Hey all, I guess this is mainly for the Canadians (like myself) on here, but maybe if you are outside Canada and still follow our politics you will know that we have an election coming up although it is being overshadowed by the elections to the south of us, the battle between McCain and Obama. Anyway, I'm just interested in starting something about Canadian elections, what people think. I'm a Conservative guy and I think it's possible for them to get a majority, which I'm hoping for. What do others think?
Matt
P.S. This kind of topic has the potential to get rather heated because people often feel strongly about their political convictions, so make sure to respect everyone! We all have our opinions and they are all valid!
They have elections in Canada? I thought there was a King or something along those lines.
Just kidding!
Well, Canada is a commonwealth of Britain, isn't it?
So they would have a Queen, not a King.
Hey Matt - Tell me, is voting compulsory is Canada? I imagine it would have to be...otherwise everyone would just stay home snuggled up in their igloos.
Sorry mate........
HAHAHAHAHA! I should have expected that from you guys! We have a Prime Minister, not a King (or Queen) although we do have a Governor General who is the Queen of England's representative and she needs to sign every law that we make in order to make it official so we still do have that influence here. And most of us don't live in igloo's Jim, although it is getting so cold here and it's not even October... I was tempted to stay home from university today and just stay in bed with about 50 blankets. It's going to go down to 2 degrees celcius tonight here in Winnipeg, Manitoba. 2 degrees! In September!
Anyway, that's totally digressing from the topic, but it looks like I'm not getting any real comments here anyway!
Matt
Sorry, barely know anything about US politics, let alone Canada.
2 degrees Celsius, that's what? 38 F? Yikes.
That's OK, at this point, I'm even considering not voting at all after what I've been seeing on the news. With our economy in trouble, especially because we are tied to the economy in the States which is also in big trouble, the leaders of our parties are asking for a meeting with people from the Bank of Canada in order to figure out what some solutions are. Our Prime Minister refuses to set such a meeting though, and this concerns me, he is showing a shocking lack of concern for the problems we are facing.
Also, since I am a student, recent actions by the Conservative party (my party) in my city have shocked me. There were debates set up by student associations at both of our universities in order to give university students (like myself) a chance to ask questions and watch a debate of representatives from the parties. The Conservatives refuse to show up at the debates and have sent some emails out, basically showing that they don't really care about the debates and see them as a waste of time.
Since this was the only party I would consider voting for, I'm probably not going to vote at all, I don't want to support a government like that.
Matt
[quote="SEGMAT":15g74xh3]Since this was the only party I would consider voting for, I'm probably not going to vote at all, I don't want to support a government like that.
Matt[/quote:15g74xh3]
For a while I chose not to vote in elections, seeing as it was a waste of time.
But recent events (just, really, this whole sucky year) has convinced me that even if it doesn't mean anything (and I'm not convinced it does), I need to vote, if for no other reason then to make myself feel better.
It's hard to complain that the system doesn't work when I'm not using the system.
That's true, I will do my research and find out which other party I should vote for, because I refuse to vote for a party that has policies like the Conservatives do as shown in my earlier post.
Thanks Zig, you're totally right. If I'm not voting, I can't complain about what's going on because I haven't done my part to try and make it better.
Matt
Since the floor was open, and I'm a loyal Canadian, I'll give my slant on the 5 parties, but first, I believe everyone must (needs) to vote, even if it's a protest vote (voting for a party which have NO chance of even getting one seat). If you are blessed to live in a Country which allows you the freedom of voting, do NOT take it likely. The ability to VOTE is a freedom those who have FREEDOM take for granted. And do not just vote for the HELL of it, but give it some thought, since it might come back to haunt you.
Block is a Quebec (broken splinter of the Conservative) whose main purpose was to break up Canada from the Federal level. They failed and are now just lining they pockets with money like almost everyone in politics.
Green may have some interesting views and concepts, but never actually won a seat (having someone join your party after the fact is not the same as winning for your party) and don't have any real experience.
NDP is an old horse which really just wants to be the opposition, since running a Country would be an overload.
Liberals might have a chance, if their leader was someone most Canadians could see as a leader. A party is nothing without a strong person at the top. Sorry, not the current head.
Conservatives are and might get back in, because they have a leader, who is a politician, and like it or not, speaks like a politician (which means or includes double talk, not answering the questions and so on).
The answer Canadians need to discover, is who will most likely do the least amount of damage to their economy and their current life style.
Currently I'm leaning towards giving my vote to the Conservatives, even though my riding might not offer a winner, It's a total numbers (the more votes a party gets) game I'm banking on supplying, since it's also the only smart thing to do, Mindblower!
"For the needy, not the greedy"
I like all the smiley's! Thanks for your input Mindblower. Block doesn't run in my riding so I don't need to worry about them. The Green party has no experience and I'm generally a more conservative (notice the small c rather than the capital C!) guy, so their rather far left wing stance isn't as appealing to me. The Liberals don't have a chance with Dion in charge, quite frankly, some of his ideas kind of scare me! And since I'm refusing to vote Conservative (again, notice the big C now rather than the small c!), I'm left with the NDP. That's who I'm leaning towards (I'm not going to bother going for the Independant who no one has heard of or the Christian Heritage Party who no one has heard of!), because I find them to have some really good ideas, and I would like them to be able to get in a position of the opposition. I think they would do a better job there than the Liberals have done because it's almost guaranteed that the Conservatives will win, now it's just a question of majority or minority government. I like the NDP's ideas for the most part and I find them to be not so much left wing and so I feel alright voting for them even though I lean towards right wing ideas... they're more central than I thought they were.
Oh well, we'll see what happens on October 14!
Matt
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