Canadian Politics

polaris_x

Drowned Out wrote:

Whatever happened to reborn? Has there ever been another conservative Canadian poster on the train?

not sure ... reborn was a weird one cuz he on one hand sided with conservatives on some issues and then the ndp on others ... one thing was he hated the liberals i think ...

i'm guessing a lot of the moderate canadians on here (not gonna name names) voted conservative ...

lukin2006 was a conservative guy but he has seen the light! ...

lukin2006

polaris_x wrote:

Drowned Out wrote:

Whatever happened to reborn? Has there ever been another conservative Canadian poster on the train?

not sure ... reborn was a weird one cuz he on one hand sided with conservatives on some issues and then the ndp on others ... one thing was he hated the liberals i think ...

i'm guessing a lot of the moderate canadians on here (not gonna name names) voted conservative ...

lukin2006 was a conservative guy but he has seen the light! ...

I would agree with that ...

It's just to bad elected officials don't put the needs of the population first ... and I'm really amazed that these politicians continue get in ... federally its either conservative or liberal and neither has worked for us very well, time for a change and a new direction.

candleofthought26

You guys said it, BILL C-38 is a huge blow to democracy in Canada.

Parliament is voting next week on Bill C-38 proposed as a "budget bill", which attempts to introduce significant changes to Environmental Law without the scrutiny of parliamentary committees or public input. It introduces various important changes to Canadian law and legislative process. The proposed changes represent a back-door way of implementing major changes to the law in hopes the public does not notice. Moreover, it tears down most of the safeguards currently in place to protect the health of Canadians and the health of the environment, so that most any industrial corporate project can be pushed through without any review. I believe this bill infringes on our rights and freedoms as Canadians, interferes with the democratic process, and jeopardizes the health and safety of Canadians across the country.

If government wishes to change environmental law - or any other law or vital legislative process- they are required to put forth a bill and support consultation hearings across the country. Major changes to legislature have no place in a budget proposal. Quietly attempting to stick changes in the budget is unacceptable and appalling. What we as the public see here is the government body charged with upholding democratic process using a backdoor method to avoid public scrutiny, thereby avoiding specific study of the changes at individual parliamentary committees.

THERE IS ONLY ONE THING WE CAN DO: speak out, write letters, make phone calls, let them know we're watching and we're going to hold them accountable for once. These actions speak loudly in the political sphere, when nothing else works - this does.

Or take part in BlackOutSpeakOut - organizations are darkening their websites on June 4th in protest against efforts to silence our voices: http://blackoutspeakout.ca/index.php

For more information see: http://www.ecojustice.ca/blog/federal-g ... -canadians

We're all good people here, I feel the love on these boards -- let's use our common love to get together and make an impact. If enough speak out, we have to be heard.

polaris_x

anyone live in conservative ridings?

frig ... i'm in jack's old riding so it's all pinkos here ...

Drowned Out

polaris_x wrote:

anyone live in conservative ridings?

frig ... i'm in jack's old riding so it's all pinkos here ...

*sheepishly raises hand*

what would you have me do?

(keep in mind when answering that MP Rathgeber is of Andre the Giant-esque stature )

polaris_x

Drowned Out wrote:

what would you have me do?

(keep in mind when answering that MP Rathgeber is of Andre the Giant-esque stature )

i'm just thinking - there's no point in my emailing my mp cuz he's ndp and they are the ones doing the most to get this bill changed ... thinking emailing conservative mps might be better - but i'm not even sure where the closest one to me is ...

Drowned Out

polaris_x wrote:

Drowned Out wrote:

what would you have me do?

(keep in mind when answering that MP Rathgeber is of Andre the Giant-esque stature )

i'm just thinking - there's no point in my emailing my mp cuz he's ndp and they are the ones doing the most to get this bill changed ... thinking emailing conservative mps might be better - but i'm not even sure where the closest one to me is ...

Oh I've emailed the guy many times....either get ignored or a canned response....and now I'm on his stupid mailing list.
He has two personal websites - brentrathgeber.com - on which he states straight up that "This website is a Partisan website. If you are a constituent with questions or concerns about a Federal department please visit brentrathgeber.ca for my office contact information", before launching into a bunch of soundbytes about criminal justice and fiscal conservatism blah blah blah.....you go to the .ca site, the one that's supposed to be non-partisan, the headline is "See Brent’s first ever mention on ‘This Hour Has 22 Minutes’ on the CBC website here" ! wow....earthshattering revelation...I'm so happy for you Brent. You were on tv! :roll:

polaris_x

we need the help of anonymous

lukin2006

Ontario hints at cash for auto sector

Rising demand an opportunity, premier says

Read more: http://www.windsorstar.com/news/Ontario ... z1uNqaAwIm


This is the most incompetent government in this country right now. The auto industry has been bailed out. The auto industry is making money again. Why does government need to subsidize any industry. No wonder the provincial and federal governments run debts they are always giving the money away.

dignin

http://www.ipolitics.ca/2012/05/10/poll ... t-for-ndp/

Poll suggests widening support for NDP

Posted on Thu, May 10, 2012, 4:30 am by Canadian Press

A new poll suggests the New Democrats are widening their support across the country.

The Canadian Press Harris Decima survey indicates that the NDP have 34 per cent of popular support, compared to 30 per cent for the Conservatives.

With a margin of error of 2.2 percentage points, support for the two parties could be equally split.

Still, the poll indicates that the New Democrats have become competitive in traditional Tory areas.

Among rural Canadians, the poll suggests the New Democrats have 31 per cent support, compared to 35 per cent for the Tories.

The NDP appear to have the support of 36 per cent of urban and suburban men, a number that has risen steadily since February.

Meanwhile, the Conservatives are seeing their support in that demographic appear to hover around 29 per cent, down from close to 40 per cent four months ago.

As well, the New Democrats appear to have supplanted the Liberals as the natural party among women, said Allan Gregg, chairman of Harris Decima.

“Remember this is a party that a decade ago, half the electorate said they would “never” vote for,” he said.

“To broaden their base as we see in these data is quite remarkable.”

Overall, the Liberals continue to hold steady at 20 per cent support, the poll suggests.

Just over 2,000 Canadians were polled for the survey in the last week of April and first week of May.

The period marked ongoing controversy of the price tag for fighter jets as well as the introduction of the Conservatives’ controversial omnibus budget implementation bill.

But it also saw the anniversary of the 2011 federal election which returned the Conservatives with their majority government.

The election resulted in the NDP surge into Opposition status thanks to a record number of MPs being elected in Quebec.

In that province, the party’s fortunes appear to be sliding following a spike after the election of new leader Tom Mulcair.

polaris_x

really at this stage ...

some respect for democracy, accountability and transparency seems too much to ask for ... i think people are prepared to give them a shot for no other reason than they are tired of the blatant bs the conservatives have pulled ...

lukin2006

All this talk about polls is really just plain silly. They still have 3 years left in their mandate. If we were to believe polls early in a mandate Mike Harris would never got re-elected, Dalton McGuinty would never have won 3 elections...Harper is a veteran politician he like all politicians know to get the dirty work done early in your mandate and hand out the goodies in an election year.

dignin

lukin2006 wrote:

All this talk about polls is really just plain silly. They still have 3 years left in their mandate. If we were to believe polls early in a mandate Mike Harris would never got re-elected, Dalton McGuinty would never have won 3 elections...Harper is a veteran politician he like all politicians know to get the dirty work done early in your mandate and hand out the goodies in an election year.

You are right, but these polls are interesting to me just for the simple fact that people are considering supporting the NDP. People (like me) who said they would never ever support the NDP....it shows that either the brand has changed, or more importantly peoples attitudes towards the brand has changed. Everyone likes a winner, and the NDP has shown that they can win.

I know 3 years is a very long time, but even the seed that an NDP government is a possibility, is huge.

lukin2006

dignin wrote:

lukin2006 wrote:

All this talk about polls is really just plain silly. They still have 3 years left in their mandate. If we were to believe polls early in a mandate Mike Harris would never got re-elected, Dalton McGuinty would never have won 3 elections...Harper is a veteran politician he like all politicians know to get the dirty work done early in your mandate and hand out the goodies in an election year.

You are right, but these polls are interesting to me just for the simple fact that people are considering supporting the NDP. People (like me) who said they would never ever support the NDP....it shows that either the brand has changed, or more importantly peoples attitudes towards the brand has changed. Everyone likes a winner, and the NDP has shown that they can win.

I know 3 years is a very long time, but even the seed that an NDP government is a possibility, is huge.

I certainly think an NDP government is possible. But for me to step back into a voting booth and support any party they will have to demonstrate during the campaign that the lies just to get elected is going to stop. That's my biggest problem with ALL politicians...say what the public wants to hear, then when elected do whatever they want. I am a supporter of referendums...it's no longer good enough to elect people to make decisions for 4 years that effects us all for decades later.

Do you think if Harper said he was cutting OAS during the campaign he still would have got elected? or he was reducing health care funding after 2017/18? or was reducing environmental standards? and the list just goes on.

Personally the government should be elected to run the day to day affairs of the country, but all major issues like free trade agreements, OAS cut, health care spending should be decided by referendum.

polaris_x

i like referendums ... unfortunately tho ... people are stupid ... :(

lukin2006

polaris_x wrote:

i like referendums ... unfortunately tho ... people are stupid ... :(

I agree people are stupid...but even stupid people wouldn't vote to hurt themselves by raising OAS (or I Least hope not).

Politician have lying down to a science and that's the problem.

lukin2006

Why your SIN's future is no longer in the cards

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/pol ... le2434030/

Are these guys inventing problems?

lukin2006

Major changes to Employment Insurance in the works

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/201 ... rance.html

Interesting....the government doesn't pay into it yet they can define the rules. I've often said that an independent panel representing employers and employee groups should be set up and run the program.

This is probably another way for the government to get at the money that don't belong to them.

chadwick

polaris_x wrote:

i like referendums ... unfortunately tho ... people are stupid ... :(

this the extremely large hump in many a country

Drowned Out

lukin2006 wrote:

polaris_x wrote:

i like referendums ... unfortunately tho ... people are stupid ... :(

I agree people are stupid...but even stupid people wouldn't vote to hurt themselves by raising OAS (or I Least hope not).

Politician have lying down to a science and that's the problem.

I saw this quote on a page I got some info from for the 'great bear' thread....THIS is why referendums are a bit of a scary proposition (tho I still think we should have a LOT more of them...I'd rather take my chances trying to research topics myself and try to help educate people who are uninteresed, than just leave it to bought-and-paid-for MP's/MLA's)....but ya, this is the problem:

"Democracy is utterly dependent upon an electorate that is accurately informed. In promoting climate change denial (and often denying their responsibility for doing so) industry has done more than endanger the environment. It has undermined democracy.

There is a vast difference between putting forth a point of view, honestly held, and intentionally sowing the seeds of confusion. Free speech does not include the right to deceive. Deception is not a point of view. And the right to disagree does not include a right to intentionally subvert the public awareness."

...more:
http://www.desmogblog.com/about-climate-cover



We need to make the media more accountable if we expect the public to do the right thing in a referendum.