Federal Election Called for Oct 19, 2015

[Coach]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

Minority governments are often good for checks and balances, but I worry about how a 3-way split would work. If that happens, I would expect another election within a couple of years (barf).

I would almost prefer a coalition is formed between any of the 2 parties if that were to happen. Trudeau has already ruled out an NDP/Liberal coalition, but would a Conservative/Liberal coalition be out of the question? It would seem unlikely, but it might actually work.

Normally I like minorities for the reasons you mentioned. However, I really feel like a minority by anyone other than the Cons will result in them going full-US Republican and blocking pretty much anything the leadership party tries to put through. Because they're dicks.

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by MattyC

Normally I like minorities for the reasons you mentioned. However, I really feel like a minority by anyone other than the Cons will result in them going full-US Republican and blocking pretty much anything the leadership party tries to put through. Because they're dicks.

But they can't block anything, if the other two form a coalition, despite Trudeau saying no at this point.
Interestingly, abolishing first past the post will basically ensure minority governments virtually every time.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce

But they can't block anything, if the other two form a coalition, despite Trudeau saying no at this point.
Interestingly, abolishing first past the post will basically ensure minority governments virtually every time.

Yeah true, it will depend on the number of seats for each party and if the other 2 form coalitions.

As mentioned, I would probably prefer minorities most of the time regardless.

[Jacks]

Originally Posted by Red Slinger

I haven't gone through my posts in this thread but I do recall one where I said the most pressing problem in government in general is accountability. I think that could probably be considered me discussing "important and pressing issues". Harper is the leader of the sitting government and has a record to defend. If you see that as bashing Harper so be it.

If you click on the number of replies next to a thread it brings up a list of posts per user.

Originally Posted by Red Slinger

If people want to talk about ISIS that's fine. They should. But let's not kid ourselves and pretend that it's a big deal to the daily lives of Canadians and that Canada's potential involvement with ISIS will ultimately make much if any difference. We can certainly think and talk about more than one issue at a time, but it seems to me that the ISIS problem is now being treated with more reverance than it deserves relative to other issues that have a much bigger impact on the lives of Canadians now and in the future.

ISIS may not be an important issue to you but it is to other people, if they want to discuss it then they should be able to. Personally I think the ISIS issue is more important than how much of a sleazeball Duffy is although neither issue will decide my vote.

Originally Posted by Red Slinger

Not sure I deserved this comment for stating an opinion about the issues. Do you take my criticism of the sitting government personally enough that you need to insult me personally as a result?

Ya, I could have been more diplomatic, the general tone of these threads is pretty bad on both sides. Sorry about that.

[Jacks]

Originally Posted by MattyC

Yeah true, it will depend on the number of seats for each party and if the other 2 form coalitions.

As mentioned, I would probably prefer minorities most of the time regardless.

If we had that sort of government Chretien/Martin probably never would have balanced the books. Majority governments are the only ones that can make the tough decisions.

[Parallex]

Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce

Interestingly, abolishing first past the post will basically ensure minority governments virtually every time.

Only if it's proportional representation... a preferenial ballot system would probably result in majorities close to as often as we have them now.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by Jacks

If we had that sort of government Chretien/Martin probably never would have balanced the books. Majority governments are the only ones that can make the tough decisions.

But only if it's a majority Conservative government, right?

I like to think that the people we elect are not all children and can come to reasonable compromises across ideological lines. That's probably naive, but it is what government should be. And if it's not, it's our fault for electing the wrong people.

[Parallex]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I would be amazed if any minority lasted a year.

It would basically last just as long as the Tories were leaderless. They'd assume the position of the Liberals during the Harper minorities.

[Jacks]

Originally Posted by MattyC

But only if it's a majority Conservative government, right?

What are you talking about? I specifically cited the Chretien government as an example. Next time read the post before you click reply.

[CaptainCrunch]

I can't see a coalition between the NDP and the Liberals because they would never agree on how the power would be shared.

Also Mulcair seems to be fairly disdainful on Trudeau.

I could see them maybe agreeing on bills with heavy modifications and a system of blackmail to get their way.

But I don't see any long term partnership or coalition if Mulcair is at the head and Trudeau becomes the foot.

[Frequitude]

I can't see a coalition between the NDP and Liberals because I believe it would totally destroy the Liberal party.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Like minority governments or not, we're very likely to have one in about 6 weeks. And yeah, probably another election within 2 years. But truly none of the parties deserve a majority and based off the numbers none of them can get it either.

[Parallex]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Like minority governments or not, we're very likely to have one in about 6 weeks.

I almost want to see one just to see how Canadian movement conservatives (that's small "c" conservatives) react to watching the Tories prop up a NDP or Liberal Government on vote after vote after vote.

[edslunch]

The liberals and NDP will be broke after this election and will avoid another for at least two years.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by Jacks

What are you talking about? I specifically cited the Chretien government as an example. Next time read the post before you click reply.

My bad. Misread what you posted.

[rubecube]

Did the Vote Compass quiz and got my results. LOL, really helpful.

How much you agree with the parties
LPC
77%
NDP
77%
GPC
76%
CPC
38%

[GoinAllTheWay]

Just took the quiz myself. Quite surprised to see I seem to agree with aspects of each party and basically split down the middle.

Also surprised to see the NDP somewhat agrees that Quebec should be formally recognized as a nation in the constitution.

[Coach]

Just took the quiz as well. Some of the questions are either very loaded, or not specific enough to answer. This one bugged me: "Abortions should be allowed in all cases, regardless of the reason."

I have no problem with abortions at all. But to allow them in ALL cases to me, means those that are going over currently recognized term limit. I'm not OK with aborting a fetus beyond that point (1st trimester). I don't know enough about the medical side to know when that drop dead point should be.

Anyways, just thought that question was poorly worded. Here's my bars.

NDP 76%
GPC 64%
LPC 61%
CPC 37%

Pretty neat site. Get to see where all the parties stand relative to you on a number of issues.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by MattyC

I have no problem with abortions at all. But to allow them in ALL cases to me, means those that are going over currently recognized term limit. I'm not OK with aborting a fetus beyond that point (1st trimester). I don't know enough about the medical side to know when that drop dead point should be.

Yeah, for me it boils down to the fact that I shouldn't get to decide what a woman does with her own body, and neither should the state.

[Ashartus]

Originally Posted by MattyC

Pretty neat site. Get to see where all the parties stand relative to you on a number of issues.

I think I got more value from digging into the details of the results and where I compared to the parties on specific issues than the overall percentages, since some issues are fairly important to me and others not so much.