Canada 2006 (23rd Jan)

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Gay marriage has been going on and on and on for something like two years now. Can't we talk about something else? Like all those Liberal scandals?

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Grewal tapes were altered – forensic physicist

At the request of the Canadian Press (CP), Canada’s multimedia news agency, a top forensic sound analyst studied Grewal’s secretly recorded tapes and told CP that a conversation has been altered.
 
It appears a 46 second section of a conversation between Grewal and Dosanjh has an abnormal break indicating that a portion has been edited out.

Pausak, a physicist and MIT trained forensic scientist says "It appears to be altered. This brief segment at the beginning shows that it's not continuous, and it should be."

Pasauk identified a discontinuity where he confronted a zero-signal gap of about 0.3 seconds and then the conversation resumed.

The tapes have created a controversy within Parliament. Dosanjh, one of two Liberals that were secretly recorded by Grewal, has contended the tapes were altered because sections are missing by his recollection of how the conversation progressed.

In addition, half of the Conservative caucus apparently is opposed to making secret recordings, and have shown disdain for Grewal’s actions, some suggest Grewal’s career could be at risk.

Suspicion surrounding the authenticity of the recordings grew following Grewal's release of only portions of conversations. Fourteen days elapsed before the entire tapes were made public.

Repeatedly addressing the media Grewal claimed he was approached by the Liberals but this has been contradicted by Sudesh Kalia, a member of the Liberal Party, who says it’s the other way around. Kalia was approached by Grewal to propose a deal to jump parties in return for a cabinet post.

Since Kalia’s revelation Grewal has been relatively silent.

maybe this is evolving into Canada's Rathergate...

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Did any of you hear the recent poll numbers?

Liberals - 38%
Conservatives  - 23%
NDP - 21%

OUCH

Whoa!! That translates into about 140 Liberals right!! The Tories are still angry though...

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The problem with Canada is that it is a dominant party state. The Liberals always win except if there is a BIG scandal, when everyone votes Conservative to demand a change. Just look at their slogan: "Demand better. Vote Conservative..."

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The problem with the "new" Conservative/AllLIEance/Reformatory party is that they can't keep itself together. My mom now refuses to donate to the party because of Harper's staff quitting one by one.

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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20051105.wxpoll1105/BNStory/National/

People don't believe Martin is totally clean. 60% say Martin should take respoisibility for the scandal. But they don't trust the Conservatives to clean up the government either.

In other news:

The NDP is in the lead in BC (not that surprising given the recent turmoil over the strikes)
NDP has gained ground in larger cities and in Atlantic Canada
Liberal drop is highest outside Quebec, NOT in Quebec

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Hey everyone,

I will now make my predictions. Not for the election, but for the EKOS poll that will be released later this week. I have been doing some surveying for them, so I have some idea of how it may turn out.

Firstly, the "if the election were held tommorow, who would you vote for" question:

My predictions is:
Liberal: 35%
Conservative: 25%
NDP: 20%
Green: 5%

I left out the Bloc, because I dont think we had any french interviewers, although I could be wrong. I got only one or two Conservatives when I phoned, which I felt to be odd, and many New Democrats, and many Liberals, which I thought to be odd as well. May be because I didn't get many westerners.

Some other questions of interest:

I figure 80% of Canadians want an election within the next 6 months, whith about 50% wanting it after Gomery, and maybe 30% before.

And, one last thing of interest:

Would you be proud if your child grew up to be a politician?

I'd say 60% said disagree, and most strongly disagreed. Many were probably saying that in jest though. (Got many laughs)

How do Canadians seem to react to a pollster coming in on the phone? Last year I saw a cartoon showing a man standing in his home looking at his sign on the front lawn that read: "Undecided voter. But support death penalty for pollsters."

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Why does it take you so long to interview one person?

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the Canadian Allaince and Progressive conservative parties merged a few years back right.  It was the progressive conservative party that won in the 80's.  Do people not like the merger or view the new joint conservative party as too conservative.

Well, the "new and united" Conservative Party blatantly turned out to be a successor to the Alliance during last year's campaign. All the leadership positions of the Conservative Party went to former Alliance people, as did the leadership spot, to Stephen Harper. Many of the old PC'ers refused to support the new party (Joe Clark, the most important PCer, supported the Liberals), and that sums up why the Tories are seen as just the Alliance under a new name.

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do all canadians learn french in school?

No, it isn't mandatory in the whole country since the federal government has no department for education. But every area must have a school in the other official language.

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Holy SH*T!! The debate is in 46 minutes and I want to go home quick!!

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Here is the 2004 result:



On election night I will *try* to create a similar map updated to reflect election calls.

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Is there a possibility that the Tory surge would split anti-Liberal (Bloc and Tory) vote outside Montreal, ironically causing Liberal victories elsewhere in Quebec?

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Now, these numbers are just surreal to say the least. I *never* expected the Tories to surge *this* high in Quebec. And to see the Liberals actually jump to third place for the first time ever, WOW. Just WOW.

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Now, these numbers are just surreal to say the least. I *never* expected the Tories to surge *this* high in Quebec. And to see the Liberals actually jump to third place for the first time ever, WOW. Just WOW.

^^^

This is beginning to look like a re-enactment of 1993; with Harper playing Chrétien, Martin as Campbell, Duceppe as Bouchard and Layton as Manning...

...with the soldiers-on-streets ad playing the Chretien-has-a-deformed-face ad. Have you seen the latest Liberal attack ads? They all follow the same damn annoying format and it's pitiful..

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about when will we start getting election results tommorrow

There are no exit polls here (probably because they are useless in a parliamentary system) but here are the closing times:

Newfoundland Time (all of Newfie island): 8:30 pm
Atlantic Time (all of NS, PEI, New Brunswick and some Quebec islands): 8:30 pm
Eastern Time (the vast majority of Ontario+Quebec): 9:30 pm
Central Time (Manitoba and Sask): 8:30 pm
Mountain Time (Alberta and part of BC): 7:30 pm
Pacific Time (rest of BC): 7:00 pm

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From cbc.ca:

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