[Toro]

InternetChatter wrote:

I would laugh if the results of an election were identical, not likely, but it would be funny.

Harper will win 140 seats and Parliament won't look all that much different.

Scape is correct. The economy is about to go into a recession. An election now will be easier than a year from now for the Tories. Even if they get a minority, the Liberals won't pull the plug next year. They'll be too busy committing fratricide.

[InternetChatter]

It is better to get this election out of the way, and move on to a new leadership convention. I can't see myself voting this election. All I can do is wait out Dion, and hope for someone like Rock, or Manley to come back and rebuild. The party needs a dynamic leader, someone who has been a senior minister before, or even a former Liberal Premier.

I am sick of waiting.

[Reverend Blair]

Quote:

Scape is correct. The economy is about to go into a recession. An election now will be easier than a year from now for the Tories. Even if they get a minority, the Liberals won't pull the plug next year. They'll be too busy committing fratricide.

Nah, the Liberals were going to go this fall anyway. They just wanted to wait until the scandals hit the news. That's what I don't get. In the short term, the dollar has dropped, helping manufacturers, and the rest of the economy is dropping slowly enough that Harper could have hung on.

Besides, Harper polls well on the economy.

There's something else, something that will...or would have...hit the news every day from the last week of October until pretty far in the future. I think the Liberals have an inkling of it and that's when they were going to go, but the Conservatives know exactly what it is and how it's going to play.

The Conservatives want the next election at least a year in the future and this is the only way they can do it.

[Toro]

Reverend Blair wrote:

Quote:

Scape is correct. The economy is about to go into a recession. An election now will be easier than a year from now for the Tories. Even if they get a minority, the Liberals won't pull the plug next year. They'll be too busy committing fratricide.

Nah, the Liberals were going to go this fall anyway. They just wanted to wait until the scandals hit the news. That's what I don't get. In the short term, the dollar has dropped, helping manufacturers, and the rest of the economy is dropping slowly enough that Harper could have hung on.

Besides, Harper polls well on the economy.

Six, 12 months from now, the economy is likely to be in a recession, with house prices falling, credit contracting, commodity prices falling and the US weak. Its tough to win an election when unemployment is rising.

[Reverend Blair]

I don't doubt that's part of it, Toro. The thing is that we aren't talking about 6-12 months. Harper could have allowed the House to sit and the Liberals would have brought him down by the end of October.

Instead he's going to break the spirit, if not the letter, of his own law to call an election almost immediately. We're talking about a few weeks here, not 6-12 months.

[ridenrain]

Quote:

Powers of Governor General preserved

56.1 (1) Nothing in this section affects the powers of the Governor General, including the power to dissolve Parliament at the Governor General’s discretion.

If the Libs read the bill instead of bitching about it then running away, they'd see that nothing has changed for minority governments.
Just as the opposition can lose faith in parliament, so can the government, and that triggers an election.
Besides, hasn't Dion been saying that he'd take down the government as soon as possible? Now that it's happening, he's all a dither.
What kind of a leader is that?

It's pretty obvious that the Libs, desperately short on money, must fabricate scandals so the media can finance their campaign.

[Reverend Blair]

Nice spin there, Riden. Of course during the last election, Harper clearly said that he wanted to take control over election timing away from the Prime Minister because the Liberals were using it for political advantage. Now he's doing the exact same thing that Chretien did, timing the election for partisan political advantage and nothing else, and you want us to believe that it's okay when Harper does it. Sorry, it stinks of corruption and hypocrisy.

By the way, what's with the $60 million in new spending? $60 million in pork-barrel politics? That's even worse than what the Liberals used to do.

So lets have a little look at Conservative fiscal policy shall we. The two biggest budgets ever. Ran a deficit in the first two quarters of this year. $60 million in rotting pork handed out in an attempt to buy votes. Is it a fiscal policy? Not really, just Conservatives spending like drunken sailors again. Same as always.

[Robair]

Quote:

Looking for Harper leadership
Posted 2 hours ago


The Conservative Party of Canada slogan "Strong leadership. On your side" is one that will not have universal appeal.

Those in towns dependent on lumbering will recall that while the promise was made "We will stand up for Canada" on the softwood lumber dispute, he did not do so.

Will western wheat growers who elected pro-Canadian Wheat Board directors see him as being on their side or for that matter will Newfoundland and Labradorians, when he broke his word to them?

Strong leadership does not promise three icebreakers then reduce the number to one nor announce critical replacements for 40-year-old naval supply ships with fanfare, then cancel the orders on a Friday afternoon, nor call Ontario the "last place" to invest.

Will those negatively affected, the lumber industry, wheat farmers, shipbuilders and the citizens of Newfoundland and Labrador and Ontario, have forgotten when the prime minister was not on their side?

Such must be the expectation of Conservative strategists to make "Strong leadership. On your side" the focus of their campaign.

JOE HUEGLIN NIAGARA FALLS

[mtbr]

well RB might be happy if this one holds true

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=764478

Half of Canadians choose Harper as best PM: poll

OTTAWA -- Stephen Harper heads into the expected federal election as the preferred choice as prime minister, according to a new poll that is the latest survey to show a wide gap in attitudes toward the leaders of the governing Tories and opposition Liberals.

Asked who would make the best prime minister, exactly half of respondents in the poll of 1,003 Canadians chose Mr. Harper, followed by NDP leader Jack Layton at 31% and Liberal leader Stéphane Dion at 20%.

The Aug. 26-28 telephone survey was conducted by Ipsos Reid for Canwest News Service and Global National. It comes after weekend national polls that also showed Mr. Harper well ahead of Mr. Dion on leadership questions -- results that could explain the Conservative eagerness for an October vote.

An Angus Reid poll released Saturday had the Prime Minister leading the Liberal leader 45% to 10% when respondents were asked if the two were "strong and decisive" leaders. A Strategic Counsel poll released Tuesday showed 53% of Canadians considered Mr. Harper the most decisive leader, compared with 17% for Mr. Dion.

Ipsos Reid president Darrell Bricker said Mr. Dion's best chance of winning a general vote is to mount negative personal attacks, "to rough up Stephen Harper a bit."

He noted Mr. Harper's popularity extends across the country, except Atlantic Canada, where Mr. Layton held a slight 43-39 edge in the Ipsos Reid poll.

In addition, the Ipsos Reid survey found that no big campaign issue has emerged, with the environment (28%), health care (28%) and the economy (26%) in a virtual tie.

"If this election is going to be a referendum on leadership, Stephen Harper has a heck of an advantage," said Mr. Bricker.

Mr. Layton's relatively strong showing in the poll has him well placed to play a spoiler role, perhaps bleeding away left-of-centre support from the Liberals, said Mr. Bricker.

Mr. Layton beat the Liberal and Conservative leaders as being the most "sincerely committed to dealing with global warming," with 38% support, compared with 30% for Mr. Dion and 27% for Mr. Harper.

Mr. Bricker said that shows that Dion's Green Shift carbon tax proposal is not resonating with Canadians.

"His strength as being an advocate for the environment is clearly not cutting it at this stage."

The global warming question was one of 14 that probed leadership characteristics in an on-line portion of the poll of 1,005 Canadians.

Mr. Harper emerged ahead of Dion and Layton as someone who is best positioned to manage the country through tough economic times (50%), who has "what it takes" to lead Canada (47%) and who "has a vision of Canada that you can support" (43%).

"There has been a transition in people's attitudes towards Harper. Warming to him is probably the wrong thing to say. It's more that there's a rational acceptance of his strengths," said Mr. Bricker.

"It's not like it's Obama-mania, where they're all crazy about what he says about them."

Mr. Bricker said the poll suggests that Mr. Dion should campaign on the strength of his party as a team, or as a "government in waiting."

Mr. Harper's personal popularity does not translate into big gains on the electoral map that would either strengthen his minority or propel the Conservatives to a majority, because the party has failed to make in-roads in Quebec, where the Bloc Québécois remains strong, or in Ontario, Mr. Bricker said.

To win a majority, the Tories will have to chip away at Bloc support or they will have to sweep all of Ontario outside of downtown Toronto, said Mr. Bricker.

The poll suggests that Ontario and Quebec will likely emerge as the main campaign battlegrounds, he added.

"This will be a campaign run on buses, not on airplanes," said Mr. Bricker, "driving up and down the 401 or the Macdonald-Cartier freeway (between Windsor, Ont., and Quebec)."

The margin of error for the telephone and on-line surveys was 3.1 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

Mr. Dion on Tuesday said he plans to propose extra breaks for farmers, truckers and fishermen to buffer the impact of fuel price hikes under the carbon tax proposal.

He said on Tuesday the new tax rebates will show "we have listened."

Mr. Dion plans to announce details today during Liberal caucus sessions on the proposal to impose a new tax on oil, diesel and other carbon-emitting fuels and to redistribute the revenue through across-the-board cuts in personal and business income tax.

The plan is the centrepiece of the official Opposition's campaign platform and has been the target of relentless attacks by Mr. Harper and his Conservative party since it was announced a few months ago.

[Toro]

mtbr wrote:

well RB might be happy if this one holds true

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=764478

Half of Canadians choose Harper as best PM: poll

OTTAWA -- Stephen Harper heads into the expected federal election as the preferred choice as prime minister, according to a new poll that is the latest survey to show a wide gap in attitudes toward the leaders of the governing Tories and opposition Liberals.

Asked who would make the best prime minister, exactly half of respondents in the poll of 1,003 Canadians chose Mr. Harper, followed by NDP leader Jack Layton at 31% and Liberal leader Stéphane Dion at 20%.

Its polls like that which give the Tories confidence that they can win a majority with Steph Dion, Minister of the Environment When Greenhouse Gasses were Rising and Citizen of France, as leader of the Liberal Party.

[Reverend Blair]

Check your figures, Toro. When Dion became Environment Minister emissions finally quit rising. I don't think that had much to do with Dion, but to say he was minister when emissions were rising is dishonest.

Of course emissions are rising again under Harper, but I think that is mostly the stench rising from Baird's rotting flesh.

[bootlegga]

Robair wrote:

Quote:

Looking for Harper leadership
Posted 2 hours ago


The Conservative Party of Canada slogan "Strong leadership. On your side" is one that will not have universal appeal.

Those in towns dependent on lumbering will recall that while the promise was made "We will stand up for Canada" on the softwood lumber dispute, he did not do so.

Will western wheat growers who elected pro-Canadian Wheat Board directors see him as being on their side or for that matter will Newfoundland and Labradorians, when he broke his word to them?

Strong leadership does not promise three icebreakers then reduce the number to one nor announce critical replacements for 40-year-old naval supply ships with fanfare, then cancel the orders on a Friday afternoon, nor call Ontario the "last place" to invest.

Will those negatively affected, the lumber industry, wheat farmers, shipbuilders and the citizens of Newfoundland and Labrador and Ontario, have forgotten when the prime minister was not on their side?

Such must be the expectation of Conservative strategists to make "Strong leadership. On your side" the focus of their campaign.

JOE HUEGLIN NIAGARA FALLS

No doubt...Harper was elected on the promise of accountability and honesty and he's gone back on tons of promises. Some of them were right (like income trusts), but I wonder how many of those people can look past that $10,000 hit and not think about voting for someone else.

Harper's biggest advantage right now is that Dion is in charge. Very few Canadians want to vote NDP/Green, so there is no real alternative. The choice is either a lying politician or a nitwit focussed on only the environment. The only question is which one will Canadians choose.

[ridenrain]

I don't think you can compare Chretien's snap election with this one. Chretien, with a year and a half left of his majority government called a snap election in 2000. That's the sort of abuse that this law was meant to prevent.
I guess in Liberal eyes, Canadians wanted an election then..

Harper is struggling with the arogant and absentee Liberals who were calling for elections since day one. Now that an election is comming, they whimper and piss themselves like little frightened puppy dogs. Get you're story straight.

The enviroment is a minefield for Dion and I don't now why he bothered. Since Iggy's statement of "we didn't get it done", he's been backpeddling since.

[Reverend Blair]

Quote:

I don't think you can compare Chretien's snap election with this one.

Manipulating the election date for partisan purposes is manipulating the election date for partisan purposes. Doesn't matter whether Harper does it or Chretien does it.

[ridenrain]

Chretien had no problem getting bills passed through parliament and the senate because the Liberals dominated both at the time. Considering his legacy of crooked deals and scandals, I'd guess most Canadians wished he's had a whole lot more opposition.

Harper is in a minority government so while the Libs will run away when a condidance vote comes, the bills won't pass the senate.

Need I remind you:

Quote:

The Conservatives have threatened to ask the Governor General to dissolve the government if the Senate doesn't pass their crime bill by March 1.

The ultimatum came Thursday when the Conservatives announced they had tabled a confidence motion in the House of Commons demanding the March 1 deadline be issued to the Liberal-dominated Senate.

If senators don't obey the motion, which is expected to pass, House leader Peter Van Loan suggested the Tories could approach Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean and have an election called because all levels of government are not able to move forward together.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/02/ ... -bill.html

This wasn't because there were matters they objected to, they were simply stalling because of political games.

Is that a functional government?
Is that what Canadians deserve?

Why do you support people like this?