One majority, two, three majorities, four?

[Trex]

Stephen Harper and the PC's could be running this country for a long, loooong time.

I figure three back to back majorities are concevable, four however is a bit of a stretch.

That would put Harper in the Canadian political record books.

And would also entrench Canada as a fiscally conservative and socially centrist nation.

 

[mentalfloss]

Are you okay?

 

[wulfie68]

I don't know that 3 or 4 majorities would be healthy for the country. As an Albertan, I know how extended terms in power can degrade a party's performance. A lot depends on who the leader is and what the issues need tackling, and I can look at the various premiers in Alberta to illustrate this: 40+ years of majorities; some good governance, some mediocre, but most decisions were made in tune with the wants, needs and beliefs of the populace. I honestly don't think any one party will be able to maintain such a tenure in federal politics because the divides are more numerous and greater.

 

[Nuggler]

Mehhhh...........whatever.

If Herr Harpo will still let us vote, and there's more than one party allowed, I'll just go and cast me ballot as usual.

 

[Colpy]

Are you okay?

There is no one to compete. The Liberals are dead in the water, having finally offended the vast majority of Canadians: the West with the NEP, Quebec with the Constitution and corruption, the rural areas with gun control, and anyone with a three digit IQ with their foreign policy.

The NDP are at a crossroads: they can become the Bloc and play to Quebec.........which the ROC will NOT tolerate, or they can grow a brain and express the interests of the left wing in the ROC........and ignore Quebec. Either way, next election they take a beating....probably in favour of the Liberals.

Split vote.

Unite the left?

And watch the right of the Liberals flee to the Conservatives, and the left of the NDP splinter into tiny parties........all to the Conservative good.

To the mix, add 30 seats, all in Ontario Alberta and BC.

The Conservatives rule, and will do so for the next decade at least.

Get used to it.

God knows I had to live with Liberal gov'ts for my entire life, except for Mulrooney, who was simply a Liberal in a blue suit.

I don't know that 3 or 4 majorities would be healthy for the country. As an Albertan, I know how extended terms in power can degrade a party's performance. A lot depends on who the leader is and what the issues need tackling, and I can look at the various premiers in Alberta to illustrate this: 40+ years of majorities; some good governance, some mediocre, but most decisions were made in tune with the wants, needs and beliefs of the populace. I honestly don't think any one party will be able to maintain such a tenure in federal politics because the divides are more numerous and greater.

As it inevitably will. The power hungry, the corrupt, who used to gravitate to the old Liberal party as the Natural Governing Party and the focus of power and prestige in Canada, will now set their sights on achieving importance through the Conservatives.

But that will take time. Power corrupts, and I have no doubt the CPC will fade and go rotten.

It is why I want the Liberals thoroughly spanked and chastised, and far from the levers of power.....a good cleansing for them is an absolute necessity.....

But I don't want them to disappear.

I may need an alternative to vote for in a decade or so.

 

[mentalfloss]

 

[Colpy]

That is all very lovely, such pretty colours...........and that is all it is.

Talk to me in four years.

You might as well gut a chicken and study the entrails as look at polls at this point.....in fact, for accuracy, my bet is on the chicken intestines.

Oh, you did notice the CPC was either leading or tied in every area except Quebec??????

Quebec no longer wags this particular dog........especially with 30 more seats coming.

 

[mentalfloss]

Talk to me in four years.

Only if you talk to me in four years, but I highly doubt your trigger finger is patient enough.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

That is all very lovely, such pretty colours...........and that is all it is.

Talk to me in four years.

You might as well gut a chicken and study the entrails as look at polls at this point.....in fact, for accuracy, my bet is on the chicken intestines.

Oh, you did notice the CPC was either leading or tied in every area except Quebec??????

Quebec no longer wags this particular dog........especially with 30 more seats coming.

The only poll that matters is the one on election day. Most people figured another minority govt based upon polls when Iggy decided he wanted an election. 2 months later, Iggy is back to the textbooks.

 

[mentalfloss]

The only poll that matters is the one on election day. Most people figured another minority govt based upon polls when Iggy decided he wanted an election. 2 months later, Iggy is back to the textbooks.

The polls before the election were indicating a clear vote split between the NDP and Liberals -- which was clearly advantageous to the Conservatives. And that's exactly what happened.

 

[Bar Sinister]

I can remember thinking that after the Mulroney landslide of 1984 that Canada might be in line for a couple of decades of PC rule, especially as the Liberals had been reduced to a rump of only 40 seats, but it took only nine years for Mulroney to squander all of that political capital. In fact Mulroney and the PCs governed so ineptly that during the 1993 election the PCs were essentially wiped out, being reduce to only two seats and paving the way for the rise of the Reform Party and eventually the new Conservative Party now led by Mr. Harper.

The weather vane of politics has a way of switching directions without warning. I suspect the Liberals will be back, either in their current form or in some merger with the NDP, and probably faster than most people think.

 

[Retired_Can_Soldier]

I can remember thinking that after the Mulroney landslide of 1984 that Canada might be in line for a couple of decades of PC rule, especially as the Liberals had been reduced to a rump of only 40 seats, but it took only nine years for Mulroney to squander all of that political capital. In fact Mulroney and the PCs governed so ineptly that during the 1993 election the PCs were essentially wiped out, being reduce to only two seats and paving the way for the rise of the Reform Party and eventually the new Conservative Party now led by Mr. Harper. .

The GST is what killed the Mulroney Government.

Canadians were pissed and sent a clear message on that.

Bouchard's creation of Bloc and the Manning's Reform Party did the rest of the damage.

The Liberals are in a very similar place. Punished by Canadians, divided by infighting and quite possibly ending up in similar doldrums,

 

[Colpy]

What killed Mulroney was not the preference for the Liberals...........it was the Reform Party.

And the GST.

And Meech Lake.

And corruption.....but primarily Reform.

I'm proud to have helped.

This is NOT the fate of Harper's Conservative Party.

 

[Nuggler]

What killed Mulroney was not the preference for the Liberals...........it was the Reform Party.

And the GST.

And Meech Lake.

And corruption.....but primarily Reform.

I'm proud to have helped.

This is NOT the fate of Harper's Conservative Party.

...........And "free" trade........and jobs jobs jobs.......and singing Irish Songs with Raygun.....Hopefully Harpo won't be quite as foolish.

 

[wulfie68]

...........And "free" trade........and jobs jobs jobs.......and singing Irish Songs with Raygun.....Hopefully Harpo won't be quite as foolish.

You can complain all you want about the FTAs, but they are what allowed Chretien and Martin to "save" Canada from the deficit monster. Without them, our economy wouldn't have grown at the pace it did, thus Jean and Paul wouldn't have been able to do nothing, rather they would have had to cut like Klein did in Alberta.

Personally, I see Mulonrey's demise as being more related to his obsession with fixing Trudeau's constitutional f*** ups. There were Meech, and Charlottetown, both at a time when most of the country didn't care and wanted action on other issues. The Reform, was a big key but why did they rise to prominence, particularly in the West? Because Mulroney wasn't paying attention to the financial issues that worried fiscal conservatives, for his first term and then when he did, he implemented the GST (and as an Albertan I still f***ing hate that I can't pay sticker price on anything anymore, but rather have to add in sales taxes... if they want to charge sales tax, then go all the way, make a big ass VAT style sales tax, eliminate personal income tax and lay off most of those brain dead leeches at Revenue Canada!).The creation of the Bloc, when Bouchard & Co. defected didn't help, but in large part because they didn't work as hard on spinning the issues as they had on the constitutional BS. The corruption was... meh... Tuna-gate was nothing compared to what followed under Chretien.