Canadian Politics

I honestly feel bad for Tommy boy at this point, he fell into the shoes left for him and they practically need a spelunking expedition to fish him out again. If I were him I'd be afraid of them putting "TOM MULCAIR - A GOOD MAN, THOUGH HE WASN'T JACK LAYTON" on my tombstone.

Share it so that people can get into this conversation, 'cause we're not the only ones who think like this.

The Orange Wave was based on two factors: Layton`s charisma and star power (and carefully making NDP mainstream over the years) and Harper`s successful character assassination of Iggy. Both of those are gone now.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.

Iggy assassinated his own character; Harper just beat a dead horse.

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The NDP have started a petitioning for proportional representation.

Yes please.

I suppose that now's the time while they're the O.O. Strike while the iron's hot right?

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Yup each party is offering its own take on electoral reform.

Unfortunately the Conservatives have decided to do it in a bad way.

Elections Bill Would Give Incumbents Too Much Power Expert Warns

And to highlight it here is the Fair Elections Act Section 44 subsection (3)

edited 2nd Mar '14 8:03:08 PM by latenight

Okay, why the hell are the Conservatives taking so many cues from the Tea Party? I mean, that's the next best thing to gerrymandering! I know most people in Canada who are aware of how the Tea Party acts thinks they're freaking insane.

Not Three Laws compliant.

Probably similar reasons the Tea Party does a lot of things, conservatives feel they're being hunted/the world they know is being forcibly stolen from them, and they don't want the tide to turn to the left of the political spectrum.

Many were increasingly of the opinion that they'd all made a big mistake in coming down from the trees in the first place. - Douglas Adams

...It's Canada. The Liberals being in charge is the norm here.

Actually, now I get it. For the last few years, the "Harper Government" has had way too much unilateral power. They don't want to let go of it. Despite the fact that it seems to depend on Harper specifically. I mean, he's not even subtle about the amount of control he has.

Not Three Laws compliant.

I was speaking more in general terms. But yeah. Right Wing Political parties in the last few years got into power in most of the Western World, and I'm just noticing the Tories, along with every other Tom, Dick and Harry conservative party, reallllly doesn't want to let go, even though their grips have been, hrm, increasingly tenuous as of late?

Combo of "Don't want to give up power" plus the voter base acting panicked and supporting questionable policies.

edited 3rd Mar '14 7:13:38 AM by PotatoesRock

Many were increasingly of the opinion that they'd all made a big mistake in coming down from the trees in the first place. - Douglas Adams

Yeah definitely a party whose actions are to stack the deck in their favour just like other right wing parties in the rest of the western world. I wouldn't be surprised if these groups just go to each other's seminars and hire the same consultants.

They're sponsored by the same corporations.

Schild und Schwert der Partei

I'd say friends with the same corporations would be more appropriate in Canada's case because donations are limited at the moment to $1,200 for everyone and organizations. But that doesn't apply very well because funny enough if anyone is a friend to the corporations, stock brokers, and other big businesses, except for the petroleum industry, because you can't have every rich person, it'd be the Liberals. Its the reason why the current government set donations to its current limits since the Conservatives were much better at getting grassroots individual donations, while the Liberals got their donations in a few very large contributions.

edited 3rd Mar '14 1:09:23 PM by latenight

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/82026/canadian-defense-minister-apologizes-to-mom-of-suicide-soldier-for-ridiculous-1-cent-check

Quite a controversial one that hit the Canadian Defense Minister recently.

"Exit muna si Polgas. Ang kailangan dito ay si Dobermaxx!"

Anti-gay religious group gets funding from Ottawa to work in Uganda
From the Star: "An evangelical organization that describes homosexuality as a “perversion” and a “sin” is receiving funding from Ottawa for its work in Uganda, where gays and lesbians face severe threats."

FUCK YOU TORIES

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Of course Harper won't be called to account for this. Like he wasn't called on for defunding every remotely progressive NGO when he first took power.

edited 8th Mar '14 12:51:14 AM by Rationalinsanity

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.

Yeah and its funny because they ran on a platform of accountability. Now just this week they dismiss a report on missing and murdered aboriginal women, block any action against an mp who blatantly lied in parliament, and used a report on voter fraud to create a bill that does nothing to address the report.

Russian soldiers training in Canada given 24 hours to leave country.

Everything is Possible. But some things are more Probable than others. JEBAGEDDON 2016

That is kind of interesting. I mean, on the political stage, the US and Russia are traditionally the dominating forces. But when it comes to the production and export of natural resources, the top two countries are Russia and Canada, mostly because of sheer size and some luck. For example, Canada and Russia are two of the three consistent exporters of platinum.

Downside. If the US and Russia get into a shooting war, guess who's directly between them?

Not Three Laws compliant.

Actually Canada is between the United States and the United States. Assuming Russia attacked it would have to go through Alaska first unless they attacked British Columbia directly but that would be a direct attack on you guys not on us through you guys.

edited 8th Mar '14 7:56:14 PM by tricksterson

Trump delenda est

I'm at loss trying to understand how the Canada wouldn't participate in such a conflict, really. I mean, even without needing to go through our frozen wastelands, we're so close to the USA I don't think we could let a conflict fly while standing by.

I mean, there's two countries on the continent, attacking one is attacking the other.

... Wait. I feel like I'm forgetting someone.

EDIT: There's actually 23 countries that are technically in North America, my bad.

edited 8th Mar '14 8:09:21 PM by QuestionMarc

Um, you do know you can go over the north pole, right? The world isn't a rectangle. The reason why it's an issue is because a lot of the long-range weapons are really not very accurate. If you aimed an ICBM at Germany, for example, it could hit somewhere in France or Belgium.

edited 8th Mar '14 9:10:55 PM by Zendervai

Not Three Laws compliant.

I'll admit, I was thinking more conventional warfare than nuclear because if a conflict between russia and the US went nuclear everybody would be fucked. In a conventional war it just wouldn't make sense to for the Russians to go through Canada. If they want to attack our west coast they would just send ships there. Does Russia even have a blue water navy anymore?

edited 9th Mar '14 7:11:44 AM by tricksterson

Trump delenda est

Not with a level of power projection to match the US navy, that's for sure.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.