Posts Tagged ‘Federal Election’

WHO ARE THE WINNERS AND LOSERS?

May 3, 2011

Let’s face it, whether we like it or not not (and many Canadians don’t) the big winner is Stephen Harper.  The fact is I  don’t know a single person who likes Harper and I know many who hate him.  Still and all, Harper was the big winner yesterday.  On his fourth try, he won a majority government.  He is set for the next four years to buy expensive fighter jets, build more prisons and cut corporate taxes.  What a depressing prospect.

Of course the next big winner is Smiling Jack Layton.  At the beginning of the campaign the NDP leader had two broad objectives.  One was to increase the NDP”s seat count.  He  achieved this in spectacular fashion by going over the hundred mark.  His second objective was to deny Harper a majority.  He failed in that, also spectacularly.

But Layton is not out of the woods.  He has a disparate, inexperienced caucus and it will be like herding cats to put them in shape.

The biggest loser in the election was the Liberal party and its leader, Michael Ignatieff.  Ignatieff could not even win his own seat and he led to the historic Liberal party to its worst finish since Confederation.

These  drastic failures raise a couple of questions.  Should Ignatieff resign as party leader.  Should the Liberals and the NDP consider a merger to consolidate the left and give Harper a stronger opposition?

Finally, the fourth big loser  was the Bloc leader, Gilles Duceppe.  Hecouldn’t hold his own seat and his party has been virtually wiped out.  Duceppe has already resigned.

How does the Bloc defeat affect the cause of separatism in Quebec?

Was Canadian democracy also a loser?   Harper got 39 per cent of the popular vote.  Yet he got well over  50 per cent of the seats in parliament and a majority.  Is that any way to run a railroad?

Do you have other winners and losers maybe in your own area?

Who are the winners and losers in yesterday’s election?

What do you think?

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SHOULD ELIZABETH MAY BE EXCLUDED?

April 1, 2011

The television consortium that runs the national debates in this election have excluded the Green leader, Elizabeth May from participating.  Even though May is a national leader who is running candidates all over the country.  Ironically, Gilles Duceppe is in the debates even though the Bloc is only running candidates  in Quebec.  Is this fair?

The argument seems to be May cannot participate because the Greens don’t have a seat in the House of Commons. Yet in the last election the Greens piled up nealy a million votes.  Should these people not have a voice in the debates?

Yet a spokesman for the Television consortium says “our decision {on Elizabeth May] is final and the decision is unanimous.  It will not be reconsidered.”

So there!!!

Should Elizabeth May be excluded from the election debates?

What do you think?

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WOULD A COALITION WORK?

March 27, 2011

For those Canadian voters who want to defeat Harper (and their numbers are legion)  there is another way to go.  Here is the situation:

The election on May 2 brings back  yet another minority conservative government – say 145 seats 10 short of a majority.  The House assembles and Harper is presently defeated on a non-confidence vote.  Harper goes to the Governor-General and ask for a dissolution and a new election.  The Governor-General refuses on the grounds the country has just had a general election and before we have another one, someone else should be given a  chance to govern.

So the Governor-General summons the leader of the opposition, Michael Ignatieff who has the second largest number of seats.  Ignatieff informs the G-G that he has  formed a coalition government with Jack Layon and the NDP and the coalition will have the support of the Bloc on all critical votes in the Commons.

With those assurances the GG invites the three opposition parties to form a government.  Harper is defeated in the House and the new government under Michael Ignatieff takes over.  Harper is out.  Good riddance. Somebody says such a coalition won’t work.  Well, just such a coalition has worked in Britain for almost a year.  So why not in Canada?

So you see what a coalition accomplishes.  The hated Harper is gone – for good.   The governing party is  back in the saddle.

Would a coalition work?

What do  you think?

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SHOULD HARPER GET HIS MAJORITY?

March 25, 2011

Early this afternoon the Harper government will be defeated on a vote in the House of Commons.  Then, probably tomorrow morning, Harper will visit the Governor-General. By Sunday morning the leaders’ planes will be in the air heading for the hustings.

In a poll published this morning it would seem that it’s Harper’s election to lose.  The Conservatives are now supported by 43 per cent of the voters.  They have a 19 point lead over the Liberals who are on 24 per cent.  The NDP is at 16 per cent and the Bloc has 10 per cent.

If these figures were to hold up during the six-week campaign, Harper would  win the election with a comfortable majority.  At dissolution of Parliament,  the Tories had 143 seats.  They need to win just 12 more to reach the 155-seat mark and get a majority government.  Harper has his eyes on 13 more seats – in the suburban area around Toronto and the periphery around Vancouver.

At this point, I  confess I  don’t know a single person who is planning to vote for Harper.  And this despite his very good record on the economy. We are the best-off nation in the G20.

The problem is nobody I know trusts Harper with a majority.  They figure he would then bring out his secret agenda (abortion, same-sex  marriage, etc) and carpet bomb Canada back into the stone age.

In addition, most people don’t like Harper.  They think he is a narcissistic control-freak.

Do you trust Harper?

Should Harper get a majority?

What do you think?

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