2011 Canadian Election Thread

[Bertuzzied]

ugh it's the english debate. why are most of the questions from the media scrum in French?

[zamler]

"Directly live, in their homes"

Amazing.

[Fire]

I thought Harper did a very good job in the debate. Ignatieff did fine as well. Layton and Duceppe were the worse of the bunch but nobody was terrible.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

At the end of the day the proof is in the results.

The government didn't lose the confidence of the house, so the agreement didn't come into play. The proposed 2008 coalition never panned out either, but that doesn't mean the proposal wasn't real.

[V]

Originally Posted by Ark2

lol

even those two couldn't agree on what happened. Layton says he stormed out of that hotel room because he wasn't ready to make Harper the Prime Minister, Duceppe says that wasn't the case. Believe what you want I guess, but citing anything those two buffoons say as any sort of factual evidence is laughable.

It's comical willful ignorance to think it was anything outside of an intention for a coalition. The only difference from the Lib-Dipper coalition is that the the Libs didn't ask the GG first.

Harper would've been better off by just letting the coalition boogeyman fester on its own without his direct hammering on the topic. Banging on the drum has only made him look silly since he so obviously was going to get called on it himself.

[sclitheroe]

Does anyone know if it will be possible to watch online somewhere afterwards? I missed lots driving home.

[Mazrim]

Somebody spray painted the Stephen Harper sign on Canyon Meadows Drive...now it says LIAR over his name.

[zamler]

Michael Ignatieff is not an eloquent speaker.

[zamler]

Originally Posted by Mazrim

Somebody spray painted the Stephen Harper sign on Canyon Meadows Drive...now it says LIAR over his name.

The vandals, they have the pulse of the nation.

[Ark2]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

Ark2: if Harper wasn't planning a coalition in 2004, then what exactly did he mean when he asked the GG to consider all the options if the Liberals lost a confidence vote?

I don't know, but you have Layton saying tonight that he stormed out of their meeting because he wasn't willing to help Harper become the PM, and then people cite this a more proof of Harper wanting a coalition. Well, did Layton not sign the same agreement asking the GG to consider all options? Wouldn't that letter also implicate him in wanting to form a coalition? According to him, he was opposed to such a thing, so how the heck does all of this work?

[Bertuzzied]

Best move by Ignatieff all nite. "Did it hurt you when JLay reminded you of your absences from parliament?"

And then he boots it.

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by SebC

The government didn't lose the confidence of the house, so the agreement didn't come into play. The proposed 2008 coalition never panned out either, but that doesn't mean the proposal wasn't real.

If they were serious about forming a coalition, I would have expected the 3 parties to topple the Martin government at the first opportunity and form a coalition.

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

If they were serious about forming a coalition, I would have expected the 3 parties to topple the Martin government at the first opportunity and form a coalition.

Why? did the libs,ndp and bloc topple the conservative minority ASAP?

[Ark2]

Originally Posted by SebC

The government didn't lose the confidence of the house, so the agreement didn't come into play. The proposed 2008 coalition never panned out either, but that doesn't mean the proposal wasn't real.

That's because in 2008, there was actually a proposal.

[Matty81]

Nice to see harper finally answer some questions, i've never seen such a heavily controlled election campaign in canada.

I thought duceppe was god awful, and basically the 3 non governing parties mostly just took shots at harper's platform. Harper did well staying calm, and very poor presenting any tangible ideas to me. He could be asked a direct question and answered a totally different one. Mixed feelings overall.

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by Ark2

That's because in 2008, there was actually a proposal.

then you are pretty naive if you didn't think Harper wanted to be PM in a coalition in 2004.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by V

Harper would've been better off by just letting the coalition boogeyman fester on its own without his direct hammering on the topic. Banging on the drum has only made him look silly since he so obviously was going to get called on it himself.

Doesn't matter. Harper's advertising budget lets him bang louder.

[zamler]

Originally Posted by Bertuzzied

Why? did the libs,ndp and bloc topple the conservative minority ASAP?

The Libs did. They waited until they had their ducks in a row as much as possible. This is Ignatieff's swan song, if he doesn't become PM then he's off to the States or wherever else he decides to call home.

[TylerSVT]

Stupid French people... seriously, watching the end of the debate the Bloc comes off as such an arrogant bunch of tools. I almost hope they separate and get the hell out of this country... we dont need them here anyways.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

If they were serious about forming a coalition, I would have expected the 3 parties to topple the Martin government at the first opportunity and form a coalition.

The Liberals made concessions to retain confidence of the House in the face of the coalition threat, just as the Conservatives did.