2011 Canadian Election Thread

[starseed]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Brutal if true....and certainly a reason to rake them over the coals.

It would be nice to know how far up the chain it goes if nothing else.

As for the last sentence, what choice did they have? They were defeated on a non-confidence vote.

The NDP would have prevented it had Harper worked with them, but even though Harper made indications that he was willing to do this, he ended up not even picking up the phone.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by starseed

The NDP would have prevented it had Harper worked with them, but even though Harper made indications that he was willing to do this, he ended up not even picking up the phone.

Entirely false.

NDP finance critic Tom Mulcair said he agrees with Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s recent assessment that the two of them found some common ground during a private meeting on the budget. He said those areas included a need to help low-income seniors – perhaps by enhancing the Guaranteed Income Supplement – and possibly renewing incentives for energy-friendly home renovations. Mr. Mulcair said polling shows no party stands to gain now from an election.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle1850867/

[transplant99]

read this in the Herald this AM...I find it mind boggling that Canadian taxpayers are paying to fund a party that stands for the break up of...Canada. And although it would hurt the Libs and Dippers as well, the reason why the subsidy is such a lark.

The big winners in this taxpayerfunded bonanza are the Liberals at $122.2 million and the Conservatives at $119.4 million. The NDP garnered $70.4 million and the Bloc Quebecois have snatched up $37.5 million. The Greens received $11.5 million; minor candidates and now-defunct parties picked up the remainder of the cash.

But the big numbers don't tell the dependency story. For that, you must compare how much parties raised from individual donors since 2000, versus how much they receive in taxpayer subsidies. Here are the ratios courtesy of Elections Canada data: For every dollar raised privately between 2000 and 2010, the Liberals received $1.83 in subsidies; for every buck donated to the Conservatives, 99 cents then arrived in taxpayer subsidies. The Greens and the NDP took $1.62 and $1.40 respectively from the public purse for every donated dollar.

All of those ratios pale in comparison to the Bloc Quebecois. In dollar terms, the Bloc raised just $7.6 million from individual donors since 2000. So imagine if the Bloc were forced to fight five elections (including this year's) and finance its operations on just that amount. But, as noted, the separatist party in Parliament also received $37.5 million in taxpayer-financed subsidies. That's a ratio of $4.94 in subsidies for every donorraised dollar -the highest subsidy ratio of all the parties.

It just seems and feels so.....absurd and wrong to me.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Mi...#ixzz1JEBRJm7C

[Mark]

Apparently the "Harper Government" crime bill bonanza includes real-time internet surveillance. Haven't heard of this guy, so take it for what it's worth. Also interesting is the fact that the crime bills were never given even a second reading and wasn't because of the usual "Ignatieff-led coalition" that killed them.

http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/5733/125/

[TurnedTheCorner]

21 days til election day. Ugh.

[CaptainCrunch]

I don't know how accurate this site is, however it estimates based on the polls that if the vote was held today that the Cons would end up with 153 seats, the Libs 72, Dips 33 Bloc 50 and Greens shut out again

http://www.threehundredeight.blogspot.com/

[Slava]

Its funny because driving around Calgary you would barely even know there is an election taking place...

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Slava

Its funny because driving around Calgary you would barely even know there is an election taking place...

Indeed. So far, the only thing liberals/dippers seem to be up to is defacing Tory campaign signs. Seems they have completely conceded Calgary to the Conservatives. Which, again, is an excellent reason why neither party deserves a single vote from this city.

What is it like elsewhere in the country?

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

What is it like elsewhere in the country?

The riding I am in (the scandalous Bev Oda riding), I am only seeing mostly Conservative signs. On the weekend I was walking down by the lake and kept seeing Liberal signs hidden in the bushes though. Someone has been removing them.

I haven't seen a single NDP or Green sign in my riding.

[The Goon]

I spent the last week in Vaughan, ON, where Conservative Julian Fantino won a traditionally Liberal riding in a by-election just a few months ago. Signs everywhere and plenty of discussion.

[Cowboy89]

I e-mailed Margaret McLeod, Liberal Candidate for Calgary Nose-Hill sometime last week with a question and only recieved a brush-off reply from a staffer saying it was tough to keep up with the e-mailed questions and that eventually I would get an answer.

To that I say my a$$, Calgary Nose-hill might be the safest Tory riding in the country, she's going to lose 80% to 20% and the only race to watch would be whether or not the green party garners more protest votes and finishes 3rd. There's no concievable way the phone lines and e-mail is so off the hook that even a half-baked response isn't feasable. Also if Liberals were to make an impact on a Calgary race it would only be by being more engaged and interactive with voters, much like how Nenshi captured the mayoral race.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Indeed. So far, the only thing liberals/dippers seem to be up to is defacing Tory campaign signs. Seems they have completely conceded Calgary to the Conservatives. Which, again, is an excellent reason why neither party deserves a single vote from this city.

What is it like elsewhere in the country?

Huh?

Harper and Layton have both hit Alberta and Sask, Ignatieff hasn't yet, even though he figures he'll get to it.

I don't know what kind of greeting he'll get here though or whether he's going to do much more then fly through in an hour.

[Resolute 14]

Sorry - I was speaking only to the roadside signs, not the campaigns themselves. Should have been more specific.

Harper coming to Alberta briefly is a given. Layton coming is irrelevant. Other than my sister and a few loonies in Edmonton, nobody's going to vote for him anyway. And we are lucky if the Liberals bother to pay lip service to us during a campaign. I didn't respect Chretien at all, but at least he was honest when he didn't bother coming here because he didn't understand us.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Huh?

Harper and Layton have both hit Alberta and Sask, Ignatieff hasn't yet, even though he figures he'll get to it.

I don't know what kind of greeting he'll get here though or whether he's going to do much more then fly through in an hour.

I went and saw Stephane Dion last time around and the room was completely packed...standing room only to say the least. Its a common misconception that no one would show up for these other leaders, but its a myth. Just because the CPC wins all of the seats here doesn't mean that they get 100% of the vote!

I didn't even mean according to the leaders tour though. I just mean that there are barely any signs anywhere (for any party really) and no public forums that I've noticed or anything. Sure, its a foregone conclusion that the CPC will win the seats, but not to have any discussions/debates leading up to the votes is really a disgrace.

[Slava]

Right after I make this comment ^ I find out that Bob Rae is in Calgary today. Someone I'm not going to meet, but maybe resolute can fill us in when he rushes down for an autograph!

In other news the CPC is basically have a disasterous start to the week. The Auditors General report is really terrible news for them; to top it all off they have a bigger problem brewing. They don't want to release the report (clearly and for obvious reasons). At the same time they have no way to refute allegations about the report without releasing it.

So if they release the report and it shows what is expected (that they broke the law, divereted funds from other departments and then let local officials spend the money as they saw fit) its bad. If they don't release the report early though then they have problem with openness and accountability (what a surprise) and more importantly how would the party have any idea of whats contained in the report? In other words unless they have an insider somewhere they can't credibly refute the allegations.

Things could get really interesting over the next few weeks...

[WilsonFourTwo]

Originally Posted by Slava

Things could get really interesting over the next few weeks...

Ignatieff is showing more poise than expected (the bar was set pretty darn low), Harper has been cheesing off reporters and some voters with the '5 Questions' stuff, and now the AG report is front and center.

I suspect we've seen the pendulum swing......if the AG story has legs, we may just have a close race after all.

[CaptainCrunch]

Possibly

It could balance against the cheesed off voters going to the polls again.

But its all going to come down to the debates over the next couple of days.

I've found it interesting that the Conservatives for all of their blunders haven't lost much in the way of positioning, but the NDP have basically been flattened in this campaign with most of their votes going to the Libs, which is to be expected.

Frankly I'm surprised at the Conservative campaign so far, beyond the 5 question stuff, the scandal stuff really hasn't hurt them yet, this new development could, but to be honest I really don't like the Liberal platform, nor the NDP, so its doubtful that my vote is going to shift.

[MarchHare]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Indeed. So far, the only thing liberals/dippers seem to be up to is defacing Tory campaign signs. Seems they have completely conceded Calgary to the Conservatives. Which, again, is an excellent reason why neither party deserves a single vote from this city.

What is it like elsewhere in the country?

Well, it's not like the CPC is doing a lot of campaigning in Calgary either. I read a report last week that most local Conservative candidates aren't attending riding-level candidate debates and the party is sending resources (both monetary and MPs) outside of "sure thing" Calgary ridings to other areas where the CPC needs more support.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

Well, it's not like the CPC is doing a lot of campaigning in Calgary either. I read a report last week that most local Conservative candidates aren't attending riding-level candidate debates and the party is sending resources (both monetary and MPs) outside of "sure thing" Calgary ridings to other areas where the CPC needs more support.

No I don't really disagree with this, but the Conservatives are putting resources into areas that they haven't won or probably won't win to spread their message.

The Liberals aren't even putting in an effort in half of the country.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Possibly

It could balance against the cheesed off voters going to the polls again.

But its all going to come down to the debates over the next couple of days.

I've found it interesting that the Conservatives for all of their blunders haven't lost much in the way of positioning, but the NDP have basically been flattened in this campaign with most of their votes going to the Libs, which is to be expected.

Frankly I'm surprised at the Conservative campaign so far, beyond the 5 question stuff, the scandal stuff really hasn't hurt them yet, this new development could, but to be honest I really don't like the Liberal platform, nor the NDP, so its doubtful that my vote is going to shift.

That whole idea just mystifies me in general. I've always heard that you don't pick a winter election or whatever because it makes the voters upset and they could take you down (as a governing party who gets to choose)...but I wonder if that is mostly antiquated thinking.

Today with cars and such do voters really vote against incumbents because of that sort of thing? I doubt it. I also find it funny that with the minimal effort of marking an "X" every few years that voters would really care....frankly they just might not show up - that seems to be the case more and more anyway.

I do agree with the not liking the platforms. I don't care for the Liberal platform, won't be voting NDP and the Greens are even further off my radar. The more I see of the CPC campaign though, the more I realise that they are really undeserving of another term. They are far from the financial stewards that they profess to be, and riddled with questionable ethics (if not something worse). I can't see myself voting for that either.

I am thinking of writing my name in, drawing a box and checking said box. At least I would agree with the guy I was voting for!