2019 an election year/Federal

[Vacancyrate]

And you think that Scheer backed by tRUMP is gonna 'fix' that??

Voting for a status quo more of the same old same old certainly isn't going to change things!

[flamingfingers]

Changing from acceptable to direly unacceptable for the sake of "change" is not a good reason to change.

[GordonH]

So the last Federal election, was anyone but Harper.... so is election anyone but Trudeau. lol

[Vacancyrate]

Changing from acceptable to direly unacceptable for the sake of "change" is not a good reason to change.

I like how you define "acceptable" as the grossest lie ever told by a politician in my lifetime.

I'll take the mystery box over a known kick to the teeth anyday.

Only a cowed, submissive and broken animal would choose the rod over and over again.

Stand up for yourself? Naw too afraid...

[flamingfingers]

So the last Federal election, was anyone but Harper.... so is election anyone but Trudeau. lol

So that leaves us a choice between Singh and Scheer.

Gotta go with Jagmeet Singh.

[flamingfingers]

I'll take the mystery box over a known kick to the teeth anyday.

Only a cowed, submissive and broken animal would choose the rod over and over again.

Stand up for yourself? Naw too afraid...

Ever been subject to "Buyer's Remorse"??

Be careful what you wish for - you just might get it!!

[Vacancyrate]

Ever been subject to "Buyer's Remorse"??

I'm ok with buyers remorse but you're talking yourself into going out and buying the same thing again this year and then doing it again and again because you're too afraid of buying something new.

Hey, maybe your kids will vote for Justin's kids and they can talk about how it's best to stick to what you know.

[GordonH]

So the last Federal election, was anyone but Harper.... so is election anyone but Trudeau. lol

So that leaves us a choice between Singh and Scheer.

Gotta go with Jagmeet Singh.

Politics all comes down to who's BS the voters are willing to mark a ballot for.

Added: now there is a segment of voters who keep the tradition alive & well. There great grandparents voted that way... same with grandparents & there parents, so do they.

[phasyluck]

How about these puppets answer the bell finally? Global agenda is on all of their radar, tell me open borders are a good thing please? Anybody please answer.

[Vacancyrate]

Politics all comes down to who's BS the voters are willing to mark a ballot for.

Imagine that.

A system designed and enshrined by rich, ruling class people in which you only have "choices" of various forms of being screwed by those very same rich, ruling class people.

So when we all elected a 2nd generation rich, ruling class Trudeau to "change the system" he promptly told us that it wasn't happening because Nazi's might take over Canada.

Now you're all rationalizing on whom better to get bent over by, yet again.

If people want change things are going to have to get ugly. Otherwise people should at least have the self respect enough to admit that change scares them and they'd rather just get beat down.

[phasyluck]

Nobody likes change but its coming and its coming faster than most would like even if they're willing to admit it. I'm already reorganizing for something nasty.

[Merry]

Here are some of the reasons why I won't be voting Liberal in the next election (my bold)

we have raised our status as a desirable place to live for the greatest number of people to an exalted competitive position — according to surveys, even above the petrostates and tax-haven states (Hong Kong, Iceland, Kuwait, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Norway, Qatar, Singapore and Switzerland) — we have been passed in standard of living by many other countries, including Austria, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Finland and the Netherlands. We remain behind Australia and the United States, and are now down to a lead of less than 10 per cent in per capita income over Belgium, Israel, Japan, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. These are shocking competitive numbers that no one in Canada should be complacent about: if present trends continue, the last group will all pass us in the next few years, including resourceless Belgium that went an entire year without a government a few years ago, Israel, which was a war-torn desert when it was founded 70 years ago and has been officially at war ever since, and New Zealand, which doesn’t really produce anything except sheep and wine.

the economy is growing, but not fast enough and not as quickly as many countries with fewer natural advantages than we have

investment in Canada has collapsed and Canadians largely invest elsewhere; foreign investment in Canada is down 55 per cent in the past five years and Canadian investment in foreign countries has risen by 74 per cent in the same period. Canadian economic growth is a full point behind the United States and projected to fall further behind, and the United States has lower tax rates in all personal and corporate brackets. The federal government is running a deficit that is not especially worrisome at around one per cent of GDP, but combined with large deficits in most provinces and no forecast surplus for 27 years, this is worrisome and irresponsible.

Fraser made short work of the government’s claim that it ”cut taxes for middle-class Canadians everywhere,” and concludes that 81 per cent of middle-income Canadians pay more tax than three years ago, about $840 per family. The average Canadian family pays 43.2 per cent of its income on taxes, more than on housing, food, and shelter combined. This does not include the insane and dishonest carbon tax, that is not revenue neutral, will achieve nothing for Canada’s or the world’s environment, and is based entirely on false, or at least unproved premises, fiscally and environmentally. The Fraser Institute correctly emphasizes how damaging the carbon tax and other tax increases are when the government is also discouraging major energy projects, such as by dragging a lot of asinine and irrelevant criteria into pipeline construction, like “gender analysis” and the “Indigenous knowledge” of native people who are operating a self-righteous shakedown industry confected out of tribal mythology at endless cost to the country.

https://nationalpost.com/opinion/conrad ... eau-let-us

[Snman]

Previously in politics, when a party did something unsavoury, IE the many scandals under Harper, the continual proroguements, it was accepted as "that's just politics". The government of the day just went on doing the same status quo without taking accountability for their actions. Since the liberals were elected, politics has become a lot more polarized. There has been constant peanut chucking over small change issues, but the current government has actioned upon them. When called out for doing things that would have been commonplace under previous governments, the liberals agreed it wasn't appropriate, and changed the laws so that no party could abuse such practices.

Listening to a recent interview with Trudeau, and reflections on things such as the India trip, and being unapologetic about calling out the divisive practices of other political figures, I saw how the PM has grown in the role, and stayed true to his morals and commitment to Canadians. He has shown great flexibility to change for the better, without weakly giving in to the rhetoric and hyperbole of the opposition.

This election, I believe I will be supporting the Liberals

Omnitheo, you tainted an otherwise reasonably logical post by naming Harper in the first sentence. You know better than that, there was no need. IMHO.

[Merry]

Even more reasons not to vote Liberal

Alone in the world. Canada may never have been so isolated as we are today, former diplomat Lawrence Herman argued in the Globe. Mr. Trudeau’s initial foreign-policy goal was to declare to the world that Canada was back and punching above its weight again. Instead, we’re the ones taking the beating. Our Saudi Arabia relations, for example, were fractured by a Chrystia Freeland tweet. We are now also on the outs with Russia, China and India, and even our relationship with the United States is troubled.

And most recently, in what appears to be retaliation for our arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou , the Chinese are planning a retrial for convicted Canadian drug smuggler Robert Lloyd Schellenberg. One possible penalty: execution. It’s a brutal world out there. And with so many of our foreign relationships in tatters, Mr. Trudeau is going to have to find a better way forward than lecturing about his favourite subject – gender.

Fractured at home. Western alienation is nothing new, but this time it’s serious. According to an Ipsos poll, only 18 per cent of Albertans believe that “the views of Western Canada are adequately represented in Ottawa,” and many are upset because Quebec gets billions in equalization payments and they don’t. Many of their grievances are legitimate. Mr. Trudeau promised Albertans a “social licence” to build pipelines, in exchange for carbon taxes. Trouble is, they got the taxes but not the pipelines.

The Liberals often seem as if they are doing everything they can to block more resource development. Under the notorious new Bill C-69, for example, project proponents must now take into account “the intersection of sex and gender with other identity factors.” (What that has to do with pumping oil is a total mystery.) And if the Trans Mountainextension doesn’t have shovels in the ground by election day, Mr. Trudeau will simply have proved, once again, that he can’t get stuff done. Alberta’s United Conservative Party leader Jason Kenney will ride this anger right into the premier’s office this spring, and will be a mighty thorn in Mr. Trudeau’s side.

That pesky carbon tax. Mr. Trudeau is heading for the worst of all worlds – a carbon tax that’s too low to change behaviour, but high enough to irritate people . Most people think we should do our bit to stop climate change, but many of them also wonder what difference Canada can make in the big scheme of things. (Answer: None.) Mr. Scheer will warn that the Liberals will just keep raising the tax higher. Meantime, the sanctimonious preaching of Environment Minister Catherine McKenna has become seriously annoying.

Debts and deficits. Canadians don’t mind government deficits when times are tough. But in good times like these, most of us want our budgets balanced. Instead, Mr. Trudeau ran a $19-billion deficit last year, with no commitment to a balanced budget any time in the future. Few people are thanking him for that.

Our porous borders. Potentially explosive. Unless we find better ways of managing our borders, our current backlog of 64,000 refugee claimants will grow even larger. Most claimants won’t be accepted, but all have the right to a hearing, meaning that the process can stretch out for years. As a result, the removals process is severely underfunded.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion ... illstones/

[Snman]

:topic: Getting back to the issues, how would people rank them in order of importance
and what government do you think is best prepared to address them?

• The economy
• The environment
• Immigration
• Others

I would have to say that in my lifetime there have been many different governments in Canada and in retrospect, none of them had a really positive or negative effect on my life. I always had to get up, go to work, pay the bills and ultimately pay my taxes. I will say that there is no extra money these days in that wages have not kept pace with the cost of living. A result of government? Hard to say really. I can't put issues in order of importance but I will say this. I think that the economy is directly tied to the environment these days and it shouldn't be that way. I think that the fact that the 'environment' equates to 'climate change', whether it's real, anthropogenic or otherwise, is a partially responsible. Carbon taxation is all that comes to mind when the environment is mentioned and I don't think that's right. Perhaps taxation is my hang up. Immigration is a necessity and further, I have no problem helping those who truly need our help. Others? I want to pay less taxes, not more. Clearly taxation is an issue for me but I am certain I am not alone in that regard. At any rate, I am not impressed with any candidate but I am also not comfortable with 'voting as I always have'. What I don't want is someone with a populist or nationalist agenda but at the same time I don't want someone totally led by globalism. I ask too much, I know.