Canada General Discussion 1.5: The Countdown Begins

[Hatman 🍁]

Julia Gillard is in town to speak at the Progress Summit.

[Hatman 🍁]

Julia Gillard is in town to speak at the Progress Summit.

Broadbent Institute should be ashamed for inviting that bigot.

Indeed, inviting her was questionable in the very least. Lots of NDPers on fb/twitter are gushing over getting to hear her. Rather disappointing.

[Hatman 🍁]

Favourite Premier: Ernest Drury, I guess.

[Hatman 🍁]

Updated map of provincial general elections

Very cool. You should put the Yukon ridings in too.

[Hatman 🍁]

On a personal level, Flaherty must have been a truly great man, to have brought people like Mulcair and Charlie Angus to tears.

[Hatman 🍁]

Flaherty's getting a state funeral.

[Hatman 🍁]

This is the greatest news!

In other good news, voters in Kitimat rejected the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline plebiscite 58-42%

[Hatman 🍁]

Good riddance to the worst specimen of human scum.

My thoughts exactly. Even if you're a blue Tory, one should be ashamed of such an asshat.

[Hatman 🍁]

Is Rob Anders "returning to the private sector"?

[Hatman 🍁]

Good riddance to the worst specimen of human scum.

No, if he were human scum, we would've given him the Order of Canada.

Now we just need to get rid of the Member for Vancouver East.

What's wrong with Libby Davies? I would've thought the most hated NDPer would be Pat Martin.

[Hatman 🍁]

Which Tory do Dippers and Grits dislike most besides Anders?

Vic Toews before he quit. Pollievre gets a fair amount of hate on my Facebook feed.

Cheryl Gallant is up there in my books, but it looks like she's been muzzled recently. Pierre Poilievre is man who makes my blood boil more.  He comes from a new wave of ultra right wing young Tories that scare me to death.

Good riddance to the worst specimen of human scum.

No, if he were human scum, we would've given him the Order of Canada.

Now we just need to get rid of the Member for Vancouver East.

What's wrong with Libby Davies? I would've thought the most hated NDPer would be Pat Martin.

I haven't had any personal interactions with her, but from what I've heard, she's very intolerant of conservatives generally - so her attitude more than anything. Plus, her stance on Israel makes her pretty much the left-wing version of Rob Anders.

I wouldn't go that far. Let's say for argument sake that her "anti-Israel" comments are worth the same points as something Rob Anders has spewed out of his mouth. Rob Anders has spewed far more garbage than a Tory could ever accuse Libby Davies of spewing. (This is why I thought Pat Martin would be a closer candidate, although I may be biased in thinking that not even he comes into the same category).  I think the NDP does a good job of keeping their extremists out of the limelight. Maybe if Barry Weisleder was an MP, there'd be someone similar to compare.

[Hatman 🍁]

Anders may run in Calgary Rocky Ridge: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/politics/Ousted+Anders+said+contemplating+nomination+nearby+riding/9734987/story.html

[Hatman 🍁]

Frank Coleman will be the next Premier of Newfoundland as his only opponent in the Tory leadership race has withdrawn.

[Hatman 🍁]

Do you still think Horwath pulls the trigger?

I haven't heard anything different.

[Hatman 🍁]

RIP Herb Gray. He was chancellor of my university when I graduated, so his signature appears on my degree.

[Hatman 🍁]

Weird.

[Hatman 🍁]

"Tied" being a bit of a stretch: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_in_the_42nd_Canadian_federal_election

Tories haven't led any polls since the Fall. Last time they were within the margin of error was February (5 point gap). Last time the Tories consistently led in polling was last Spring.

[Hatman 🍁]

Trudeau's negatives have also skyrocketed, now at 45/44 approval. Elections aren't won with prayers and all that.

Liberal minority I imagine. Tory numbers will recover a bit by election time and the NDP has a high enough floor to prevent any majorities.

No, the NDP floor is much lower than you think. Maybe 15?

[Hatman 🍁]

Why? They've only ever got more than 20% in two elections in their entire history. Of course it would require a collapse in Quebec to get lower than that again, but that's not outside the realm of possibility, considering they've only voted NDP once before.

[Hatman 🍁]

Once upon the time the NDP's floor was 6%. Don't see it going that low in the near future.

[Hatman 🍁]

"Only" 23?

[Hatman 🍁]

It's interesting that after all the criticisms from the experts and the media, Canadians still support the measures. I suppose the people who are following it closely are more likely to be against it.

I once vouched for my roommate, even though I knew he was going to vote Tory. That's how much I support the right to vote.

Also, the fact that 52% of Canadians don't care if voting is difficult disgusts me.

[Hatman 🍁]

It's interesting that after all the criticisms from the experts and the media, Canadians still support the measures. I suppose the people who are following it closely are more likely to be against it.

I once vouched for my roommate, even though I knew he was going to vote Tory. That's how much I support the right to vote.

Also, the fact that 52% of Canadians don't care if voting is difficult disgusts me.

I think it's just more that 52% of Canadians are sufficiently comfortable and have long been sufficiently comfortable to simply not be able to grasp how difficult this can be for some people's circumstances. It's so very far outside your typical middle class Canadian's life experience to not be able to prove your identity that they simply don't get it

Yes, most middle class voters have driver's licenses. I have an expired one (I have no need or desire to drive anymore) and was lucky enough to be able to use it last summer as ID in a by-election (they didn't check whether it was valid, and I'm not sure if it even matters, as it still has a photo of me).  My partner even used her British passport! We also used some bills to prove where we lived.

[Hatman 🍁]

It's interesting that after all the criticisms from the experts and the media, Canadians still support the measures. I suppose the people who are following it closely are more likely to be against it.

I once vouched for my roommate, even though I knew he was going to vote Tory. That's how much I support the right to vote.

Also, the fact that 52% of Canadians don't care if voting is difficult disgusts me.

I think it's just more that 52% of Canadians are sufficiently comfortable and have long been sufficiently comfortable to simply not be able to grasp how difficult this can be for some people's circumstances. It's so very far outside your typical middle class Canadian's life experience to not be able to prove your identity that they simply don't get it

Yes, most middle class voters have driver's licenses. I have an expired one (I have no need or desire to drive anymore) and was lucky enough to be able to use it last summer as ID in a by-election (they didn't check whether it was valid, and I'm not sure if it even matters, as it still has a photo of me).  My partner even used her British passport! We also used some bills to prove where we lived.

In Quebec, for voting, it's clearly written in training documentation than an expired driving licence is perfectly valid.  Same thing for an expired Health card or an expired passport.

Might be here as well. The Ontario Elections website was vague on the matter, and I was scared to ask.  I also have an expired passport, but it's 10 years old, which was from before I could even vote. (My divers license photo isn't much newer though).

[Hatman 🍁]

Let's not forget the classic example of John Tory running in a super safe seat in a by-election, and losing the race.