Canadian Federal Election Call Set For Sunday

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » 2004-05-22 03:41pm

CBC wrote:OTTAWA - The Prime Minister's Office has announced that Paul Martin will visit the Governor General on Sunday and call a federal election.

His visit to Adrienne Clarkson is scheduled at 1 p.m. eastern time. Martin will ask her to dissolve Parliament, clearing the way for a June 28 vote.

The call will be made amid polls that suggest the Liberals have been losing voter support since February, when the auditor general issued a report putting the spotlight on the sponsorship scandal.

Most opinion polls show that while the Liberals have a chance at a majority government, they could also easily end up with a minority status.

According to an Ipsos-Reid survey published Saturday, support for the Liberals has dropped to 35 per cent among decided voters.

That's down four percentage points from a poll taken just three days ago.

Liberal support fell by seven points in Ontario, where 42 per cent of respondents said they would vote for the governing party.

Much of that support in Ontario is going to the New Democrats, not the Conservatives, according to the poll, conducted for the Globe and Mail and CTV this week.

Support for the Conservatives across the country is unchanged at 26 per cent, and the NDP is up three percentage points with 18 per cent.

The polling company surveyed 1,000 people between May 18-20. The results have a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

As I noted in another thread, I was planning on voting Conservative becasue of their proposed military increase. However their stance on gay marriage and health care is very troubleing. So for the first time ever, I may vote Liberal.

Montcalm · Post by **Montcalm** » 2004-05-22 06:00pm

A vote for the Liberals is a vote for more corruptions and shady deals,vote Independant.

The Aliens · Post by **The Aliens** » 2004-05-22 06:05pm

It's a formality, really- just gives people a legal right to start putting out signs tomorrow.

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » 2004-05-22 10:50pm

Montcalm wrote:A vote for the Liberals is a vote for more corruptions and shady deals,vote Independant.

Independent? Do we even have any independent candiadates?

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2004-05-23 12:18am

I have been voting Conservative for ten years. I voted for Joe Clark in the last federal election. I voted for the Mike Harris twice in the Ontario elections, and for Ernie Eves in the most recent election.

The last time I sat out an election was Kim Campbell vs Jean Chretien, because I found both of them contemptible. This year, I may very well sit out the election again. The party is nothing more than a shiny new veneer painted on top of the same old redneck bullshit that defined the old Alliance Party. But if push comes to shove, I may have to swallow my pride and vote Liberal, if only because Paul Martin is an economically conservative kind of guy, and I can't stomach the idea of voting for a party that so obviously wants to force a socially regressive agenda upon the nation.

Look at the mission statement of the new Conservative Party, from their website as of today:

The Conservative Party of Canada is a broadly based and balanced political party. It includes conservatives of all stripes: economic conservatives who stress lower taxes, less debt, and more efficient government; red tories who emphasize a sustainable environment, responsible social programs and important national institutions; social conservatives who want to strengthen our families and make our communities safer; and democratic reformers, who believe government must be responsible to the people rather than to the Prime Minister’s Office.

Note the bolded section: that is code-language for "fundie fanatics", of the same variety that caused the New Conservative Party to put no less than 61 separate petitions into Parliament against gay marriage over a mere 5-day period in February.

Their platform is also full of holes and bullshit, as I detailed in another post at http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/viewtopic. ... 75#1081675

Montcalm · Post by **Montcalm** » 2004-05-23 12:24am

Cpl Kendall wrote:
Montcalm wrote:A vote for the Liberals is a vote for more corruptions and shady deals,vote Independant.
Independent? Do we even have any independent candidates?

I think we do have some,but we'll see their names only on voting day.

Ma Deuce · Post by **Ma Deuce** » 2004-05-23 12:27am

Cpl Kendall wrote:Independent? Do we even have any independent candiadates?

We'd better have some. The only alternative parties to the two major ones are the Bloc, the NDP and the Greens. I'd willingly die a horribly painful death before any of those get my vote. Ever.

President Sharky · Post by **President Sharky** » 2004-05-24 02:28am

Bah, I'm too young to vote, but will contribute to the democratic process by working for the Conservative Youth Party. I say this country has had enough of government corruption, the mismanagement of the health care system, and the gutting of our armed forces. Hopefully the Conservatives can get a minority government, or at least reduce the Liberals to one.

Icehawk · Post by **Icehawk** » 2004-05-24 02:41am

Im voting Liberal, Paul Martin is a good leader with a level head on his shoulders both socially and economically and I don't give two shits about the "Sponsorship Scandel".

The Conservatives and Shitface... er.. Mr. Harper on the other hand can suck my meaty engorged cock and promptly proceed back in time to the Jurassic period where they belong.

SCRawl · Post by **SCRawl** » 2004-05-24 09:36am

Stephen Harper scares me. Even if I were inclined to vote Conservative, the guy at the top worries me too much. The last time the NDP were elected to do anything important (in Ontario) they frankly made a pig's ear of it. Any of the other options aren't even worth discussing, they can't win.

I've been voting Liberal for a while now, and mostly felt good about it until the sponsorship debacle. I'll probably vote Liberal again, though I'll have to take a shower when I get home. I hate rewarding a government which is either so corrupt that it feels it can steal my money with impunity, or so incompetent that it allowed it to happen.

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2004-05-24 11:14am

Welcome, my Canadian friends.... welcome to the wonderful world of voting for the lesser of two evils. The numb exasperation will begin in 4...3...2...1...now.

Montcalm · Post by **Montcalm** » 2004-05-24 11:28am

Col. Crackpot wrote:Welcome, my Canadian friends.... welcome to the wonderful world of voting for the lesser of two evils. The numb exasperation will begin in 4...3...2...1...now.

I think you mean three evil Liberals,Conservatives and Bloc Quebecois who will be the official opposition again.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2004-05-24 12:34pm

Col. Crackpot wrote:Welcome, my Canadian friends.... welcome to the wonderful world of voting for the lesser of two evils. The numb exasperation will begin in 4...3...2...1...now.

Goddammit, the man is right.

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2004-05-24 01:26pm

The Simpsons Halloween special in 1996 is getting more and more appropriate ...

KANG: It's a two-party system! You have to vote for one of us!
VOTER: Why don't we just vote for a third-party candidate?
KODOS: Go ahead! Throw your vote away!

[Ross Perot takes off his hat and punches through it.]

Ma Deuce · Post by **Ma Deuce** » 2004-05-24 01:52pm

Icehawk wrote:Im voting Liberal, Paul Martin is a good leader with a level head on his shoulders both socially and economically and I don't give two shits about the "Sponsorship Scandel".

You honestly don't care about people stealing your money? (or maybe you're not old enough to pay taxes yet. Neither am I, but it won't be that way for much longer). I am not, not, NOT rewarding the Liberal Party for their filthy corruption, and that sleazebag that is Paul Martin will never ever get my vote (I seriously doubt his hands are clean of the sponsorship scandal, and there's also that other scandal concerning his old company CSL). I've also changed my mind about the Conservatives after looking around their website and seeing that they are worse than I had thought. If there's an independant candidate running for my riding, they will get my vote. If there's no independant candidate, then I don't think I'll be voting in this election at all.

Another factor: I don't want Canada to become like Mexico, where the Institutional Revolutionary Party ran everything for 70 years with virtually no credible opposition (their hold was only broken when Vicente Fox was elected President).

Montcalm wrote:I think you mean three evil Liberals,Conservatives and Bloc Quebecois who will be the official opposition again.

Well, four evils if you count the NDP. I doubt the Greens have much of a chance of getting a single seat this election.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2004-05-24 02:20pm

The Aliens · Post by **The Aliens** » 2004-05-24 02:34pm

The sad thing is, people are going to start voting for that nutter because they're upset with the Liberals. All I can hope for is a minority government.

Rogue 9 · Post by **Rogue 9** » 2004-05-24 02:36pm

Montcalm wrote:A vote for the Liberals is a vote for more corruptions and shady deals,vote Independant.

Preach it!

Icehawk · Post by **Icehawk** » 2004-05-24 04:09pm

You honestly don't care about people stealing your money?

Read the second quote in my sig.

I'm voting for the "lesser of two evils". The Liberals are the only realistic opposition to the Conservatives and their disgusting leader and unacceptable, prehistoric social policies. I will not throw my vote into a garbage bin... er.. indepedent candidate which would only help the conservatives in the end.

Rogue 9 · Post by **Rogue 9** » 2004-05-24 04:15pm

Icehawk wrote:I will not throw my vote into a garbage bin... er.. indepedent candidate which would only help the conservatives in the end.

It does not help the conservatives, nor does it help the liberals, any more than sitting out the election. And the independent way, you get to at least say something with your vote other than "I don't give a damn so I won't even bother to cast it." I'd rather not vote for either current major U.S. Presidential candidate, for instance. Therefore, I research independent parties to find one who's message I like and vote for them. (The Greens will never get my vote, not for as long as I live, and they're about the only even semi-famous third party in the U.S. Google is my friend...)

Icehawk · Post by **Icehawk** » 2004-05-24 04:23pm

It helps the conservatives because you are not voting for the only ones who will beat them and thus you are weakening the only ones who can beat them which in tern increases the chances of the conservatives winning, especially since they seem to be gaining popularity. How hard is that to understand?

Rogue 9 · Post by **Rogue 9** » 2004-05-24 04:28pm

Icehawk wrote:It helps the conservatives because you are not voting for the only ones who will beat them and thus you are weakening the only ones who can beat them which in tern increases the chances of the conservatives winning, especially since they seem to be gaining popularity. How hard is that to understand?

Not very. Conversely, voting for the conservatives weakens the liberals, yadda yadda yadda. I know all this. Voting for the liberals weakens the Greens too. And whatever other parties you've got. That's kind of how the system works.

But I'd rather not vote for any evils at all (and by God I won't, even if I wind up having to write myself in!

).

frigidmagi · Post by **frigidmagi** » 2004-05-24 04:28pm

We're not having to much luck with thrid parties. Oh Darth Wong if you think the Republians are bad go check out the Constitution party. That's where US fundies go when the Republicians won't take them.

I got a guy on another board that supports them. He believes the South was right in US cival war. He also believes that birth control pills are murder.

Many battles against that one.

aerius · Post by **aerius** » 2004-05-24 04:28pm

The Aliens wrote:The sad thing is, people are going to start voting for that nutter because they're upset with the Liberals.

Which is pretty much how that assclown Dalton McGuinty got elected in Ontario, except in this case they were pissed at the Conservatives. I will vote liberal to help keep Harper out of power but I don't think it'll be enough, people are like sheep and they'll be flocking over to the Conservatives or whatever the fuck they call themselves thanks to that sponsorship scandal a few months ago.

Rogue 9 · Post by **Rogue 9** » 2004-05-24 04:34pm

frigidmagi wrote:We're not having to much luck with thrid parties. Oh Darth Wong if you think the Republians are bad go check out the Constitution party. That's where US fundies go when the Republicians won't take them.

Actually, with GstS and his brothers, they're in it because the Republicans aren't fundie enough for them, not because the Republicans won't take them.

They try to make the case that Bush isn't Christian all the time, citing things that would disqualify anyone less fanatical than Jack Chick.

And I haven't checked up on FROG for a while. Best get over there and stomp down whatever fanaticism has popped up in my absence...