jut a little innocent poll...not all of you will be 18+, but I know I am. just gauging everyone's political affiliations :D

Other: Green Party

they're idealistic, and they probably couldn't pull off what they say, but I support them none the less

Other: Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist)
They have their good points and you know it. B)

Bunch of lefties here. Interesting about the Green Party support. They're at 5% Nationally in the polls, very strong in BC and Ontario right now (relatively speaking).

yeah, a LOT of lefties here.


I would support some of the other parties, but unless I saw more consensus from the general populace I will vote for one of the major parites, adn the only up and coming one I like is the NDP ;)

the one major reason that I like the Green Party is that they want to change our electoral system, from First Past the Post, to some sort of proportional representation system. The people are more fairly represented, and countries that use those systems have higher voter turnouts.

...unfortunately I'm not old enough to vote, but the GP got my student vote

I didn't know about the Greens PR platform. A change to PR has been a wish of mine for a very long time. Manitoba used to have a combined FPP/PR system up until the 1950's, but we did away with it for some reason.

There was a white paper issued during the Trudeau years urging a change to PR from FPP, but, not surprisingly, it went nowhere.

Quebec has been talking about moving in that direction, and with the Liberals now in power (who would be the beneficiaries of that system), it may well happen. (They are also talking about lowering the voting age to 16).

I know Jack Layton was talking about changing the system as well, though, as usual, he was short on specifics.

In any event, hopefully the Greens will get some coverage on that point, and perhaps the issue could gain broader appeal.

I actually don't think lowering the voting age is a good idea, most people my age(17), aren't that politically informed....the PC's won the student vote at our school for the ontario provincial election. One guy told me he voted for the PC because thier candidate had the funniest name.

Anyways, I know that the NDP is thinking about it. In the 2003 provincial election, the NDP lost official party status in ontario. Howard Hampton (NDP leader) was quick to place the blame on the FPTP system.

I personally wouldn't think that the Liberals would be advocates of the PR system, the FPTP system is quite benficial for them:
In the 2000 federal election they got 40.8% of the pop. vote and 57.1% of the seats.
In the ontario provincial election they got 46.5% of the pop. vote and 69% of the seats.


check out the GP's platform from 2000. (scroll right to the bottom for the stuff on PR)

I hit other but, actually uncertain at this time.

I like the Green's PR system idea but, don't think they've got the numbers to get in yet. White Theocracy, oops, I mean Alliance Party, has now engulfed the Conservatives putting them off my list. Liberals were too big on revenge actions (Sea King replacement) but, the only other national party of any strength is NDP and they don't have much more than the Greens.

Looks like it'll be a choice between Liberals, NDP or Greens ....

-S

Nationally, the LIberals hate PR, but in Quebec, it benefits them. In the 90's they lost to the PQ in popular vote by.4% (44.8 for PQ, 44.4 for Liberals), yet the PQ got a comfortable majority due to the way the vote came in. If there was PR in effect in Quebec, the PQ would never get a majority again.

the NDP were going to table a proposition for a referendum to imprement a pr vote system

however, I believe a combined FTPP/PR system would benefit Canada the best ,as it would form stable, but not necessarily dominating, governments, and would bring much better representation to the parties.


as in, we merge and rearrange all the constituencies to only have 151 constituencies, and 150 PR vote seats.

we have two votes; one for a candidate, one for a party.

even if the candidate does not win, the vote for the party would still help the party capture seats.


so, parties liek the NDP would gain a lot more seats than they currently have, and gain more popularity through more voice in parliment

I personally think that most people will vote liberal or NDP, except for the neo-conservatives, depending on which candidates get the nod for the constituenceies.

almost all the moderates will vote centrist/Liberal if the Alliance takes over the conservative party.

so, an unintended shift left will occur, adn ultimately the NDP will win out, not because they'll form a majority government, but more people will jump from the liberals because of martin's centre from right policies.

a huge flip flop shift left will likely happen

Voted "Other"

It's not that I vote an unlisted Party though, it's because I'm at a point where I might be switching.

I have always voted PC, but took a detour with Reform for 1 election(Reforms first election), then I reverted back to PC for subsequent elections. Now though I might be voting Liberal next election. The Liberals balancing of the Budget and Budget Surplusses is what has almost won me over.

looks as though we've found our first right-winger

The Liberals in both BC and Quebec are likely to introduce electoral reform, to their credit.

The Green Party is a newcomer to the field, the NDP has been pushing this for years and has prepared a number of detailed papers on the subject - contact the office of Lorne Nystrom, MP, for all you ever wanted to know on the subject and on the parties proposals.

Glad to see that 10% of the CPL(M-L) supporters nationwide are on this forum; you'll have to remind me what their good points are beyond being small and insignificant!

Just visiting here from the South Pacific, take care,

DWC

Wow.

Glad Someone else plugged the CPC too.

-Dunefish

I'm an American, so I probably shouldn't even be bothering to reply but...
I'm mostly right wing. Probably going to register as an independent, but if I had to choose, I'd be choosing Republican.
*ducks in anticipation of the fruit slinging*

Colour me in Tory Blue... if that's still the colour they're using, the logo's kinda greenish-blue again, I dunno about the marketing department the party's got... :)

A lot of people aren't really sure about the CPC because they've got no leader, and haven't yet held a policy convention... No doubt Mr. Martin will use this to his advantage, and call an election as quickly as possible, to take advanatage of the "donor fatigue" on the right. I take umbrage, though, with the assertion that the CPC is "too far right wing". First of all, they have no stated policies other than the ones on their website, which are virtually indistinguishable from the stated policies of the old PC party. Therefore, if PC wasn't too right wing, neither is the CPC. Second, the party will only shift too far to the right if the people jumping ship allow it to... staying the course and having a say in the formation of policy is the best way to make yourself a political home, not running away from the table. And lastly, some expatriate Tories are heading to the Liberal party, fearing that the Alliance members will take all the major roles in the new party. Well, if anyone thinks that crossing the floor into the last bastion of top-down political management is going to give them MORE say, they need to think again.

All that said, a win of the leadership by either Harper or Stronach will kill the party in its infancy. Harper as leader will result in the party being branded "Alliance re-tread", and Belinda will get her ass HANDED to her in debates with experienced political street-fighters like Layton and Martin. Hurts me to say it, but Tony Clement looks like the only choice.

I'm curious about the PR system of elections... how does an M.P. of a riding with twice the current average number of citizens serve his entire constituency, when some (like mine in Calgary SE) would be dealing with 200,000 people if you combined it with a neighbour to cut the elected riding seats in half? Or does he get assigned a PR M.P. to help deal with the load? That MP's party just picks him off their list, and he flies in from Hamilton to represent South Calgary's concerns?

Sybillan Political Science Academy

Hey, alright! The right-wingers are starting to pop out of their hidey-holes.

As for the CPC, I just joined today and got a Harper pamphlet. I need to find out what Clement's all about before I decide about him.

But Belinda! What the hell is she thinking...

She's not even going to participate in the leadership debates, let alone national election ones.

-Dunefish

Just came across a country called Belinda Stronach in the game, over in a little region called babble. Apparently her platform is BIGGER ECONOMIC PIES.

Isn't CPC as an acronym already taken by the Communist Party of Canada? Or is there somethig they aren't telling us? (Reds under Harper and Stronach's beds?)

CPC is what the Post calls them for short.

"Pies."

I love it. :lol:

-Dunefish

the conservatives are a joke, there is no way in hell, anyone will vote for them. i arruge that Canada needs a strong praty distinct of the crap the liberals. The only way I will vote for the libs is if Justin Trudeau comes and runs for leadership of their party. Only then, will I enjoy being a member of the lberal party of Canda. I believe that Justin Trudeau is the only way to prevent from average Canadians from becoming disillusioned w/ the fed govt. Oviously, you can tell, im obessed w/ continuein the Trudeau legacy. Beer, drink one now!!!!!!!!!! anywho, I think the conservatives are a joke of a party. There is no way in hell they will win in the next three or four elections, unless, hell gestsf really cold here soon. Anywho, listen to the hip and drink beer. (beer call)

I'm voting for the Saskatchewan Party. It's high time we saw another party challenge the mainstream parties and deconstruct their bread and butter policies.

The Saskatchewan Party is simply the old SK Conservative Party. There is nothing new about them. The only difference is that they expelled all 18 of the precedesor party's members who went to jail.

That would be like the NDP changing its name to the Labour party, and keeping all of its personnel and policies in place, and then voting for them because they were "new".

Vote for the Saskatchewan Party all you want. But do it because of their policies, and not because they are "new", because quite frankly, there is nothing new about them.

I curse the name of Trudeau with a plague that will endure beyond when the havoc he wreaked on my province is long forgotton. The only time you hear his name out here is followed by "The NEP was a joke," and a spit. The only thing I can even admire about him was the severity with which he dealt with the FLQ.

"Just watch me..."

That took stones.

The Liberals steal the best policies of their opponents and have a weathervane where their platform should be. It points the way the wind is alerady blowing. They're followers, not leaders. I may disagree with the NDP, Greens, Communists, and Natural Law; but they stick to their guns.

As for Hell freezing over, no one thought the Reform Party would do shit all, and they brought down the Mulroney government and went from zero seats to Official Opposition in 10 years.

The Devil better buy some long underwear...

-Dunefish

I personally admire Trudeau. My favourite quote about him was as follows:

"In Pierre Trudeau, Canada has finally elected a Prime Minister worthy of assassination".

That quote, made by a journalist who's name I don't recall, works on so many levels.

He was worthy because he was a respected world leader who could shine on the international stage. he shone far more brightly then any leader we had before or since.

He was a thinking person's politician. He had an inherent logic or wisdom about him. He was truly a fascinating man.

But his arrogant mannerisms simply enraged anyone who didn't agree with him, inflaming the hatred to the point where people would have murderous thoughts.

History will remember Trudeau as probably our most unique Prime Minister. We'll never have anyone like him again.

Personally, I am thankful for many of his legacies. As a lawyer, I am a fan of the Charter. That document is responsible for the increasingly free and open society we live in. It has enshrined many individual rights that we did not have before 1982.

I am thankful that he adopted an official policy of Multiculturalism. This policy, in my view, has made Canada the envy of the world with respect to race relations. We are by no means perfect in that regard, but the tolerance and respect that I see in my son's generation for various cultures is a constant source of joy for me.

I am thankful for his vision of a bilingual Canada. It is my view that if there wasn't an official bilingual policy in this country, it would not longer exist. Quebec would have become more isolated and would have separated. With Anglos throughout the rest of Canada learning French in immersion schools, and opportunities abound for French speaking Quebeckers to leave their province and receive services in their language, it has had a positive unifying effect on the two solitudes.

And about the NEP. If you were from Alberta, the policy sucked. If you were from any other region of Canada, it wasn't a bad deal. It's all about your perspective. In the long run the NEP will be a forgotten footnote for everyone but Albertans. In fact, as a Manitoban, I can say that the NEP has long been forgotten in these parts. It is just irrelevant if you don't live on the oil patch.

Having said all this though, Joe Clark was more my kind of PM. Understated, quiet, akward and modest - so typically Canadian. Perhaps that is what people liked about Trudeau. He clearly wasn't one of us. He was different.

I admire Trudeau for having the balls to do whatever he felt was necessary to ensure this country survived, even if it meant pissing people off



that is the type of leader we need now. a socially progressive man that has the balls to get dirty and do some real work.

Well maybe Justin can bring that back, assuming he runs as a poltician someday....
I can only hope and pray he does so.

I vote Liberal federally. In the last election here in Ontario I voted for the Green Party because I like their ideas of surtaxes on dangerous chemicals since in the event of a chemical spill the government usually gets left with the tab for clean-up. I also really liked their net-metering idea.

In bweezy's most recent post he mentioned that our official multiculturalism has made Canada one of the most respected nations in the world. If anyone disagrees with that they need to take their heads out of the sand. In almost every nation on earth where there is violence due to multiple cultures trying to co-exist and there is a breakdown causing violence, once the violence has subsided and a framework for peace has been ironed out Canada and it's situation with Quebec is always the considered the ideal basis for peaceful co-existence. If some of you don't believe me, in Sri Lanka once the Tamils and Sinhalists worked out a temporary peace treaty both sides decided to use Canada as their example of a peaceful Confederation.

Liberals. If I had a different Liberal canidate, maybe I would think of NDP. Possibly Greens, but sometimes they have wacko canidates.

First, my local Liberal MP is fantastic. Seems to me to be looking out for the community, and I have no real problem with him.

Second, I really can't stand the thought of some of the neocons taking power. I'm fairly far leftist in both social and economic policy, so I really don't agree with any of the CPC ideals. And I think Paul Martin will try to keep his act clean, at least for a while.

The Dictaroship of BC Liberals (not to be confused with the feds)... Ug, that is neo-conservatism right there. In my opinion, BC has been going down the gutter because of them. The true liberal people were booted out of that party a long time ago. We were better off with corrupt BC NDP than these corrupt BC Liberals... Too bad the BC Greens had such a poor canidate in my riding last election. Anyway, unless the Greens have a good canidate next provincial election, my family will probably vote Carol James. She only lost by a couple hundred votes last time anyway...


But I can't vote... :(

Oh, and sorry for going completely off-topic with provincial politics.

I didn't read all the posts sorry sorry if I'm mentioning some elses point. I noticed that there are a lot of individuals on the left hear but find the vote splitting that goes on between the green party, The Marijuana party and even the communist parties to be extraordinarilly detrimental to the left wing. Even with the Libals sweep of the last election if all of these votes had been consolidated behind N.D.P. candidates they would have had 7 more federal seats last time. With the conservatives gaining ground I would like to encourage all left thinking individuals to re-examine the N.D.P. platform, I think you'll find all of your specific niche concerns have been addressed.

I support the greens policies the most, but if I were to vote I probably would vote NDP, because of exactly what you said above; the NDP is the left's best shot, and they'd get more seats if the vote wasn't split.
Once again this brings up the argument for proportional representation. (If you didn't read the earlier posts/just didn't know, the greens want to implement a PR system). With PR we wouldn't be forced to vote strategically, and we could just vote for who we actually support.

Ya P.R. would be nice to see but there needs to be a major national debate. There are a lot of difficult issues to work out. I've been discussing it with some of my friends who are big shots in the Liberal party and everyone I've spoken to there even seem interested, it's of course a low priority to them as they stand to lose the most. but there's hope

PR is being seriously examined by the BC Liberals (who were robbed of a government in the 90's when they had 42% of the vote to the NDP's 37%, but still wound up with an NDP majority) and the Quebec Liberals (who, in two consecutive elections, finished within 1% of the PQ, but wound up getting a far smaller percentage of seats).

I think that PR will certainly be experimented with at some provincial levels in the next decade. With those seeds sewn, perhaps PR will eventually sweep the nation.

As for me, I'm still undecided as a voter. All the parties have their flaws - for me, it's going to come down to who has the best and most achievable platform.

Huh.... Kind of funny considering that the BC Liberals have supreme dictatorship over BC and are running it into the ground. With PR, they may not even have had a majority....

I'm all for PR. In BC, that would mean a lot more representation for the left, and less "strategic" voting (i.e. I want to keep such-and-such party out, so I'll vote for party B because they are slightly more what I like. Even though party C is what I really want.). The Greens got a lot of the pop vote last election, but no seats.

That was a crime. 19% of the vote, and not a single seat. Another failure of our current system.

Really!?!

19%?

Holy shit.

Was it localized by province or region at all or just kinda spread around?

-Dunefish

I'm not sure. But I suspect it was spread around. If it were localized, chances are they would have elected a few MLA's. (Sort of like how the tories had 18% popular vote in 1993 spread out across Canada, but wound up with 2 MP's, where as the Reform party had 18% of the vote but localized mainly in Alberta and BC, and wound up with over 50 seats (or the Bloc Quebecois for that matter, who had even less popular vote than either the tories or reform, but wound up with more seats than either of them in 1993)

Personally I will vote for NDP. Not because they are my party of choice mind you. but they are the most likely to benefit from my vote in the upcoming election out of potentials I would vote for.

Parties I will not vote for and or ignore completely:
-Liberal: time to put an end to the one party system in Canada.
-PC/Alliance merger (conservative party): wasn't a fan of the last time they were in power. They paved the way for the current liberal government and their economic policies. And lets face it they kinda screwed those of us who don't have a lot of money or influence over the market. Not to mention the last PC prime minister we had tried to sell us out to the americans. Can we really trust them again?
-Marijuana party: WTF....thats pretty much all I have to say.
-Natural Law Party: We arent living in fantasy land 20X6 here. Lets be reasonable at least
-Reform party: do they even exist anymore? nuf said
-PQ: No PQ in our riding(s) (saskatchewan). Not that they would get my vote anyways

Parites I have considered:
-Marxist Lennonist: What can I say I like the communist ideologies. But they wont benefit from my vote anyways.
-Communist Party: Same as above. However they are a bunch of useless lazies who dont deserve my vote to begin with. I tried to join the party, requested information,a nd they just shrugged me off on several occasions. Fine, you aren't getting my vote, ever. Thanks for nothing. Didn't realize communism was an exclusive club. Friggin stalinists.
-Canadian Action Party - Yes...YES....lets get rid of NAFTA. Please god get rid of NAFTA. I mean lets face it, Americans dont care about NAFTA. They go against ever NAFTA agreement taht doesnt benefit them anyways. So why the hell are we still part of NAFTA anyways!!?! Did you know that mexicos economy is ranked stronger than Canadas as far as growth? We have to be the least of the beneficiaries of NAFTA. Im pretty sure NAFTA hurting us! I mean why!!!! ***We're the ones with the largest supply of raw resources in the world!*** Why are we suffering! NAFTA!!!! Kill it!
-Green Party: It would be a welcome change. But NDP is far more likely to win a national election than these guys. And they would institute similar reforms. So I'll support the stronger party
-Western Independance Party: Hmmmmmmm, what a bold concept. Not a fan of those who who vote to join the US tho..... But we could certainly get by without the rest of y'alls. And probably best you at it too. So it will be a future option

Does anyone else miss the old Rhino party? They entertained me. Them and the Natural Law party. :D