Canadian elections?

Excerpt from From Washington Post:

Canadian Race in Dead Heat as Vote Nears

By DeNeen L. Brown
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, June 26, 2004; Page A20


TORONTO, June 25 -- Canada faces the strong possibility of rule by an unstable minority government as a tight and uncertain race between the ruling Liberal Party and the New Conservative Party enters its final days, according to political analysts here.



Prime Minister Paul Martin and Conservative leader Stephen Harper have sharpened their attacks in an already vitriolic campaign as they try to win voters in crucial regions before Monday's vote.

Martin campaigned in the battleground province of Ontario, where the Liberal Party is projected to lose seats, and tried to distinguish himself from Harper, warning Canadians that Harper would make drastic cuts in social programs and restrict human rights.

Martin condemned Harper for supporting the U.S.-led invasion in Iraq. After then-Prime Minister Jean Chretien announced that Canada would not join the war, Harper, as leader of the opposition, apologized to the United States. Martin said the Liberals "would not have a foreign policy that would go on bended knee to another country."

Martin, who appeared energized and relaxed in his campaign appearances, also contended that Conservatives would reduce the power of Canadian courts, which have been active in shaping social policy on such issues as same-sex marriage.

Harper, appearing confident with his party's surge among voters, also campaigned in Ontario. "If you keep up the good work," he said at a rally in Belleville on Thursday, "we will celebrate freedom from the taxing Liberals."

Campaigning Friday in Winnipeg, capital of Manitoba, he defended his party against a barrage of Liberal ads that caution Canadians against voting Conservative. "Every time you see on television one of those divisive, demonizing ads," he said at a rally, "remember, Paul Martin does this because Paul Martin is a desperate man."

Recent polls show the two parties roughly in a tie. A poll of 2,000 Canadians released Friday by Ipsos-Reid for the Globe and Mail newspaper showed the Liberals with a 1-point lead over the Conservatives. A poll of 800 Canadians by the polling firm COMPAS Inc. for the National Post newspaper also showed the Liberals with a 1-point lead. The Ipsos-Reid poll had a margin of error of 2.2 percent; the COMPAS poll's was 3.1 percent.

"Every poll is showing the same thing," said John Wright, vice president of Ipsos-Reid. "It is a dead heat. The only thing that is certain Monday night is there will be a minority government." That is, no party would win 155 of the 308 seats in Parliament, requiring the leading party to form a coalition with another party to pass any laws.

The power broker in the new minority government most likely will become the Bloc Quebecois party, which is projected to win more than 60 of Quebec's 75 seats and supports separation from Canada. "The Bloc will hold a significant block of seats," Wright said. "They will be kingmaker in all this."

Actually, the only reason I voted the way I did was simply because of Harper's supporting Bush in his war hungry ways.

I really don't know much about politics here yet, so I went with what I thought was the lesser of the 2 evils.

As Canadians go to the polls today, a friendly reminder for our neighbors to the North:

Don't eat your ballots!

Well, on second thought, go ahead and eat your ballots.

Well, I haven't voted yet, I have plenty of time. I wasn't considering eating my ballot, but I did think of signing it 'Keith Richards, thanks for the heroin bust' and selling it on E-Bay.

Sorry voor de late reactie, Internet lag er twee dagen uit. In ieder geval: ik heb het interview niet gezien, ik lees meestal de Volkskrant op school (en aangezien ik geslaagd ben, kom ik daar niet meer :wink: ). Ik heb mijn vertrouwen in Marijnissen opgezegd toen hij bij de vorige verkiezingen in Netwerk niet kon, hoe noem je het, kon voorrekenen. En dat voor een lijsttrekker! Daarnaast vind ik dat hij wel erg snel terugvalt tot de aloude anti-Amerikaanse en anti-kapitalistische retoriek, iets té veel in mijn ogen.

Uiteindelijk heeft Marijnissen wel minstens één voordeel: hij is Brabander :wink:

Wat denk je zelf??

Well that's it. I'm not voting for either of you.

LOL!

You hear that, Rick? Looks like we're gonna hafta withdraw from the Canadian race today, I mean now that Cav wont vote for us ...


Ja, dat is waarom ik al dacht - socialist, Eindhoven, moet van de SP zijn! :wink:

Well, I don't vote for the Swedish. They gave the world Abba.

But the Norwegians gave the world Johann Olav Koss !

cav - didja get out and vote?


I had quite a giggle as I was driving back to Tranna to vote tonight. Due to some interesting legal complications, the election results are being broadcast as polls in each area close. Given time zone oddities, Newfoundland started reporting first (they're 1/2 hour ahead of any other area in Canada) - the first report from the first riding - there were a total of 6 votes to report! Only in Canada do they report what the first 6 voters voted.

Things are shifting in an unexpected way. Though no one really knew what to expect. The popular vote for the Green Party is a bit of surprise (even for them - they were forecasting 1%).

Damn you cavfancier. We were sooo close.... :wink:

Traditioneel zijn wij Eindhovenaren geen SP-stemmers; wij blijven lekker bij de CDA en het PvdA; en dat geldt ook voor onze lokale Leefbaar Eindhoven en de VVD. Anno 2004 is de zetelverdeling in de Eindhovense gemeenteraad (45 zetels) als volgt verdeeld: 'Leefbaar Eindhoven' 9, CDA 9, PvdA 9, VVD 5, SP 3, GroenLinks 3, D'66 3, Ouderen Appèl Eindhoven 2, De Stadspartij 1, en Liberaal Eindhoven 1.

Trouwens, 'die Brabo' durft tenminste te zeggen waar hij vandaan komt. Dat kan niet iedereen hier zeggen, hé nimh

Zie ook: www.eindhoven.nl

Liberal minority.

"Liberaal Eindhoven"? <fronst / grinnikt>



Harrumph! Er staan hier genoeg posts waarin ik vertel over waar ik woon en waar ik vandaan kom.

Bijvoorbeeld hier, hier, hier, hier, hier, hier en hier - en dan heb ik het alleen nog maar over waar ik vandaan kom.

<mok>

<looks up www.torontostar.com>

Wow - the Liberals really did a lot better than anyone expected, huh?

And with the NDP holding the balance - does that mean good news for progressives, or just the likelihood of new elections soon?

And the BQ swept Quebec - how do you Canadians estimate the chances of a new push towards independence and so on?

Ik weet ook niet wat het moet voorstellen :wink:


En weet je wanneer ik hier op A2K kwam? Juist :wink:

Trouwens: Den Haag? Gecondoleerd Nee, geintje hoor, Den Haag is echt een hele mooie stad (en Utrecht ook hoor).

It is unlikely that either the Liberals or the Tories would form a coalition with the New Democrats. This would give them too much legitimacy, and both parties see the New Democrats as a true threat. It is much more likely that the Bloc Quebecois would be the junior partner in a coalition, as both the Liberals and the Tories could work with them without lending a patina of authority to a party which is not nationally based, as are the New Democrats. The BQ can rant about indepedence to their hearts content, all polls since 1970 have shown that a majority of Quebecois do not favor breaking away.

That's my story, an' i'm stickin' to it . . .