I didn't accuse the politicians of anything. If you're paying attention I've said, in big bold letters: Canadians do not care.

You'll also notice I said that having an uneducated opinion is bad and you should spoil your vote. You'll notice I make fun of those who treat politics like Canadian Idol, who by doing so are acting just as badly as the politicians they are criticizing. Ironic eh?

There's a difference between calling someone ignorant, and commenting on their ignorance on an issue. A mature person will understand it.

She cannot challenge my character, I don't treat politics like Canadian Idol. :D

The talk in Ottawa is all about coalitions. :( The PQ will get 50 seats, so they have to be part of any coalition, and we know they will not vote for anything that does not benefit them. We're a little removed from these discussions being out west, yet my family/friends in Ontario/Quebec are saying this is all the talk right now.

Do you want every budget for the next 5 years to buy Quebec's vote? I do not, and many of my left leaning friends in Ontario are sick of it, voting Conservative just to ensure this does not happen.

you'll have to excuse me i was speaking in general in my 2nd paragraph, after looking at it i see how it looks to be directed right at u

as for a Canadian Idol; i find it silly to assume someone who looks at the party leadership over the party is being stupid

because the leadership is the one who leads the party
the leadership has the sway to choose the path the party goes on (bush, harper, blair), you'll find it very rare that the party collectively goes against the leadership
sure it happens, local NDP, but incidences are rare and it usually leads nowhere (again local NDP)

so why shouldn't someone look at the shepherd when he's deciding on which flock of sheep to side with? (by your logic the smartest thing for us all to do would be to vote for :Puke: Ignatief since the Liberals rock)

just wAndering, do u know roughly what the budget is for party promotions? 1 billion sounds like alot.... he may have spent 1 billion and SOME of it was inappropriately spent, but 1 billion spent inappropriately sounds off

First, no worries, I don't take any of it personally. Politics just leads to heated discussions :)

The Liberals hardly rock. They want to give money to Quebexico to build an arena - a clear move to buy votes and an indication of what will come in the next 5 years.

You should also look at the leader when making a decision, yet unfortunately most people look solely at their leader. Ask anyone that hates Harper who the candidate for their party is and what they stood for for their riding - then laugh when they cannot answer. Its all too common, and frankly it sucks thus why you see the language I use, I find it sickening.

I am not a fan of Harper as a leader either, I think there are better candidates that would get the Conservatives a majority. Yet I won't bash him just to bash him, that's what Canadian Idol is for :D hell I can even say good things about Douchebag Duceppe, he's a fantastic leader, well spoken, knowledgeable - just he's leader of the douche canoes always having their hands out for Quebexico. Layton is a fantastic person, I would vote for him anyday, yet not for his party.

Ultimately it comes down to the party not the leader. I like 2 of the other leaders, yet will NEVER vote for their parties.

i'll have to disagree with you there on your choices (not your statement though) -- I think W was the weakest leader by far and was just being told everything.

Harper i believe is pretty homogenous with his party -- not really doing any swaying.

An example i would use for you though is Chretien (heh my favorite person to use!) -- since he was a strong leader. Same with gordon campbell.

Newsflash, every government has its share of scandals.

And Duceppe? You gotta be fucking kidding me.

the liberals haven't even payed off their debts from last election. (which is a vilolation of the elections act. but elections canada is run by liberal appointys so nobody cares)

their campaign is going to be run from transit buses. should be fun to watch.

how much of that was stolen from the surplus EI bucket?...

oh shit, johny's back!

gg left wingers :/

like how when the auditor general was trying to find the costs of the gun registry a few years ago all the spending data from the liberals was gone?. and the true costs could not be calculated.

Moreso over which years did this occur? were those 5 years the same years of the tech bubble?

A quick google found me this. reading thought it now.

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/200...coc_ei_081211/


"Canada's highest court ruled, however, that the federal government was within its rights to divert EI contributions to pay down the deficit from 1996-2001.

A Quebec labour union first raised the issue, claiming that Jean Chretien's Liberal government diverted $54 billion from unemployment insurance contributions made by employers and their workers.

The Confederation des Syndicats Nationaux claimed the government was using the money unconstitutionally to balance the budget. Labour leaders demanded that the Ottawa take the money out of general revenues and return the money to the EI program."

they took 54 billion from the on hand EI funds to balance the bugdet, although appeartly that was ok...

Jesus christ this has nothing to do about the past... This about the now. We must let the government know with our votes that secret agendas and scandels is not what canadians want. We can play that stupid game alld au
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Holy crap, how much do elections cost?
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Well she is a girl so you can't expect her to think rationally before menopause.
If theres two places she doesn't belong it's gender equality threads and politics.

Keep this thread clear of non-political vitriol, people. I don't want to have to issue points in xbox-hueg sized lots, nor bans.

Want to say a political party sucks? Go for it. Don't call anyone an idiot for having a view--regardless how misguided you feel he and/or she may be.

Wow, there goes my New Year's resolution of not failing anybody. Those comments of yours are totally uncalled for.

i'll just leave this here

http://westernstandard.blogs.com/sho...n-history.html

source.

Another intresting chart

http://worthwhile.typepad.com/worthw...t-balance.html

all smoke and mirrors....

whatever that means :p

and for that matter who watches the watchmen?

Sure, but i bet 4 elections in 7 years will override that fact for most ppl.

The thing is, ppl might care more about this if the opposition didn't try power grabbing last time. Is what they're doing serving the ppl or serving themselves? I wonder if this question ever gets asked when they make these kinds of decisions.

IMO, just like any job, if you want to be voted into power:
- demonstrate you don't suck ass
- show you have good judgment
- show you understand your role

Instead, I see them taking the BC NDP approach: hope they screw up, hope they screw up... Is this what gets taught in poli sci?

You do know that the Conservatives have been forced into spending money they didn't want to, or else the government would have fallen every year as the budget is voted down.

Thus if you want to look for a reason for the deficit, take a long look in the mirror. The NDP want to spend spend spend. The PQ just want more money for Quebexico, and the Libs haven't shown they want to reduce spending at all - other than the F35s which they happened to initiate the contract for.

This year the Conservative said NO to a lot of opposition requests in the budget, and look what happens.

So please leave that there as a reminder to everyone of how much spending the opposition has wanted, and how much further in debt we'll be if they form a coalition.

Heh my dad said he is forced to vote for Conservatives even though its not the party he wants

He said that the liberals fail with Ignatieff. He thinks hes a shady guy and doesn't trust him even though hes been Liberal until Stephan Dion stepped up.

He would never vote NDP cause they would increase governement spending which would eventually lead to higher taxes etc (Benefit now suffer later) Also the BC NDP Gov't in power in the 90s i think? messed everything up so he doesn't want it to be on a national scale.

Won't vote for Quebecois since nobody really would outside of QB

and Green Party/Independents etc would never get enough votes to have the most number of seats.


Canadian politics blow a minority government will never get things done at the right time since decision making takes forever