(no subject)

[lady_kishiria]

Steve and I are following the elections in Canada. I don't think anyone has anything to fear; it's a Conservative minority government in which they can't form a coalition with anybody and they're going to be held in check by their THREE oppositions.

For the Americans, the four major parties are: Conservative (Tories), Liberals (Grits), National Democratic Party (Socialists) and in Quebec, the Bloc Quebecois (le Quebec aux Quebecois socialists). I usually voted BQ when I lived in Montreal.

And cheer up, Canada...at least you KNOW your candidates were actually elected.

For the Americans, Canada only uses hand-marked paper ballots that can be physically counted. The way it should be, IMHO, and ecological concerns be damned.

But I'm willing to be $100 US that civil rights won't be rolled back and Canada's not going to Iraq, which is the bugbear in most non-Tories' minds.

Comments

[patgund.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Harper is going to have to pander to the Liberals and NDP to get anything done. BQ *may* ally with him as they favour a weak federal government as well, and the Tory's could throw them a few bones for their cooperation. But it's doubtful that a Tory-BQ block would counter a Liberal-NDP block, and a possible Liberal-NDP-BQ block may be more likely.

I wouldn't be surprised to see another election within a year though.

And I still want to shove a bowling ball down Harper's throat.

[kallisti.livejournal.com]

I said in my on LJ that this is the worst case for the Mr. Harper. If he formed a coalition with the Bloc, he would loose the next election very badly. Probably not as bad as Post Mulroney, but bad. So he has to deal with the NDP, hehehehehe.

Former Prime Minister Kim Campbell just took Harper to task for not trying to reach out to former PMs like her to get some help in forming a government. I saw her on P/o/l/i/t/i/c/a/l/l/y/ I/n/n/c/o/r/r/e/c/t/ Real Time with Bill Maher, and she kicked ass there!

Although I don't support the old Progressive Conservative Party, it was nice to have a decent opposition party had national view of things, as opposed to a regional, single issue party like the Bloc.

ttyl

[patgund.livejournal.com]

I see it as a punishment vote, the Liberals screwed up and are being pushed around, but certainly not out. The Tories have a little time to prove themselves but if they overreach, they could get voted them out of existence like 1992.

Harper is going to have to find those 31 votes he needs from somewhere, since the Tories didn't get the 155 needed for a majority government. And BQ may not be willing to ally with the Tories because they lost seats as well. (NDP actually gained 10 seats.)

I wouldn't be surprised to see another election within a year though.

And I still want to shove a bowling ball down Harper's throat.

[garpu.livejournal.com]

OK...thanks to clearing things up. Been trying to follow jawnbc's posts, but was hard to follow.

[youngfreud.livejournal.com]

Canada...at least you KNOW your candidates were actually elected.

Yeah, that must be nice.

[adeodatus.livejournal.com]

For the Americans, Canada only uses hand-marked paper ballots that can be physically counted. The way it should be, IMHO, and ecological concerns be damned.

Yeah, well, what are you gonna do with something like the "Electoral College". Its not the results of the first GWB election that get me ... its the way the electoral college is set up. In fact, the very fact that it is used kinda freaks me out.

But I'm willing to be $100 US that civil rights won't be rolled back and Canada's not going to Iraq, which is the bugbear in most non-Tories' minds.

But I really hope the new leadership will be able to put some much needed money into the Canadian military.

[kishiriadgr.livejournal.com]

"But I really hope the new leadership will be able to put some much needed money into the Canadian military."

Hear hear. Ask thepunkpanther. I get the impression that the Canadian Forces use in the field the equipment the American army would give to Basic trainees to play with.