[Canada] Canadian Politics Redux

[Jacob]

The couple of things I don't like seeing are embracing the "global warming is a hoax".  The Conservatives can and should try to promote a free-market friendly, revenue neutral approach to fighting CO2 emissions, and not embrace willfull ignorance.  And, not mentioned in the article, there was an incident where some protestors were chanting "lock her up" directed at Notley.  Now you can't really control what a crowd of people says, but politicians should not be encouraging that kind of anti-democratic language.

Those are the things that concern me as well - that they concern you reinforces my good opinion of you

[Barrister]

that is - if you were even a citizen

I will be by the next election, unless it's a snap one

Of course, where I'm at the question is whether I maintain or weaken the NDP stranglehold on my riding... unless we move.

What made you finally decide to take the plunge?

[Jacob]

What made you finally decide to take the plunge?

Two things:

1) Denmark finally allowed dual citizenship.
2) A desire to be a little more politically proactive.

... this combined to overcome my aversion to paperwork.

I've felt more Canadian than Danish for years though

[viper37]

So I see you're going with a "pure co-incidence" then on the dramatic increase in donations since 2014.

Of course he does.  Justin is a leftwinger.  Leftwinger get a pass at anything in this country.

When you post things like that is it because you think you're being clever or because you actually believe it?

I actually believe it.  There were lots of dirty tricks and illegal financing done over the years, always implicating leftwing party, like the Liberals and the NDP.  Did we talk a lot about it?  No.  Did we hold it against them?  No.  But sure, we did talk about the robocalls and the so called "hidden agenda" of the Conservatives.

[crazy canuck]

Unfortunately that's exactly what they look like they're doing.  The CPC leadership race has some statements coming out of it that should be raising a lot of alarms.  The recent event in Calgary drew 800 attendees and had some outrageous comments from the CPC leadership hopefuls.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/anti-carbon-tax-rally-calgary-1.3891723

Here's hoping it doesn't go anywhere... but these days it seems we shouldn't be too confident.

I don't see much that is objectionable in PRC's link.

That is unfortunate.  If the Conservatives continue down this path they will become as irrelevant as the Reform party was on the national stage and the Liberals will have another two decades in power no matter how badly they screw up.

[Monoriu]

That is unfortunate.  If the Conservatives continue down this path they will become as irrelevant as the Reform party was on the national stage and the Liberals will have another two decades in power no matter how badly they screw up.

I don't know.  Trump did win the election.  The same can happen to Canada.

[crazy canuck]

That is unfortunate.  If the Conservatives continue down this path they will become as irrelevant as the Reform party was on the national stage and the Liberals will have another two decades in power no matter how badly they screw up.

I don't know.  Trump did win the election.  The same can happen to Canada.

Canada is not the US.  The fact that so many Americans voted for Trump makes that very clear.  The problem for the Conservatives is they seem to be in their own little echo chamber and completely unaware of how silly they look when they start emulating that kind of stupidity. 

[viper37]

the Liberals will have another two decades in power no matter how badly they screw up.

given their liberal attitude with political financing, that's a given.

[crazy canuck]

the Liberals will have another two decades in power no matter how badly they screw up.

given their liberal attitude with political financing, that's a given.

If the Conservatives are a viable alternative, no.

My hope is that all the press the extremist wing nuts are currently getting is not indicative of who the Conservatives will pick as their leader..

[viper37]

the Liberals will have another two decades in power no matter how badly they screw up.

given their liberal attitude with political financing, that's a given.

If the Conservatives are a viable alternative, no.

My hope is that all the press the extremist wing nuts are currently getting is not indicative of who the Conservatives will pick as their leader..

the Conservatives managed to take power because:
a) Chrétien resigned just before the sponsorship scandal really made the news
b) Paul Martin was not as sure of himself as Chrétien was, and he was left there to deal with the fallout as Martin lauched the inquiry board
c) once a) was known to the general public, that b) was there, that financing was a tad more difficult, the Conservatives managed to outpace the Libs, they were in a minority government
d) the Bloc Québécois was severely weakened in Quebec and there were no party to pick up the mantle
e) once a,b,c and d were combined, the Conservatives managed to get a minority government
f) once they were now deprived of illegal financing, the Conservatives managed to secure a hold on power for a little while.

It's not for nothing the LPC calls itself a natural governing party.  Now that they are subtly changing the rules in their favour again, I don't expect a new government for the next 15-20 years.

My hope is that all the press the extremist wing nuts are currently getting is not indicative of who the Conservatives will pick as their leader..

I doubt Maxime Bernier has any chances.  All he wants is push the party a little more to the right than it is now.
Steven Blaney would be a good leader, if only he had charisma.
The others, just a bunch of unilingual anglos, so I don't really care which one.

[Malthus]

the Liberals will have another two decades in power no matter how badly they screw up.

given their liberal attitude with political financing, that's a given.

If the Conservatives are a viable alternative, no.

My hope is that all the press the extremist wing nuts are currently getting is not indicative of who the Conservatives will pick as their leader..

I agree. What I would like to see is a reasonable choice between distinctively Canadian liberals, conservatives and socialists, with each position clearly articulated and grounded in reality (albeit, obviously, different approaches to problem solving). Then, let the best leaders with the solutions that fit the moment win.

I hate with every fibre what is happening to politics south of the border, seeing it degenerate into "post truth" bullshit and demonization of the other. If the Conservatives adopt such tactics because they think it will give them an edge I for one will never vote for them again, and I hope Canadians as a whole completely reject them, too. Just to drive home that such things are not welcome here.

I used to have every confidence that Canadians will never, ever go for such tactics. My confidence has been shaken, because I also had some confidence that Americans would not, either.

[HVC]

I'm pretty sure viperwould still vote for a Canadian trump. So maybe it would work here. The die hard conservatives would stay on, and you'd get some fringe voters in. The conservatives didn't lose by much in the last election IIRC. maybe harpers issue wasn't that he started leaning xenophobic last election, but that he didn't go far enough. If our election was after brexit and trump the conservatives could have leaned and gone full out.

Whose our trump though? Gotta be somebody in Alberta who can lead the way. He has to learn French though.

[Grey Fox]

Maxime Bernier is our Trump but with political experience.

[Jacob]

I agree. What I would like to see is a reasonable choice between distinctively Canadian liberals, conservatives and socialists, with each position clearly articulated and grounded in reality (albeit, obviously, different approaches to problem solving). Then, let the best leaders with the solutions that fit the moment win.

I hate with every fibre what is happening to politics south of the border, seeing it degenerate into "post truth" bullshit and demonization of the other. If the Conservatives adopt such tactics because they think it will give them an edge I for one will never vote for them again, and I hope Canadians as a whole completely reject them, too. Just to drive home that such things are not welcome here.

I used to have every confidence that Canadians will never, ever go for such tactics. My confidence has been shaken, because I also had some confidence that Americans would not, either.

Yeah, that's where I'm at too, pretty much word for word.

[viper37]

I hate with every fibre what is happening to politics south of the border, seeing it degenerate into "post truth" bullshit and demonization of the other.

We're already here.  The Libs started it way before.

If the Conservatives adopt such tactics because they think it will give them an edge I for one will never vote for them again, and I hope Canadians as a whole completely reject them, too. Just to drive home that such things are not welcome here.

Well, it worked so well for Trudeau, I don't think any political party can afford to ignore it anymore.

I used to have every confidence that Canadians will never, ever go for such tactics. My confidence has been shaken, because I also had some confidence that Americans would not, either.

My confidence remain unshaken.  I did not have any to begin with.  The Republicans won because the American hard left managed to convince themselves that Clinton was just as bad as Trump because she wasn't their candidate.  There is no compromise for these people, it's their way or burn in hell.  And I've seen this behavior among the canadian hard lelft too, NDP supporters, Quebec Solidaire supporters, these people are unburdened by facts.  They write in major newspapers, post whatever shit they want and get away with it.