Looming Federal Election

[Phoenix Within]

Jack Layton can smell blood, he sees that iggy is not going to win and now he has a chance to come out as number 2

I wouldn't give 'ol Taliban Jack too much credit. I knew some people who are staunch NDP'ers who think Jack is a nutcase who shouldn't be given any kind of power.

[NAB]

Looks like 19% to me butcher. And I don't know where your margin of error of 4 - 5% comes from. Normally professional polls like Ipsos Reid are much more accurate than that. Still, if you don't want to read the whole article, here's the nubs of it. It is not surprising PM Harper chose to go for an election rather than cater to the whiny oppositions unreasonable demands to avoid one. The Conservatives are as close to majority territory as they ever will likely be, so why not go for it? Iggy and the Liberals need to be trimmed back a notch or two before Ralph Goodale pops a blood vessel .

That's my take on it too Nab. Things may change during the campaign but I wouldn't be surprised at all to see the Conservatives get a majority. While the opposition leaders were telling everyone that the Conservatives had lost touch and that Canadians were opposed to what the government was doing the poll numbers shot up for the government. Again, we'll see what happens but at the moment that cartoon you posted with what the opposition leaders must be thinking after seeing that poll rings true. I think it may be an entertaining campaign and I can only hope we get our money's worth - $400 million's worth.

Yes, the cost of running a federal election has indeed gone up Urbane. It's much more than that estimated 400 million too when you consider what the parties and the candidates will spend having an unnecessary war at our expense thanks to Ignatieff mainly. Another thing that is going to be interesting with this election (indeed the next provincial one too) is that there are going to be quite a number of "old guard" personalities calling it quits, and some new blood emerge. And I suspect there will be more once the election is over, particularly in the Liberal and NDP ranks. I think it would be a fair call to say that this is likely to be Jack Layton's last campaign and, if the Liberals lose, both those parties will probably be looking for a new leader within the next year or two.

Anyway, I have to say I don't think I am going to get too excited about this election, not even going to follow it very closely. It's just going to be mostly more Liberal angst and mud slinging, and I am just totally tired of listening to their crap. What the NDP do and say is not likely to be momentous in any way, and the Greens are not going to run a campaign.

Blue door or Red door, Blue door or Red door, Blue Door or Red door.... so says Iggy ad nauseum. Ya'all might almost think we were in the good ol USA ;-)

Edit to add: (and it should not be lost on anyone that Mr. Milliken, who's rulings are at the very heart of all the fuss being raised by the opposition as the foundation for them unwisely forcing the country into an unnecessary election, is himself a Liberal.)

Mr. Speaker
by Aaron Wherry on Thursday, March 24, 2011 1:51pm - 65 Comments
When the government falls tomorrow afternoon and Parliament is subsequently dissolved, Peter Milliken‘s time as Speaker of the House of Commons will come to an end, Mr. Milliken having already decided that he will not seek reelection as the MP for Kingston and the Islands. First elected to the post in January 2001, he will retire as the longest-serving Speaker in the history of the House.

His tenure will be remembered as historic on a number of fronts, but his ruling last year on Afghan detainee documents and his rulings this year on statements made by International Cooperation Minister Bev Oda and the government’s refusal to turn over documents requested by the House will likely be of significant and lasting consequence. Amid much gnashing of teeth over the state of our parliamentary democracy, Mr. Milliken reasserted the power and preeminence of the House of Commons. As a legacy, a Speaker could not ask for much greater.

Mr. Milliken was first elected to the House of Commons in 1988 as the Liberal Member of Parliament for Kingston and the Islands and was re-elected in 1993, 1997, 2000, 2004, 2006 and 2008.

Nab

[butcher99]

Steve Murray: Opposition leaders painted into the corner

The Post’s Steve Murry posits what may be going through the heads of Opposition leaders after reading new poll results that put the Tories in a commanding 19-point lead. Click through to see his cartoon

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/pho ... he-corner/

Funny how 43% of the vote with a margin of error of 4 or 5% translates into a 19 point lead.

Looks like 19% to me butcher. And I don't know where your margin of error of 4 - 5% comes from. Normally professional polls like Ipsos Reid are much more accurate than that. Still, if you don't want to read the whole article, here's the nubs of it. It is not surprising PM Harper chose to go for an election rather than cater to the whiny oppositions unreasonable demands to avoid one. The Conservatives are as close to majority territory as they ever will likely be, so why not go for it? Iggy and the Liberals need to be trimmed back a notch or two before Ralph Goodale pops a blood vessel .

"The Ipsos Reid poll for Postmedia News has the Tories entering the campaign in majority territory at 43%, almost 20 points ahead of the Liberals, who have fallen back to 24% support."

"But, even if the Ipsos poll does prove frothy, the gap is massive. To overhaul the Conservatives in terms of seats, the Liberal leader would have to possess the charisma and acumen of a JFK — and Mr. Ignatieff is no Jack Kennedy."

Full article: http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/201 ... oint-lead/

They have a 19% lead over the liberals. They do not have a 19% lead. They are 7% short of 50% of the vote. They have tossed so many bones Ontarios way that they just may get a majority based on Ontarios vote.

Welcome to higher deficits if they get their way. It took the liberals to dig us out of the last conservative mess and eventually it will take someone other than the conservatives to dig us out of the looming mess if the conservatives get in.

Billions for new planes to protect us from ? Billions for unneeded jails and guards to patrol them. Billions to cover shortfalls from tax cuts. The list will get longer

[NAB]

You may as well accept the fact that there are only going to be 2 national parties of any consequence as to who will form the next government in this election butcher (The Bloc doesn't count as a national party). The majority of the electorate (who vote) are going to vote for one of those parties. I do realize that spin over the math associated with all parties in opposition versus the one in government, but the reality of our system is...

THE PARTY WHICH GETS THE MOST SEATS WINS! That's reality. Blue Door, or Red Door? That's the way Ignatieff has framed his campaign, and the NDP and Greens can do little but observe from the sidelines.

Nab

[BGV666]

STCK A FORK IN IT, IT'S DONE.....$300 MILLION

[Phoenix Within]

STCK A FORK IN IT, IT'S DONE.....$300 MILLION

I believe after this election, I had heard that we'll have spent over a billion dollars in the last seven years on elections.

[butcher99]

STCK A FORK IN IT, IT'S DONE.....$300 MILLION

I believe after this election, I had heard that we'll have spent over a billion dollars in the last seven years on elections.

pales in comparison to the amount of tax break the conserves want to give the wealthiest corporations in canada.

We could have an election every year for the next 10 years and still have pocket change

[FreeRights]

I personally believe that this is a good thing.

I don't believe Harper has been acting in the best interests of Canadians - he has hidden a lot of valuable information that Canadians want to know.

Are the Liberals the best party to replace them with? No. But what I do think the best case scenario is, would be to let the NDP form the official opposition. Jack Layton, like him or not, has proven over the last many years that he is willing and able to work with the other parties. While the Liberals and the Conservatives will disagree on every single thing each party puts out, good idea or bad, the NDP have proven over years to support motions that are in the best interest of Canada and of Canadians.

The NDP are putting the most resources into this campaign than they ever have, and they have people running throughout the country. I think Jack Layton sees this as his party's opportunity and that Canadians from coast to coast will finally see the NDP for what they are - a party for the people.

[CJT84]

I personally believe that this is a good thing.

I don't believe Harper has been acting in the best interests of Canadians - he has hidden a lot of valuable information that Canadians want to know.

Are the Liberals the best party to replace them with? No. But what I do think the best case scenario is, would be to let the NDP form the official opposition. Jack Layton, like him or not, has proven over the last many years that he is willing and able to work with the other parties. While the Liberals and the Conservatives will disagree on every single thing each party puts out, good idea or bad, the NDP have proven over years to support motions that are in the best interest of Canada and of Canadians.

The NDP are putting the most resources into this campaign than they ever have, and they have people running throughout the country. I think Jack Layton sees this as his party's opportunity and that Canadians from coast to coast will finally see the NDP for what they are - a party for the people.

Party for the people? He's a party for government and the people who work for it and get massive benefits at the expense of others from it. the NDP would turn Canada into something akin to the UK where the public sector makes up over 50% of the GDP, making government job that aren't needed because they have no idea how the economy works, only that they want to control it for their own political ambitions.

[Bagotricks]

STCK A FORK IN IT, IT'S DONE.....$300 MILLION

I believe after this election, I had heard that we'll have spent over a billion dollars in the last seven years on elections.

Half as much as they spent on the fake lake and the G20 in downtown Toronto, where our Charter was treated like napkins at KFC !

[I Think]

Yeah, it is in, we get a chance to vote in a new set of cheats and liars.

Get out and vote folks, we need a regime change.

[FreeRights]

I personally believe that this is a good thing.

I don't believe Harper has been acting in the best interests of Canadians - he has hidden a lot of valuable information that Canadians want to know.

Are the Liberals the best party to replace them with? No. But what I do think the best case scenario is, would be to let the NDP form the official opposition. Jack Layton, like him or not, has proven over the last many years that he is willing and able to work with the other parties. While the Liberals and the Conservatives will disagree on every single thing each party puts out, good idea or bad, the NDP have proven over years to support motions that are in the best interest of Canada and of Canadians.

The NDP are putting the most resources into this campaign than they ever have, and they have people running throughout the country. I think Jack Layton sees this as his party's opportunity and that Canadians from coast to coast will finally see the NDP for what they are - a party for the people.

Party for the people? He's a party for government and the people who work for it and get massive benefits at the expense of others from it. the NDP would turn Canada into something akin to the UK where the public sector makes up over 50% of the GDP, making government job that aren't needed because they have no idea how the economy works, only that they want to control it for their own political ambitions.

I don't agree at all that the NDP "have no idea how the economy works" at all. Yes, they obviously support different places to put the resources, but the Conservatives aren't the standard bearer for economics in Canada.