If the Harper government falls in the next month, let’s keep in mind whose fault it is. Jack Layton’s. That’s right. Mr. blown opportunity himself. But first, let’s get something straight: when the opposition parties started moving toward a non-confidence motion back in November, they weren’t capitalizing on an opportunity to topple a democratically-elected government; […]
Another great RepubliCon idea
By guest blogger Alison@Creekside Dr Dawg relates that Gerry Chipeur “the Alberta lawyer who drafted a power-sharing proposal between Stockwell Day, Gilles Duceppe and Joe Clark in 2000 is now suggesting that the Conservatives should defy the Governor-General if she were to ask the Liberal-NDP coalition to form a new government if the Conservative administration […]
Harper and the coalition of sharks
By guest blogger Frank Moher One thing of which you can be certain: if you’re a western Canadian prime minister, they will eventually try to get rid of you. They, of course, being the central Canadian political operatives and parties who regard it as their congenital right to run the country. It happened to Diefenbaker, […]
Why we don’t vote
Because of our ridiculous and highly undemocratic first-past-the-post system, the party that most Canadians do not want is forming a government. According to Fair Vote Canada, this stupid, stupid system wasted millions of votes, distorted results, severely punished large blocks of voters, exaggerated regional differences, created an unrepresentative Parliament and contributed to a record low […]
Stephen Harper wins small
The Conservatives may have been re-elected last night, but Stephen Harper lost. He coulda been more than a contender; he could have been the leader of a majority government. But he lost it by being small-minded; his silly, captious comment about artists torpedoed the Conservatives’ momentum in Quebec, and here we are. Over on bobalicious, […]
Throwing one to the Greens
We’ve invited backofthebook.ca’s chief bloggers to let us know how they plan to vote in the federal election, and why. Below, Eric Pettifor reports in from Vancouver. If we used the Australian system of preferential voting, I would vote on Tuesday as follows: Green NDP Liberal Satan and his Minions Party Conservative Note: #4 assumes […]
Voting Liberal, without hope
Well, very little time left to make a decision and I don’t have a favourite party. I have been very interested in listening to Green Party candidates and I believe that they ought to have a voice in parliament. So if I lived in a riding with a very strong Green Party candidate, I would […]
Has Harper blown it?
It is striking how Stephen Harper has bollixed this election campaign. In 2006, he ran a model opposition party assault, not only decrying the squalid condition of the Liberals after their long run in power, but also staying a step ahead of them by announcing nearly every day a new initiative, policy, plan. Two years […]
May endorses strategic voting — or not
Poll from Nanos Research The G&M; has Elizabeth May endorsing strategic voting for close-race ridings again today, mentioning both VoteforEnvironment and DemocraticSpace as sites to go to for advice/info. VoteforEnvironment is still endorsing May in Central Nova against Peter MacKay, even though the Ekos, Decima and Nanos polls listed there all show her running a […]
Artsy-not-so-smartsy
So, having declared that “ordinary working people” don’t care about the arts, Stephen Harper now announces a new tax credit worth $150 million aimed at families who want to enroll their kids in arts programs. But who can those families possibly be, given that the “ordinary” ones are apparently too busy playing parcheezi and watching […]
