the other election and all things canadian

[cryptic1]

Tomorrow is voting day in Canada. Its been a strange year
up here as the Liberals in one year have managed to screw up
an insurmountable lead.
The Martin liberals managed to alienate the Chretian liberals
to the extent that in some ridings(electoral districts) the Chretien
liberals are actually supporting and aiding New Democatric
candidates. Then a scandal of political patronage involving a
mere 200 to 300 million dollars has suddenly awakened the
Canadian pubic from its lethargy to realize that maybe the
liberals have been in power too long and should be turfed out.
Its the emperor has no clothes all over again. These accusations
were made for years but nothing stuck to Chretien, yet within
days of Martin taking over as leader suddenly he and his party
were on the defensive.
The polls last week actually showed the conservatives
slightly ahead and that brought out the scare tactics. The
Conservatives played right into there hands with candidates
going off page and talking about denying equality to gays,
reviewing the abortion law etc. Once the hot buttons were
pushed the Conservative momentum stalled and now its about
even.
There will be a minority government if the polls are right.
EIther the Libs or Cons will need the Bloc Quebecois or the
New Democrat's support to form a government. The price will
be steep. The NDP wants a referendum to change all federal
elections to proportional representation (think Italy or Israel),
for their support. The Bloc whose raison d'etre is the separation
of Quebec from Canada may decide who rules. Just delicious.
imagine a confederate party deciding who the next U.S. pres. is
The irony is making alot of people uncomfortable.
In a more local note, on Saturday there was a large picture
and story in the Globe and Mail about a well connected lawyer
caught up a police scandal that has been going on in Toronto.
The lawyer has been charged with money laundering and other
well known people are thought to be next. INterestingly, he
is rather well connected. His great grandmother was a sister
to Papa Joe Kennedy, the former ambassador to Germany and
father of you know who. The Kennedy clan emigrated from
Ireland to Newfoundland. Papa Joe left the family home in
Newfoundland and went to Mass at a relatively young age. The
Canadian branch has been estranged ever since.
As an aside Mr. Moore's celluloid was panned by 2 of the 3
papers I read. That is meaningful only in that when he showed
his work earlier this week here in TO, he specifically said to the
press, here, that he wanted to watch the movie with people
who got what he was saying. Evidently not everyone got it.

cryptic1(sorry for the wordiness)

[Tom]

Well, good luck with your election. I hope you get someone deserving. Word of caution....if you have a paper ballot, push the chad all the way out! :rolleyes:

[trying2win]

Cryptic,

I like the Progressive Conservative platform here in Canada, as the best for a couple of reasons. They want to use the notwithstanding clause to override decisions by courts in some instances, where the court's rulings have been in favor of items that are not popular with the majority of citizens in Canada. One of those controversial items involves the traditional definition of marriage. The PC's are in favor of retaining the traditional definition of marriage. I'm in favor of that too. I've spoken out on this issue before and have taken a lot of criticism for it. Because of that, I've been called a redneck, intolerant etc. Doesn't bother me, because I'm standing up for (the traditional definition of marriage) for which I believe is right, proper and decent. What's that old saying?..."If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything."

I also like the PC's because they want to get tougher with criminals. As aptly pointed out by some of the P.C. justice critics, the current justice system under the governing Liberals, is too lenient in many instances.

T2W

[Lance]

Cryptic,

Joe Kennedy was ambassador to England, not Germany.

[cryptic1]

Lance thanks for the heads up. I guess my dislike for Papa Joe
had something to do with the error. The strong suspicions
that he profited from his association with der Fuhrer, and the
clear evidence that he tried to dissuade FDR from entering the
war against Germany has always irked me.

That man, Michael Moore injected himself into the Canadian
election when in town last week by telling the media he wanted
to warn the Canadian public about the dangers of the
Conservatives and the strong influence that Bush would have
on Harper and his party. Late last week Rallph Nader also
injected himself into our election by addressing an open letter
to the Canadian public through a variety of media outlets. He
to advised the electorate to vote either Liberal or NDP but
not for the Conservatives and their candidate Harper who was
a Bushite (his term). The irony here is that the liberal media
has not uttered one word of protest about Americans mixing
into our political arena because the actions are against the
right. On the other hand when you read the letters to the
editor in both the National Post and the Globe and Mail, the
writers point out the obvious hypocrisy. If Bush or someone
from the Republican Party had done what Nader did, the media
would have made this an election issue, with screaming head-
lines and outraged left leaning politicians warning about the
dire consequences of electing Conservatives who would serve
their American masters.
On another note, Canada has one of the lowest turnouts
of voters in the western democracies. With an election that will
be extremely close, it will be interesing to see if the electorate is
as apathetic as its been in the past. With increasing numbers
of Canadians expressing disgust for their policial leaders the
participation levels are being monitored closely by political
scientists. Their have been some who advocate Australia's
mandatory voting laws as a way of increasing participatory
democracy. I suspect the participation levels in the U.S. will
decrease as well given the disdain that the public feels towards
politicians in general.
Finally, the west coast of Canada may actually feel that
they are part of an election tonight. Generally speaking in
most elections the results are known within 15 to 30 minutes
after the polls close in Ontario, while all the west coast polls
are still open. With all the pollsters indicating a virtual tie in
the national vote between the Libs and Cons. this election
may come down to the results in British Columbia. For election
junkies this may truly be a long night in front of the tube.

cryptic1 (digging in for a long night)

[Secretariat]

Appears the Liberals won from this headline.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1845&ncid=737&e=1&u=/cpress/20040629/ca_pr_on_na/fedelxn_main

[cryptic1]

Sec, we can trade. Just think you get a Liberal government,
a left wing media, and a left of centre population and I'll
take the president you scorn and right wing media you
despise. I know this might appear that you are taking
advantage of me but I'm sure in time I'll realize how awful it
must have been for you to endure living in the U.S. with all
those terrible Bushites and Limbaughs running free.
I trust you will consider this offer quickly as I shudder at
the prospect of the Liberal government bargaining with the
devil (NDP) to remain in power.Your help would be greatly
appreciated.

Mont Hall, cryptically

[Secretariat]

Let's see what happens here in November and we may have a deal.

[trying2win]

Cryptic,

I just noticed this article online regarding Belinda Stronach winning a seat in the Canadian Federal election on June 28/04:

http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/todaysnews/newsview.asp?recno=46467&subsec=1

What do you think of that?


T2W

[cryptic1]

Belinda spent a lot of time with professionals after she lost
the leadership race to Harper. As a result she held her own
in the local candidate debates that occur in all the local ridings
(electoral districts). Their own polls indicated she would win
easily. The reality was a close race that went back and forth
all night. Her opponent, a female bay street lawyer (think
wall street type) with little outside help or funding came close
to winning. Belinda was one of only four conservative \
candidates that won election in the numerous ridings that
surrounded Toronto. She will likely be the conservative critic
for one of the economic portfolios (the opposition name one
of their own electees as a critic to challenge and question
the sitting minister for every government ministry i.e. finance
justice, heath, etc.). She will definitely be front and centre
as she was one of the few name candidates that actually
won in yesterdays election. As an aside, I saw her mother
at Woodbine on Sunday but alas not her. The real question
is how long will it take before she becomes bored with the
pettiness of parliament and the tedium of a long winter in
Ottawa.
I can't resist, a number of Canadianisms have been
included in the new Oxford dictionary. I hear this one
every day, a double double, and we don't mean twins.

Have a good night,
crytpic1