[Canada] Canadian Politics Redux

[katmai]

It's a goofy-ass, pointless election.  Nobody really has much to offer.  The opposition is telling me that the Conservatives are running a campaign based on fear, while they themselves are running a campaign based on hate.

Everyone should vote for the Qubecer nutters then!

[Neil]

It's a goofy-ass, pointless election.  Nobody really has much to offer.  The opposition is telling me that the Conservatives are running a campaign based on fear, while they themselves are running a campaign based on hate.

Everyone should vote for the Qubecer nutters then!

They don't run candidates outside of Quebec, due to their racism.

[Oexmelin]

But if your concern is with Harper then you must be unhappy with an election at this time since the likely result will produce nothing you will be happy with - either a return of a Conservative Minority government or a Conservative Majority.

Whatever the way you look at it, I will be unhappy with electoral results, whatever they might be: therefore, I am not looking at this from the strict point of view of electoral results. But the electoral process is legitimate in and of itself, and not merely for the result it provides; likewise, I think contempt for Parliament is a huge thing, and led deservedly to the fall of the government, even if it is to reelect him. 

To your substantive point - I can't think of anyone in power, recent memory, who adheres to the Parliamentarian form of government.  The executive has long since been the primary govenor of affairs both Federally and Provincially.

The Liberals had many faults. Chrétien governed with an iron fist, and intervened everywhere. But I have no recollection of similar contempt for Parliament procedure and its sovereignty. But if you have examples, I will be happy to include them in my criticism...

As I have posted before, I would like a return to a system more respectful of Parliament.  But I am not sure how practical that is - particularly given the very average quality of most of our Parliamentarians.

For once, amongst Neil's usual white noise, I would tend to agree with him. The very average quality of most Parliamentarians might be overrated; our media world, with clear focus on very few individuals, might favour republican models to the detriment of parliamentarism. But it might also be a self-perpetuating system: a very strong executive renders the need for independant-willed MPs redundant.

[Fireblade]

It's a goofy-ass, pointless election.  Nobody really has much to offer.  The opposition is telling me that the Conservatives are running a campaign based on fear, while they themselves are running a campaign based on hate.

Everyone should vote for the Qubecer nutters then!

They don't run candidates outside of Quebec, due to their racism.

What about that one tiny province that's half French..? New Brunswick or Prince Edward Island or some shit? Or do the French-speakers outside of Quebec not really count as "Quebecois"?

[Fireblade]

Canadians: What are the chances that the NDP will win?

[Jacob]

I think that the reduced quality of parliamentarians over the years has been somewhat overstated.  I think that the pressure has been ratcheted up by a 24-hour news cycle, and by the fact that government has become so important over the last few decades that the tiny differences in policy between the two normal parties have become hugely important to their partisans.  There's also some pollution from over the border.

Yeah, that sounds about right.

[Jacob]

Canadians: What are the chances that the NDP will win?

Enough to form the government, even as a minority one? Nil.

Enough to be numerically strong enough to be part of a coalition government? Reasonable, but apparently a coalition government is anathema in the current political climate so that may not matter too much.

[Neil]

What about that one tiny province that's half French..? New Brunswick or Prince Edward Island or some shit? Or do the French-speakers outside of Quebec not really count as "Quebecois"?

French-speakers outside of Quebec don't count.  The Bloc isn't interested in them.  Besides, the Acadians in New Brunswick have such a terrible accent that nobody can understand what they're saying.

[Neil]

Enough to form the government, even as a minority one? Nil.

Enough to be numerically strong enough to be part of a coalition government? Reasonable, but apparently a coalition government is anathema in the current political climate so that may not matter too much.

Indeed, the NDP is set to take big losses in terms of their seat count.

Making a coalition politically impossible was a fairly wise move by Harper.  I mean, I suppose it's just the equivalent of the Belgian 'Cordon Sanitaire', but it has certainly extended his government.

[Admiral Yi]

How did Harper make a coalition politically impossible?

[Josephus]

How did Harper make a coalition politically impossible?

He made its possibility sound like a poison; like the worst thing that could happen to democracy--to the point that the Liberal leader said that there won't be a coalition.  Even though, he likes to forget, that he tried to form a coaliton with "socialists and separatists" himself in 04.

[Grey Fox]

What about that one tiny province that's half French..? New Brunswick or Prince Edward Island or some shit? Or do the French-speakers outside of Quebec not really count as "Quebecois"?

French-speakers outside of Quebec don't count.  The Bloc isn't interested in them.  Besides, the Acadians in New Brunswick have such a terrible accent that nobody can understand what they're saying.

They all sound like 3 year old.

[Neil]

How did Harper make a coalition politically impossible?

By selling to Canada that putting the Bloc Quebecois in government would be the worst possible thing to happen.  Without the Bloc, the other parties don't outnumber him.

[Neil]

How did Harper make a coalition politically impossible?

He made its possibility sound like a poison; like the worst thing that could happen to democracy--to the point that the Liberal leader said that there won't be a coalition.  Even though, he likes to forget, that he tried to form a coaliton with "socialists and separatists" himself in 04.

Yeah, but back then the only important thing was getting rid of the Liberals.

[Fireblade]

What about that one tiny province that's half French..? New Brunswick or Prince Edward Island or some shit? Or do the French-speakers outside of Quebec not really count as "Quebecois"?

French-speakers outside of Quebec don't count.  The Bloc isn't interested in them.  Besides, the Acadians in New Brunswick have such a terrible accent that nobody can understand what they're saying.

They all sound like 3 year old.

Are they the ones that the British exiled to their Louisiana gulag?

Why is the NDP set to take big losses? Aren't both the Liberals and Conservatives basically discredited at this point?