Liberals on verge of huge majority - Canada

[dArKeR]

Ontario voters are poised to give Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty and his party an electoral sweep and hand them almost three-quarters of the seats in the provincial legislature.

A seat projection model with the latest Ipsos-Reid poll indicates that if the numbers hold to election day, the seat distribution in the Ontario Legislature could translate into 72 for the Liberals, 22 for the Progressive Conservatives and nine for the New Democrats.

And with only five days left before the Oct. 2 vote, the poll indicates the Conservatives could face an almost complete wipeout in both Toronto and the 905-area-code region surrounding Toronto.

The Tories also face the loss of seats in the Niagara Peninsula and Central and Eastern Ontario as voters indicate they intend to replicate the result of 1987, when the Liberals took 73 per cent of the seats in the legislature.

http://theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030927.wpoll0927/BNStory/Front/

Again, Canada the leaders of the free world, thanks to G.W. Shemale!

[Guaranteed]

1. Progressive Conservatives? LOL

Wow those Canadians really ARE weird. j/k ;)

[Mokito]

2. You call that weird?

Whaddabout 'Compassionate Conservatism'? That's a real hoot.

[sham]

3. Deam headline for next fall:

Liberals on verge of huge majority - United States. :bounce:

[Hawkeye-X]

26. No - even better headlines right here..

"Major Democratic sweep, thanks to the hot coat-tails of President-elect Gov. Dr. Howard Dean and Vice President-elect Gen. Wesley Clark (US Army, Ret.)"

"In an stunning upset that clearly resonates the anger of real Americans, tired of getting screwed by the unsavory Republicans, Howard Dean and Wesley Clark not only won the presidency and the vice presidency, but also won a strong majority of the Democratic senators and congressperson to help clean up America and fix what ails the wrongs. Howard Dean, in a victory speech, declared that he will NOT pardon the Republicans in power and ask the majority of the Congress to begin investigations upon Jan 05 installation to open up everything that the Republicans has fought so hard to suppress and make it open and public hearing. In a thinly veiled cue, Dean is suggesting that the lame-duck President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney may be up for treason, as well as several key members of the Bush administration such as John Ashcroft, Donald Rumsfield, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Condolezza Rice, Colin Powell...."

I think you can imagine the rest of the bylines..

Hawkeye-X

[msmcghee]

4. Question for Canadians.

Did you guys really invent bacon?

No, seriously, do the party names in Canada describe the political philosophy of the party - or are they chosen like they are in some places to mask the true ideology of those who belong to them?

i.e are the Progressive Conservatives, Social Democrats and Liberals true to their labels?

[Minstrel Boy]

5. The name "Progressive Conservatives"

came from a merger, many years ago, of distinct Progressive and Conservative parties, and for much of its history its been an accurate description.

The progressive wing, known as "Red Tories," has been very influential historically, but it's been on the wane in recent years federally and provincially. (Though a significant portion of the membership is represented by David Orchard, an outspoken opponent of NAFTA and globalization, who's made impressive showings in the last two federal PC leadership campaigns.)

Social Democrats - you may be confusing "Social Credit" and "New Democrats." Social Credit is virtually dead, replaced, as a populist movement on the right, by "Reform," which morphed into the neo-con Canadian Alliance. (Which itself is ailing.) The New Democratic Party represents the socialist option. The Liberal Party is, well, liberal-centrist (it was furthest left during the Trudeau years, moving right now under soon-to-be leader Paul Martin), and is known as Canada's "natural governing party."

Myself, I'm a life-long New Democrat (go team!)
http://www.ndp.ca/

[msmcghee]

6. Thanks Minstrel Boy

Are you a musician? B-)

[Minstrel Boy]

7. lol, no; not a musician

Just a nick I carried over from a Dylan board to keep life simple for me.

[molok555]

8. In Canada there is a diff

between big 'L' Liberal and small 'l' liberal. The former is centrist, the latter progressive. Liberal is still NOT a bad word north of the border...

Just a little history for y'all (voter perception in parentheses): Ontario went NDP, PC and now it looks like LIberal in the span of 10 years or so. Why? NDP-inept (mealy-moutyhed and weak); PC-deregulatory maniacs (probably) the cause of the Walkerton deaths, electricity rates through the roof and a blackout (probably not) and now Liberal (done a good job federally-go with the winning team!).

And each province differs. For example, in BC the provincial Liberals are in charge, but they are Reform/Canadian Alliance by another name (actually old Social Credits, but who's paying attention). They are decidedly NOT liberal, except in the prefixed 'neo' way....

[HEyHEY]

13. I have to live under the fuckers

The name Liberal is the last thing the are...by Canada standards, basically they'd be democrats or right leaning dems in the states

[Lisa]

9. Remember how Trudeau once commented ...

... that the Liberals needed the NDP bracing them on the left, to keep them from drifting too far over to the Conservative side of the spectrum?

There were times during his government that with the help of the NDP, they managed to get some progressive legislation passed (pooling their votes in the House of Commons gave them more than 50%). Minority governments can be good ...


I like the "Red Tories" -- my uncle was one such -- I generally get along with them much better than some neo-conservative Liberals!


Re: "social democrats", I've sometimes heard fellow NDPers refer to themselves as such (in the sense that they aren't hard-left socialists and support a mixed economy) -- but as you say, I haven't heard of a party with that official name.

The Social Credit party, one of the ones which got a lot of attention during the labour, farming, and other protest movements in the early 20th century, used to have a strong following in the west (especially BC and Alberta) and even formed governments ... however, the "Socreds" fell on hard times and were so severely discredited by the late 1980s that Bill Van der Zalm (the BC Premier who ran an amusement park in his spare time, I'm not kidding) pretty well finished them off.

The Socreds ended up flocking en masse to the BC provincial Liberal party, and taking it over (like a carnivorous wasp burrowing into a caterpillar, said a biologist friend of mine). so they are still around, but in a different form.


The NDPers on this board already know this, but just for interest's sake .... The New Democratic Party was formed in the postwar years, from the old CCF (the party that formed North America's first socialist government, in Saskatchewan under Tommy Douglas, a.k.a. Kiefer Sutherland's grandpa). My landlady was one of the NDP's founders, and recalled that there was some dispute about the name .... she and some other favoured "The New Party", though of course 40 years later that would require some explaining! Not the same thing as the "New Democrats" in the US .... though it was kind of funny to hear Bill Clinton refer to "a new Democratic Party" back in the 90s.

[arikara]

18. I think Paul Martin is the Canadian version of a neo-con

I wrote to Paul Martin and asked him how he expected to cut taxes and yet maintain healthcare, support education and his latest promise - to give more money to the municipalities. Especially in light of how badly that tax cutting strategy is working in the US and in BC.

They sent back a canned reply and told me to check out his website. I wrote back again asking for an answer to my question because i had valid concerns. I got a very terse response from someone again telling me to go to the website. I'm going to keep writing to him until I get a straight answer. I'm sure I'll be old and grey.

His website is full of press releases and election campaign fluff. No substance. I can just see what is going to happen here. Martin will get in, call and win the election then do the neo-con thing with the country and sell us out with all the bad nafta, gats, trips agreements that he can in a very short order. It alarms the H E double hockey sticks out of me and I really hope I'm wrong.

Thankfully we do have the NDP. Do you have any association with the Council of Canadians? www.canadians.org

[Minstrel Boy]

19. The Council of Canadians

is a wonderful organization, and I should have joined years ago, but no, I'm unassociated with it.

[arikara]

24. Its never too late...

I wonder if Maude Barlow will ever run for PM?

[SharonAnn]

10. Oooh, oooh, oooh! Is it contagious? I hope so!

It would be wonderful if the U.S. got "infected" with a majority of liberals.

[Thoth]

11. Liberals on the verge of huge majority - USA!

I can't wait for THAT to happen, but then the sun may burn out first ;-)

To dream, to dream ....:-)

[HEyHEY]

12. I'm surpirsed A guy with the name Ernie can't get elected

[Lisa]

17. given that the other name choices are "Dalton" and "Howard"

.... you'd think that Eves would be milking his own name for all it's worth.

"Hi, I'm Ernest about wanting this job. That's my name!"

[Ernesto]

14. My call: You ain't seen nothin yet

As baby boomers start retiring in mass (next 5 years). We (USA) will experiece a "brain drain". That is many liberals will throw in the towel on 'Merica... With plenty of land and great currancy exchange rates and humane social climate, who can blame them? .... Why live in the land of angst when an english speaking, tolerat country is so near?... I predict a land rush in British Columbia.

[Minstrel Boy]

15. You've given us great boosts before

The United Empire Loyalists - otherwise known as "traitors" ;) - who moved north after US independence helped settle Ontario. And the '60s influx of resisters and dodgers gave our left a nice shot in the arm.

[smallprint]

16. Plus, all those midwestern populists

moved up north in the late 1800s... their descendants helped create the national health care system.

And, now that i think about it, there is another migration going on (although pretty small)-- medical marijuana users, growers, advocates and plain old stoners fleeing the War on Drugs.

[burr]

20. Where's the green card???

[ElsewheresDaughter]

21. yup my canandain friend is here visiting..she told me this just this after

noon...the Progressive Conservative Party(an oxymoron) is on its way out!...because they have same idealogy as and support bushco's....Bush has UNITED LIBERALS worldwide!!!

[burr]

22. how are things going in Quebec?

I never understood why there was a huge push to break away. The times I have been to Quebec the culture was a true melting pot..bilingual and proud of its Canadian and French roots.

Anywhere in Quebec you will either see the Canadian flag..not surprisingly, and a Quebec blue and white flag. They had much more pride in their nationhood than we did here, this was about five years before 9/11. But here many now fly our flag out of the fear of being seen as a traitor, they don't do it for love of country..but from fear of perception.

[Minstrel Boy]

23. Quebec recently elected the Liberals.

Seperatism, of even the lukewarm variety, is waning (but I'll never call it dead). The new Quebec Premier is Jean Charest, who jumped to the provincial Liberals after having served as federal Progressive Conservative leader for much of the '90s.

[molok555]

25. The mission of the older generations

Support for Quebec separation is waning-if not dead- amongst those younger than 35. It's a dream of the fifties. Also, it's more popular in rural than urban areas and like every other area of the world, Quebec's population is becoming more urban. Finally (not to sound too Parizeau-ian), there is the increasing immigrant population. These people came to CANADA first, Quebec second. Separation is NOT the dream of these new Canadians. In a nutshell, separation is dying a demographic death.

Even the Habs/Leafs games don't carry the same baggage they used to...

[moondust]

27. Neoconservatism isn't sweeping the world off its feet?

Isn't everybody supposed to follow the U.S. lead? How dare they! </sarcasm>