advice, but since when did frothing marxists have any clues to rent?



Thanks for the view of tabloid politics.

I get it. If you stand a chance of getting laid, you'd vote for it.

Other than that, the fact that our politics don't amuse you I should prefer to regard as a recommendation, not a shortcoming.

Why don't you come up with something interesting, you sour old git?

[Ben Kenobi]

That's why he should go. There's no way in hell that ****er is Canadian.

Some of our best Canadians were American.

[Xorbon]

Originally posted by notyoueither
Some think your electoral college is silly, so there you go.

I think the main problem with the electoral college system is the fact that it's a winner-takes-all system for most states. So, for a candidate that receives 51% of the votes in Florida, that's as good as getting 100%.

The other problem is that it's called a 'college', yet no one learms anything there.

[Kontiki]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi


Some of our best Canadians were American.

And some of our worst want to be American.

[OzzyKP]

Originally posted by Wezil
Harper is also conscious of the "too friendly with the Americans" label. He's not prepared to hypocritically rail against the US as other parties do, so best not bring the matter up.

That's what I figured.

[Wezil]

GWB was calling him "Steve" last time they met here. It was a little too friendly to be politically comfortable.

[Dracon II]

GWB was calling him "Steve" last time they met here. It was a little too friendly to be politically comfortable.

That's nothing compared to "Yo Blair!". And lord knows what he calls John Howard.

[Fake Boris]

Originally posted by Wezil


It looks like this is where we are heading.

Did I wager my avatar with you or Flubber ?