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For whatever its worth I was voting because of points 1,2,5,7, and 9 but all are valid reasons, really.
For whatever its worth I was voting because of points 1,2,5,7, and 9 but all are valid reasons, really.
Running Commentary for the election!
Oct. 19th, 2015 08:19 pmAll times in Eastern Standard because that's my time zone. Updates all night long!
8:15 pm - Atlantic Canada is looking very, very red as the Liberals seem to be taking most of the ridings there. Good for the Liberals but since Atlantic Canada only has about 1/10 of Canada's seats its not proof of an impending landslide. At least not yet.
8:38 pm - Atlantic Canada is a lost cause for the NDP and Conservatives but it isn't their main regional powerbase. Quebec and Ontario will be revealing their results soon and that is where its going to get interesting for the three main parties (Libs, NDP, Cons). If the NDP holds on to its Quebec seats and the Cons lose their seats in Ontario to the Libs we could be looking at a minority government.
8:54 pm - Right now there are more votes for the Marxist-Leninist Party (40) than for the Bloc Quebecois (1). While that will no doubt change the current situation amuses me greatly.
9:37 pm - Starting to see some blue Conservative leads in Alberta and Saskatchewan and red Liberal leads in the eastern part of the country. Nothing surprising there. The interesting part will be the amount of change in the traditional strongholds. Time will tell.
9:44 pm - The CBC is predicting a Liberal government. This is starting to look like a red tide on the board although I'd rather wait a bit longer before calling it.
10:02 pm - Rural Northern Ontario looks like its going NDP orange while the more urban parts like Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, and Thunder Bay are going Liberal red. Meanwhile out west it looks like the traditional Reform Party (the predecessors to the modern Conservative Party) power base is doing a good job of getting out the die hard vote.
10:29 pm - Ontario shows again why its a must win province. Its split up pretty nicely between the Cons in southwest Ontario, some NDP in the North, and Liberals everywhere else. With Quebec going mainly Liberal not carrying Ontario hurts the Cons big time.
11:03 pm - looks like a Liberal majority but just barely with them likely to get 186 seats. That's fine though if they can get the NDP to support them in undoing the damage Stephen Harper has done to Canada over the last decade. It even looks like there may be some Liberal gains in the West, where the Cons are strongest.
11:17 pm - Toronto looks like it went Liberal and considering the number of Federal ridings there that makes it a must win prize. All I can say is I guess Ford Nation came to their senses, or at least those who aren't part of it did.
11:19 pm - A quick voting numbers count makes it look like only about a third of Canada's eligible voters decided to bother casting their ballot. That's just sad and inexcusable.
11:32 pm - Thomas Mulcair, leader of the NDP, is giving his concession speech. I'd much rather the Liberal majority come at the direct expense of the Cons, not the NDP, but that's the downside of a first past the post system. Here's my hope that they'll be successful in their goals because Canada has profited from the ideals they espouse. All in all its a nice and eloquent speech, exactly what one expects from Mulcair.
11:45 pm - Elizabeth May now congratulating Trudeau and talking about fixing the damage Harper has done by pushing the Liberals. I'm glad she was re-elected. I like smart people in parliament who can give those pushes.
11:51 pm - Stephen Harper is now giving his concession speech. It was relatively bland but at least he didn't call for a coup. He also promised that in the next election the party will provide a clear alternative based on Conservative values. That's all well and good and I look forward to them explaining in clear terms what they are because other than wrecking Canada's democracy I have no ideas what they are.
12:10 pm - And now its PM to be Justin Trudeau's turn. He's talking about a hopeful vision and the idea of politics as a positive force. God knows we need it after the last ten years although it was still gracious of him to thank Harper for his service to Canada. Also unlike most Conservative rhetoric he makes a point that Conservatives are not enemies but neighbours, a lesson all in Canada should never forget. He's also talking about where they go from here in terms of jobs, community investments and a request for all Canadians to have faith in the country. He's now essentially rejecting everything Harper stood for which is frankly the mandate he was elected on.
12:36 pm - Trudeau just ended with his tagline "In Canada, better is ALWAYS possible". All well and good but there is a lot of work for Canada to become the great country it was a decade ago, so no honeymoon time. Get to work, guy. Every day we don't fix the damage the Cons did is a day too long.
8:15 pm - Atlantic Canada is looking very, very red as the Liberals seem to be taking most of the ridings there. Good for the Liberals but since Atlantic Canada only has about 1/10 of Canada's seats its not proof of an impending landslide. At least not yet.
8:38 pm - Atlantic Canada is a lost cause for the NDP and Conservatives but it isn't their main regional powerbase. Quebec and Ontario will be revealing their results soon and that is where its going to get interesting for the three main parties (Libs, NDP, Cons). If the NDP holds on to its Quebec seats and the Cons lose their seats in Ontario to the Libs we could be looking at a minority government.
8:54 pm - Right now there are more votes for the Marxist-Leninist Party (40) than for the Bloc Quebecois (1). While that will no doubt change the current situation amuses me greatly.
9:37 pm - Starting to see some blue Conservative leads in Alberta and Saskatchewan and red Liberal leads in the eastern part of the country. Nothing surprising there. The interesting part will be the amount of change in the traditional strongholds. Time will tell.
9:44 pm - The CBC is predicting a Liberal government. This is starting to look like a red tide on the board although I'd rather wait a bit longer before calling it.
10:02 pm - Rural Northern Ontario looks like its going NDP orange while the more urban parts like Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, and Thunder Bay are going Liberal red. Meanwhile out west it looks like the traditional Reform Party (the predecessors to the modern Conservative Party) power base is doing a good job of getting out the die hard vote.
10:29 pm - Ontario shows again why its a must win province. Its split up pretty nicely between the Cons in southwest Ontario, some NDP in the North, and Liberals everywhere else. With Quebec going mainly Liberal not carrying Ontario hurts the Cons big time.
11:03 pm - looks like a Liberal majority but just barely with them likely to get 186 seats. That's fine though if they can get the NDP to support them in undoing the damage Stephen Harper has done to Canada over the last decade. It even looks like there may be some Liberal gains in the West, where the Cons are strongest.
11:17 pm - Toronto looks like it went Liberal and considering the number of Federal ridings there that makes it a must win prize. All I can say is I guess Ford Nation came to their senses, or at least those who aren't part of it did.
11:19 pm - A quick voting numbers count makes it look like only about a third of Canada's eligible voters decided to bother casting their ballot. That's just sad and inexcusable.
11:32 pm - Thomas Mulcair, leader of the NDP, is giving his concession speech. I'd much rather the Liberal majority come at the direct expense of the Cons, not the NDP, but that's the downside of a first past the post system. Here's my hope that they'll be successful in their goals because Canada has profited from the ideals they espouse. All in all its a nice and eloquent speech, exactly what one expects from Mulcair.
11:45 pm - Elizabeth May now congratulating Trudeau and talking about fixing the damage Harper has done by pushing the Liberals. I'm glad she was re-elected. I like smart people in parliament who can give those pushes.
11:51 pm - Stephen Harper is now giving his concession speech. It was relatively bland but at least he didn't call for a coup. He also promised that in the next election the party will provide a clear alternative based on Conservative values. That's all well and good and I look forward to them explaining in clear terms what they are because other than wrecking Canada's democracy I have no ideas what they are.
12:10 pm - And now its PM to be Justin Trudeau's turn. He's talking about a hopeful vision and the idea of politics as a positive force. God knows we need it after the last ten years although it was still gracious of him to thank Harper for his service to Canada. Also unlike most Conservative rhetoric he makes a point that Conservatives are not enemies but neighbours, a lesson all in Canada should never forget. He's also talking about where they go from here in terms of jobs, community investments and a request for all Canadians to have faith in the country. He's now essentially rejecting everything Harper stood for which is frankly the mandate he was elected on.
12:36 pm - Trudeau just ended with his tagline "In Canada, better is ALWAYS possible". All well and good but there is a lot of work for Canada to become the great country it was a decade ago, so no honeymoon time. Get to work, guy. Every day we don't fix the damage the Cons did is a day too long.
Election 2015
Oct. 19th, 2015 05:55 pmThe storylines I'm wondering about:
1. What type of dirty tricks will the Conservatives do this time to suppress the vote and how effective will they be? It was twice proven in court that they did it in the last election after all.
2. Will Justin Trudeau fulfill Richard Nixon's prophecy and become Canada's Prime Minister? (True story, Nixon toasted the young Justin at a state dinner his father, then Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, held during a Nixon visit to Ottawa. Creepy, but true.)
3. Will the NDP continue to increase its appeal? Might they be part of a minority government if no party wins a clear majority?
4. Was Stephen Harper's use of Rob Ford to campaign for him brilliant insanity or just standard issue insanity? Will Doug Ford make good on his threat to try to become Prime Minister if the Conservatives lose?
5. What will happen to the Green Party? Elizabeth May was rather impressive in the debates but will that translate to a second seat in the House?
6. Are the Bloc Quebecois relevant anymore?
After 78 days of campaigning the suspense is killing me! On to the results!
1. What type of dirty tricks will the Conservatives do this time to suppress the vote and how effective will they be? It was twice proven in court that they did it in the last election after all.
2. Will Justin Trudeau fulfill Richard Nixon's prophecy and become Canada's Prime Minister? (True story, Nixon toasted the young Justin at a state dinner his father, then Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, held during a Nixon visit to Ottawa. Creepy, but true.)
3. Will the NDP continue to increase its appeal? Might they be part of a minority government if no party wins a clear majority?
4. Was Stephen Harper's use of Rob Ford to campaign for him brilliant insanity or just standard issue insanity? Will Doug Ford make good on his threat to try to become Prime Minister if the Conservatives lose?
5. What will happen to the Green Party? Elizabeth May was rather impressive in the debates but will that translate to a second seat in the House?
6. Are the Bloc Quebecois relevant anymore?
After 78 days of campaigning the suspense is killing me! On to the results!
This almost made me throw up
Sep. 6th, 2015 11:24 pmI know some people may be wondering "Geesh Dave. You really have no respect for the Conservative Party of Canada at all. What makes you better than any random candidate they have? They are the pride of their party. You're just a fat, old, pathetic, underachieving, unlovable loser."
To which I must reply "That may all be true. But at least I'm house broken."
If the embed doesn't work here's the link to the story of the Conservative Party candidate peeing into some one's coffee mug in their own home. And yeah, don't ask me where they find such people. This is the party of Rob Ford after all.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/jerry-bance-marketplace-1.3217797
To which I must reply "That may all be true. But at least I'm house broken."
If the embed doesn't work here's the link to the story of the Conservative Party candidate peeing into some one's coffee mug in their own home. And yeah, don't ask me where they find such people. This is the party of Rob Ford after all.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/jerry-bance-marketplace-1.3217797
No, not THAT election down south. The one I get to vote in. :-)
The NY Times has a pretty good article outlining the effects Stephen Harper and the Conservatives have had on the Canadian political landscape. If anyone wants to know why in twenty years of voting I've never voted for the Conservatives at any level of government, here it is. At the risk of sounding boastful or depressing I was predicting this stuff in a high school paper I wrote when Mike Harris was running for Premier of Ontario and Preston Manning was trying to get Ontario to buy into the Reform Party. Those ancestors of current Conservative thought presented an unimpressive package in the mid 90's and its only gone down hill since.
Mind you my issues with this strand of political thought have nothing to do with whether taxes should go up or down, or if we should spend money here or there because those arguments are as important or unimportant as any individual voter wants to make them. The problem is that you you can't have a vibrant and healthy democracy without those debates and those debate require facts to argue over. It's one thing for a party, any party, to aggressively debate facts. Its quite another altogether to prevent your citizenry to be able to have them at all. That's what the Conservatives are all about and that is why the rascals need to be turfed out of the House of Commons on election day.
There is more stuff than just what's listed in the article but it shows agood bad list of our Dear Leader's actions and achievements. Enjoy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/opinion/sunday/the-closing-of-the-canadian-mind.html?WT.mc_id=2015-AUGUST-OTB-INTL_AUD_DEV-0801-0831&WT.mc_ev=click&ad-keywords=IntlAudDev&_r=0
The NY Times has a pretty good article outlining the effects Stephen Harper and the Conservatives have had on the Canadian political landscape. If anyone wants to know why in twenty years of voting I've never voted for the Conservatives at any level of government, here it is. At the risk of sounding boastful or depressing I was predicting this stuff in a high school paper I wrote when Mike Harris was running for Premier of Ontario and Preston Manning was trying to get Ontario to buy into the Reform Party. Those ancestors of current Conservative thought presented an unimpressive package in the mid 90's and its only gone down hill since.
Mind you my issues with this strand of political thought have nothing to do with whether taxes should go up or down, or if we should spend money here or there because those arguments are as important or unimportant as any individual voter wants to make them. The problem is that you you can't have a vibrant and healthy democracy without those debates and those debate require facts to argue over. It's one thing for a party, any party, to aggressively debate facts. Its quite another altogether to prevent your citizenry to be able to have them at all. That's what the Conservatives are all about and that is why the rascals need to be turfed out of the House of Commons on election day.
There is more stuff than just what's listed in the article but it shows a
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/opinion/sunday/the-closing-of-the-canadian-mind.html?WT.mc_id=2015-AUGUST-OTB-INTL_AUD_DEV-0801-0831&WT.mc_ev=click&ad-keywords=IntlAudDev&_r=0
You know I really didn't mean to start an arms race of political craziness between the great nations of Canada and the United States. It all started so innocently enough with Rob Ford reminding the world that Canada is more than hockey, beer and the guys who gave the world insulin. The timing was perfect really. We were still a year away from our election and you guys didn't seem to have one going on at the time so we shared a good laugh, everyone had fun at Toronto's expense like a true Canadian, and it was all good. Canada was able to put the crazy distractions behind and focus on our own election, at which point Donald Trump announced he was running for president.
Yeah, talk about making it hard to watch the Canadian party leader debates but turn around was fair play. It was still all good, no hard feelings, and again we move on. Until today.
Yeah America. I apologize. I didn't realize that we just couldn't resist the urge to out crazy you again so please, please, I beg you. Hold back your wrath. Let the better rational angels of your nature rise above this the way I know you can!
Ah the hell with it. At the rate this tit for tat is going the North American continent is going to be one giant Salvador Dali picture. Lets just roll the tape on an actual Canadian election commercial.
*weeps*
Yeah, talk about making it hard to watch the Canadian party leader debates but turn around was fair play. It was still all good, no hard feelings, and again we move on. Until today.
Yeah America. I apologize. I didn't realize that we just couldn't resist the urge to out crazy you again so please, please, I beg you. Hold back your wrath. Let the better rational angels of your nature rise above this the way I know you can!
Ah the hell with it. At the rate this tit for tat is going the North American continent is going to be one giant Salvador Dali picture. Lets just roll the tape on an actual Canadian election commercial.
*weeps*
