Large Cities, Large Fear

[Jersay]

Now i wouldn't want to speculate who is smarter and whatnot.

But with cities you got the bigger jobs and such, and that is where corporations are located. So, actually you would expect them to be conservative wouldn't you.

Or maybe the ones who run the corporations are conservative, while the little workers are socialist.

 

[Jay]

I always thought the concentration of "poor" and "working poor" was higher in cities than in the country side. I don't think this is a matter of education, because if it is then that blows the equality of the public education system out of the water.

I've heard what Pasta said before, I just didn't think anyone believed it.

 

[Jersay]

True there is the poor.

However, i also think that school children get taught differently. Because i was doing a course where it says that areas that are of importance to Quebec, Maritimes, Ontario, urban-rural, are touched on more often in these particular regions than a general topic.

 

[pastafarian]

Jay, it's common sense. How many high-tech firms are there in rural Saskatchewan vs Toronto? How about Universities? Colleges?

Cities tend to have the jobs that require advanced education. I'm not going to do all the research for you. You try to prove me wrong. I'll give you some hints though.
Go to the Statistics Canada website and compare % of people with various levels of post-secondary education by municipality , compared to the country as a whole. They're higher in cities. Compare the % of people with higher education in provinces and compare to the level of urbanization (you'll find a chart in today's Dose magazine, as it happens). The relationship holds. it holds for the US and Europe, too. Everyone knows this.

Right-wingers don't like this because they think it makes them seem stupid, but intelligence and education , while correlated, are not causally tied.

Fact is, the more you learn, the less you believe in absolutes. Fanatical religions do best in uneducated regions of the planet.

I don't know of any statistics that directly bear out a lack of education and Conservative voting trends in Canada, but I believe it's well-accepted in the US that Democrats are, on the whole, better educated than Republicans.

I think the rhetoric of "elitist" and "cloistered intellectuals" on the right is a general acknowledgement by the Right that their constituency is less likely to be university-educated, hence the implicit contempt for learning, but I admit it's not evidence.

Edited to add:
Here's a sample Statscan web page, which doesn't work :? . Anyway, go to the home page, find Statistics by subject and choose "Education" it's all there.

 

[Jay]

Thanks, Pasta.

 

[Martin Le Acadien]

Re: RE: Large Cities, Large Fear

It's the same thing in the States when you look at the voting districts. There isn't a red vs. blue state divide. What you see is a blue city, surrounded by a sea of red. Just remember, the American system system (or ours) is backwards. Red=Republican, Blue=Democrat.

Another reason though that immigrants tend to congregate in large urban centres is opportunities. There are way fewer opportunities in the regional rural centres than the big metropolises of Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.

A good example of this in the States is New Orleans, Louisiana, the area immediately around New Orleans is Red but New Orleans votes Democrat=Blue. When Katrina hit, the reds, I feel did not immediately connect with the suburban Blues until the calamity had overwelmed them!

Most cities are made up of working Poor now with the well to do off in the sububurbs. Montreal is classic like New Olreans, central city is working folks With the Suburbs having the high tech jobs and higher paying stuff.

 

[pastafarian]

Hey Jay, as it happens, the rural/urban breakdowns by province don't back up my claims about voting preferences and degrees of urbanization above, even taking into account the fact that Albertans are nuts .

I'd interpret that to mean that differences in inter-provincial voting trends are distinct for more important reasons than their urban-rural makeup.

 

[Jay]

"Never believe anything until it's been officially denied."

 

[Freethinker]

RE: Large Cities, Large F

I think because of FPP it would be more interesting to simply see the Conservative percentage by riding overlaid on the country as a color map. Then we might form more insight into voting patterns than simply seat wins.

Or you could ask people here why they voted the way they did. I live in Ottawa, and I consider myself pretty much in the center of the Canadian political spectrum. Which means left of the Conservatives.

Main reason I voted against the Conservatives.

GST cut publicity stunt. This is a bad cut for just about anyone making sub 100K a year, but it is a popular cut for those not paying attention. This is not the kind of cut I would expect from an economist. This is the number one reason.

Devolution of powers. Some of this may be good but with no indication of the details planned here, this may go overboard. I would not give them a blank check on this one.

Regressive social policy. You know I was proud to be a Canadian the day we ratified equal rights for gay people. It is largely symbolic for me, since I don't know anyone that is openly gay, but this is a clear trend in the world and I was glad to see Canada at the forefront of this human rights endeavor. You can lump in Marijuana re-criminalization in here. This is something that should be on the same legal footing as alcohol. Add in the Continual tap dance around a womans right to choose. Taken together this adds up to paternalistic government that will try to legislate its morality. This is not fear as orginally postulated, but a difference social philosophy.

It is unlikely I will ever vote conservative now. I voted for Mulroney in both his terms, but over the years the consevatives moved right and I moved left. Which may have been caused by getting a university education (known hotbed of the left) and living in the city for more than 10 years now.

 

[Curiosity]

The wealthy and well educated..... may have started off in the large cities after graduation with a degree in order to establish their base..... but later in life, they become more conservative as they accumulate their personal portfolio rather than allowing the government to make its own demands....

And the really wealthy don't need to congregate "near the jobs" within a major city at all....they have people to do that for them and prefer to remain in the suburbs - rarely making it into their corporate offices.

 

[zoofer]

If the majority of immigrants are from traditionally American hating third world countries then they are a natural fit in the Liberal and NDP parties.
Others will probably find that Harper will do more for them than the Fibs did, which was just to continually scare the bejazzes out of them re Conservatives.