[Canada] Canadian Politics Redux

[Grey Fox]

Provincial parties different from federal parties is one of the weirdest things about Canada.

Right back at you! 

[Barrister]

Provincial parties different from federal parties is one of the weirdest things about Canada.

I've mentioned this before: in the past I've voted for

-Conservative Party
-Progressive Conservative Party
-Canadian Alliance
-Reform Party
-Wildrose Alliance
-Yukon Party

and my politics haven't moved one inch.

And I'll get to add a new party next year - the United Conservative Party

[Oexmelin]

Do you ever question why your politics haven't moved one inch?

(Real question, btw. There are no veiled accusation or implicit judgment in it).

[Barrister]

Do you ever question why your politics haven't moved one inch?

"Not one inch" is hyperbole - my views on certain issues have probably shifted slightly.  But not significantly.


Oh - I knew I was forgetting something on my list.  The only vote I ever regretted casting - for the Libertarian Party.   But in my defence, my local PC MLA actually knocked on my parents door a week before.  He saw I was young, started telling me about all they were doing to make jobs for young people.  I replied "I thought you were the PC candidate - governments don't create jobs".  He then switched 180 and started repeating back the stuff I mentioned to him.  I decided he was useless and voted Libertarian, thereby throwing my vote away as I think they got less than 100 votes in my riding.

[crazy canuck]

Oh - I knew I was forgetting something on my list.  The only vote I ever regretted casting - for the Libertarian Party.   But in my defence, my local PC MLA actually knocked on my parents door a week before.  He saw I was young, started telling me about all they were doing to make jobs for young people.  I replied "I thought you were the PC candidate - governments don't create jobs".  He then switched 180 and started repeating back the stuff I mentioned to him.  I decided he was useless and voted Libertarian, thereby throwing my vote away as I think they got less than 100 votes in my riding.

With a political view like that, the libertarians are pretty much your home.  Of course governments create jobs.  Not only the direct kind of employment but also through all manner of tax incentives, trade policies, regulatory requirements etc.  One would have to take a very narrow view of the world to think that government policies play no part.

[Barrister]

Oh - I knew I was forgetting something on my list.  The only vote I ever regretted casting - for the Libertarian Party.   But in my defence, my local PC MLA actually knocked on my parents door a week before.  He saw I was young, started telling me about all they were doing to make jobs for young people.  I replied "I thought you were the PC candidate - governments don't create jobs".  He then switched 180 and started repeating back the stuff I mentioned to him.  I decided he was useless and voted Libertarian, thereby throwing my vote away as I think they got less than 100 votes in my riding.

With a political view like that, the libertarians are pretty much your home.  Of course governments create jobs.  Not only the direct kind of employment but also through all manner of tax incentives, trade policies, regulatory requirements etc.  One would have to take a very narrow view of the world to think that government policies play no part.

Forgive me for not recounting verbatim a conversation I had more than 20 years ago.

I believe my exact complaint was something like "governments don't create jobs, instead they create the environment where private industry creates jobs".

[crazy canuck]

Oh - I knew I was forgetting something on my list.  The only vote I ever regretted casting - for the Libertarian Party.   But in my defence, my local PC MLA actually knocked on my parents door a week before.  He saw I was young, started telling me about all they were doing to make jobs for young people.  I replied "I thought you were the PC candidate - governments don't create jobs".  He then switched 180 and started repeating back the stuff I mentioned to him.  I decided he was useless and voted Libertarian, thereby throwing my vote away as I think they got less than 100 votes in my riding.

With a political view like that, the libertarians are pretty much your home.  Of course governments create jobs.  Not only the direct kind of employment but also through all manner of tax incentives, trade policies, regulatory requirements etc.  One would have to take a very narrow view of the world to think that government policies play no part.

Forgive me for not recounting verbatim a conversation I had more than 20 years ago.

I believe my exact complaint was something like "governments don't create jobs, instead they create the environment where private industry creates jobs".

It has nothing to do with recounting a conversation. You have stated your political views regarding small government etc. to know where you stand.  Even with your qualification my criticism of your politics stand.  It ignores the direct impact government policies have.   The concept of the private sector operating in a world untouched by government is mythologizing at its best (or worst depending on ones perspective).

[viper37]

Your Sanderbros aren't that left.

Sanderbros = Québec Solidaire.  They are hardcore radical commies, commited to violence when democracy will not produce the desired result.  They only thing saving the US from total anarchy is the right to bear arms.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g0dnxLGW8M

No, seriously, Sanderbros are quite to the left, even by Canadian standards. Their policies are more to the left than the Federal NDP.  Quite an achievement in the US political climate that they managed to push an handful of candidates toward the midterm elections.

Maybe the NRA&GOP were right after all, maybe Trump is all that stands between America and chaos 

[PRC]

I've mentioned this before: in the past I've voted for

-Conservative Party
-Progressive Conservative Party
-Canadian Alliance
-Reform Party
-Wildrose Alliance
-Yukon Party

and my politics haven't moved one inch.

And I'll get to add a new party next year - the United Conservative Party

That's pretty consistent... your post had me reflect on my own voting history.  Not every election is reflected here, but off the top of my head i've voted for:

-BC Marijuana Party
-BC Liberals (the realistic conservative option in BC)
-Harper's Federal Conservatives a couple of times
-Trudeau Jr's Federal Liberals
-Alberta Wild Rose
-Alberta NDP

I'll be voting for the Alberta NDP in the upcoming election again.  I know it was discussed in another thread, for me as I get older I move more to the left.

[Monoriu]

Of course governments create jobs - I work in one.  It is just that governments are horrible at it.  First problem is there is no market feedback.  The job is created because some bureaucrat thinks it is worthwhile.  There is no effective feedback in the form of a profit and loss analysis on whether the job is really useful.  Second is that governments are very inflexible.  Once you create a job, it is difficult to kill it even if all the evidence points to said job being useless.  Governments follow payscales, not the latest situation on the ground.  Some jobs will be grossly overpaid (e.g. clerks) while others are grossly underpaid (e.g. IT professionals). 

[Valmy]

Yeah my department is almost entirely engineers and attorneys. Both are very underpaid compared to the private sector so we have lots of turnover and are always understaffed for our workload.

But this is the sort of situation that Texas Bureaucrats love. They can tell their political masters that there is no waste in their department.

[Grey Fox]

My voting track record is a little insane.

In the 5 provincial elections that I was over 18, in order, I've voted

UFP (Half of QS before they merged with idiots)
ADQ
Liberal
PQ
PQ

[Rex Francorum]

Quite a troubled history. 

Mine is more quiet, but not without changes.

Voted Liberal in 1989 because I was an idiot (I was 18).
Voted PQ in 1994 (the only time I did political work)
Voted ADQ in 1998 and 2003
Vote PQ since 2007

[Oexmelin]

My voting track record is a little insane.

In the 5 provincial elections that I was over 18, in order, I've voted

UFP (Half of QS before they merged with idiots)
ADQ
Liberal
PQ
PQ

What happened?

Mine is simple.
PQ until I moved to Ontario.
NDP in Ontario.
Now I can't vote anywhere

[Grey Fox]

My voting track record is a little insane.

In the 5 provincial elections that I was over 18, in order, I've voted

UFP (Half of QS before they merged with idiots)
ADQ
Liberal
PQ
PQ

What happened?

Mine is simple.
PQ until I moved to Ontario.
NDP in Ontario.
Now I can't vote anywhere

Last 2 times I voted PQ because Marois was leader. Since my late 20s I vote for a women if I can.
Can't quite remember why I voted for 2007's Jean Charest. Got caught in the 2004 ADQ wave. UFP disappeared in 04, so they were gone after that election.