As One Canadian Goes to Vote.

[Brundle_Fly]

Hey DU.

I am off to vote tomorrow, and I don't like the feeling in my gut. I live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, in the riding of the Conservative leader Stephen Harper.

Stephen is, as you might have heard, a very Neo-Con Conservative here in Canada. He is running on the "compassionate conservative myth" and says he will give tax breaks to everyone, help familys and try to develop the middle/working class. For those who don't know him, it sounds great, imagine someone who will give you $1200 a year for every child you have. Using this style of campaigning, he has garnered excellent support, especially after our liberal party was busted paying off french liberal ad firms, for trying to promote a united canada in a province that wants to seperate. (some scandal)

I am scared.

Harper is very much like your GWB, in that he wants tax cuts for the wealthy, to ban gay marriage, (which we just voted on and passed) ban abortions, put our troops in Iraq, probably Iran when the time comes too, join your missile defense progam and cut the "evil" welfare state our country has become. Something that has been the main seperation of culture between americans and canadians, our steady flank towards more of a socialist liberal culture.

Oh and he wants to privatize our perfect health care as well.

Like I said earlier, I am off to vote tomorrow, and I am going to vote Liberal, I always do. I am voting Liberal in a district that will vote entirely Conservative, and I am scared. So peace to all my beatnik buddies I have here on DU, I will let you know how it turns out.

Liberal and Proud

Brundlefly.

[dsc]

1. I hope the polls are wrong

but I am very afraid for your country. It looks like a split left of center vote will propel Harper to power.

[ddeclue]

2. Ay caramba!

Ok, when the time comes I guess we'll have to go to Mexico instead... :)

Doug De Clue

[melody]

3. What's going on in Canada sounds like the US's path of destruction

Same crappy wine, different bottles.

While I'm not a socialist, I am a liberal. Even Neanderthals cared for their weak and ill. We may be more pro-free market here, but the majority of Americans are close enough to the edge to appreciate the need for safety nets, no matter what we call them.

We can just hope you're not nearing the same precipice we're going over.

[Telly Savalas]

37. Not at all.

Harper got a paltry 36% of the popular vote, and most of the boost from last time comes from people frustrated with the Liberals, not from an actual ideological shift.

The majority of seats in the House of Commons are still held by centrist or left of centre people.

[rurallib]

4. Been following closely

What amazes me is that Canadians can see what a guy like Harper can do just by casting their eyes southward, yet they somehow seem to think it won't happen to them. I have long admired you folks. Canadians I have met and worked with are wonderful. I have been praying that the majority will come to their senses and send Harper back to his pew.

[CHIMO]

9. Perhaps

Thanks to the elephant and the Corporations.

If one doesn't know the enemy then it is a bit hard to have a plan of attack.

Anyway perhaps we are just about to continue supplying the cheap resources which the empire requires.

[Brundle_Fly]

10. actually

if Harper wins, he will at max win a minority government, as we in canada have the benefit of three major political parties, and one fairly major seperatist party. So whatever he tries to do, he will need to get the support of either the Liberals, who usually will defend the basics of Canadian values, or the NDP, who are even more socialistic and unlike conservatives.

So he will be pretty cornered if he does win, he wont get the approvals he wants without running things "really" smooth for at least four years. Then and only then will he have the chance to increase his government's size. I doubt he can do it. His views are far too radical for the average Canadian, he will make a few stupid comments and we'll vote his party out of existence.

I just worry about what he does in the interim... things in Canada have been very good, the masses are happy and well fed.

Change for the worse and corporate interest invading the government if the biggest fear, seems a shame to rebuild what we havent broken, in another four years.

[Nutmegger]

5. DON'T TURN CONSERVATIVE BLUE CANADA!!!

Good luck to you guys up north. Harper is absolutely despicable. Privatize health care, ugh. My parents, and many others, are suffering with health care fees right now. If he is in power, our boy down here will just have a field day.

Don't do it! Don't turn blue!!

[NinetySix]

21. That's the problem -- Canada is TURNING blue.

Blue is the color of the Conservative Party up here, and the it's the Liberals who are red. NDP is orange and green.

Oh, and the Green Party is green and yellow. Figures.

[Brundle_Fly]

22. up is down

black is white, it's madness up here.

[Mnemosyne]

6. Good luck to you and

your country BrundelFly.:hi:

I fear for your country, but am hopeful that you have many politicos with more brass ones there than we have here that would muzzle that moron Harper.

Fingers, eyes and all crossed.

How long is your election and how soon do you learn the results?

V

[Brundle_Fly]

11. we vote on paper

and we'll know the results by midnight EST tomorrow.

[Mnemosyne]

23. You are so fortunate to use a paper system,

I vote in PA where Liebold has just been embraced.

Great luck!!

[Lisa]

35. a bonus is that it requires lots of people ...

Elections Canada workers, and volunteers from the political parties to monitor the voting and counting. Literally hundreds would have to be in on it, if someone tried to cheat on a national scale.

Hand-counting is usually finished an hour or so after the polls close (it's done by neighborhood, so only about 300 or so per batch -- speeds up the count).

Our team had a mismatch of one vote (between the tally kept by the clerk, and the verbal counting of the guy handling the ballots), and we did a recount just to be sure -- it only added on another 15 minutes.

[Mnemosyne]

36. It is my dream for the US!

Thank you for the explanation Lisa! Simple is usually best in anything in life. :hi:

I had faith in our system in 1976 the year I turned 18 and cast my ballot for Mr.Carter. I was so proud and excited to be able to participate. I never imagined to even consider that my vote would not count then.

I never dreamed in my worst nightmare that we would have the mess it became in 2000, much less 2004.

Congrats on another honest election in your country!:toast:

In peace,:smoke:
V

[CHIMO]

7. Keep Up

The fight.

The illusion will fall with the economy and then things will be straightened out. So to say.

[Captain Hilts]

8. A lot of scary politicians come from Alberta! nt

[Brundle_Fly]

12. Lots of really good ones too.

They just never get elected. :(

[NativeTexan]

13. Remind your friends that to be a "compassionate" conservative....

.....would be to admit the truth that conservatism, in and of itself is NOT compassionate. And what Canadians might call a "myth", down here in Texas we call it a "big fat lie"!!..GOOD LUCK!!

[stevedeshazer]

14. Good wishes, my friend

Calgary is a bit short on liberal thought, but you've got a beautiful city. I know Alberta is the heart of conservative Canada.

Respectfully, you've got a long way to go before you reach anywhere near the miasma of U.S. politics.

Even if Harper wins, it seems it would be difficult to surpass the monkey business here. At least you'll have strong opposition in your Parliament, unlike the one-party rule we have here.

I love Alberta despite the somewhat right-leaning culture there. Best luck to you all. :)

[Brundle_Fly]

17. next time you come up.

you can have a bed here.

Calgary is much more liberal than you think, the 20-40 year old demographic isnt as suspect of the evils of Ottawa as the older generation.

The shame is only a small percentage of them vote, especially in mid January

the good news is the weather here right now is amazing just shy of 55F, so turnout here might not be excluded to just the seniors and right leaning fogies.

[stevedeshazer]

19. Oh yeah, I've been there several times

Most recently two summers ago. It's the same temperature there as here. We're just more damp.

[European Socialist]

15. Tell that hoser Harper to "take off".

[bullimiami]

16. how could anyone see the greed and destruction caused by these bastards

and want to embrace it?

i am dumbfounded.

[Brundle_Fly]

18. they see you....

but they don't hear a message from Harper that is similar. He is playing it as the most casual softie. Caring and supportive of families etc..

I know exactly who he is, I see him at least 10 times a year, I have heard him speak several times in the late ninties early '00's, and he is not what he is pretending to be.

[NinetySix]

20. I'm not so sure it's such a bad thing....

It's likely that Conservatives will win a minority government tomorrow, but it could work out well.

First, the initial signs of "buyers' remorse" are starting to play out in people's reaction to an imminent Tory government. While the Liberals' poll numbers are low, they're pretty solid, because those wavering and thinking about voting NDP are considered undecided. But although the Conservatives' support appears high, it is soft, possibly very soft. Last-minute jitters from potential new Tory voters are likely to make the actual number of Conservative seats lower than the numbers being predicted at the moment. The danger of a Conservative majority government is a lot slimmer than it looks.

Second, Paul Martin would likely step down as leader, allowing a better (less corporate?) candidate to lead the Liberals. A number of lost Liberal seats might have the effect of pruning deadwood, thus permitting the replacement of some of those possibly most tainted in all this scandal talk with new blood.

Third, given the ideological divide between the Conservatives and ANY of the other parties represented in Parliament, a minority Conservative government would likely fall within a year to 18 months. This would obviously preclude the advancement of their social agenda, as well as requiring a great deal of compromise on budget and other legislative matters with the three parties to their left. A fledgling Tory government would be foolish to frivilously force a showdown on a matter of confidence for the simple reason that they would almost certainly lose.

The Tory win (which STILL isn't a certainty) will suck, but will be easy to survive.

[AX10]

29. I find it hard to believe that the Cons will win 145-154 seats...

as one projections claims. I'd imaging a minorty of 115-125 or even a hung parliament.
Also, how liberal/left is the Bloc on social policy (gay marriage/abortion/aboriginal rights, etc)?

[NinetySix]

31. A slim minority government is a distinct possibility.

And how socially liberal is the Bloc? With the exception of Aboriginal rights (the issue that threatens the integrity of the Province of Quebec should it succeed in separating), the vast majority of Quebeckers are extremely liberal, and thus the Bloc's stance on those secondary issues on its agenda are also very liberal. Most Canadians perceive Quebec as the most liberal of the Provinces, and they are so much more liberal and open about social issues than Americans that it's likely that most Americans would look on them as unabashed libertines, if only they knew anything about them.

[AX10]

32. Good to know that. That means they are to the left of myself then.

That's fine. What is important is that they would not join the Cons in attemping to turn back the clock of social progress and justice.

Thanks.

[flpoljunkie]

24. Article in today's Boston Globe about the election...

http://www.boston.com/news/world/canada/articles/2006/01/23/conservatives_on_rise_as_canada_votes_today/?page=full

Conservatives on rise as Canada votes today
Desire for change could sink Liberals

By Jenna Russell, Globe Staff | January 23, 2006

ST. ANDREW'S WEST, Ontario -- Among the regulars at Quinn's, an old stone tavern in this small town east of Ottawa, the decision was unanimous: Every man at the bar planned to support the Conservative Party in Canada's national election today, after years of voting for Liberals or not voting at all.
What they hoped to gain was simple: ''Change, hopefully for the better," Fern Guindon, 57, a semi-retired police dispatcher, said one afternoon last week. ''The Liberals have been in too long, and it's time to clean up the government."

An appetite for change has swept Canada this winter, bringing a surge in support for the country's Conservative Party. Heading into the final weekend of campaigning, the Conservative candidate for prime minister, Stephen Harper, was leading in some polls by 10 percentage points over the incumbent Liberal leader, Paul Martin. The Conservatives appeared poised to end 13 years of Liberal Party rule, a tenure marked by increasing economic prosperity but marred by a government kickback scandal and deteriorating relations with the United States.

Such a shift in attitudes would be striking in a country known for leaning left, where the government provides healthcare, and whose citizens applauded the decision by former Liberal prime minister Jean Chretien not to send troops to Iraq. The Conservatives have attracted voters with a platform that echoes priorities of Republicans in the United States: lower taxes, a beefed-up military, tougher sentences for drug crimes, and less federal government interference in local affairs.

<>Speaking in French and English, Harper slammed the Liberals for ''scandal and inaction." He pledged to help ordinary people, with tax breaks for public-transit commuters and $100-per-month payments to parents for day care.

__________________

Sounds like he's following Bush's playbook, and look what it has got us in the United States.

[mmonk]

25. Good luck.

Will Quebec remain in the Federation if the conservatives win?

[Brundle_Fly]

26. dunno

its really up to quebec, they will no doubt have a referendum to vote them selves out.

the people of quebec have the power.

[meppie-meppie not]

27. I'll be voting here in Calgary with you Brundle_fly and like yourself

I'll be casting mine for the Liberals. Had earlier toyed with the idea of voting NDP but with the poll numbers as they are that idea has been ditched.

[Brundle_Fly]

28. Hey Meppie!

another Calgarian who knew!

what area you in?

[meppie-meppie not]

30. have you voted yet?

I'm in the SE. What area you in? Everyone I've spoken to is either staunch Conservative or the few dissenters have been NDP, what a town :(

[u4ic]

33. I'm in a Con riding in Edmonton

x(

Edmonton-Strathcona, which I'm bordering but not in, looks to be a very interesting one. The NDPer candidate, Linda Duncan, has a very good shot. Crossing my fingers and toes and eyes fro reh! :bounce:

[Lisa]

34. your vote helps get your party more funding ...

So it's true -- every vote does count. Thank you for turning out! I had no idea how the election went until late Monday, since I spent E-day in a voting-induced haze (up before dawn to help at the polling station, and stayed the whole day for the count ... I never even saw the sun!).

And as it turned out, it could have been a LOT worse. Canadian voters are perfectly willing to wipe a party off the map (what happened to the Tories, who never did recover, and were gobbled up by Reform). And they didn't do that this time. They don't trust Harper with a majority (and I suspect that a lot of voters pulled back after hearing his "activist judges" comment a few days ago). Also, they agree with many of the Liberal policies, like staying out of Iraq. So they gave the other parties enough clout to rein in Harper. (Not perfect, but under our system, it's feasible ... provided they use it.)

Another thing is that people are moving into Alberta all the time, from Ontario and points east (and from coastal BC as well). This is surely going to cause a political/social shift, especially in big urban areas like Calgary.

[snowbear]

38. Damn... no wonder Mario Lemieux retired...

Conservative Canadians let him down..



(joking.. we know you tried Brundle.. )