Liberals Sinking In Polls (Woo-Hoo for Canada!)

CNEWS ^ | February 10, 2005 | Bill Rodgers

[UpHereEh]

Although it may appear that the senators have little power, a large portion of them sit on the committees that form the basis of law. Committees which they have been appointed to by the Prime Minister.

[libertyman]

Looks to me like we need to get more active down here so we can get more US liberals to move up north in order to help stem the tide, don't ya think?

[beaver fever]

I don't think the citizens of Montana would argue that they have "extraordinary" power because they have a 3 to 1 electoral advantage over California in the electoral college.

In the American system population is trumped by the electoral system. In the Canadian Parliamentary system population means everything. If you don't have the votes you don't have the power.

That's why Alberta with it's huge energy resources has less power than Quebec.

But it's important to remember if you don't have the votes you don't "get" to have the power, regardless how resource rich you are.

In that sense the Canadian system is more representative than the US which is why it is more complicated and unpredictable.

Having said that, even the Canadian system is not truly representative because when you vote here you vote a federal party ticket and the party chooses the leader. No referenda and no local issues appear on federal ballots.

It does make for simpler and less controversial elections. The last time I voted the ballot had five parties and five names and it was a paper ballot. Pretty hard to mess with that or be confused by it.

By the way thanks, for the response it's nice to here from someone who actually wants to understand how things work up here.

[UpHereEh]

Let's just send all the liberals to France where they can run free, free like the wind... then bomb the ports!

[Dog Gone]

If that's the case, then it's little wonder that Canada has jumped off the deep end during the past 30 years. I've sadly changed my assessment of Canada as the reliable ally in the Cold War, somewhat quirky, but generally fun, to a nation that I hope disintegrates, either to form representative independent countries, or even negotiate a treaty of annexation with the US.

I really think the Kyoto Accords have the potential to split Canada apart, but we'll just have to wait to see.

Ideally, Canada would return to its former status as a unified country that wasn't obsessed with America-bashing. I'm not sure that's realistic.

[UpHereEh]

The meltdown of the liberal party has begun. After the referendum that Quebec had to seperate from the rest of Canada which didn't pass on a margin of 51 in favor to 49 opposed (keep in mind the vote was only posed to Quebec residents) the liberal government (Chretien) spent $250 million dollars to promote Canada in Quebec. Now can you imagine the Bush administration spending that much money to promote the United States to say California? Ok, but it gets worse, $100 million of those dollars is missing which is the basis for the Adscam inquiry which is currently unfolding. Chretien's government gave petty contracts to Quebec ad firms, etc... but doubled up on them and now has to answer for it.

[Dog Gone]

Does the governing party get to replace sitting Supreme Court judges, or only appoint new ones when vacancies occur?

If it's not the latter, I'm going to be appalled.

[UpHereEh]

I believe they only get to fill the vacancies, and the judges who are appointed are there for the long haul.

[Dog Gone]

A major scandal in a ruling party generally has positive effects in opposition parties. The voter backlash can either be seen in an actual increase in votes for the opposition or reduced voter turnout for the ruling party.

This thread is the first I've heard of Adscam. I hope it promotes massive backlash.

I'm still trying to get my mind to grasp where a 32% conservative support level is a sign of encouragment.

I think if Saddam Hussein had been on the ballot in place of John Kerry, he would have gotten at least that.

[BloodScarletMinnesota]

Looks like the authorities consider this news Hate Speech. Following the link is error404-doc not found.

[skinkinthegrass]

AdScam is the..$100 million to their friends.

Thanks, AR...Some of USA FReepers like to stay "current" on Can. events (the separatists, abbrant social issues, FNC, "Indians" Problems, Klintoon-like pols.), like Can. FReepers on "Stateside" events. :))

[UpHereEh]

WTF... it was there, right at the bottom under the politics section, and now it's gone. I did a search of their site and they've eliminated all traces of it. Even FD referenced it, I wonder why they took it off!!!

http://www.freedominion.ca/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=35427

[Soul Seeker]

I've given up trying to understand the canadian system of government.

I do wish you all luck. Would be nice if we had a conservative government border one side of our country.