Canadian Politics Thread

it's weird, no matter what, for a person in a competitive party to endorse another. it's not even a *candidate* they're cheering for - it's just another party. that's beating them.

even Joe Clark's endorsement of Paul Martin made some sense. this is very wtf. i wonder if they'll be booted from the party since they've basically just said it's irrelevant.

anyways. looking forward to monday. will be wearing orange to work!

it's weird, no matter what, for a person in a competitive party to endorse another.

Yeah, totally, sure. What's ironic is that I remembered how earlier in the campaign, an NDP candidate in the London area made a big show of resigning and throwing his support behind the Liberals since at that time, they were the most likely party to beat the CPC. (Along vaguely related lines, I sometimes wonder how Bob Rae is feeling these days.)

will be wearing orange to work!

Ha, that's strictly verboten for a DRO!

I worked at the polls a few years ago and made damn sure I was dressed in all grey & white & black despite having a mostly colourful wardrobe at the time, I can tell you for sure that there were people working there who were clad, hat to shoes, in royal blue -- was kind of tempted to call somebody on the fuckers.

wow, apparently layton has once received a massage. stay classy, harper

I laughed out loud at this attempted 'scandal'. (I'm still blaming the Sun and not Harper for now...)

it's weird, no matter what, for a person in a competitive party to endorse another. it's not even a *candidate* they're cheering for - it's just another party. that's beating them.

They are not members of a competing party; they are members of the Bloc Quebecois, not the Parti Quebecois. These are two different entities, with different leadership, platforms and strategies.

haha oh wait holy shit i got confused and muddled and am totally wrong

that IS weird
!!

What a ridiculous story--this pretty much clinches it for me. I guess people sat on it in the improbable event that they'd need something at the last minute. I sincerely hope it blows up in their faces. (And am resigned to the fact that it probably won't.)

Shocking how many people I know are genuinely *outraged* by this. The only way it blows up in their faces is if the push on the story gets firmly linked to the CPC.

Or maybe not outraged, but taking it seriously as opposed to the clear last-ditch smearjob it is.

Visiting a massage parlor in 1996...I think I once kicked a puppy in 1983, so obviously I wouldn't even consider running for office.

Okay, I misunderstood; I though you meant outraged that the story came out, but you mean outraged at Layton. Wow--I'm surprised.

God I really hope everyone ultimately has the good sense not to give a shit

I think it's probably close enough to the election for it to not catch fire, but if it does, I'm not sure if it's far enough in advance for it to blow over.

Just had the pleasure of sending a door-to-door CPC canvasser on his way. I started to take the handbill he was offering just to get rid of him, realized what it was, and withdrew my hand: "Oh--no." He didn't try to convince me otherwise and just walked away.

I was seriously expecting the Star to come up with some defence of Ignatieff:
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/article/983376--toronto-star-endorses-the-ndp?bn=1

i came home to a photocopy of that in my mailbox

is anyone going to a party on election night? wanna find a good place to watch the returns

Wow ... personal feelings aside, how can anyone take the Star seriously after they've been sucking Liberal dick for the entire campaign only to dump them because (and this is clearly stated in the editorial) because they wanted to jump on another party's bandwagon?

i think it's pretty surprising. have they ever endorsed the NDP before? (i remember them endorsing the Cons a while back, so them not picking the Libs isn't huge news to me)

and that Sun smear-as-news shit is revolting. i hope most people see it for what it is - but am worried most will just see the inflammatory, misleading Sun headline and walk away with the wrong impression.

xpost no

Guess who:

In other words, if the Tories do not get a majority, we could end up with a government led by quasi-separatist socialists, propped up by full-blown separatists and leavened by a rudderless Liberal party in a state of leadership flux. No one has any real idea what such a government would look like. And so the only way we can guarantee stability is if the Tories win at least 155 seats.

Not surprising to me - IMO Layton's run a great campaign, even if you disagree with some of his party's issues. Ignatieff has run a truly unfocused, reactive and sometimes incoherent campaign. Even if the Star leaned Liberal at the beginning, it's really hard to justify endorsing a party with a leader - as much as I like him personally - who just seems lost.

Saying that the Star leaned Liberal is like saying that the Post leaned Conservative. They wrote editorial after editorial saying that the Liberals were the best choice, and their daily election coverage was almost always slanted Liberal. This about face smacks of not wanting to come out of the election looking silly for having supported an unsuccessful campaign, and what's more, they're not even trying to pretend that it's anything different. It's not like they reconsidered the Liberal platform and decided it was crap after all, they just don't want to support a loser.

Increasingly narrow gap in the newest polls:
http://hilltimes.com/dailyupdate/view/ndp_tories_in_virtual_dead_heat_either_party_could_form_minority_government_says_forum_research_poll_05-01-2011

http://ipolitics.ca/2011/05/01/ipolitics-ekos-poll-cpc-34-6-ndp-31-4-and-a-final-forecast-tonight-at-10-p-m/

Prepare to say hello to a two-party system.

Robo-calls from Rob Ford and Ignatieff the past couple of hours, nothing yet from the NDP. I don't know if that's smart on their part or not, but it works for me.

got a robo-call from Paul Martin earlier urging me to vote for whoever the liberal candidate in his former riding is. I don't live in his riding anymore though. First time I ever got a robo-call from the liberals, I guess they're in trouble.

A Ford call? Wierd. Presumably on behalf of the conservatives?

I had first my robo-call this election, from the NDP.

good luck canadia

(ps is there some reason i am missing in my ignorance that the ndp/libs/greens are not forming a coalition govt?)

also i had no idea the ndp was such a power

Yeah, the Ford call was for whichever PCP's running in my riding. At least it wasn't an attack call.

Having just spent an hour on the American political thread, are we saner up here or just more boring? (Or both?)

saner -- for now -- i think?

Thanks! And in Toronto, we do claim Mookie as one of our own.

Ekos has 2.8% between the CPC and NDP in their final report:
http://www.ekospolitics.com/index.php/2011/05/hold-on-to-your-hats-campaign-41-drawing-to-a-heart-stopping-conclusion-may-1-2011/

Oh my bad, that was the same Ekos poll from before, sry.

(ps is there some reason i am missing in my ignorance that the ndp/libs/greens are not forming a coalition govt?)

Prior to the election, the LPC and NDP held fewer seats than the CPC even when put together. The Greens held no seats in Parliament. Despite this, a coalition nearly happened in 2008 with the BQ's support: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Canadian_parliamentary_dispute#The_Governor_General_prorogues_parliament
However, the GG granted Harper's request to prorogue Parliament and avert this threat on the condition that he would produce a budget that would be acceptable to the Opposition (basically, one that included stimulus measures).

Depending on how this election plays out, we may see a coalition.

also i had no idea the ndp was such a power

It's the first time in history that they've been a serious contender for Government (or really, even Official Opposition).

these latest polls are madness. i just can't bring myself to believe the dippers will do aswell as some forecasts are saying.

wow xposts

Link for the Parliamentary dispute article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Canadian_parliamentary_dispute

xpost Yeah, I'm still expecting to pinch myself and wake up.

Broadbent got close in '88 (i think). people thought he could - possibly - be the next PM, but the NDP vote collapsed.

xpost

i mean - it looks like Layton will easily blow Broadbent's seat total out of the water. i could even see them as the official opposition - but if they win more seats than the Libs have now i will personally buy a cigar for every person in the city. i just don't think that will happen.
this year.

i'm actually worried the Cons still have a decent chance at a majority. (albeit a crummy one)

Me too.

OK, real final EKOS results: http://www.ekospolitics.com/index.php/2011/05/our-final-words-and-a-few-more-numbers-may-1-2011/

guys osama bin laden is dead so i'm sure that . . . uh, go canucks?

what?

layton killed bin laden!!!

in the massage parlour with a candle.

This couldn't possibly affect a single vote one way or the other, right?

lol - was wonderin that. could help Cons?

maybe we'll all feel so secure that voting will seem unimportant

could help Cons?

Man... Do you think?... I hope not.

Like, if QC has been shifting NDP because of Afghanistan, maybe this could make the war seem more worthwhile...?