Canadian Elections

[The emperor has no clothes]

Is Canada about to change Prime Ministers ?

[baldo]

Yup.....The first son of a PM to become PM....

...and he's a liberal...

[Patrick]

Canada's election process is quite different than ours and they have been liberal for quite some time.

[The emperor has no clothes]

Canada's election process is quite different than ours and they have been liberal for quite some time.

Uh... They've had a conservative prime minister for the past 9 years.

[msb]

I guess a Canadian should step in here to comment, eh? Yes we have a new majority Liberal government as of last night (our election campaigns are only a few months long - thankfully). Under the Parliamentary system, whichever party elects the most seats to parliament across the country forms government and their Leader becomes Prime Minister , the next highest forms official opposition (now the Conservatives after this election). We have 3 main parties in Canada and 2 "regular" fringe parties... the Liberals would be considered more of a Centrist party than US liberals, with the NDP being further "Left" and the Conservatives being further "Right". The last 10 years have been under a Conservative government. Keep in mind ... there is not the extreme differences separating "Liberals" and "Conservatives" here in Canada (parties or citizens) as there is in the US. Life goes on here, probably without too many drastic changes...

[The emperor has no clothes]

I guess a Canadian should step in here to comment, eh? Yes we have a new majority Liberal government as of last night (our election campaigns are only a few months long - thankfully). Under the Parliamentary system, whichever party elects the most seats to parliament across the country forms government and their Leader becomes Prime Minister , the next highest forms official opposition (now the Conservatives after this election). We have 3 main parties in Canada and 2 "regular" fringe parties... the Liberals would be considered more of a Centrist party than US liberals, with the NDP being further "Left" and the Conservatives being further "Right". The last 10 years have been under a Conservative government. Keep in mind ... there is not the extreme differences separating "Liberals" and "Conservatives" here in Canada (parties or citizens) as there is in the US. Life goes on here, probably without too many drastic changes...

Very concise and accurate description of the Canadian system. Thanks for informing some of us.

[Gryphon Rider]

MSB gave a fair summary of Canadian politics. Canadians tend to pick between the Conservatives and Liberals, choosing who they think will form the best government. We also tend to vote OUT governments who have become over-ripe. In what is essentially a three party system, when the people want to remove the governing party, they will vote strategically, voting for the party in their riding that is most likely to defeat the governing party's candidate.

[MP]

Canada's election process is quite different than ours and they have been liberal for quite some time.

Uh... They've had a conservative prime minister for the past 9 years.

Yeah, but that is relative.  Take the US.  John F. Kennedy would be a right wing Republican now, considering how far left the whole country has gone. 

[The emperor has no clothes]

Canada's election process is quite different than ours and they have been liberal for quite some time.

Uh... They've had a conservative prime minister for the past 9 years.

Yeah, but that is relative.  Take the US.  John F. Kennedy would be a right wing Republican now, considering how far left the whole country has gone. 

And Reagan would be left of Bernie Sanders as far right the Republicans have strayed. 

[Serk]

This is a sad commentary on the times we're in (Not specifically Canada, but all of us)

I tried to research what the new guy Justin Trudeau stands for, what are the planks of his platform, his policy preferences, that kind of thing...

The first 3 "news" articles I read had NOTHING about that at all, and were just going on and on about how sexy he is, how good he looks shirtless, his famous father, and oh, did we mention how hot he is?

[The emperor has no clothes]

This is a sad commentary on the times we're in (Not specifically Canada, but all of us)

I tried to research what the new guy Justin Trudeau stands for, what are the planks of his platform, his policy preferences, that kind of thing...

The first 3 "news" articles I read had NOTHING about that at all, and were just going on and on about how sexy he is, how good he looks shirtless, his famous father, and oh, did we mention how hot he is?

You've got to quit using that Kardashian Search Engine  . I've got to agree with you though. What most people consider "news" is beyond me.  ???

[Patrick]

I'd like to hear more of this from our Canadian members.
I don't live too far from Canada and spend some time there each year. My feelings are that regardless of which party is in control that things in your country seem to go smoother than here. But, even though your country  has had conservatives in power for last number of years you seem more liberal than we would consider conservatives to be.
Is this true ? 

[Novavalker]

I'm not happy about the outcome.
His qualifications are two years as a substitute Drama teacher and prior to that he globe trotted around the world on his Father's trust fund money.
He promised to raise taxes, raise spending and put our country back into debt.

"He vowed to kill the Northern Gateway pipeline and to bring in new carbon taxes."

"He said he'd abandon our military mission against ISIS terrorists, and take in 25,000 Syrian migrants by Christmas."

He promised to kill the contract to purchase F35 fighter jets .


"His ideas will be a disaster. Government will grow. Personal freedom will shrink. Our national security will be weakened. And our foreign policy will tilt far left. Trudeau is the candidate who said he admires China for its “basic dictatorship”, and promises to normalize relations with Iran."

He also promised to legalize marijuana.

Don't blame me....I voted Conservative and proud of my service in Afghanistan fighting terrorism.

[msb]

I'd like to hear more of this from our Canadian members.
I don't live too far from Canada and spend some time there each year. My feelings are that regardless of which party is in control that things in your country seem to go smoother than here. But, even though your country  has had conservatives in power for last number of years you seem more liberal than we would consider conservatives to be.
Is this true ? 

Yes Patrick, your assessments are true to a certain extent. There is certainly not the extreme differences in ideology between citizens  - or political parties for that matter here in Canada as we see in the US these days. Perhaps being under the parliamentary system and having 3 established main parties has something to do with that ... or it could just be that we are a lot younger country than the US as a nation and haven't had enough time to screw things up a bit more   The only parties to hold power have been the Conservatives and the Liberals, and as Gryphon Rider suggested, the ability to vote OUT a party after we've become tired of one is more palatable to most due to the fact that there are a fair amount of common values they hold. Same with most citizens, in that many "Conservatives" hold at least some of what could be considered "Liberal" values, and vice-versa.   Throughout history, there have been many cases where the ruling party and the official opposition party have actually agreed on policy - again making it easier for those on both "sides" to at least accept or respect each other's points of view. Don't get me wrong however... we have our own share of political corruption and wingnuts in office as well, I guess we're just a little more subdued or even accepting in our reactions to differeing points of view.
For the record, I too (re Novavalker's comments) am concerned about some of the "promises" Trudeau has made during the campaign, especially with respect to our military commitments, progression on securing our energy self-reliance, and his indication to carry a deficit ... we'll see what happens. I'm also not overly pleased with how the vote went, but will reserve judgement to a certian degree until we see how things actually play out.

[msb]

I'm not happy about the outcome.
His qualifications are two years as a substitute Drama teacher and prior to that he globe trotted around the world on his Father's trust fund money.
He promised to raise taxes, raise spending and put our country back into debt.

"He vowed to kill the Northern Gateway pipeline and to bring in new carbon taxes."

"He said he'd abandon our military mission against ISIS terrorists, and take in 25,000 Syrian migrants by Christmas."

He promised to kill the contract to purchase F35 fighter jets .


"His ideas will be a disaster. Government will grow. Personal freedom will shrink. Our national security will be weakened. And our foreign policy will tilt far left. Trudeau is the candidate who said he admires China for its “basic dictatorship”, and promises to normalize relations with Iran."

He also promised to legalize marijuana.

Don't blame me....I voted Conservative and proud of my service in Afghanistan fighting terrorism.

I too am proud of Canada's committment to help fight terrorism and military commitment in general over the years (and thankful for yours as well). My son-in-law proudly served two tours in Afganistan , and now both he and my daughter serve in the Rangers up in Northern BC. I share a few of your other concerns as well, however I'm not ready yet to label anything as a "disaster", or agree that a tilt to the "far left" in iminent. Hopefully there's enough of the old guard of the Liberal party left in place, who shared some of the more conservative values ...

[Patrick]

I'm not happy about the outcome.
His qualifications are two years as a substitute Drama teacher and prior to that he globe trotted around the world on his Father's trust fund money.
He promised to raise taxes, raise spending and put our country back into debt.

"He vowed to kill the Northern Gateway pipeline and to bring in new carbon taxes."

"He said he'd abandon our military mission against ISIS terrorists, and take in 25,000 Syrian migrants by Christmas."

He promised to kill the contract to purchase F35 fighter jets .


"His ideas will be a disaster. Government will grow. Personal freedom will shrink. Our national security will be weakened. And our foreign policy will tilt far left. Trudeau is the candidate who said he admires China for its “basic dictatorship”, and promises to normalize relations with Iran."

He also promised to legalize marijuana.

Don't blame me....I voted Conservative and proud of my service in Afghanistan fighting terrorism.

OK, thanks. I guess liberals are pretty much liberals wherever they may be.  They can screw things up wherever they are.

It'll be interesting to see how things work out.

[Patrick]

I'd like to hear more of this from our Canadian members.
I don't live too far from Canada and spend some time there each year. My feelings are that regardless of which party is in control that things in your country seem to go smoother than here. But, even though your country  has had conservatives in power for last number of years you seem more liberal than we would consider conservatives to be.
Is this true ? 

Yes Patrick, your assessments are true to a certain extent. There is certainly not the extreme differences in ideology between citizens  - or political parties for that matter here in Canada as we see in the US these days. Perhaps being under the parliamentary system and having 3 established main parties has something to do with that ... or it could just be that we are a lot younger country than the US as a nation and haven't had enough time to screw things up a bit more   The only parties to hold power have been the Conservatives and the Liberals, and as Gryphon Rider suggested, the ability to vote OUT a party after we've become tired of one is more palatable to most due to the fact that there are a fair amount of common values they hold. Same with most citizens, in that many "Conservatives" hold at least some of what could be considered "Liberal" values, and vice-versa.   Throughout history, there have been many cases where the ruling party and the official opposition party have actually agreed on policy - again making it easier for those on both "sides" to at least accept or respect each other's points of view. Don't get me wrong however... we have our own share of political corruption and wingnuts in office as well, I guess we're just a little more subdued or even accepting in our reactions to differeing points of view.
For the record, I too (re Novavalker's comments) am concerned about some of the "promises" Trudeau has made during the campaign, especially with respect to our military commitments, progression on securing our energy self-reliance, and his indication to carry a deficit ... we'll see what happens. I'm also not overly pleased with how the vote went, but will reserve judgement to a certian degree until we see how things actually play out.

I'm thinking I like your political process. I'm going to look into it and see if I can figure it out. It'll be interesting to see how things work out over the next few years.  There are a lot of Canadians where I'll be this winter and I'll enjoy talking to them about it. At least I hope I'll enjoy it. If they like to drink beer and fish then we'll get along just fine.

[msb]

I'd like to hear more of this from our Canadian members.
I don't live too far from Canada and spend some time there each year. My feelings are that regardless of which party is in control that things in your country seem to go smoother than here. But, even though your country  has had conservatives in power for last number of years you seem more liberal than we would consider conservatives to be.
Is this true ? 

Yes Patrick, your assessments are true to a certain extent. There is certainly not the extreme differences in ideology between citizens  - or political parties for that matter here in Canada as we see in the US these days. Perhaps being under the parliamentary system and having 3 established main parties has something to do with that ... or it could just be that we are a lot younger country than the US as a nation and haven't had enough time to screw things up a bit more   The only parties to hold power have been the Conservatives and the Liberals, and as Gryphon Rider suggested, the ability to vote OUT a party after we've become tired of one is more palatable to most due to the fact that there are a fair amount of common values they hold. Same with most citizens, in that many "Conservatives" hold at least some of what could be considered "Liberal" values, and vice-versa.   Throughout history, there have been many cases where the ruling party and the official opposition party have actually agreed on policy - again making it easier for those on both "sides" to at least accept or respect each other's points of view. Don't get me wrong however... we have our own share of political corruption and wingnuts in office as well, I guess we're just a little more subdued or even accepting in our reactions to differeing points of view.
For the record, I too (re Novavalker's comments) am concerned about some of the "promises" Trudeau has made during the campaign, especially with respect to our military commitments, progression on securing our energy self-reliance, and his indication to carry a deficit ... we'll see what happens. I'm also not overly pleased with how the vote went, but will reserve judgement to a certian degree until we see how things actually play out.

I'm thinking I like your political process. I'm going to look into it and see if I can figure it out. It'll be interesting to see how things work out over the next few years.  There are a lot of Canadians where I'll be this winter and I'll enjoy talking to them about it. At least I hope I'll enjoy it. If they like to drink beer and fish then we'll get along just fine.

LOL ... all Canadians like to fish and drink beer!! Most of my trips see my fly rod strapped to the trunk of my Interstate If you ever find yourself up in BC, I'd be more than happy to talk politics with you over a beer while sitting in my boat fishing 

[Patrick]

Now thats a heck of an idea Mike !  If I'm ever able to get in that neck of the woods I'll be sure to let you know. I think it would be a great time, we probably won't go hungry and certainly wouldn't get dehydrated.  

[The emperor has no clothes]

I'd like to hear more of this from our Canadian members.
I don't live too far from Canada and spend some time there each year. My feelings are that regardless of which party is in control that things in your country seem to go smoother than here. But, even though your country  has had conservatives in power for last number of years you seem more liberal than we would consider conservatives to be.
Is this true ? 

Yes Patrick, your assessments are true to a certain extent. There is certainly not the extreme differences in ideology between citizens  - or political parties for that matter here in Canada as we see in the US these days. Perhaps being under the parliamentary system and having 3 established main parties has something to do with that ... or it could just be that we are a lot younger country than the US as a nation and haven't had enough time to screw things up a bit more   The only parties to hold power have been the Conservatives and the Liberals, and as Gryphon Rider suggested, the ability to vote OUT a party after we've become tired of one is more palatable to most due to the fact that there are a fair amount of common values they hold. Same with most citizens, in that many "Conservatives" hold at least some of what could be considered "Liberal" values, and vice-versa.   Throughout history, there have been many cases where the ruling party and the official opposition party have actually agreed on policy - again making it easier for those on both "sides" to at least accept or respect each other's points of view. Don't get me wrong however... we have our own share of political corruption and wingnuts in office as well, I guess we're just a little more subdued or even accepting in our reactions to differeing points of view.
For the record, I too (re Novavalker's comments) am concerned about some of the "promises" Trudeau has made during the campaign, especially with respect to our military commitments, progression on securing our energy self-reliance, and his indication to carry a deficit ... we'll see what happens. I'm also not overly pleased with how the vote went, but will reserve judgement to a certian degree until we see how things actually play out.

I'm thinking I like your political process. I'm going to look into it and see if I can figure it out. It'll be interesting to see how things work out over the next few years.  There are a lot of Canadians where I'll be this winter and I'll enjoy talking to them about it. At least I hope I'll enjoy it. If they like to drink beer and fish then we'll get along just fine.

LOL ... all Canadians like to fish and drink beer!! Most of my trips see my fly rod strapped to the trunk of my Interstate If you ever find yourself up in BC, I'd be more than happy to talk politics with you over a beer while sitting in my boat fishing 

msb, nice pic. But next time tell them to wait till you're finished peeing. 

[Gryphon Rider]

I'd like to hear more of this from our Canadian members.
I don't live too far from Canada and spend some time there each year. My feelings are that regardless of which party is in control that things in your country seem to go smoother than here. But, even though your country  has had conservatives in power for last number of years you seem more liberal than we would consider conservatives to be.
Is this true ? 

The smoothness of government has a lot to do with the electoral system.
1.  We don't have an executive branch fighting with the legislative branch, because they are the same people.
2.  When the governing party holds a majority of seats, the party's leader, the Prime Minister, can run the country almost as a dictatorship, as long as his party's elected Members toe the line.  Of course, if the PM does something that his caucus strongly disagrees with, he risks them "crossing the floor" to vote non-confidence in the government, triggering an election.
3. When the governing party holds more seats than any other party, but not a majority of the seats, they form a "minority" government, and must get the support of enough of the opposition Members to pass legislation and continue governing.  The opposition will play along until they feel they have enough public support to get more seats than the government, should an election be called.  An election is called when a significantly important government bill is defeated.

Perhaps our Conservatives appearing to be more liberal than your Republicans has something to do with the psyche of the Canadian people.  We tend to lean more towards valuing the common good over individual rights than Americans do (although the "me first" attitude in our bigger cities is growing exponentially these days).  It has to do with the historical requirement for our thinly distributed population to band together and support each other as a community in order to survive in our sometimes harsh climate.  Also, our position as a mid-sized power in the world requires that we take a pragmatic and nuanced approach to our international politics.  Extreme positions would isolate us to our detriment.

[The emperor has no clothes]

I'd like to hear more of this from our Canadian members.
I don't live too far from Canada and spend some time there each year. My feelings are that regardless of which party is in control that things in your country seem to go smoother than here. But, even though your country  has had conservatives in power for last number of years you seem more liberal than we would consider conservatives to be.
Is this true ? 

The smoothness of government has a lot to do with the electoral system.
1.  We don't have an executive branch fighting with the legislative branch, because they are the same people.
2.  When the governing party holds a majority of seats, the party's leader, the Prime Minister, can run the country almost as a dictatorship, as long as his party's elected Members toe the line.  Of course, if the PM does something that his caucus strongly disagrees with, he risks them "crossing the floor" to vote non-confidence in the government, triggering an election.
3. When the governing party holds more seats than any other party, but not a majority of the seats, they form a "minority" government, and must get the support of enough of the opposition Members to pass legislation and continue governing.  The opposition will play along until they feel they have enough public support to get more seats than the government, should an election be called.  An election is called when a significantly important government bill is defeated.

Perhaps our Conservatives appearing to be more liberal than your Republicans has something to do with the psyche of the Canadian people.  We tend to lean more towards valuing the common good over individual rights than Americans do (although the "me first" attitude in our bigger cities is growing exponentially these days).  It has to do with the historical requirement for our thinly distributed population to band together and support each other as a community in order to survive in our sometimes harsh climate.  Also, our position as a mid-sized power in the world requires that we take a pragmatic and nuanced approach to our international politics.  Extreme positions would isolate us to our detriment.

Plus it has seemed to me Canadians are generally just polite people. 

[msb]

I'd like to hear more of this from our Canadian members.
I don't live too far from Canada and spend some time there each year. My feelings are that regardless of which party is in control that things in your country seem to go smoother than here. But, even though your country  has had conservatives in power for last number of years you seem more liberal than we would consider conservatives to be.
Is this true ? 

Yes Patrick, your assessments are true to a certain extent. There is certainly not the extreme differences in ideology between citizens  - or political parties for that matter here in Canada as we see in the US these days. Perhaps being under the parliamentary system and having 3 established main parties has something to do with that ... or it could just be that we are a lot younger country than the US as a nation and haven't had enough time to screw things up a bit more   The only parties to hold power have been the Conservatives and the Liberals, and as Gryphon Rider suggested, the ability to vote OUT a party after we've become tired of one is more palatable to most due to the fact that there are a fair amount of common values they hold. Same with most citizens, in that many "Conservatives" hold at least some of what could be considered "Liberal" values, and vice-versa.   Throughout history, there have been many cases where the ruling party and the official opposition party have actually agreed on policy - again making it easier for those on both "sides" to at least accept or respect each other's points of view. Don't get me wrong however... we have our own share of political corruption and wingnuts in office as well, I guess we're just a little more subdued or even accepting in our reactions to differeing points of view.
For the record, I too (re Novavalker's comments) am concerned about some of the "promises" Trudeau has made during the campaign, especially with respect to our military commitments, progression on securing our energy self-reliance, and his indication to carry a deficit ... we'll see what happens. I'm also not overly pleased with how the vote went, but will reserve judgement to a certian degree until we see how things actually play out.

Haha...it doesn look a bit like that doesn't it? ...actually was just waiting out a downpour to get my rod out and hit the lake






I'm thinking I like your political process. I'm going to look into it and see if I can figure it out. It'll be interesting to see how things work out over the next few years.  There are a lot of Canadians where I'll be this winter and I'll enjoy talking to them about it. At least I hope I'll enjoy it. If they like to drink beer and fish then we'll get along just fine.

LOL ... all Canadians like to fish and drink beer!! Most of my trips see my fly rod strapped to the trunk of my Interstate If you ever find yourself up in BC, I'd be more than happy to talk politics with you over a beer while sitting in my boat fishing 

msb, nice pic. But next time tell them to wait till you're finished peeing. 

[Patrick]

I'd like to hear more of this from our Canadian members.
I don't live too far from Canada and spend some time there each year. My feelings are that regardless of which party is in control that things in your country seem to go smoother than here. But, even though your country  has had conservatives in power for last number of years you seem more liberal than we would consider conservatives to be.
Is this true ? 

The smoothness of government has a lot to do with the electoral system.
1.  We don't have an executive branch fighting with the legislative branch, because they are the same people.
2.  When the governing party holds a majority of seats, the party's leader, the Prime Minister, can run the country almost as a dictatorship, as long as his party's elected Members toe the line.  Of course, if the PM does something that his caucus strongly disagrees with, he risks them "crossing the floor" to vote non-confidence in the government, triggering an election.
3. When the governing party holds more seats than any other party, but not a majority of the seats, they form a "minority" government, and must get the support of enough of the opposition Members to pass legislation and continue governing.  The opposition will play along until they feel they have enough public support to get more seats than the government, should an election be called.  An election is called when a significantly important government bill is defeated.

Perhaps our Conservatives appearing to be more liberal than your Republicans has something to do with the psyche of the Canadian people.  We tend to lean more towards valuing the common good over individual rights than Americans do (although the "me first" attitude in our bigger cities is growing exponentially these days).  It has to do with the historical requirement for our thinly distributed population to band together and support each other as a community in order to survive in our sometimes harsh climate.  Also, our position as a mid-sized power in the world requires that we take a pragmatic and nuanced approach to our international politics.  Extreme positions would isolate us to our detriment.

Hmm, OK. Well explained, I think even I understand.