[*Catherine*]

they want to rely on a party who will only have that one province's interests to worry about and not all the other provinces and territories altogether

Wow. That sounds great. Sign me up. I want that too.

Lets face it. The Bloc Party garnered less popular support than the NDP but managed to secure 50 seats to the NDP's 37. It is what it is. A purely regional party with national status and the ability to influence national outcomes although it only runs candidates in its home province and has no vested interest in the success of Canada as a whole. Give me a break.

This election was a waste of taxpayers money. But the truly sad thing about this election is the voter turnout. When barely half of all eligible voters turn out, I don't think anybody can claim a victory. But maybe thats just me.


And a little OT, but not really..just more to do with my province, I've been hearing people today talk about how we now have NO voice at the table, since we didn't vote any Conservatives in, and that we basically threw our vote away. Well what happened when we supposedly had voice the last time? Nothing. There was no voice in parliament. Thats why there was a huge backlash against The Conservatives when those elected last time did not stand up for this province against Harper. What a joke. Atleast we have some people who, despite not being in the Conservative Party, actually have a voice and will use it.

[*Dominique*]

So I guess it is see you in 2 years for a new election? This was a waste of money and time but thank god Harper did not get a majority. I am also happy that I won't have to watch or listen anymore the insults. It was a very ugly election IMO.

How long before Dion says goodbye? They asked Justin Trudeau if Dion should go (because let's face it, now that Trudeau is there, they all want him to become the next Liberals leader... like his daddy) and he said no, he should stay. We'll see. My prediction is that Trudeau will become soon a new leader. Too bad for him that while I think he can be very charming, I don't trust his face.

Maybe the BQ gets that much seats because the other options suck... I know they most of the options suck for me so I go with the one that sucks less.

I still cannot believe I am stuck with Harper for another 2 years!

[*Ledi*]

Originally Posted by *Catherine* (View Post) Wow. That sounds great. Sign me up. I want that too. Lets face it. The Bloc Party garnered less popular support than the NDP but managed to secure 50 seats to the NDP's 37. It is what it is. A purely regional party with national status and the ability to influence national outcomes although it only runs candidates in its home province and has no vested interest in the success of Canada as a whole. Give me a break.

I agree with you. I think it's a little weird that they have control over what happens to the rest of us as well.

[Mio]

Am I surprised? Not really. I knew we would have another majority because of the left wing split between votes for NDP and Green Party. I am glad that the NDP got more votes, but I knew Liberals would lose seats because of the whole "carbon gas tax" (what a schmuck).

As long as Dion goes, I will be voting Liberal in the next election; he made me turn my Liberal vote into another vote for another party and it's a shame as I have voted Liberal in the last two federal elections.

I really hope Trudeau runs for party leader; I think Canada is ready to get back on the Trudeau bandwagon and see Liberals with a clear plan for the country get in. Although please, don't let him support the gas tax... that was just ridiculous. Since when did the Liberals... wait, Dion... become a supporter of the Green Party?

[Cathangel]

Originally Posted by *Catherine* (View Post) Wow. That sounds great. Sign me up. I want that too. Lets face it. The Bloc Party garnered less popular support than the NDP but managed to secure 50 seats to the NDP's 37. It is what it is. A purely regional party with national status and the ability to influence national outcomes although it only runs candidates in its home province and has no vested interest in the success of Canada as a whole. Give me a break.

Well, we're going with a system of representation by population so things like one party having more popular support but having less representatives in the House of Commons are bound to happen so what can we do about it? We could have the electoral map reconfigured but that's something a lot of representatives have been lobbying for for years.

The BQ IS a purely regional party, always has been and always will be, it's not like they've ever claimed the contrary. But the federal law has no dispositions against these sorts of parties so any other province or territory could start a regional party too, it's the way the system works.

[sunnykerr]

It's funny, because the reason I love Dion (and I do mean LOVE Dion) is because, from the very first time I've ever heard him speak, he always put the environment front and center. And I thought that, finally, we'd have a shot at electing a PM who would have an environmental policy that was genuine.

That was then.

Now, of course, it's become clear that the Liberals only ever elected him leader of their party because he's so transparent. He's such a nerd. He'd be the last guy you'd expect to get caught up in some sponsorship scandal. He's so gosh darn passionate.

I don't know... maybe he's passionate about all the wrong things. I do know that, somewhere along the way, someone should have thought to give the guy a decent English-immersion education.

I've heard Justin Trudeau speak in a lot of local shows, and it's clear that he's got a big interest in the environment, too. So that wouldn't be a terrible way to go either. He's better at playing the PR game then Dion is, that's for sure.

The Bloc guy carried the victory in our riding. Which saddens me. The Bloc isn't so much a federal party as it is a vote against all the other federal parties. So, as long as we still elect them, we'll keep having minority governments. And we'll have played no role in electing whomever does become the ruling party. So no one needs to think about the interests of Quebec because there's a whole party devoted to just that, but it's a crock because for all of the coallition power they may carry, their agenda is way too transparent to carry any weight. Bleh.

[Mio]

Originally Posted by sunnykerr (View Post) He's such a nerd.

You've got that right.

See, I'm all for the environment and making it better but unless the entire world gets on board, it ain't gonna happen the way we want it to.

All parties need to focus on the major problems that are currently plaguing our country: health care, education, crime, economy (well it's only going down because of the U.S.), jobs, day care, etc. When all those get remedied or even looked at, then we can discuss the envirnoment.

[sunnykerr]

Well, I certainly don't disagree with you on the fact that there's a slew of other very important issues to consider that are not the environment.

I just personally don't think that we should wait for either the rest of the world to get on the same page before we do something about our impact on the environment or that we should wait till everything else is all well and good before we do something about it.

If we wait for the rest of the world... well, we're still gonna be at it in a million years. I don't the world will ever be on the same page about anything, ever. Not at the same time anyway.

As for waiting for the economy, education, health care, etc. to be perfect before taking care of the environment... that could also take forever. And I'm not sure it would be possible without taking care of the environment at the same time. I'm certainly no expert, but it would make a lot of sense that bad air conditions affect the health of the masses. It would make sense to me that this would be a strain on our economy. And perhaps trying to find new solutions to the environmental crisis could lead to the creation of new, sustainable jobs.

What do I know?

I agree that it shouldn't all about the environment all the time. I just think that we can work on more than one thing at a time, if we decide that's what we want to do.

[*Catherine*]

Originally Posted by Cathangel (View Post) Well, we're going with a system of representation by population so things like one party having more popular support but having less representatives in the House of Commons are bound to happen so what can we do about it? We could have the electoral map reconfigured but that's something a lot of representatives have been lobbying for for years. The BQ IS a purely regional party, always has been and always will be, it's not like they've ever claimed the contrary. But the federal law has no dispositions against these sorts of parties so any other province or territory could start a regional party too, it's the way the system works.

I'm not saying its against the law, and it is how the system works, yes. But is it a good system? I dont think so. Thats why I get pissed off, seeing one party that could care less about the rest of Canada having so much representation and say in national matters. It makes no sense to me. Forget about reconfiguring the electoral map, the entire system needs to change.

[Cathangel]

Bumping this up because for the first time since World War I, we could have a coalition government as negociations between the Liberals, the NDP and the BQ appeared to have cemented and are not slowing down even with the Conservatives backing down on a number of issues over the weekend.

[Laurababora]

I swear if they go through with this coalition government I may never vote Liberal. This whole idea of a coalition government pisses me off. Canada voted and the conservatives won. I didn't go to vote just so the NDP, Liberals and the Bloc can overthrow it and become the government. It seems so very undemocratic to me. It actually makes me think about not voting in the next election, which is big for me considering I'm a politics major and believe that everyone should go out and vote and get their voice heard. This feels to me like my vote is being taken away from me if coalition governments are going to be constantly made in order to bring down the government in power that the Canadian people voted in. I just don't understand why this needs to happen.

[thescoobygang]

Well, here we go again. Canadian politics at its worse.

For the record, I am against the idea of a coalition, specifically because of the timing. We just had an election! Why should my vote be nullified? None of these yahoo parties were able to win a majority for numerous reasons. Those reasons haven't magically disappeared since then. They lost. It happens. They should be rebuilding and strengthening their party for the next election instead of doing this power grab.

Do I like Stephen Harper? No. I find him a cold, rigid, annoying micro-manager. But his party won fairly, and so he deserves to run the country until his own party or the people of Canada say otherwise. To have Dion parachuted in as PM until May is utterly ridiculous. This is a guy who was so unpopular that his own party was forcing him to step down.

This coalition has nothing to do with the economy. The NDP & Liberals probably didn't have the funds or patience for another election. This way is much easier for them to get to power. The Bloc? Come on, they don't care either way. Duceppe probably signed on just to create more friction.

As much as I loathe going to the polls...I would rather vote again than have no say at all.

~tSG

[Cathangel]

All right, I'm probably gonna get attacked by all sides for this but I support this potential coalition government.

First of all, yes we have democratic means to elect our officials but Canada's parliamentary system is not a democracy at its purest form. The executive and legislative branches of government are not exclusive from one another like in a country such as the United States for example. So that means that the Prime Minister is not elected by democratic means but it's rather the members of his party that choose him .

Yes, the party that has most seats in the House of Commons is the party with executive power, but that mandate is only clear and irreversible when that party alone has a majority of seats, which the Conservatives do not, which is why they're called a minority government. It also means that while they're the party that has won the most seats, there remains a majority of Canadians who didn't vote for the Conservatives and the Conservatives have to take that fact into account when they govern, which they haven't.

A minority government has to make concessions with other parties in order to make parliament work and when the Harper government came in session with a legislative agenda that wasn't featured in their campaign and that implemented measures that are unacceptable to the representatives of the other three parties in the House that all together form a majority, then it's no wonder that, not wanting to go into yet another election, the idea of a coalition government surfaced.

A coalition government is perfectly legal and constitutional. We had a coalition government during World War I. If the Harper government is hell bent on making no concessions and doesn't come up with an initiative to face the economic crisis at hand, then a coalition government, where 3 separate parties, representing together a majority of Canadians, can find something that works for their respective interests, has more legitimacy than a unilateral Conservative government.

To those who argue that the BQ has no business deciding who should form the government, I say this: the separation of Quebec from the rest of Canada is not done via the BQ but rather via the Parti Quebecois on the provincial level. The BQ does not exist in Ottawa to sabotage the federal government but rather to look out for Quebec's interests and sometimes, the laws their representatives vote for actually coincide with some of the rest of Canada's interests. Now the BQ reached an agreement with the other 2 parties to make this potential coalition government legitimate so it's in all 3 parties' best interests to make this coalition governement work. The 3 parties forming a coalition represent a majority of Canadians and whether we like it or not, this majority includes those who voted for the BQ.

And finally, on a strictly personal level, I'm more comfortable with a coalition government because not only does it represent more clearly to me a spirit of cooperation but I have more positions in common regarding the economy, the environment, the foreign policy and the social issues with those 3 parties than I do with the Conservatives so that is why I'd be willing to see how a coalition government could handle the country.

[*Ledi*]

I couldn't agree more, Cath. I feel exactly the same way you do.

I was extremely happy to hear about this the other night, and I fully support this (hopefully soon to be) coalition government. I'm excited!

[Mio]

Originally Posted by Laurababora (View Post) I swear if they go through with this coalition government I may never vote Liberal. This whole idea of a coalition government pisses me off. Canada voted and the conservatives won. I didn't go to vote just so the NDP, Liberals and the Bloc can overthrow it and become the government. It seems so very undemocratic to me. It actually makes me think about not voting in the next election, which is big for me considering I'm a politics major and believe that everyone should go out and vote and get their voice heard. This feels to me like my vote is being taken away from me if coalition governments are going to be constantly made in order to bring down the government in power that the Canadian people voted in. I just don't understand why this needs to happen.

I'm angry too. They're taking MY right to vote away, basically saying it doesn't count. WE'RE the ones who decide runs the government, not a bunch of school yard bullies who are throwing a temper tantrum because they didn't win the three legged race.

They should just throw me in the kitchen and lock me there... I bet they're going to strip away women's rights next!