Canadian Politics
 

Well I noticed that while there was a lot of discussion over US politics, there didn't seem to be a thread for people (all people) to express their views over the upcoming election (June 28th) or Canadian policies..... so now there is one.

I'd like very much for people to play nice and try to stay civil.. but we all know that some won't.... but lets try and keep the thread from devolving into a childish flame war.

Oh for those intrested in information about Canadian politics... or which party your views most match please visit the following sites:
www.politicswatch.com
-or-
www.canadawebpages.com

So to start it off.... what are people's thoughts on the different party platforms so far?

I was shocked to discover that my views are actually more in line with the NDP than the PCs.... quite shocking to me actually as I have always opposed the NDPs for being a bunch of tree-hugging hippies :D

However in speaking with Jack Layton at a function recently I was suprised to discover that they actually do favour an increase of funding to the military (my pet issue) something I'd always assumed they opposed... anyone else had any revelations during this campaign?

Good thread.

I'm adding the Green Party website to my post because they are always being left out.

And now Rob, you can't be calling the NDP tree-hugging hippies. They're really a bunch of people that were born with silver spoons in their mouth who think they are helping the "blue-collar" Canadian but they have no clue what they want. That's why they don't get elected. ;)

Anyway, I have be come a Green supporter. I will like their ideas on health care. Work more towards preventitive medicine. I love universal healthcare (being a diabetic it's important to me) but far to many people abuse the system. I agree we need to stop the system abuse and work towards preventitive measures. Hopefully people will stop running to the doctor as soon as they have a sniffle.

Anyway, has anyone gone to an all candidates meeting yet? There was one for my riding but I had to miss it. I'm hoping there will be another in my riding before the election. Anyone know where I can find out?

There was one for my riding last night but I was unable to make it. I've been to other all-candidate's meetings before, though they were from before I was old enough to vote. I had to go to them as part of a class assignment (once in Grade 9 history for the '93 election and again in '97 for OAC law). As for Lady Pi Phi's comment on the NDP, yeah, that's true, especially if you look at its leader as well as Toronto's mayo (Mr. Miller may claim that he came from slightly modest means, but his mom also sent him to Lakefield College School)

I know there has been a bit of talk suggesting that we change the electoral system here in Canada. I know I wouldn't mind seeing some changes.

One thing that does bother me is that we do not directly vote for our PM. In my short life times all our PM's having been French-Canadian or their ridings are in Quebec (Brian Mulroney, Jean Chretian, and Mow Paul Martin). My personal feelings on having a French-Canadian PM is that they spend far too much time worrying about the Sepratists and not enough about the rest of the country.
Yes, there have been a few non-French-Canadian PMs, but they haven't lasted very long in office (ie. Joe Clark, Kim Campbell).
My idea was that we still have ridings and we still elect a representative for that riding. Then the party with the most seats would be come the ruling party and then the ruling party would select a few representitives from that part and the the Whole of Canada would elect from the group the person to be Prime Minister.
So it wouldn't be the leader of the party that automatically became PM (provided he won his seat) it would be some chosen by the people.
Does that make sense?

What do you think? Any ideas of your own?

The only problem with that system is that it takes too long, and that some people would be upset because they aren't the ones who select the finalists to run for PM.

True. But those same people would be upset no matter what because with the system now, they might not have been elected to be leader of the party.

Another question.

I was reading one of the sites that RACooper posedt and it listen the number of seats that each party held and said there were 3 vacant seats.

How can you have vacant seats.

They've added a few new ridings since the last election, and these ridings don't have MPs

Don't forget John Turner !!

Ooops! That's right.

I just wanted to thank y'all for this thread. I'm finding it hard to keep up with the election talk here, but you're helping me to become more informed. I'll be able to vote by this time next year (I'll be a citizen then - YAY!), and you've all been a great help.

Vote Green!

(Can you tell who I am voting for? ;) )

Anyway, did anyone see the Metro this morning. I did't get a chance to read the article but the cover said the the Conservatives wre now in the lead.
Do you think they will stay in the lead. Do you think they will win the election? Or do you think this is a minor setback for the Liberals, but in the end they will win this election?

I think we'll see after the debates. However, they say that usually, whoever leads before the debates will continue to do so after. But then again, the Conservative lead isn't that far from the Liberals, so I wouldn't know. We're likely going to get a minority either way though.

I don't know.... the Green candidate from my riding looked like he uses to much green :)