The Canadian election………….

[Socrates the Greek]

Soc, I guess you are getting worried by the rise in Conservative support....

Hey good day Risus, Harper has conceded that it will be a minority Conservative mandate.........
One thing he did not speculate on was the possibility of a coalition Government.
Harper is maxed out at 34% on the polls two parties together we may see a Liberal majority....Harper has no one who wants to team up with him. That speaks volumes with regards to TRUST......................How is the turkey in the oven? I nick named my turkey Harper..............;-).

 

[Socrates the Greek]

The Mulroney secret legacy.................

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqS1HYkSsms&feature=related

 

[Socrates the Greek]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrhHcENo6Gc&NR=1

 

[Walter]

Latest from Bourque.org
Dime-a-dozen polls:
cp: Con 35% Libs 26% Ndp 18% Bloc 10% Grn 9%
cpac: Con 34% Libs 27% Ndp 21% Bloc 10% Grn 8%
Ctv/g&m: Con 33% Libs 28% NDP 18% Grn 11% Bloc 10%
Ang/Reid: Con 38% Libs 28% NDP 19% Bloc 9%, Grn 6%

 

[Socrates the Greek]

Latest from Bourque.org
Dime-a-dozen polls:
cp: Con 35% Libs 26% Ndp 18% Bloc 10% Grn 9%
cpac: Con 34% Libs 27% Ndp 21% Bloc 10% Grn 8%
Ctv/g&m: Con 33% Libs 28% NDP 18% Grn 11% Bloc 10%
Ang/Reid: Con 38% Libs 28% NDP 19% Bloc 9%, Grn 6%

Walter happy thanks giving to you pal,
is the word coalition mean anything???
Harper has no one who is interested in to team up with maybe a small number of the undecided vote. Harper knows the political peril he is facing if there is a coalition between the other parties.

 

[wts10]

isn't it amazing that, in this country, we allow brain dead people to spew their vile ideas and ideals without the fear of them being locked up or ordered to gain knowledge before they begin to call people hitlerites.

 

[Socrates the Greek]

isn't it amazing that, in this country, we allow brain dead people to spew their vile ideas and ideals without the fear of them being locked up or ordered to gain knowledge before they begin to call people hitlerites.

The exact reason why your ancestors came to the free land called Canada or America, were people can speak freely when their environment of civil liberties are at risk or pissed on...by a secretive political party of cheaters.........................When a PM subjects the voters 2 days before election day, that is controlling and the secret agenda is alive and well on Harper's camp..................

As for getting locked up........................ one could get locked up for death threats.................. for factual litanies there is no harm done......................You making the statement locking up people because of opposing political view, proves you are a devoted Con......It also proves that building jails is in your idealism to throw any one who is opposite to your opinion........
Hey this world was not put in place for you alone and your Conservative views.

 

[Machjo]

If the other parties do indeed plan to coalless against the Conservative party in parliament, that would essentially mean that the Conservatives have 2 choices: majority or nothing. Any minority would not involve the Conservative Party even if it should be the single largest minority.

It's clear already that the Liberals and Greens would be willing to work together, and if the Liberals are aware that they got alot of strategic votes from the NDP, they might be willing to consider that too.

 

[Machjo]

If in the end, all the other parties are willing to work together, then even the largest minority will not suffice Harper, even if it's short 1 seat.

 

[lone wolf]

A coalition with Liberals means Dion is going to try and ram through his new tax.

 

[Ron in Regina]

I still can't picture a working coalition between Dion & Layton. They've said some
ugly things about each other during this campaign, and I don't think their ego's will
allow the other one to lead. Jack has made it quite clear as to what he thinks of
Stephane's central platform, and Stephane has made it quite clear as to what he
thinks of a coalition with the NDP. If it forms, we'll be looking at another election
in a short amount of time...assuming Dion will actually stand up in opposition of
Harper this go around. Combine the dollar figures of the promises made by the
Liberal and NDP parties, and assuming this coalition lasts for even a short amount
of time...this will be very expensive. As a Canadian (on the Prairies), I don't look
forward to bankrolling these two guys trying to out-promise each other...

 

[Machjo]

So what would these coalitions look like? Here's my guess:

Conservative-Liberal: The Conservatives accept the Green shift as long as it translates to an overall tax cut. Maybe? Or maybe the Conservatives will try to get the overall tax break through allowing income splitting? At least they agree on Afghanistan (2011).

Liberal-Green: They go for the Green Shift full throttle, but again the Greens would push for a drop in income taxes through income splitting. And the Greens are not committed to leave Afghanistan, they just want to transfer authority to the UN.

NDP-Liberal: They'd have a hard time agreeing on Afghanistan, and maybe taxes, and the enfironment. Similar for an NDP-Green coallition.

Would anyone make a coallition with the Bloc? Maybe. The NDP? Perhaps, but the NDP is centralist, the Bloc decentralist. Hard to say. Liberal-Bloc? Gren Bloc? Now that would be odd.

How would you see it go.

 

[Socrates the Greek]

If in the end, all the other parties are willing to work together, then even the largest minority will not suffice Harper, even if it's short 1 seat.

I think he already made mention that if he doesn't get a majority he will step down.............

 

[Machjo]

I think Liberal-Green is the most likely scenario seeing that, the Conservatives aside, they are the two most economically conservative parties. In fact, the Greens proved themselves more conservative than the Conservative on the income-splitting scheme. Harper criticized it at first, saying it would cost the government too much revenue, but I think he's since adopted the idea himself lately. After all, how would it look for Harper to be out-conservatived by the Greens!

Liberal-NDP? The NDP is essentially a democratic socialist party. The Libs would be trying to put on the brakes on spending, the NDP stepping on the gas peddle. It would be a fragile coalition.

Conservative-Green? Social policy aside, the Greens and Conservatives have the most in common. But would the Conservatives be willing to stay longer in Afghanistan? And Green shift?

Conservative-Liberal. The Conservatives would have to agree on more spending than on a Conservative-Green platform, but on the other hand, they could at least agree on pulling out of Afghanistan in 2011.

It will be interesting.

 

[Machjo]

If Harper steps down, then it will depend partially on what the other parties think of the Conservatives, I suppose.

 

[lone wolf]

If Harper steps down, then it will depend partially on what the other parties think of the Conservatives, I suppose.

Harper will have to abandon ship awful fast because by this time tomorrow - it's not going to matter....

 

[Colpy]

Machjo said:

Liberal-NDP? The NDP is essentially a democratic socialist party. The Libs would be trying to put on the brakes on spending, the NDP stepping on the gas peddle. It would be a fragile coalition.

Actually, the Liberals promised more new spending than the NDP.......Dion is quite socialist in his thinking.....statist, I guesss is the word. He and Layton could work very well together, if Harper can not form a gov't. I could easily see the NDP-Liberals in a coalition.......preventing the CPC from forming a gov't, then the G-G would have to ask the leader of the next largest party.....Dion.......if Layton would support him, coalition gov't it is.

All the more reason to get out there and vote, and vote Right.. Give Harper his majority.....I like Dion, but we don't want him as PM, especially with Layton nudging him to the left.........

Between the Carbon Tax and increased tax on industry, our economy would take a terrible beating.

 

[Machjo]

Actually, if we get enough NDP and Greens in a multi-party coallition, I could see the single transferable ballot (STV) or other electoral reform being introduced.

On the other hand, if the Greens and NDP are decimated, the Liberals, having benefitted from strategic voting, will certainly want to keep the system as is, obviously.

So if we want electoral reform, strategic voting would be a big mistake.

 

[Socrates the Greek]

Actually, if we get enough NDP and Greens in a multi-party coallition, I could see the single transferable ballot (STV) or other electoral reform being introduced.

On the other hand, if the Greens and NDP are decimated, the Liberals, having benefitted from strategic voting, will certainly want to keep the system as is, obviously.

So if we want electoral reform, strategic voting would be a big mistake.

For sure strategic voting is not an option, it is a means to confusing the electorate..................

 

[Machjo]

You know, if the Conservatives were willing to make STV as a priority, well, I still wouldn't vote conservative under Harper, but could consider voting Conservative in future. But a Conservative majority? Oh boy. Start spit-shining the boots.

Actually, that's one (though not the only) reason I don't vote conservative. With a first-past-the-post system, it's just too easy for them to get a majority.

Harper aside, a Conservative-Green coallition would be a good mix in my opinion. The Greens would be pushing for Green-shifting, the Conservatives for tax cuts. That could be a nice combination (slightly higher gas tax, but income splitting allowing for a tax break. If the tax increase on gas is less than the tax cut on income, both sides might be happy. In fact, the Greens have generally been more in favour of incomse splitting than the Conservatives, ironically enough). Overall, the Conservatives would be trying to put the brakes on spending, the Greens trying to increase spending (I'm not contradicting myself here from the previous post; compared to the Conservatives, the Greens are still spenders. It's only compared to the other parties that they are economically a little more Conservative.) Afghanistan would be a big question mark though; the Conservatives want out by 2011, the Greens want to stay with no time frame but just change it from NATO led to UN-led.

Problem is, I doubt the Greens would want to associate with the Conservatives, but I could still see the conservatives wanting to associate with the Greens over the Libs or NDP owing to its economic conservatism.