Though light on policy, Trudeau offers key glimpses of next Liberal platform

[Machjo]

Yahoo! News Canada - Latest News & Headlines

Pretty good overall. My view is a little different on a few fronts though:

1. I lean more towards scrapping the senate.
2. I prefer first-past-the-post (pro-rep would merely give parties even more power), though I could support removing party names from ballots and have then run as indipendent candidates like in Nunavut.
3. I'd say let individual MPs oppose the Charter. Let's remember that the Charter was written near the height of the residential school era, and certain portions thereof, specifically the language provisions, are clearly influenced by the residential-school era notion of two fouding races explicitly excluding indigenous peoples as laid out in the Report of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism. I'm sure anyone who reads the report in light of the reconciliation era which we have now entered woudl have a difficult time stomaching its contents. Add to that that I have not met one indigenous person yet (and I've spoken to many about this) who supports official bilingualism in its current form.

Not that it matters anyway seeing that I don't live in Montreal, but if my local Liberal candidate has similar views, it could help his case with me.

 

[Machjo]

Also, the fact that both Trudeau and Mulcair have criticized harper recently over raising tariffs on electronics is ironic too, making the Liberals and even the NDp look less protectionist than the Conservatives

 

[Retired_Can_Soldier]

Yahoo! News Canada - Latest News & Headlines

Pretty good overall. My view is a little different on a few fronts though:

1. I lean more towards scrapping the senate.
2. I prefer first-past-the-post (pro-rep would merely give parties even more power), though I could support removing party names from ballots and have then run as indipendent candidates like in Nunavut.
3. I'd say let individual MPs oppose the Charter. Let's remember that the Charter was written near the height of the residential school era, and certain portions thereof, specifically the language provisions, are clearly influenced by the residential-school era notion of two fouding races explicitly excluding indigenous peoples as laid out in the Report of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism. I'm sure anyone who reads the report in light of the reconciliation era which we have now entered woudl have a difficult time stomaching its contents. Add to that that I have not met one indigenous person yet (and I've spoken to many about this) who supports official bilingualism in its current form.

Not that it matters anyway seeing that I don't live in Montreal, but if my local Liberal candidate has similar views, it could help his case with me.

That's it man! I'm voting Liberal!

He must have had dinner with this chick.

And read this memo

 

[Cobalt_Kid]

During the leadership campaign, Trudeau launched a "soapbox" feature on his website in a bid to encourage policy input from average folks.

"This campaign is about conversations, not one-way monologues," he said on the site. "We believe that good ideas can come from any corner, and that Canadians deserve the opportunity to share their concerns and offer up their ideas."

How naive, seven years of Harper as PM has shown us that policy must be derived from deeply held ideology while completely ignoring what Canadians think.

Still, on some select issues, Trudeau has offered some glimpses of where he'd take the party, and the country, if given the chance:

— Democratic reform: Trudeau unveiled a detailed five-point plan aimed at making Canada's electoral system more representative of Canadians' choices and MPs more responsive to the views of their constituents. It includes:

- Requiring all prospective Liberal candidates, including incumbent MPs, to win the right to carry the party banner during an election through open nomination contests.

- Empowering backbenchers by loosening party discipline, allowing Liberal MPs to vote as they see fit on everything except bills implementing elements of the party's 2015 election platform, budget or significant money bills, and "those that speak to the shared values embodied in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms." He'd also strengthen the parliamentary committee system, limit the ability of government to prorogue Parliament and end the practice of introducing huge omnibus bills that aren't readily scrutinized by MPs.

- Reforming Canada's first-past-the-post electoral system so that a party's share of the popular vote is more closely reflected in its share of the seats in the House of Commons. Trudeau would institute a preferential ballot, wherein voters would rank their choices and the winner in each riding would need to capture more than 50 per cent of the vote.

- Creating an arm's-length body to ensure government advertising is not used for partisan promotion.

- Beefing up third-party oversight by independent officers of Parliament, such as the parliamentary budget officer, and agencies, such as Elections Canada.

This is just crazy talk, according to the way the conservatives under Harper have run the country, government is there to be used almost exclusively for the partisan interests of the party. Doesn't Trudeau get it, this guy could make dangerous changes that give us back democratic control of Canada, the horror.

There's a lot of good stuff there, Trudeau is already looking at some effective policy changes that could be of great benefit to this country, especially in rebuilding our democratic system itself.

Maybe he'll get power crazy like Harper is now later on.

 

[L Gilbert]

Platforms mean as much as polls do. Remember aPAULing Martin and his Red Book? "Don't talk to me about the Red Book! I wrote it and I know it's full of BS!" (or something to that effect).

 

[Goober]

Platforms mean as much as polls do. Remember aPAULing Martin and his Red Book? "Don't talk to me about the Red Book! I wrote it and I know it's full of BS!" (or something to that effect).

The Shotgun: Have you Red Book?
"Screw the Red Book... Don't tell me what's in the Red Book. I wrote the goddamned thing. And I know that it's a lot of crap."

Paul Martin - criticizing those who dared to mention the Red Book after he readily abandoned the book of popular promises once the Liberals used it to win the 1993 election. (Source: Double Vision: The Inside Story of The Liberals in Power, by E. Greenspon & T. Wilson-Smith.)

 

[L Gilbert]

The Shotgun: Have you Red Book?
"Screw the Red Book... Don't tell me what's in the Red Book. I wrote the goddamned thing. And I know that it's a lot of crap."

Paul Martin - criticizing those who dared to mention the Red Book after he readily abandoned the book of popular promises once the Liberals used it to win the 1993 election. (Source: Double Vision: The Inside Story of The Liberals in Power, by E. Greenspon & T. Wilson-Smith.)

Yeah, that's the one. So much for party platforms, anyway.

 

[Machjo]

I'm also wondering: what is Trudeau's stance on the international law and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, when we consider that the Un High Commission for Human Rights has already ruled against Canada with regards to the Separate school system which is in the Charter. So you can't support the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Charter at the same time sicne they conflict with one another.

Also, how will he support proportional representation and more freedom for MPs at the same time when teh two are based on incompatible ideas?