Quote:
Originally posted by MarchHare@May 9 2005, 06:24 PM
That's precisely the point I was trying to make. The NDP platform tells us that they believe in balanced budgets and responsable spending, but you and I both know what a farce that is. They say those things because they know they won't get any votes if they don't.
Likewise, I don't trust that the Conservatives would only enact the policies they outline in their platform. Why should we trust their new, (slightly) more moderate platform given views that were publicly stated in the past by many party members, including Harper?
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Except that we have stated and proven examples of the NDP believing that "responsibile spending" equals all kinds of funding for social pet projects. We have Layton's statements, we have the agreement he forced onto Martin promising nearly $6 billion in spending. We have numerous examples provincially of NDP governments destroying economies over thier policy.
And, lets face it, this isnt a fair comparison, as barring a radical shift in Canadian thinking, the NDP has no hope of even forming the opposition, let alone forming a government. Even given the scandal's plaguing the Liberals, the NDP has made virtually no gains.
Arguing what a theoretical NDP government would do is akin to arguing whether aliens will make first-contact and give us technology to clean the environment up. It's the stuff of fiction and fantasy.
As far as the Conservatives so-called social agenda goes, we have exactly one example: gay-marriage. And given polls consistantly show that a majority - albeit slight - favor leaving the definition as-is, it could be argued that the CPC has a mandate from the Canadian public to oppose it.
And, of course, we all know that the Liberals voted, to a man, against redefining marriage in 1999.
I personally do not believe that there is a mandate from the Canadian public to change other social policies, like abortion, so there is nothing to gain politically from doing so. More likely, it would lead to a rapid defeat of any government that tries or does. Self preservation will ensure that so-called hidden agenda's are very, very unlikely to come to pass.