Canada's political parties

[English]

I'm not that well informed about Canadian Politics but I know the four main parties....

CPC, Conservative Party of Canada- Centre Right
LPC, Liberal Party of Canada- Centre
NDP, New Democratic Party- Centre Left
BQ, Bloc Quebecois- Quebec separatists.

The CPC is an amalgamation of the Progressive Conservatives (social liberals, fiscal conservatives) & the Alliance (social & fiscal conservatives). It hasn't been very successful, some PC MP's have defected to the LPC and some have formed the Progressive Party (the new Progressive Conservative party!!!). The CPC does well in the West, in particular Alberta.

The LPC is the dominant party of government. It's fiscally quite conservative, but socially liberal. It's often accused of speaking 'left' and acting 'right'. It tends to dominate in Ontario, lots of Quebec, the North & Maritimes as well as a few outposts in the west such as Edmonton and Vancouver.

The NDP have never formed a government, although they do well in provincial governments in Saskatchewan, BC and Manitoba. They're the social democratic party of Canada and favour strong health care & social security. It does well in the inner cities. Places like Toronto, Halifax, Vancouver and Hamilton.

The BC, unsurprisingly only do well in Quebec. They were originally, primarily a one issue party, i.e independence for Quebec, but they've now largely abandoned this rhetoric (since it's never gonna happen!) Now they pursue Quebec interests and are generally centre-left in their policies.

[English]

Timmins? Really? That's the birthplace of Shania Twain! Very nice lady.

[English]

I must say i'd love to visit some of these small towns in rural Canada, like Thompson. The nearest big city is probably Winnepeg and that's hundreds of miles away! wierd! Presumably they must have to fly to get anywhere?