[Videodrome]

I saw one story where people were saying that Canada now had the best looking first family, replacing the Barack and Michelle Obama.

 

[TOareaFan]

I saw one story where people were saying that Canada now had the best looking first family, replacing the Barack and Michelle Obama.

commenting on the "looks" of leaders and their families is the only thing dumber than linking pop and politics (IMO)

 

[the lemur]

Countries around the world rely on coalition governments!

Yes, and often with much larger numbers of parties. That might seem like a drawback to PR, but what often ends up happening is that smaller parties consolidate into larger ones to draw more votes. Germany has a green/centre left party formed in 1990, consisting of the Greens plus three non-communist democratic activist groups that had been active in East Germany. It usually supports the Social Democrats in coalitions, occasionally the Christian Democrats. The Netherlands has a similar party derived from green, minor left and progressive Christian parties.

Of course the downside of PR could be said that it also encourages the creation of small parties or splinter groups that are more likely to draw votes away from the bigger parties ...

 

[Videodrome]

commenting on the "looks" of leaders and their families is the only thing dumber than linking pop and politics (IMO)

Yes, I care much more about policy and results than looks. Just seeing the reactions from around the world is interesting.

Yes, and often with much larger numbers of parties. That might seem like a drawback to PR, but what often ends up happening is that smaller parties consolidate into larger ones to draw more votes. Germany has a green/centre left party formed in 1990, consisting of the Greens plus three non-communist democratic activist groups that had been active in East Germany. It usually supports the Social Democrats in coalitions, occasionally the Christian Democrats. The Netherlands has a similar party derived from green, minor left and progressive Christian parties.

Yes, we aren't a two party system like the US, but being a three party system isn't much better.

 

[TOareaFan]

Yes, I care much more about policy and results than looks. Just seeing the reactions from around the world is interesting.

Like I said, I couldn't think of anything less interesting.

Yes, we aren't a two party system like the US, but being a three party system isn't much better.

We are not a 3 party system....we are a multi-party system....yes 3 parties tend to dominate but I know the ballot I marked had 4 candidates from 4 parties on it and I bet that was one of the smallest choices possible.

Heck, our parliament (both the old and the new one) has members representing 5 parties in it.

 

[Videodrome]

There are technically 23 registered parties. This includes the infamous Rhinoceros party.

I remember the good old days when you had the PC's, Reform party, BQ, NDP and Liberals. Then there was the Canadian Alliance party with Stockwell Doris Day....

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

I remember the good old days when you had the PC's, Reform party, BQ, NDP and Liberals. There there was the Canadian Alliance party with Stockwell Doris Day....

Ah the good old CCRAP.

AoD

 

[Videodrome]

Stockwell Day was an entertaining fellow.

http://www.thestar.com/news/federal...tephen-harper-would-not-seek-re-election.html

I wonder if Kory Teneycke will be seeking new employment.

 

[Mislav]

Now that the Liberals have won I would like to share my favourite quote or paraphrase should I say from Justin Trudeau:

"Putin is a bully. If I'm elected PM, I, I'm going stand up to him."

LOL we may actually get to see how this plays out because Trudeau "standing up" to Putin is like Jon Snow trying to outbid Tywin Lannister.

 

[Videodrome]

Laura Stone ‏@l_stone 1h1 hour ago
Just ran into Bernard Lord. Says he has ZERO Conservative leadership aspirations. "I don't even know where this is coming from." #cdnpoli

So much for that speculation. Time for Doug Ford!

 

[Skeezix]

Now that the Liberals have won I would like to share my favourite quote or paraphrase should I say from Justin Trudeau:

"Putin is a bully. If I'm elected PM, I, I'm going stand up to him."

LOL we may actually get to see how this plays out because Trudeau "standing up" to Putin is like Jon Snow trying to outbid Tywin Lannister.

I'm not sure why this is funny. Did anyone think Trudeau meant he would engage him in physical battle? What is it about Harper that makes him seem more likely to take Putin in a fist fight? The lego hair? His dad paunch? Ironically, Trudeau is a boxer, and actually worked as a bouncer, so if I had to bet, I'd bet on him over Harper or Mulcair.

What Trudeau clearly meant was that under the Liberals, the Government of Canada would stand up to Russia (to the extent that Russia cares what Canada thinks, I presume). There is nothing in Trudeau's political career which suggests that he backs down from fights (of the non-physical type) - in fact, quite the opposite (he picked a riding that was hard to win, he has doggedly and determinedly withstood years of attacks, etc.) Is there something in the Liberal foreign policy platform which suggests that they would cave into Russia?

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

It will be interesting to see how Trudeau handle that file - Russia fancies itself as the predominant Arctic power, quite possibly to the detriment to Canadian interests. The previous government talked the tough talk and demonstrated little - it is one area I hope to see improvement on.

AoD

 

[TOareaFan]

It will be interesting to see how Trudeau handle that file - Russia fancies itself as the predominant Arctic power, quite possibly to the detriment to Canadian interests. The previous government talked the tough talk and demonstrated little - it is one area I hope to see improvement on.

AoD

What would you have him do with regards to arctic sovereignty that he did not already do?

One of the things that I really did not like about the Libs/NDP was when some of them (thankfully not a significant number of them) mocked the whole Franklin expedition. More than once I heard "and what did he do...looked for an old ship and made a movie about it"....the subtlety of that mission was that a large part of our arctic claim is based on us having been in the arctic longer than anyone....finding that ship ended any doubt of that and gave physical evidence of it....and any international court will take that into account.

 

[salsa]

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

What would you have him do with regards to arctic sovereignty that he did not already do?

One of the things that I really did not like about the Libs/NDP was when some of them (thankfully not a significant number of them) mocked the whole Franklin expedition. More than once I heard "and what did he do...looked for an old ship and made a movie about it"....the subtlety of that mission was that a large part of our arctic claim is based on us having been in the arctic longer than anyone....finding that ship ended any doubt of that and gave physical evidence of it....and any international court will take that into account.

There are some fairly good articles that talked about the rhetoric vs. reality:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...s-northern-strategy/article16397458/?page=all

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north...ed-back-after-costs-soared-document-1.2759743

http://thechronicleherald.ca/opinio...froze-out-scientists-triggered-arctic-debacle

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/...nals_stephen_harpers_downsized_ambitions.html

Frankly, that and military procurement under the current government (look at the RCN) is bit of a sore spot (when it comes to tbe military - the post-majority Cons love to talk tough but would prioritize cuts first and foremost). I don't agree with mocking the work around Franklin Expedition - but I do have an issue of it turning into a Harper show.

AoD