Election!

[CaptainCrunch]

In the big picture on the economy the Liberal's are really going to scream from the hills, 8 straight surpluses and record un employment, but where have these surpluses come from and are we better off, I mean sure the Liberal's are willing to knock 300 bucks a year off of our average paychecks, but if you look at the tax increases over the last 13 years, we're not better off, we're worse off, they've created the surpluses by taxing the everloving crap out of us. Does that make life better for the guys living from pay check to paycheck. Does raiding EI to boost the Surplus count as a success?

Are we actually getting good and proper spending from the government and maximum bang for the buck.

Can the Liberal's really take all the credit for the record unemployment, or is the exploding demand for energy and lower paying labour jobs created soley by the private sector to be credited.

Listening to the Liberal's gloating about thier success is like playing three card monty with 1000 cards.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Bend it like Bourgeois

We said that last election, when everyone knew the libs were caught up in the mess but no one cared.

This election looks like it'll be about how best to say 'sorry'.

Hopefully Canadian's aren't stupid enough to buy it. They're about as sorry as I was when I took my room mates last beer in college. Or when I forgot to take out the garbage and my girlfriend confronted me on that.

Oh . . . Yeah . . . right . . . . Sorry

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Are you seeing a theme here? He was asked a question about what happened THEN...he answered it as to how he felt THEN

whats that got to do with now? Or would you see him as smarter to just say no comment and walk away?

That makes sense if he hadn't said...

"It will be a genuine free vote when I'm prime minister," Harper said.
"I will not whip our cabinet," he added, referring to the process by which Paul Martin's ministers were forced last summer to support a bill that legalized gay weddings.

He's going to reopen the issue. It's as plain as day. He wasn't talking only about the past, he's talking clearly about what he will do. You don't actually think he's changed his mind, do you?


And yeah, it probably would have been smarter to just say "no comment" and walk away. That or something reasonable like "that issue has been settled and it's time to focus on something more important, something that concerns more than 0.002% of the population". That way he might, you know, gain some of those fencesitters and moderates, instead of losing them over a nothing issue.

[MarchHare]

I find it somewhat funny that people are so eager to jump all over the Conservatives before the campaign has even started, it shows your unwillingness to listen to what they're presenting.

Yeah, and and the Conservative supporters on this board are totally giving a fair look at any of the other parties...

[Winsor_Pilates]

First day of the election call and already 3 pages of battle. This one looks like it's gonna get ugly.
I can see some some posters have already thrown out all class and decensy they might have had. Can't wait to see them in a month.

[Tron_fdc]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

That makes sense if he hadn't said...

"It will be a genuine free vote when I'm prime minister," Harper said.
"I will not whip our cabinet," he added, referring to the process by which Paul Martin's ministers were forced last summer to support a bill that legalized gay weddings.

He's going to reopen the issue. It's as plain as day. He wasn't talking only about the past, he's talking clearly about what he will do. You don't actually think he's changed his mind, do you?


And yeah, it probably would have been smarter to just say "no comment" and walk away. That or something reasonable like "that issue has been settled and it's time to focus on something more important, something that concerns more than 0.002% of the population". That way he might, you know, gain some of those fencesitters and moderates, instead of losing them over a nothing issue.

Isn't that what he more or less did last time though? And it blew up in his face (hidden agenda). Seems to me this time he's putting everything out in the open, so he can say "what hidden agenda? I've been saying that since day 1".

Just a different approach, I think.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

Yeah, and and the Conservative supporters on this board are totally giving a fair look at any of the other parties...

I think we've given the Liberals a more then fair look with 12 years of bad and corrupt government. Its hard to trust them with anything that they say anymore.

Hey I voted Liberal after the last conservative government fell, I was a pretty hard core Liberal back in my 20's. and I floated away from thier views when I hit my mid thirties.

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by Tron_fdc

Isn't that what he more or less did last time though? And it blew up in his face (hidden agenda). Seems to me this time he's putting everything out in the open, so he can say "what hidden agenda? I've been saying that since day 1".

Just a different approach, I think.

Possibly, but did he really hide his feelings on the issue last time? I don't remember.

Either way, Canadians don't want a social conservative running the show. Hidden agenda (real or imagined) (but it's real) or out in the open, it doesn't really matter. They won't win.

[Daradon]

As I mentioned in my first post. The Conservatives simply WILL NOT win with such a conservative social agenda, and why they seem to be fighting it tooth and nail is beyond me. There might not be a better time to unseat the government.

They would win with a LANDSLIDE if they made some more moderate social policies and put on a friendlier face.

Politics is about compromise (or at least promising it and taking it back later, lol). Now one could assume that the Conservatives are just such a great group of guys that they don't want to make promises they can't keep, (does anyone really believe that?) but maybe it's closer to the truth that they are just too thick to see what the majority of Canadians want. They want to push their vision of 'morals' and make their Canada.

I don't want to see the Liberals in power, I don't want to see them waste more money, and I have never voted for them in my life. But I'm not just going to 'punish them' by voting Conservate cause they are the next closest party in terms of support. It has nothing to do with Eastern Canada being 'weak' as some posters have mentioned in more colorful words. It comes down to that even with everything the Liberals have done, the Conservative platform is still more unsavory.

Canada has more or less TOLD the Conservatives this in the polls. And still they try to run through the brick wall. All they have to do is tweak some things in their platform. It's frustrating to watch!

It may be a wasted vote, but at least my conscience can sleep while I vote Green.

And no, any bill about fundamental human rights should not be set to a free vote. It should be granted.

And let's not get into this whole 'definition' argument again. We've done it a hundred times on this forum. If you defend it as important, why would you think it would be any less important to anyone else? Why would you think they wouldn't want the exact same right/term you enjoy?

[Mike F]

Originally Posted by transplant99

What a concept!!. A party leader following his parties mandate......something so foreign to Libs and their ilk, apparently its now a bad thing.

Originally Posted by transplant99

The ONLY reason he rammed [the Gay Marriage Bill] through on a midnight vote was because of political reasons...no more and no less. I dont respect that so please dont tell me i should

So Harper starts up the Conservative social agenda and he's a responsible leader worth lauding.

Martin follows through on the liberal social agenda and he's a despicable political hack.

Harper and Martin were both trying to appeal to their base. If you don't think Harper would push through conservative policies if he were PM & had the votes you are deluding yourself. The same way many right-leaning posters did when they came out and cried foul when the Liberal gov't used legitimate Parliamentary rules to preserve the minority gov't -- like Harper would have just let a Conservative gov't topple.

By the way, isn't it time someone brought up bestiality &/or incest and then accused the Liberals of fearmongering? It's page 3 of a CP political thread and it just seems a little incomplete .

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by Daradon

I don't want to see the Liberals in power, I don't want to see them waste more money, and I have never voted for them in my life. But I'm not just going to 'punish them' by voting Conservate cause they are the next closest party in terms of support. It has nothing to do with Eastern Canada being 'weak' as some posters have mentioned in more colorful words. It comes down to that even with everything the Liberals have done, the Conservative platform is still more unsavory.

I wish I could have come up with that. I wouldn't have had to do so much typing.

[Cube Inmate]

Originally Posted by Daradon

And no, any bill about fundamental human rights should not be set to a free vote. It should be granted.

...and any marshmallow-minded citizen who doesn't understand what the word "fundamental" means shouldn't be allowed to vote. The only "fundamental" human rights are those which people define and enforce themselves. Anything else is just an illusion designed to make people think they're living in a civilized society. Seriously...how can you call something a "fundamental right" when it can be so easily taken away? I assure you...a single moron with a cell-phone and a 2-ton vehicle could take away your "right" to life and there's not a damn thing you could do about it. Do you think you're somehow protected because the CoR guarantees your security rights???

It's a piece of paper, people. Anyone who blindly follows the outdated and misinterpreted dictates of a piece of paper (a.k.a. the Charter of Rights) is no different than someone who blindly follows biblical teachings.

In that vein, therefore, howzabout we go and lop off the hands of some bread thiefs? Anybody with me?

FYI: This post is an example of why I don't normally drink and post.

[duncan]

Originally Posted by Incinerator

Notice how it was the Fib-biased JOURNALIST that wrote the first line? Harper said nothing about trying to reinstate the traditional definition of marriage, he merely said he would put it through a free vote in the House, which is how democracy is supposed to work anyways instead of Paul Martin telling all his backbenchers to vote whatever the hell he's pushing through.

Although I agree Harper probably should've STFU'd on the subject until he wins the damn election. Now it's too late.

Canoe based print, was the biggest supporter of the Conservative party. The Toronto Sun, its flagship is as pro-Tory as you can get.

[Incinerator]

Originally Posted by duncan

Canoe based print, was the biggest supporter of the Conservative party. The Toronto Sun, its flagship is as pro-Tory as you can get.

The CP wire isn't owned by Canoe. Read what I quoted above.

[Hakan]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I find it somewhat funny that people are so eager to jump all over the Conservatives before the campaign has even started, it shows your unwillingness to listen to what they're presenting.

But yet it's okay to jump all over the NDP right without listening to their platform or to their campaign.

Don't try to paint yourself different from the people you criticize. You wont give the Liberals or NDP one iota of consideration. So don't trash people that act in the same way only against the party you support.

[Incinerator]

Originally Posted by Hakan

But yet it's okay to jump all over the NDP right without listening to their platform or to their campaign.

Don't try to paint yourself different from the people you criticize. You wont give the Liberals or NDP one iota of consideration. So don't trash people that act in the same way only against the party you support.

Jack Layton has proven himself to be the biggest spineless twit to ever grace Canadian politics, he got in bed with the Fibs-minority to have his agenda pushed through, only to join Harper and Duceppe in condemning the very same Fibs in the non-confidence vote. Maybe he would've garnered an ounce of respect even from the NDP-voting auto unions if he didn't flipflop back and forth to make himself look like a hypocritic idiot.

[Hakan]

It's called trying to do the most for your constituents. Which the NDP did in spades. If that is being a twit then no wonder you would support the Conservatives.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Hakan

But yet it's okay to jump all over the NDP right without listening to their platform or to their campaign.

Don't try to paint yourself different from the people you criticize. You wont give the Liberals or NDP one iota of consideration. So don't trash people that act in the same way only against the party you support.

I'm sorry, I wasn't aware that I had dumped on the NDP platform anywhere in this thread or any other. I have jumped all over the Liberal platform because its pretty easy to pick it up when they continually fail to keep thier campaign promises. But its good to see that you've picked up your big old brush and tried to paint everyone thats not a Liberal supporter as an evil neoconservative with a closed minded view of the world

[troutman]

Globe & Mail

Have you decided which party will get your support on January 23?
Yes 12094 (83 %)
No 2471 vote if (17 %)
Total Votes: 14565

If this is accurate, there are not a lot of votes up for grabs.

Polls:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...lDecision2006/

[Bend it like Bourgeois]

Wonder where that stat has been before the last couple campaigns.

17% could be huge in a lot of ridings. Tough to say if its a little or a lot.