Quote:
Originally posted by Bend it like Bourgeois+May 10 2005, 02:58 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Bend it like Bourgeois @ May 10 2005, 02:58 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Flames Draft Watcher@May 9 2005, 01:40 PM
It's not all about the Liberal party brainwashing us or the credibility of the crooks. A lot of it boils down to people taking the opposite stance on issues than the Conservatives have taken. Sometimes Conservative supporters just don't seem to grasp that.
What's the problem with the Conservatives? I think it boils down to the fact that they aren't liberal enough for this fairly liberal country. The current version of the Conservatives is still too right wing to gain majority support IMO.
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I think you're right when you say Canadians generally don't support any kind of (small c) conservative agenda, and your post is pretty much bang on.
But you've also highlighted some of the bizarro world aspects of canadian politics.
We have virtually no philosphical stance on theft and corruption, to say nothing of being inept, but we have a philosophical attachment to who delivers free health care.
We're petrified of what parties *might* do, even when there's almost no rational basis for it, but are willing to completely forgive what the party in power actually *is* doing.
And I don't just mean federal politics. Short of our new record low of outright theft, almost any charge you can level at the federal liberals can be equally planted on provincial governments, including Alberta's.
We're so amazingly afraid of change. It's unhealthy. [/b][/quote]
I'm not sure we're "afraid of change" so much as there just aren't good alternatives to vote for due to the current electoral system. Our first past the post system encourages the big regional parties to stay in power in their powerbase region, I think you can put a big part of the blame on that.
It's Liberal or Conservative for the most part because of our first past the poll system. And those who don't agree with the Conservative platform won't vote for them (like many of the posters in this thread). Now I won't be voting Liberal either but because we don't have proportional representation my vote is wasted in this region that I find myself located in (Calgary.) NDP and Green are both screwed by this system because they don't have a concentration of support in one region, they instead have more of a national appeal. The current electoral system promotes regionalism (Tories in the west, Liberals in the east, Bloc in Quebec.)
How are we afraid of change when our choice is to vote for the party that disagrees with our stance, or to vote for the party that abused our trust and stole our money? We need more legitimate choices. We need the minority opinion to be better represented. We need our votes to count. Right now they don't.