Election Day - Canada

[The_Vulk]

Today is the day those eligible to vote can vote in the Canadian Federal Election.

So go VOTE!

[The_Vulk]

And the people have voted.

It will be a Conservative Minority Government.

[Triton]

And the people have voted.

It will be a Conservative Minority Government.

Is that good?

[Number_4]

Is that good?

Well its not good nor bad...
give us another 18 months and we will be back at the polls. Minority gov'ts dont get anything done but fight.

Whats interesting is that the conservitives didnt win in Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver. Three of the major cities in Canada. That could get interesting down the road.

[Tiger Trauma]

I was suprised the conservatives got 10 seats in quebec......Lets see how they react to each other in parliment..If there is another election in the next two years I wouldn't be suprised if the voter turnout plummeted.

[Toswammi]

You got 18 months if we play a over/under game i will take under. I wouldn't be suprised to see an early winter election maybe early spring. History says (as i have been told) are increadably mean when serving as the opposition so its a matter of time before we get to vote again.

Anybody else on the over/under guesses?

[ihlemic10]

Well its not good nor bad...
give us another 18 months and we will be back at the polls. Minority gov'ts dont get anything done but fight.

Whats interesting is that the conservitives didnt win in Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver. Three of the major cities in Canada. That could get interesting down the road.

Well Bush didn't win in major cities down here, the Electoral college favors the smaller farming states...and Florida. Maybe a Canadian Conservative is better than an American one. Best of luck to your government, hopefully no scandals like down here.

[rinkrat]

It looks like rural vs urban,same as U.S.
It will be interesting..

[TheBrass]

I don't know that rural vs. urban is necessarily a fair comment, unless of course you consider Edmonton, Calgary, Ottawa, St. Johns, Regina, Winnipeg, Kamloops, Kelowna, Saskatoon, and I could go on, to be rural areas. The issue that the Conservatives are a rural party based on being shut out of M/T/V is totally bogus. Not trying to start an argument, just making the point that in terms of size, some of cities listed above have populations equal to or greater than many US cities, not to mention major European cities, for example, Calgary: 922,315 (2003 Civic Census) has more citizens than Helsinki, Frankfurt, Venice, Lyon, Glasgow, and not to forget Austin, San Francisco, and Boston.

Sorry about the abundance of stats, but I thought it was an important point to make.

[rinkrat]

Calgary: 922,315 (2003 Civic Census) has more citizens than Helsinki, Frankfurt, Venice, Lyon, Glasgow, and not to forget Austin, San Francisco,Boston

If you really think Calgary is bigger than San Francisco,you obviously haven't been there!
I guess Calgary is bigger than Vancouver,too right? (Vancouver pop.560,000)

Don't forget North Van,Burnaby,New West,Richmond,Surrey,etc.
San Francisco is the same,in fact it is HUGE!

[TheBrass]

Very fair point, and you're right, I haven't been to San Fran since I was 8. BUT and this is a big one, if one is to consider suburbs, then the Conservatives were not in fact shut out of Vancouver. I'm sure you understood the point I was trying to make about the urban vs. rural debate. I've been to Calgary a few times and let me tell you, I never saw a tractor or a horse (my fault for missing stampede week) and I don't consider it rural.

[Tiger Trauma]

For your info

I believe the pop. of san fransisco is around 750,000 (according too 2004 census)

The pop of calgary is about 1 mil

[Tiger Trauma]

I think the conservative minority is a good thing.
1. Gets the liberals out of there(responsibility for the scandals)
2. With a minority they need support of other parties to do anything...hopefully they all get along and do whats best for our great country. Instead of political jibber jabber that gets us nowhere.

[Beaner]

You got 18 months if we play a over/under game i will take under. I wouldn't be suprised to see an early winter election maybe early spring. History says (as i have been told) are increadably mean when serving as the opposition so its a matter of time before we get to vote again.

Anybody else on the over/under guesses?

Well the liberals are the ones who will defeat the government, as the NDP/BLOCK dont have enough seats to bring down the governmenet.

Here is some things to consider:

1) NDP and the Liberals do not have enough seats to bring down the governement, thus the Liberals and the Block have to do it together. Thus eliminating any chance the Liberals have of using the "Conservatives work with Seperatists" arguement in the next election.

2) The liberals are currently without a leader, and until that is settled, they wont be in a hurry to call an election. That new leader will also have to put their stamp on the party and appear that they have also cleaned it up, in regards to the sponsorship scandal. It should take at least a year for that person to take control and appear in control/ get known across the country.

3) The sponorship scandal is far from over, and you and I both know the Conservatives are going to open that up even more, now that they have the power to do so. Expect more to be coming from this in the very near future. Getting support from the Block on this will be easy.

5) The voters are tired of elections. Another election in less than year could spell disaster for the Liberals, if they dont have a very good reason for defeating the government. A backlash against "the power hungry" Liberals would not be out of the question IMO.

I'll take the over. 24-30months.

[The_Vulk]

...
The voters are tired of elections. Another election in less than year could spell disaster for the Liberals, if they dont have a very good reason for defeating the government. A backlash against "the power hungry" Liberals would not be out of the question IMO.
Just be glad you were not in Alberta the last year or so.

For example, in Calgary, we had the municipal election, the provincial election, and the federal election all within a very short period of time.

It is at times like this, I almost wish we had the american system, where their federal election is at a set time. This being at the mercy of the politicians SUCKS!

[Number_4]

Maybe someone else can clear this up for me. I thought that all election signs and other advertising had to be down and out of sight by midnight the night before the election. Anyone want to comment on why driving on the trans-canada this weekend, I saw election signs EVERYWHERE???? It was mainly conservative, but there were a few liberal and NDP signs too. It was starting to drive me crazy... I mean the election is OVER... now is not the time to remind us of the hell that we went through for the last couple of months.

[Triton]

Maybe someone else can clear this up for me. I thought that all election signs and other advertising had to be down and out of sight by midnight the night before the election. Anyone want to comment on why driving on the trans-canada this weekend, I saw election signs EVERYWHERE???? It was mainly conservative, but there were a few liberal and NDP signs too. It was starting to drive me crazy... I mean the election is OVER... now is not the time to remind us of the hell that we went through for the last couple of months.

Will they get fined for having their signs up past the take down date?I know in P.A you get a fine if you don't take down your garage sale signs.

[TheBrass]

In regards to the question about fines/deadlines to take down political advertising, I could not find a definitive answer online. I spoke to a lady in my office who is very active politically (family on town council/knows people in various levels of government) and her answer was that each municipality governs the placement/removal of signs within their own area. There is no nationwide standard. IMO once the election is done with these signs amount to little more than roadside trash..........hopefully something will be done to streamline bylaws covering this issue.

[The_Vulk]

And whom would be fined?

With so many signs (and people vandalizing them), fining the party/candidate would cause problems, as those same vandels could steal them to just to put them up later (after the removal date).