The Canadian Federal Election of 2011

[Al Czervic]

I believe Iggy was seeing another minority in the polls was slowly trending to a majority for Harper, so Iggy jumped at the chance to form his Leftist Coalition before he thought it was too late. Unfortunately for Iggy (and fortunately for Canada), he's an igiot, pulled the trigger too late, and we now have a strong majority, duly elected by Canadians.

Part of me thinks Iggy was simply getting bored with Politics and once and for all wanted to be done with it. Either elect me Canada or I am outta here kind of thinking. This opposition stuff is waste of time type of thinking…..

[Rwede]

I believe Iggy was seeing another minority in the polls was slowly trending to a majority for Harper, so Iggy jumped at the chance to form his Leftist Coalition before he thought it was too late. Unfortunately for Iggy (and fortunately for Canada), he's an igiot, pulled the trigger too late, and we now have a strong majority, duly elected by Canadians.

Part of me thinks Iggy was simply getting bored with Politics and once and for all wanted to be done with it. Either elect me Canada or I am outta here kind of thinking. This opposition stuff is waste of time type of thinking…..

Yep, he didn't want to live his life in second place, so he gambled his party's future on his personal aspiration to be numero uno. Better to get run out of the country by destroying a Canadian bastion, the Liberal party, and slink back to safely schmooze with his Harvard buddies in the US, than to be relegated to second place in Canadian politics. Second place is, as we all know, just another name for the First Loser in any race.

[NAB]

There is probably some truth in both those things. But the bottom line is that Iggy gambled, and lost big time. Still, he needed the NDP and the Bloc to buy in to his gamble, and it could very well be that they both thought they were in a good postion to gain from it. As it turned out, Layton would have been right, and Duceppe very wrong. Now they have no hope of forming a coalition and defeating the government any more, GG or no GG.

Edit to add: I wonder who the next speaker will be? I seem to recall the position alternates, and the last one was a Liberal.

I also found this..

"The Speaker usually comes from among MPs of the governing party"

Nab

[Al Czervic]

There is probably some truth in both those things. But the bottom line is that Iggy gambled, and lost big time. Still, he needed the NDP and the Bloc to buy in to his gamble, and it could very well be that they both thought they were in a good postion to gain from it. As it turned out, Layton would have been right, and Duceppe very wrong. Now they have no hope of forming a coalition and defeating the government any more, GG or no GG.

Edit to add: I wonder who the next speaker will be? I seem to recall the position alternates, and the last one was a Liberal.

I also found this..

"The Speaker usually comes from among MPs of the governing party"

Nab

In the last Parliament the Conservative’s couldn’t afford to a loose a vote (err…sorry a member) so they supported Liberal Peter Miliken as the speaker. With the size of the majority the Conservatives have this time around they can afford to anoint one of their own MP’s as the speaker of the house….

[butcher99]

the opposition tried to make an end run

Actually, I am of the oppinion that it was Ignatieff who ntried to make an end run, and ran right off a cliff LOL

And Al is right. As I have said before, Harper did not force an election. Iggy did. But also as I have said, clearly Harper wasn't going to run away from one, since the odds in his favour of winning it were almost 100%. What amazes me is that Iggy and his ancient and out of touch back room crowd didn't seem to recognize that, no matter what they did they couldn't win. Which brings us full circle to his real intent, to form a coalition of the left.


Nab

Do you have any of that conservative kool-aid left? You might need some in a couple years.

[butcher99]

There is probably some truth in both those things. But the bottom line is that Iggy gambled, and lost big time. Still, he needed the NDP and the Bloc to buy in to his gamble, and it could very well be that they both thought they were in a good postion to gain from it. As it turned out, Layton would have been right, and Duceppe very wrong. Now they have no hope of forming a coalition and defeating the government any more, GG or no GG.

Edit to add: I wonder who the next speaker will be? I seem to recall the position alternates, and the last one was a Liberal.

I also found this..

"The Speaker usually comes from among MPs of the governing party"

Nab

In the last Parliament the Conservative’s couldn’t afford to a loose a vote (err…sorry a member) so they supported Liberal Peter Miliken as the speaker. With the size of the majority the Conservatives have this time around they can afford to anoint one of their own MP’s as the speaker of the house….

And they will have a majority on all commissions so there will be no way anyone will ever get a look at exactly what is happening behind closed doors. And with a rookie opposition on top of that we can pretty well kiss finding anything out at all for a number of years.

[butcher99]

There is probably some truth in both those things. But the bottom line is that Iggy gambled, and lost big time. Still, he needed the NDP and the Bloc to buy in to his gamble, and it could very well be that they both thought they were in a good postion to gain from it. As it turned out, Layton would have been right, and Duceppe very wrong. Now they have no hope of forming a coalition and defeating the government any more, GG or no GG.

Edit to add: I wonder who the next speaker will be? I seem to recall the position alternates, and the last one was a Liberal.

I also found this..

"The Speaker usually comes from among MPs of the governing party"

Nab

the position is voted on among the members. The present speaker has been quite fair. That will not suit Harper so probably he will be gone if he even runs again. Did he get reelected?

[Logitack]

the speaker of the house retired at the dissolution of parliament.

[Al Czervic]

He (Miliken) did. But his riding remained in Liberal hands. I expect we will see a Conservative MP elected as speaker this time (but obviously not necessarily) and I have no doubt whoever gets elected as the new speaker will be every bit as fair as the old speaker was.

[Rwede]

And they will have a majority on all commissions so there will be no way anyone will ever get a look at exactly what is happening behind closed doors. And with a rookie opposition on top of that we can pretty well kiss finding anything out at all for a number of years.

What did the federal Liberals do with all the years of majority governments they had? Were you vocal in the media, expressing your dissatifaction with the way government conducted its daily business?

Did you try to change the way Parliament was run when you discovered what the Liberal governments were doing with their majorities for so many years? Or were, in your opinion, leftist governments beyond reproach, so you took no action?

[Tacklewasher]

the speaker of the house retired at the dissolution of parliament.

I think Harper should make the Bar Manager speaker. Much cuter than any of the old codgers we've had. Might even get some "members" to show up to the HOC if they have her to look at.



Please note, my tongue is firmly planted in my cheek on this comment so please don't be offended or raise holy hell at me. It's a joke.

[Al Czervic]

the speaker of the house retired at the dissolution of parliament.

I think Harper should make the Bar Manager speaker. Much cuter than any of the old codgers we've had. Might even get some "members" to show up to the HOC if they have her to look at.



Please note, my tongue is firmly planted in my cheek on this comment so please don't be offended or raise holy hell at me. It's a joke.

You mean NDP MP Ruth Ellen Brosseau ?

[Tacklewasher]

the speaker of the house retired at the dissolution of parliament.

I think Harper should make the Bar Manager speaker. Much cuter than any of the old codgers we've had. Might even get some "members" to show up to the HOC if they have her to look at.



Please note, my tongue is firmly planted in my cheek on this comment so please don't be offended or raise holy hell at me. It's a joke.

You mean NDP MP Ruth Ellen Brosseau ?

[grammafreddy]

Harper was smart enough to read the Canadian public and the ones that voted for his downfall weren't. Harper and the Conservatives voted against it. If even a few of the opposition had had any insite and realized it was bad timing, that some compromise would work better at that moment we could have had a completely different outcome down the road but we'll never know.

So now you're saying Harper is more politically astute than the Coalition (all three of them) - and that's what ticks you off? Are ya angry because your fellas are stupid????

[butcher99]

And they will have a majority on all commissions so there will be no way anyone will ever get a look at exactly what is happening behind closed doors. And with a rookie opposition on top of that we can pretty well kiss finding anything out at all for a number of years.

What did the federal Liberals do with all the years of majority governments they had? Were you vocal in the media, expressing your dissatifaction with the way government conducted its daily business?

Did you try to change the way Parliament was run when you discovered what the Liberal governments were doing with their majorities for so many years? Or were, in your opinion, leftist governments beyond reproach, so you took no action?

When I do not approve of what the government is doing I complain. I write letters and write in forums and blogs. I have for probably the last 25 years or so at a guess. Yes, I have been using computers and writing in BLOGS and forums (although they were not called that) for that long, way before the internet took over from the adhoc networks I used to run and take part in.
There was lots of stuff the Liberals did that I did not approve of and let my feelings be known. I continue to do that and have written to my MP as well as my MLA and my regional director when I did not approve of the direction things were going.
I have done that and I will continue to do that.

Now how many letters have you actually written over the years complaining to your MLA or MP?
I take it from your replies that since they have all be right wing or leaning, you have had nothing to complain about.