Author: Patti

Making Responsible Choices

4/30/2011

Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics

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We’re down to the last two days before Election Day. When the writ dropped, no one expected the polls to be sitting where they are now. The polls do differ some on where the various levels of support sit and who is up and who is down from the last poll (yesterday in most cases) but they clearly indicate amongst decided voters it’s Conservatives, NDP & Liberals in that order.

Most of the polls also show there are still over 10% of Canadians who have not yet decided where their vote will be going. It is this group who will either swing the election in whatever direction or just wont show up at the polls. If you are one of them, let me say, for god sake — show up at the polls.

So, here we are, Harper is calling for the Conservatives to get a majority because those awful opposition parties will just destroy the country in all manner of dastardly ways. The NDP has surprised themselves with a sudden surge of support, primarily in Quebec and the Liberals are struggling to keep their heads above water.

Harper has spent much time trumpeting his ‘economic stewardship’. He’s introduced at campaign rallys as being a ‘trained economist’, the fact is he’s an economist in training only, he’s never done anything but be a politician or political activist. The solid economic ground that we weathered the recession on, it was put in place by the Liberals, the people who handed Harper a surplus which was gone before the recession hit.

Harper doesn’t seem to have gotten the message, the majority of Canadians haven’t given him a majority government for a reason — they don’t trust him. This election more than previous ones it seems to be crystal clear, the majority wants Harper out. This is where Canadians need to be very careful of the choices we make as we enter the ballot box.

If you want to go with the bandwagon, and support the NDP, then support them. Don’t go with the bandwagon, get into the ballot box and then, because you’re having second thoughts stick that X on the Conservative candidate. That has a distinct danger of giving the Conservatives the majority they crave, of giving Harper five years of unfettered control. (more…)

Time for Sober Second Thought

4/28/2011

Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics

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The big story of the day is the continuing rise of the NDP in the public opinion polls. If those polls hold through until people actually put their Xs on the ballot on Monday, we could be seeing an unprecedented change in the makeup of Canadian politics.

While the focus tends to be on the orange line on the public opinion polls, there are some other interesting details which tend to find themselves playing second fiddle. The first, and most important to me, is that the Conservative support is dropping. The second is, about 15% of Canadians have not yet made up their minds on who they are going to vote for. That 15% plus those who give second thought to their current choices, will make or break the outcome.

The drop in Conservative support indicates Canadians want change. We’re fed up with the government we’ve had for the last five years. Harper may have spent the campaign pleading for a majority government but the polls are indicating the change we want is not to a majority government. We’ve not bought into his claims of the sky falling.

Canadians are not stupid. The know at least at some level that Harper and his closed off, controlling, hyper partisanship has been at least partially responsible for the appearance of instability in our Parliament these last five years. His governing as though he has a majority and his brinkmanship approach to controversy has been as much responsible for bringing us into this election as any other factor. (more…)

Just A Week to Go in Election — Some Thoughts.

4/22/2011

Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics

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With just a week to go before the election, I’ve been spending some time exploring some of the mountain of material that is out there on the subject. I like to explore behind the usual headlines, often picking up articles which are put out on twitter. I tend to follow a broad range of people and have also been watching the chatter on the twitter hashtag #elxn41

The flow across there ranges from the silly to the funny to the thoughtful. It is the thoughtful that catches most of my attention. So, yesterday’s NANOs poll shows that nationally, the Conservatives have taken a drop, the Liberals have dropped a bit and the NDP appears to be trending upwards.

From the headlines it would appear that the country is suddenly alive with NDP voters. There is a couple of areas where the NDP is rising in support, most notably in Quebec. They appear to have actually passed the Bloc in support. Now, that would just delight me to see any national party pass the Bloc. Anyone who reads this blog knows two things, I don’t like Harper and I consider the Bloc’s presence in Parliament treasonous. I know, they are there, get over it. Doesn’t mean I have to like it. I digress.

What is really interesting in that poll though, is the line where they are tracking the undecided voters. The number of undecided voters across the country has actually increased. Not dramatically, but this late in the campaign, you’d expect to see that dropping. (more…)

NDP Rising? — Be Careful What You Wish For

4/21/2011

Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics

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LollyPopGuild

The polls the last few days are showing the the NDP moving upward, the Liberals sliding some and the Conservatives more or less staying the same. Now, that presents an interesting scenario. The NDP has done this before, appeared to be on an upward swing in the polls and then Canadians apparently came to their senses and shifted away.

That doesn’t mean that will happen again. So should the uptick in support be sustained what could we end up with? Well, the worst case scenario would be that the vote would become so split that Harper comes up the middle and gets his majority. Another prospect is that Canadians are wise enough not to give him anything more than a minority and Layton could end up as the Official Opposition.

While Harper is a bullying, arrogant dictator — Layton is enough of an egotist that he’d see his opportunity to reach the unreachable for him and would likely work to bring Harper down in an effort to offer his party up as the party to take over. There is a reason that Layton has passion behind his claims that he’s the party to fix Ottawa, he actually believes his own rhetoric. (more…)

Compromise Stabilizes Minority Governments

4/20/2011

Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics

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C is for Cookie

Okay, Harper has been traipsing around the country telling everyone he meets that he has to have a majority government or the sky will fall, or something. A recent poll indicates that the majority of Canadians are still not comfortable with the idea of Harper getting a majority.

We Canadians can be a lot smarter than we seem sometimes. Could it be we have good cause to not trust Harper with a majority?

He calls minority governments weak and unstable. Yet, historically, minority governments have been able to produce some incredible pieces of legislation. Our flag, a long and divisive debate, concluded under a minority government. Our medicare system came into being not only during a minority government but the politician credited with being the father of medicare headed a party which has NEVER lead the government of this country. Tommy Douglas of the NDP.

Our parliamentary system hasn’t changed, so, why could those governments produce some powerful changes in this country and a Harper minority becomes weak and unstable? Could it be that the leaders of those other minority governments felt the weight of serving the country instead of their partisan desires? Could it be they had learned that word… compromise?

Harper’s uncompromising approach might work to hold his party together, but it doesn’t hold a minority parliament together. Actually, I’m unconvinced being uncompromising holds a party together. I suspect that has more to do with his bully nature than any else.

So here we are. In an election which came about largely because of Harper’s failure to compromise and cooperate within our parliamentary system. We’re less than two weeks away from the actual election date and it is becoming increasingly clear that Canadians may re-elect the Conservatives but with a minority. (more…)

Will You Rise Up for Canada?

4/17/2011

Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics

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Finally, I’m hearing what has been frustrating me. Throughout this campaign I’ve been astounded that more and more Canadians are not becoming aware of just how badly we need to restore democracy in this country. I’ve wondered how so many can be presented with the evidence of Harper’s contempt for our system and just let it roll off them as they decide they don’t want Michael Ignatieff so they will just let Harper carry on.

I hear the cynicism that ‘they’ (the politicians) are all the same and nothing will change. We wont know unless we vote out the bad and replace him with someone else. Just because Harper has worked to develop a teflon exterior which allows him to tell lies and distortions one after another without consequences doesn’t make him right or believable.

I’ve been a political junkie most of my adult life and I’ve never seen a Prime Minister like this one and I never want to see one like him again. It’s bad enough he came to office promising a new era of transparency and accountability and failed to deliver. It’s unbelievable that he’s been allowed to remain in office for 5 years in the most closed, secretive and dictatorial environment I have ever seen. (more…)

Harper Apologizes, Sort Of

4/7/2011

Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics

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Following several revelations about people trying to attend Conservative campaign events being ejected, apparently for having done really bad things like — attending a Liberal campaign event, having an bumper sticker supportive of the NDP, campaigning against plastic water bottles on the University of Guelph campus, being an advocate for homeless veterans or participating in an event designed to encourage young people to vote — Harper has offered an apology. Sort of:

“If anybody is kept out of any of our events that’s there to hear our message, we obviously apologize to them,” the Conservative Leader said during a campaign stop north of Toronto, in Vaughan.

I don’t know, if I was going to offer an apology to people, especially young people, about the poor behaviour of people who represented me, I’d be saying I was sorry to those people and assuring them their treatment was unacceptable.

Interesting to note, a person currently charged with fraud was able to attend a Conservative campaign rally and apparently has had some ongoing involvement with Harper’s Conservatives. I guess that is to keep Bruce Carson company. Remember him, the former point man for the very security sensitive Afghanistan file who had 5 previous convictions for fraud and had been ordered to have psychiatric counselling.

Have you noticed that Harper never takes responsibility for anything? (more…)

The Election is First About Contempt

4/5/2011

Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics

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C is for Cookie Well, it’s now just over a week into the six week election campaign. The leaders of the various parties are busy crisscrossing the country telling us what they are going to do. Like we actually will believe everything they say.

The challenge is to cut through the rhetoric to find the truth. The truth of course is also dependent on the perspective of the person perceiving it. I found it rather surprising the number of people I’ve encountered who believe the government was brought down over their budget. While the budget was not about to get support, it was not what brought the government down.

The government was brought down because they were found by the opposition to be in contempt of Parliament. The government’s contempt was specifically their ongoing refusal to provide full costing figures for expensive legislation they wanted the Opposition to support. It is the first time in our history a government has been found to be in contempt.

In general, Harper has shown nothing but contempt and disdain for our Parliamentary system since he arrived on the Hill. He uses it for his own ends and runs roughshod over anyone or anything standing in his way. This Canadian is bloody tired of it. (more…)