Uh-oh What are canadians thinking?!?

[whosinpower]

A recent poll shows the conservatives with Steven Harper leading over the liberals.

Harper has been selling himself as a centrist - but we all know better. He is the guy who would of had Canada embroiled in the Iraq war - called the NDP proof that the devil does interfer with the affairs of men.....etc.

I know Canadians are tired of liberal corruption.....but gimme a break - let's not throw Canada out with the bathwater......and that is precisely what would happen under Harper.

[Ken Burch]

1. If you go the the Rabble.ca website

and enter into the Babble discussion boards, you can find out what Canadians are thinking(trust me, mods, leaving the plug for this site in would be a GOOD thing).

For one thing, in all liklihood, even if the Conservatives win(and the most recent polls show their current lead narrowing and in some cases disappearing)they would only get a minority government. The New Democrats(NDP)the most left-of-center party, are likely to gain seats and may keep the Liberals in power in a minority, in exchange for, well, liberalism(which the Liberal government there hasn't been much noted for in recent years, other than on the same-sex marriage vote).

Canada is not heading for Reaganism-Thatcherism. And it will probably take the Liberals losing more seats for that party to democratise its internal structure and become a progressive force again. In the mean time, the NDP's growth will mean a strong left voice which will continue to hold the balance of power in Parliament.

[MapleHeart]

2. Couldn't have said it much better

The main problem faced by Canadians is that both of the major parties are (by Canadian standards) right wing. There is a void in the center of the political spectrum.

The Liberals have not embraced liberalism for a great many years now. Our current Prime Minister is about the biggest hypocrite there is... all you need to do is look at his sleazy shipping company, yet meanwhile spouts off about helping the Third World. At least Bono finally woke up about what his 'buddy' Martin is really like.

The politics of ambition (as was the title of a book on the worst Prime Minister Canada has ever had, Brian Mulroney) can easily be applied to this man too. Since his daddy failed to become PM (losing to Pierre Trudeau in the Liberal leadership race) it has been the son's quest. Unlike former Liberal political rivals (Trudeau/Turner, Turner/Chretien) Martin did not resign his seat in the House of Commons and return to private life (and then make a bid for the party leadership at a later date) when he could no longer serve loyally under Chretien. Instead Martin and his 'team' began an unceasing campaign to undermine and belittle Prime Minister Chretien, eventually forcing him out (for the record I'm not a rabid Chretien supporter, just telling it like it was).

Sadly, for middle-of-the-road Canadians such as myself, it has come to the point that perhaps the only way for the Liberal party to find their way back to their proper place as a liberal/centerist party is for them to be thrown out of power. Hopefully then the party wil purge itself of the Martianites who have hijacked it. As a former Liberal MP said about the Martin team, "It's not how loyal you are, it is if you will drink the coolaid." That kind of blind political fanaticism is very unsettling to most Canadians.

Best case scenario is a minority Reform/Canadian Alliance government that falls within a year before they are able to do too much damage. Canada still hasn't recovered from the Mulroney years. BTW, I refuse to call them the Conservative Party since it wasn't a merger but rather a hostile take over of the old Progressive Conservative Party... and truly they should just be honest and call themselves what they are... the Republican Party of Canada.

[whosinpower]

3. You think that is the best case scenario?

I shudder to think of Harper in power - even in minority status.

This election trully SUCKS. Martin deserves to go....Harper is crazy......and Layton is....Layton. It makes me angry that we are having an election now.

Question is is Martin SO BAD that Harper smells slightly better? I don't think so.

My hope is another liberal minority - with a few gains from the NDP and losses from the conservatives. It would force a leadership convention for the conservatives - and then we can say good bye to Stephen Harper.

The story would of been totally different if Peter McKay had been chosen leader IMO.

[Ken Burch]

4. For that matter, if the old Progressive Conservatives under Joe Clark

had wiped out the Reform/Alliance types and reclaimed their place as the main alternative to the Liberals, they'd probably be twenty points ahead right now.

[Nikki Stone 1]

5. But that's what progressives thought when they backed Nader

"Sadly, for middle-of-the-road Canadians such as myself, it has come to the point that perhaps the only way for the Liberal party to find their way back to their proper place as a liberal/centerist party is for them to be thrown out of power."

Take a look at your neighbors to the South. The "Democrats are corrupt (too far right) so let's get rid of them and put in someone further right" did not work here.

Just sayin...

I like Canada and would like to see it avoid the hell we've been through down here over the past 6 years.

[tkmorris]

6. Not the same

Canadian politics do not function in the same fashion as they do here in the United States. Even if the "Liberal" party were to fade into relative obscurity the benefactors in the long term would be the NDP, which is the real liberal party in Canada.