Check out this poll on Canadian election from CBC: Poll Tracker

Poll Tracker is at the bottom & left" on the Canada Votes page.

http://www.cbc.ca/canadavotes/

Canandians might actually give themselved a Dubya. :scared:

But they will not get a majority. Which means they will have to govern as Liberals until they call an election. So - they cannot actually "win" a large majority and then implement "social revolution" really quickly (as bush did, has Mike Harris the neocon did in Ontario).

So scary. But it will be a minority government. They may start with tax cuts. But they cannot quite start to destroy anything.

Upsetting. Yes.

Once they get the trust of the people, Harper will call for another election and get a majority. At this point Harper will become George W. Bush II. You have been warned.

is very liberal. The country has big parties and that makes it all very volatile. Chances are that there will be no majority then. Unless Harper makes a deal with the Block Quebecois. Which would sink him everywhere except Alberta.

It is like Israel - our political system.

And conservatives have been pushing the idea of getting rid "first past the post" elections..where the leading party gets a bump of seats - so that a majority is easier. This has given us stability & majorities. So if Conservatives do that - which everyone except for Liberals complains about - then they face a greater chance of minority.

They really would have to pull a rabbit out of their asses to get a majority. And though winning a minority might give them a chance to be so "seductive" (Harper has been doing a great impression of Mark Darcy lately ... "I was just misunderstood")their plans for the future are not in fact values of the majority. NDP, Block Quebecois, Liberals are all small "L" parties. If the agenda is the American one - like missile defense - it will anger many - as that is what Bush wants right away and he will not say what it involves before it is accepted by Canada. So either Canadians would know exactly what missile defense is after Harper was in power and accepted it - or we would still have no idea and that looks pretty bad for a PM - if you have agreed to something and passed it and accepted it but you don't know what it is.

Even the Globe & Mail who endorsed Harper.. did so without once mentioning his name. They gave a list of three reasons why and all of them had to do with smacking the Liberals across the face for being in power too long.

announcments on page 7. But Martin didn't present a whole lot.

I have not been reading the papers myself.

Anyway - our media is changing a bit. Still - they report the news. Though some newspaper(s) are partisan (on both sides) the papers in the middle report all.

Don't know really.

when they choose their paper. In Toronto, on any street corner where there are machines for all 4 papers you can tell their bias just by looking at the headlines:

National Post: Very right-wing
Globe and Mail: Centre-right
Toronto Star: Left
Toronto Sun: Cleavage

a week ago when she said Harper was on page 1. Martin on page 7.

I'm just saying the bias in the papers is a given and it's something none of them are discreet about.

For most of the campaign, I've been in Supercommuter mode most of the time I'm out and about so I really haven't noticed the frontpage of the other 3 papers, but I read the Toronto Star everyday and I'd say it gives pretty balanced coverage.

I mean that they talk about issues. Nothing taboo with them. They are free to report the news.

if it plays out like that.

Harper is a clown and he will have an extremely hard time keeping his caucus from embarassing themselves for any length of time. If the Cons win the election next Monday (and that's still an if) he'll have a few things to worry about:

1. Paul Martin will return to the private sector to play with his boats, and the Liberals will almost certainly choose a much more compelling leader to head the party.

2. If you excuse the cliché, Harper will be stuck between a rock and a hard place trying to govern. If he were to try to run things as a moderate, he'll alienate his base which includes some pretty far right wackos. If he tries to appease said wackos, then he alienates the rest of the country.

3. His thus far successful election theme is "aren't you sick of the Liberals? We need change." He can't exactly rely on this once he's formed government.

Because they do not represent more than 1/4 of Canadians with their policies. But they will try. And you can bet party discipline will be very good for their first term - until they win.

I'm still hoping for a Liberal minority. Is always good when the NDP and their amazing people have some say in programs and the like. I wish I could get that list of things "The Greatest Canadian" accomplished in bring to Canada. But I dislike neocons so much - I'm one of those who cannot do anything but vote for the Liberals at this juncture.

The thing is, they do have better choices. One of them should have run this time around, not Martin.

Don't know what he would be like if he won a majority. Don't think we have to worry about majority in any case. That isn't in the cards these days.

IMHO

a lot of talent in the party. They'll surely find a good leader. Although the problem wasn't just with Martin, but with the people running his campaign.

I'm still hoping they can yank their heads out of their butts and pull off a little miracle. At they very least, it'd be good to see Liberals+NDP hold 155 seats or more. If that happens, even if Harper forms government, they'll pretty much be handcuffed.

election. Liberals might have a new leader by then. Which means the next election could be in the Spring. Cause there is no way Harper would let a new Liberal leader "make his mark". Unless they think they could trip up a novice. But who says, if Martin looses and the Libs decide to go for a new leader, who says it would be a novice that would win. Could be Frank McKenna.

Don't know. I do not that I am focused on the time after an election because the thought of this next week is just so painful.

How could Canada do it? How could we elect someone like Harper?

parties. The polls are clear that at least 60% of voters want a government to the left of Harper and are voting for someone other than the cons. Another 10-15% are to the left of Harper, but might vote for the Cons anyway because either they've bought into Harper's charade of centrism or are tired of the Liberals and just haven't thought things through.

It would be really irritating, but a Harper victory next Monday is in no way an indication that Canada is taking a turn to the right.

But nobody has those instincts. The world actually works in stops and starts. Governance is allot of hard slogging and work. Just because Martin doesn't make it look easy - doesn't mean he is wrong. Governance isn't easy.

I'm tryng to think if any of the other leaders would make things look as smooth as a babies bottom. I don't think so.

The liberals need to clean house - and perhaps the only way to do so is through the electoral process. That is how democracy works. Having said that - it looks to me that Harper has peaked a little too soon - so a majority government is not really in the works.

So - we are to have a conservative minority bogged down so to speak. Harper is in a bit of a pickle. If he kowtows to the federalists - he alienates the socons - and if he kowtows to the socons - he alienates the federalists. The socons have been oddly quiet this campaign - Harper told them to shut up.

I think we will see yet another election before this year is out.

Having said that - I like Martin. I like the fact that Canada enjoys surpluses and its economy is going strong.
We have seen in the past what conservatives do when in power. I am hopeful a minority government is the best Harper can finangle. I am also hopeful that the Bush administration faces the full wrath of America for its abysmmal lack of judgement regarding the rule of law.

It is time for all to see that conservatism - at its root is flawed. It is time for liberalism to grow and evolve into a trully representational power so that all aspects of society can grow and flourish.

What world or National factors lead Canada to following the U.S. into the Conservative abyss? Are the factors real that push a country Conservative or is the media (FOX) up there along with money from U.S. Conservatives propagandizing the populace to the Right? I notice the NRA and Religious groups are spreading their ideals and goals global. What better place to start than the our neighbor Canada.

Some people, that is. And it doesn't help that they've run an awful campaign.

Unfortunately the NRA and right-wing religious groups aren't getting more involved here. Most Canadians hate that shit and it would sink the Conservatives like a rock.