Save Democracy! Save Canada!

[Bear669]

It is a travesty that we may be stuck with Dionne after he was thoroughly rejected by Canadians.

The Liberals DROPPED to 77 seats, vs the increased Tories 143. While I despise the Conservative social agenda, this unholy alliance with the Bloc must be stopped.

E:

'info@gg.ca'

And tell the GG to do the right thing.

We need an election, as insane as that may be, the alternative is worse.

 

[nervous]

It is a travesty that we may be stuck with Dionne after he was thoroughly rejected by Canadians.

The Liberals DROPPED to 77 seats, vs the increased Tories 143. While I despise the Conservative social agenda, this unholy alliance with the Bloc must be stopped.

E:

'info@gg.ca'

And tell the GG to do the right thing.

We need an election, as insane as that may be, the alternative is worse.

Yes the opposition gave the Tories less than two months since the election. With Canada the strongest economy in the world the Torrie's obviously have failed in their duties to keep the UAW as the highest paid workforce in the western world!

 

[red]

It is a travesty that we may be stuck with Dionne after he was thoroughly rejected by Canadians.

The Liberals DROPPED to 77 seats, vs the increased Tories 143. While I despise the Conservative social agenda, this unholy alliance with the Bloc must be stopped.

E:

'info@gg.ca'

And tell the GG to do the right thing.

We need an election, as insane as that may be, the alternative is worse.

we don't need an election. harper needs to learn to get along with people- something he might have been able to do if he ever worked in the real world. The governor general may tell him to go back and work out a deal with the other parties to govern. there hasn't been a confidence vote yet, lets see what happens.

hopefully he can learn from this, but I expect it will just eat away at him and he will blame everyone but himself.

 

[BKool]

You have to hand it to the Libs, they fucked us all pretty good with their backroom deals that stretched back to well before the election. Nobody saw this treachery coming, so bravo to Prime Minister Dion! The sad part is that now that Canadians have seen what a bunch of unethical, power-hungry assholes the Libs and NDP are, some of them are happy to just keep taking it right up the bunghole.

 

[fuji]

Did you guys feel this way about Harper when he drafted a backroom deal with the Bloc and the NDP to pass a motion of no confidence in the Liberal minority in 2004? He even wrote a letter, which he co-signed with Duceppe and Layton, urging the Governor General not to call an election but instead consider handing over power to his Conservative/NDP/Bloc coalition.

I am just wondering whether you guys think these tactics are OK when they are done by Harper, but not when they are done to Harper.

In any case it seems to me that a coalition of more than half the votes in Parliament has more legitimacy and more of a mandate than a minority government with less than half.

Don't you guys believe in majority rules?

 

[BKool]

Harper has only one agenda .. to obtain a majority government.

Yeah, none of the other parties have that objective ...

 

[BKool]

In any case it seems to me that a coalition of more than half the votes in Parliament has more legitimacy and more of a mandate than a minority government with less than half.

This assumption is based on the false premise that Canadians voted for what they may now be getting in a coalition. I suspect that, had the electorate known that the NDP and Bloc will be pulling some of the strings in the Federal government, Harper may very well have gotten his majority.

 

[The Cunning Linguist]

Can Harper call a "snap" election?

What is the bare minimum amount of time needed?

I would suggest just enough time to give Elections Canada to do what's needed, and then vote immediately

BTW....no advertising. This is a one issue election. And a two party election.

You vote for the Tories, or you vote for the Coalition.

It's not up to them, it's up to us to determine who we want to govern this country.

 

[fuji]

This assumption is based on the false premise that Canadians voted for what they may now be getting in a coalition.

Canadians vote for their local MP. Period. The MP's then decide among themselves what is the best way to run the resulting Parliament.

There is much precedent in Westminster Parliaments, including Canada's, for the opposition replacing the government with a more workable one.

Canadians should bear that in mind when they vote.

 

[fuji]

Can Harper call a "snap" election?

Nope. He lacks the constitutional power to call elections. It is up to Michaelle Jean, our Governor General, to decide if and when we will have an election. The best Harper can do is plead with her to call an election. However she is essentially required to follow precedent, and precedent dictates that rather than call an election she must give the Opposition a chance to form a government.

It's not up to them, it's up to us to determine who we want to govern this country.

Wrong. It is up the Members of Parliament to determine who will govern the country. It is up to us to elect MP's that will make sensible decisions on our behalf.

 

[lookingforitallthetime]

Canada,

The only country in the world where a mild mannered professor, born in France, unable to effectively communicate in both official languages can rise from virtual obscurity to lead a major political party into a general election, lose that election very handily and become Prime Minister.

God bless Canada!

 

[notenufmuff]

There is much precedent in Westminster Parliaments, including Canada's, for the opposition replacing the government with a more workable one.

Canadians should bear that in mind when they vote.

I don't think that many Canadian predicted an ill-conceived coalition when they voted. Coalition governments were originally intended during wartime. This is just a convenient way for the Liberals & NDP to desperately grasp at power. How long before these idiots stop agreeing and we wind up with another election. I give it until the spring.

If the governor general has any back bone, she will call an election now.

 

[BKool]

Canadians vote for their local MP. Period.

It's far more complicated than that. While we may physically put an X next to an MP's name, a myriad of factors go into making the decision who that MP will be. Many Canadians vote strategically and considering how close Harper came to a majority it would be completely ridiculous to dismiss the very real possibility that a lot of those Lib X'es would have gone to the conservatives MP's had those voters known about this unholy alliance with the NDP and the Bloc.

 

[lookingforitallthetime]

It's far more complicated than that. While we may physically put an X next to an MP's name, a myriad of factors go into making the decision who that MP will be. Many Canadians vote strategically and considering how close Harper came to a majority it would be completely ridiculous to dismiss the very real possibility that a lot of those Lib X'es would have gone to the conservatives MP's had those voters known about this unholy alliance with the NDP and the Bloc.

BKool, you are absolutely correct. Most Canadians vote for the party they want to lead the country. I know I am guilty of this too.

 

[fuji]

While we may physically put an X next to an MP's name, a myriad of factors go into making the decision who that MP will be.

All of those factors are irrelevant. Under Canadian democracy whoever gets the most X's is elected, and the MP's who are elected then decide how best to form a government.

Canadians should bear that in mind when they vote.

Describing alternative fantasy versions of our democracy may be fun but I don't find it to be paritcularly useful. It is fairly important to have a clear undertanding of the democratic processes that actually apply in Canada.

At best you are saying that voters made bad choices because they were ignorant. C'est la vie.

 

[lookingforitallthetime]

fuji, you're a pompous ass. Trust me when I tell you, your feelings of self importance are unjustified.

 

[ggaleazz]

save democracy by keeping Stephen Harper in power. That's rich

Thanks for the laugh

 

[LancsLad]

fuji, you're a pompous ass. Trust me when I tell you, your feelings of self importance are unjustified.

Drawing from the tone of the thread with many excellent lines from Sir WLSC, i should be so bold as to venture that few on TERB , save for woody, have so much to be so genuinely modest about, as does our man fuji.




.

 

[BKool]

All of those factors are irrelevant. Under Canadian democracy whoever gets the most X's is elected, and the MP's who are elected then decide how best to form a government.

Canadians should bear that in mind when they vote.

Describing alternative fantasy versions of our democracy may be fun but I don't find it to be paritcularly useful. It is fairly important to have a clear undertanding of the democratic processes that actually apply in Canada.

At best you are saying that voters made bad choices because they were ignorant. C'est la vie.

Look, spare me the patronizing attitude. I, and every other Canadian I know, are acutely aware of the fact that we vote for a local MP. You on the other hand, seem oblivious to the fact that a big part of making that decision, for MANY Canadians, is (a) which political party that MP belongs to and (b) how a seat for that party will affect Federal politics. Unless you are willing to accept that reality there really is no point in wasting my time discussing this with you.

 

[BKool]

At best you are saying that voters made bad choices because they were ignorant.

Choices can only be deemed "ignorant" when you know the facts, and decide to ignore them. Voters did NOT know that the Libs are colluding with the NDP and Bloc. It is my opinion that had the electorate known this, Harper would have had a majority.