[Canada] Canadian Politics Redux

[Malthus]

Maybe something will come of it, though I'm not holding my breath.

I thought you were supposed to hold it in for a bit before exhaling?

[Jacob]

So I caught a snippet of the grits' leadership thing and I distinctly heard Trudeau say "end marijuana prohibition". Seems like CC read the situation correctly.

[crazy canuck]

I read that the Ontario PC leader is promising to bring in US style Right to Work legislation if elected.  Is he going to end up with 2 seats or is this sort of idea going to get any traction?

[Neil]

I would think it would hurt him, but I know that there's been some strife with the public service unions out there.  Sometimes that can rally people to these sorts of things.

[Josephus]

You'd think it wouldn't work BUT....the Liberals have been in power forever in Ontario, and even though the premier is retiring, I've a feeling that the pendulum may very well swing in his favour--simply because it's their turn.

But also, in addition to picking up the usual disgruntled voter, he's also been pushing a lot of popularist stuff (beer in convenience stores), an end to the liquor board and that sort of stuff.
He's also going on a lot about cutting welfare cheques and making welfare recipients work for their cheques and a lot of shit like that. Add to that the teachers' union wanting  to hang the Liberal premier by the balls and you have a situation where the PCs might win.

The only thing against him is he hasn't polled particularly well as a leader to the neutrals, but since neither the NDP nor the Liberals have anybody particularly charismatic in the wings, that may be a non-issue.

[HVC]

I'd laugh if the teachers union being douches brings about a PC government.

[Josephus]

From today's Toronto Star:

"Liberal leadership candidates are remakably vague. But there is no indication that his will save their party from going down the drain whenever an election is called in Ontario. Part of the problem for the Liberals is that the values they trumpet are not unique to them. Liberals are for equality of opportunity, fiscal sobriety and helping those who need a hand. Fine. But who isn't?"

[crazy canuck]

It may be that Layton's tenure was the high water mark for the NDP and that Mulcair is no Jack Layton.

The Conservatives have widened their lead over the New Democrats over the last four months, taking advantage of an NDP slide that has gone almost unchecked since the opposition party led in national voting intentions in June of last year.

A weighted blend of polls suggests that the Conservatives currently have the support of 35 per cent of Canadians, a gain of one point since the beginning of October. The New Democrats have fallen two points since then to 29 per cent, while the Liberals have held steady at 23 per cent support. The Bloc Québécois and Greens round out the list with six and five per cent support, respectively.

It also seems that traditional voting blocks are still in place.

[Grey Fox]

So Ontario now has openly gay premier.

[Malthus]

So Ontario now has openly gay premier.

The Ontario Liberals have had a disasterous run. I dunno if changing leaders is going to help them. Winn may well be a Kim Campbell - lesbian or not.

[crazy canuck]

You will all know how much it pains me to say this.  But I think the NDP are onto something with this proposal. 

The federal New Democrats are calling for fines and suspensions of MPs who launch personal attacks on fellow politicians in the House of Commons.

"To stand and speak in the House of Commons is an enormous privilege," NDP House Leader Nathan Cullen told reporters on Tuesday morning. "When we fail to do our job with respect and civility, MPs should lose that privilege."

The current penalties are not stringent enough to curb bad behaviour, said Mr. Cullen. What is needed, he said, are financial repercussions.

The NDP House Leader has moved that the Commons committee on Procedure and House Affairs be asked to recommend ways to give the Speaker the authority to penalize MPs who use harassment, threats and personal attacks, or who offer extreme misrepresentations of facts about other politicians and their positions when speaking in the House of Commons.

Those penalties would increase when the infractions occur during the daily Question Period or during the period set aside for Members' statements.

Mr. Cullen would like the Speaker to be able to revoke the opportunity for questions from parties whose MPs have been disruptive. Politicians who break the rules would get a warning after their first offence, a one-day suspension following their second offence, a five-day suspension following their third offence, and a 20-day suspension following their fourth offence.

MPs would forfeit their salaries while they serve their suspension. And Mr. Cullen said parties would lose strategic advantage if the number of questions they can ask is reduced.

"We are talking about serious threats here," he said.

"The current penalties are not effective because they don't stack up against the rewards for bad behaviour," said Mr. Cullen. "Strategic acting out by MPs makes headlines. Threats and personal attacks replace the debate on the issues facing Canadians."

Mr. Cullen said his party is launching a campaign that it calls the Civility Project and is calling on Canadians to contact their MPs to say it is important to reverse the current trend toward increasing hostility in the Commons.

New Democrats are among the most disciplined MPs in the House. But the members of Mr. Cullen's own caucus are not always pillars of civility. On Monday, Speaker Andrew Scheer chastised NDP MP Charlie Angus for saying Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre was wearing a "clown nose."

And it may be difficult for the Speaker to make clear distinctions, in some cases, between what is normal discourse and what is a misrepresentation of the facts. The New Democrats, for instance, have been listening for months to Conservative allegations that an NDP government would impose a "$21-billion carbon tax on everything" – something the NDP says is a gross mischaracterization, if not an outright lie.

Nor it is it the first time that an MP has tried to elevate the discourse in the Commons. In 2010, Conservative MP Michael Chong introduced a six-point plan to improve civility. That motion hit a roadblock with the 2011 election but is still before the Procedures and House Affairs committee. So, it would seem that ending the cross-Commons attacks is not necessarily a Parliamentary priority.

Still, said Mr. Cullen, a change in decorum has to start somewhere because the antics in the House are turning off voters and eroding democracy. And heckling that takes shots at another MP's gender, religion, race or sexual orientation is particularly offensive, he said.

"We're not saying we won't play hard, we're not saying we won't make mistakes from time to time, " he said. "It is about making things better."

[Jacob]

I was at a fundraiser for the provincial NDP last night, full of new tech CEOs, CFOs and their ilk. There were even a few Albertans there - quoth one "if they found out I was at an NDP function I'd lose my Albertan citizenship".

It's not the most natural constituency in the world, but the NDP say they want to help new tech and say they want to help games. Still, if the BC Liberals showed interest, I'm sure they could grab these guys.

CC, you've got connections on the right of centre side of the spectrum; what are the prospects for listening to new tech and games (and maybe even acting on what is heard)?

[crazy canuck]

I would say pretty good.

The first question I would ask Mr. Dix if I was at that fund raiser is "how much of a corporate capital tax are you going to impose" and "how much are you going to increase personal income tax"?

I would also be interested in know what they say they are going to do.  If you look back to the time when the Provincial Liberals brought in the amendments to the Employment Standards Act to exempt high tech companies from certain of the overtime pay requirements the NPD howled.  Dont be surprised if a lot of the things that tech companies currently take for granted are repealed.

[Jacob]

Now you're scaremongering

The NDP is offering input on relevant policy white-papers while they're being drafted.

Also neither corporate capital tax and personal income tax are particularly relevant to new tech and games. I mean, sure, people and companies generally prefer to pay less tax but neither of those two measures will do much to help the industry.

Personally, I don't think that getting into subsidy warfare with Ontario and Quebec for the attention of large studios is the way to go (though I do see some merit in the arguments). I'm the more interested in better support for entrepreneurs and start-ups, both because I'm personally invested there (), but also because I think that has much better long term prospects in terms of sustainability and return on investment.

The point is that hitherto the governments of BC has been pretty lacklustre on that front. Right now the BC NDP is acting as if they want to change that and they're lining up a bunch of people who aren't necessarily natural NDP supporters as a result.

My sense of the game industry is that it tends centre-right (when it's not apolitical), so it wouldn't be too difficult for the BC Libs to steal a march on the NDP in the area, but right now the NDP is the only party moving on the issue.

Basically what I'm saying, CC, is that you should go tell your BC Lib contacts to treat this area seriously, get someone on board who has some insight into the industry, do some listening, and craft some policy proposals that are better than the NDP's

[crazy canuck]

Now you're scaremongering

Is it scaremongering to cite facts?

The last time the NDP were in government they imposed corporate capital taxes.  I am not sure you understand the full impact of that.  It means a gaming company is no longer just taxed on its profits.  It means it is taxed on whatever capital is put into the company to produce the game.  As I understand it, in your industry that can be quite a large amount.

Tech companies rely on the exemptions they currently enjoy under the employment standards act so as to avoid paying overtime.  If those sorts of costs are not a concern then great.

If you want to attract people here then personal income tax rates probably play at least some role in that.  At last that is what tech companies were saying more than a decade ago before income tax rates were lowered, in part for that purpose.

I think it might take four years of NDP government to remind people about the bad old days.

The NDP is offering input on relevant policy white-papers while they're being drafted.

Awesome, 5 bucks and this promise gets you a cup of coffee.  What government doesnt automatically do this now?

I'm the more interested in better support for entrepreneurs and start-ups, both because I'm personally invested there (), but also because I think that has much better long term prospects in terms of sustainability and return on investment.

And yet you say taxation policy doesnt concern you?

The point is that hitherto the governments of BC has been pretty lacklustre on that front. Right now the BC NDP is acting as if they want to change that and they're lining up a bunch of people who aren't necessarily natural NDP supporters as a result

.

They are attracting a room of unlikely people because everyone sees the writing on the wall.   

Basically what I'm saying, CC, is that you should go tell your BC Lib contacts to treat this area seriously, get someone on board who has some insight into the industry, do some listening, and craft some policy proposals that are better than the NDP's

Ok, like what.  The big thing the NDP is going to do is consult when drafting. Existing policy is already better than that.  You are being blind to the damage adverse tax policy does to all industries including the tech industry.