[Canada] Canadian Politics Redux

[viper37]

Attachment to the country (red) - to the province (blue.




The redder the colour means the people of the province identify more to the country than to their province.  The bluer the color means they identify more to their province.


I am shocked, shocked, by the results.

Ontarians are Canadians.  Damn. I just fell off my chair.

Let's do that independence.

The CAQ ain't gonna do it any time soon the way they govern.

[HVC]

Doug Ford spent a quarter of a Billion dollars to end an exclusive contract a year early so that corner stores can sell booze. What happened to the myth of the fiscal conservative?

[crazy canuck]

a better question is Where did all the fiscal conservatives go?

They have been absent in the United States for a while.  But in Canada, we had a fiscal conservative in Harper.  The emphasis of the conservatives now in Canada is populism.

[Josephus]

Doug Ford spent a quarter of a Billion dollars to end an exclusive contract a year early so that corner stores can sell booze. What happened to the myth of the fiscal conservative?

It surrendered to populism

[viper37]

But in Canada, we had a fiscal conservative in Harper.

The people didn't like it.

They voted him out of power in favour of a government who promised to spend beyond our means and who said deficits and debt didn't matter.  And the people were happy.

Parties took notes.

[Grey Fox]

[HVC]

But in Canada, we had a fiscal conservative in Harper.

The people didn't like it.

They voted him out of power in favour of a government who promised to spend beyond our means and who said deficits and debt didn't matter.  And the people were happy.

Parties took notes.

I voted for him until he started dipping his toe into pandering to racists.

[Josephus]

But in Canada, we had a fiscal conservative in Harper.

The people didn't like it.

They voted him out of power in favour of a government who promised to spend beyond our means and who said deficits and debt didn't matter.  And the people were happy.

Parties took notes.

I voted for him until he started dipping his toe into pandering to racists.

You voted for Harper?

OH, HVC, I'm so disappointed.

[HVC]

Only conservative I voted for lol. Started as a protest vote. But he didn't break stuff so I kept it up

[Valmy]

a better question is Where did all the fiscal conservatives go?

They have been absent in the United States for a while.  But in Canada, we had a fiscal conservative in Harper.  The emphasis of the conservatives now in Canada is populism.

In the 1990s both parties wanted fiscal conservatism and we had a balanced budget...ish. Maybe.

But then George W Bush became President and blasted our budget into oblivion while his VP announced that Reagan proved that deficits do not matter. And we basically have continued on this completely sustainable path ever since.

[Admiral Yi]

 

[crazy canuck]

a better question is Where did all the fiscal conservatives go?

They have been absent in the United States for a while.  But in Canada, we had a fiscal conservative in Harper.  The emphasis of the conservatives now in Canada is populism.

In the 1990s both parties wanted fiscal conservatism and we had a balanced budget...ish. Maybe.

But the George W Bush became President and blasted our budget into oblivion while his VP announced that Reagan proved that deficits do not matter. And we basically have continued on this completely sustainable path ever since.

Yeah, that's what I had in mind 

[Oexmelin]

I think "fiscal conservatism" was always a very narrow electoral niche that was overrepresented among political personnel.

[crazy canuck]

I think "fiscal conservatism" was always a very narrow electoral niche that was overrepresented among political personnel.

It depends what time period you are thinking about.  Back in the 90s getting budget deficits under control was THE main issue in Canadian politics.  All the parties promised to do it.  Consider that even the NDP, leading in the polls, ran on being fiscally prudent.  That is when I think the concept became a spent force in Canada - and Trudeau was elected.  And boy have we paid the price for that.

[Oexmelin]

I know - it was a big political consensus, but political consensus amongst political parties can often be quite divorced from their policy content. I remain unsure as to the actual importance of fiscal conservatism, beyond the slogan, among voters. I know they scored points with the analogy to domestic responsibility, but the connection to the tinly veiled moral language of conservatism at large - punish the lazy - appears slightly clearer to me.