Canadian election

[Kilkenne]

COMMUNISM, OHNO

Also, corporations need scientists more than government research does, did you really expect to get a publicly funded job either way? lol

[Shadow]

Eh, if that end up being my choice I'll just move to the US.

[Kilkenne]

You can come to Wisconsin, our physics department just got a ton more funding and stuff to do from the government and a bunch of private space contractors. I only know this because as a TA I'm technically staff and therefore on the mailing list for this crap.

[Shadow]

They got their majority by 11 seats, with 40% of the popular vote.

This is a party that was found in contempt of parliament.

What the hell is wrong with Canadians...

[Kilkenne]

Probably that 40%+ of them live in the countryside and don't give a (bad word goes here)

[Shadow]

No, it was vote splitting between conservatives and NDP - Harper was able to swing a few key right leaning liberal ridings to his side after the NDP got powerful enough to form the opposition.

I guess Canada has a few OMGSOCIALISM people hiding in the liberal masses.

[Kilkenne]

It'll be okay, I'm sure. Don't freak out yet.

[Shadow]

The only upside I can see to this is that people will realize how badly they screwed up at the next election in 5 years. Course by then Canada will look like a copy of the US but without the good bits.

[Gorak]

the guy I voted for won
In your face! lol

seriously though, who in there right mind would want Ignatiaf as PM? everytime he tries his plastic smile, it gives me the chills. Plus he campaigned on shutting down the Alberta oil sands. (way to try and bankrupt the country, especially Alberta) The Liberals stopped being middle of the road and shifted left ever since they got rid of Paul Martin.
I actually kinda liked Layton, but we've proved here in BC that a socialist party is bad for the economy. I mean, I like having a job. When the NDP were in power here, I had to move to Alberta to find work.

Canadian politics is about voting for the lesser of evils

[Kilkenne]

Canadian first world politics are about voting for the lesser of evils

I have fixed this for you.

[Shadow]

I don't think that Harper was in any way the lesser of two evils.

A (short) list of scary things he is doing/has done
http://compellingcomics.justsomeguy.com/CanadaVotes2011/Canada.html

his first new bit of legislature
http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/04/13/harpers-promise-a-warrantless-online-surveillance-state/

Ignatieff may have looked scary, but Harper IS scary. And he proved that when he had a minority. The next four years are not going to be pleasant for Canada.

We can have a running bet going.

Care to guess what Canadian debt/GDP ratio will be four years from now? Right now it is ~1/3 and growing. That's always good for jobs.

For the money Harper blew on the G20 in 72 hours, they could have held the G20 meeting on the ISS, and still had enough left over to build a giant old-plated statue giving the middle finger to Canadian taxpayers.

Also, Ignatieff didn't campaign on shutting down the sands, he campaigned on not giving them an extra 2 billion in subsidies and not further expanding them without care for the environmental impact.

Enough supreme court justices are going to retire in the next four years that Harper will have a majority there too. He is going to have a majority in all three branches of government. He can quite literally do anything he pleases.

[Sharptooh]

Any system where 40% counts as a majority is unfair

It's the same here, the Lib Dems are always cheated out of seats because our system works like yours Shadow, they always get about 30% of the votes and about 20% of the actual seats (I'll look up the figures and post later)

[Gorak]

I don't think that Harper was in any way the lesser of two evils.

A (short) list of scary things he is doing/has done
http://compellingcomics.justsomeguy.com/CanadaVotes2011/Canada.html

his first new bit of legislature
http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/04/13/harpers-promise-a-warrantless-online-surveillance-state/

Ignatieff may have looked scary, but Harper IS scary. And he proved that when he had a minority. The next four years are not going to be pleasant for Canada.

We can have a running bet going.

Care to guess what Canadian debt/GDP ratio will be four years from now? Right now it is ~1/3 and growing. That's always good for jobs.

For the money Harper blew on the G20 in 72 hours, they could have held the G20 meeting on the ISS, and still had enough left over to build a giant old-plated statue giving the middle finger to Canadian taxpayers.

Also, Ignatieff didn't campaign on shutting down the sands, he campaigned on not giving them an extra 2 billion in subsidies and not further expanding them without care for the environmental impact.

Enough supreme court justices are going to retire in the next four years that Harper will have a majority there too. He is going to have a majority in all three branches of government. He can quite literally do anything he pleases.

the first link is nothing but propaganda. Don't believe every angry bloggers' BS
the second has been kicking around for awhile. I've actually had a conversation about it with my local MP, who is Conservative, and she said she would not support such a bill as the majority of her constituents do not want it.
As for campaigning on shutting down the oil sands, that is exactly what Ignatieff said when he stopped in Kamloops on his campaign trail. Infact, he said shut them down for good.
I do realize he said that because he was getting his but royally kicked by Jack Layton around these parts and wanted to appeal to the environmentalist crowd. Yet a conservative won this riding.

again, if the Liberals were still middle of the road like they were under Chretien and Martin, I prolly woulda voted that way. But they've gone left wing into NDP territory. I hope that now that they got decimated by the NDP that they smarten up and go back to the middle.
But for now, it's nice to have a government that actually seems to give a darn about us out west, after being screwed for over a decade in the 90's and early 2000's, having to send all our money produced by western industries (mostly forestry and oil) east to Ontario and Quebec and get nothing in return from Ottawa.

[Shadow]

The first guy cites his sources at the bottom. it is presented is a silly way, but it is still valid.

MPs cannot really vote against party lines in Canada. Technically they can, but they can also be kicked out of their party for it. Your MP will probably support the bill regardless of what was said.

[Shadow]

he's off to a good start