x

[Freak By Night]

underestimating now pissed off the West is with the Liberals.

That's true, but the west doesn't have the numbers. What's the population of Alberta? 4 million? There are over 11 million people on Ontario and 7 million in Quebec.

Just for the record, I'm pissed with the Liberals as much as anyone else.

[d_rawk]

And in the last election, of Alberta's 28 seats, the Liberals only won 2 of them anyways (the other 26 going to the Conservative Party).

Mad as they might be, the Liberals have no support there to lose.

[AD]

Anne McLellan will most certainly be gone. I hate her voice.

AD

[d_rawk]

Anne McLellan will most certainly be gone.

Oh, please, yes! I hope so!

And with PC-turned-Liberal-turned-independent MP David Kilgour choosing not to run, his riding is in play, too.

The Liberal Party could be completely shut out of the province.

[Diggzz]

I agree that the numbers aren't there, but they can't be happy with getting screwed every election, pretty soon they are gonna form the Parti Alberta and try and get a referendum to separate too, it's the thing to do these days ya know...

[Diggzz]

I also tend to think that Ontarian voters are sheep hoping to keep the status quo, besides the obvious politcal savviness (sp?) from peeps on this board, I don't the average Ontarian really knows or cares about the issues...

[d_rawk]

pretty soon they are gonna form the Parti Alberta and try and get a referendum to separate too

You ain't kiddin'.

Seperation Party of Alberta

The regionalism in Canada is out of this world.

[AD]

The regionalism in Canada is out of this world.

... pretty big country.

AD

[d_rawk]

AD: Ha! Yeah, poor choice of words on my part

Diggzz:

I also tend to think that Ontarian voters are sheep hoping to keep the status quo

Sheep, I dunno. But I think that there is a tendency to be too easily manipulated. The "strategic voting" mania of the last couple of elections, for example.

Certainly, there are ridings where it makes sense. A number of them. But you've got to know the riding and the race. It isn't the universal strategy that the big red machine makes it out to be.

If you're in Ottawa-Center, for example (which a number of people on the board probably are, given the heavy o-town presence), voting Liberal to "stop" the Conservatives is madness. Since the riding's creation in 1966, it has never elected a conservative in a federal election. The CPC candidate last time got as low as 19% of the vote.

If the Libs are your first choice, then by all means, it makes sense to vote that way. But otherwise, you're just being taken for a ride.

Or Oshawa -- it was people buying the "stop harper/strategic voting=voting Liberal" noises from the Liberal camp hook, line & sinker that caused the Conservative candidate to win. The Conservative candidate won by 1% over the NDP candidate. Post-election surveying suggested that as high as 34% of those who wanted to vote NDP changed their vote at the last minute to "stop Harper". If only a tiny, tiny fraction of those who were trying to vote "strategically" had voted their conscience instead, they would have gotten their first choice. Instead, they got exactly what they were trying to prevent.

Done blindly, it is the tactical equivalent of sprinkling cheese around the house in order to keep the mice out. But Ontarians love it.

[AD]

Speaking of Ottawa-Centre, has the NDP said who will be 'replacing' Ed Broadbent?

AD

[d_rawk]

Yup. Paul Dewar.

[bradm]

Paul Dewar, according to

http://www.ndp.ca/ridings/ontario?from=50&limit=50

Aloha,

Brad

[AD]

Thanks.

What's this guy's deal? Never heard of him.

AD

[Del]

It looks like Hux 20 years from now...

[bradm]

http://www.pauldewar.ca/

Aloha,

Brad

[AD]

http://www.pauldewar.ca/

Thanks again.

Who needs Google when we have Brad.

AD

[d_rawk]

Ugh. Just saw the first official speeches of the campaign. Layton was the worst ... constantly reading his notes.

[payce-ley]

Martin easily won that first round of speeches from where I was sittin... calm and steady

Harper makes my skin crawl

Layton's bald (if he'd at least get himself a piece he could kinda look like Burt Reynolds... then we'd be talkin)

[d_rawk]

Heh. But what's with the baldism?

I agree with your assessment of the speeches, though.

Elsewhere, longtime staunch Liberal and Chretien-ite just blogged thusly:

Kinsella

As a former senior Liberal cabinet minister told me just last week: “We need renewal. We need new people, we need new ideas, and we need the kind of things that can only come with some time in the penalty box. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but we need to lose.â€

[SevenSeasJim]

I'm just curious to know why some people are complaining about an election over Christmas? How does it really effect anybody but the people working on the election? Is it because they won't be laying on the couch every night watching TV? Or because they are trying to watch TV and only getting whiney bitches on every Canadian statation while they are trying to watch Rudolph?

[payce-ley]

But what's with the baldism?

that sort of liberalism might fly in Europe (or even Asia) but we're too close to the hair club of hollywood

I personally don't care but fear Trudeau was the last baldish elected official in North America and he only got there by being a badass, bird-flippin balding... north american marketing frowns heavily on such physical freedoms

Seven Seas - I don't care about the inconvenience of an election... just think this one is more about party posturing than actually trying to achieve anything... more fighting about who's who instead of one of the who's (the one we just elected a short while back) actually focusing on doing something

(but yeah, maybe the pot needs stirring)

Edited November 29, 2005 by Guest

[peipunk]

Layton's bald

I prefer the term "hair-ishly challenged"....

[payce-ley]

"you should shave your head"

"naw, its shavin itself"

[d_rawk]

and in other news ... not three hours in and Harper decides he doesn't really want to win, afterall.

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

and in other news ... not three hours in and Harper decides he doesn't really want to win, afterall.

Thanks, d_rawk -

Oh boy! Identity politics!

What is it about people that feel they can only get voted in by stoking hatred around other people? You'd think if you'd been in politics long enough you would have found some time to read a little history. Maybe they're only reading Carl Schmitt ( A Fascist Philosopher Helps Us Understand Contemporary Politics ) and people like that who convince them it's the only way to go.

Our 8-year old is already bringing back stories about how much the people in her new country school "think being gay isn't ok" and how it's used daily as a weapon against other kids who have roused some bully's ire.

Grr.