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TOareaFan said:
probably explains why we are hearing a lot less calls for proportional representation post 2015 election than I recall hearing post 2011 election. :)
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I voted for the Liberals in part because of their promise to reform our electoral system, and I am counting on them to do it. Obviously, most majority governments under our current system are elected by a minority of voters. If we do have proportional representation, the systematic opposition that is at the heart of our political system will have to be replaced with cooperation, since coalitions would be absolutely necessary. But I would start with preferential voting. It would be very simple to implement.
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
With someone like Putin one requires more strategy than empty war of words - talking tough frankly is more for our domestic consumption. It doesn't mean we should roll over - but we need to consider the adversary more carefully.

AoD
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Agreed, Putin is the type of politician that requires a game of chess and coded language rooted in intelligence, not checkers and bombastic political rhetoric. With Harper we've had a decade of checkers combined with mindless political rhetoric.
 
the lemur said:
He distanced himself from Harper so fast - even before the election - it's almost like he was never here.

He said something in early October about a woman wearing a veil being attacked and how since Canada and Australia were both diverse societies we should 'embrace other cultures or f*** off'. Not exactly what Harper was aiming for on the niqab issue. Then right after the election he said Canadians weren't as gullible as Brits, suggesting that the plan to have voters fall for Harper didn't work.
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This is why he took pains to distance himself from his involvement in the campaign:

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/canada-ele...campaign-denies-lynton-crosby-another-1524866

No one hires a loser (even once) for the dark arts - it looks bad on the CV, and worse if it was actually a case of pushing the wrong button on their part.

AoD
 
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Bayer said:
I voted for the Liberals in part because of their promise to reform our electoral system, and I am counting on them to do it. Obviously, most majority governments under our current system are elected by a minority of voters. If we do have proportional representation, the systematic opposition that is at the heart of our political system will have to be replaced with cooperation, since coalitions would be absolutely necessary. But I would start with preferential voting. It would be very simple to implement.
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Trudeau was quoted in the French-language press reasserting his commitment to electoral reform on Tuesday.

I think the big issue is not going to be political will (the Tories will likely fight it tooth and nail, though). The big fight will be getting consensus on what form of PR to implement. There are major divisions even among PR advocates, as we saw in the recent debates over the past few years for ranked ballots in Toronto. And if you want to get a PR advocate steamed, for example, tell them how much you like preferential voting (I see positives, and negatives, of preferential voting, but my experience is that saying that it has positives is a good way to get oneself compared to Hitler).
 
TheOneAbove said:
Agreed, Putin is the type of politician that requires a game of chess and coded language rooted in intelligence, not checkers and bombastic political rhetoric. With Harper we've had a decade of checkers combined with mindless political rhetoric.
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To be fair, I think Harper might not have been a bad choice to play that sort of game with Putin - though 1. there were commentary out that suggests Harper might be better with tactics than strategy and 2. my question would be who is he playing that game for?

AoD
 
ttk77 said:
I think it's just as likely we're hearing less calls for proportional representation because Trudeau has promised electoral reform.
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I hardly think it was a huge issue in this election and certainly not the focus of most....although people who have electoral reform as one of their key issues might have been aware of this promise and influenced by it.

I think, honestly (and not bitterly) it is just a function of us having more left of centre parties than right of centre parties....so when one of the LoC parties benefits from our current FPTP system less people get upset because "for once" the system worked for them......when it benefits a tory/RoC party there are more aggrieved people and they complain more.

this is not a "bad" or "good" thing...I just think it is human nature working. Many of my friends are LoC/Liberals and for weeks (maybe months) after the 2011 election I was reminded that it was not a "true" majority since less than 37% of people voted for "Harper" and more than 63% voted against him (as if that's the way the system does, or ought to, work). I am just not hearing that anywhere after this election even though percentages are slightly "worse" for Mr. Trudeau.

Just one of those "it is what it is" things.
 
Skeezix said:
Trudeau was quoted in the French-language press reasserting his commitment to electoral reform on Tuesday.

I think the big issue is not going to be political will (the Tories will likely fight it tooth and nail, though). The big fight will be getting consensus on what form of PR to implement. There are major divisions even among PR advocates, as we saw in the recent debates over the past few years for ranked ballots in Toronto. And if you want to get a PR advocate steamed, for example, tell them how much you like preferential voting (I see positives, and negatives, of preferential voting, but my experience is that saying that it has positives is a good way to get oneself compared to Hitler).
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There already are such fissures - the Twitter feed is filled with shots between Fairvote.ca and other advocates over STV.

AoD
 
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Videodrome said:
True, we do still have a Communist party after all...

http://ottawacitizen.com/storyline/...h-is-the-big-blue-bank-balance-now-in-the-red

A CPC cash crunch?
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You got "cash crunch" out of that article?

To summarize the article....they started in a good financial position......raised a lot of money (but we don't know how much)....spent a lot of money (but we do not know how much)....and one un-named "insider" says that they will be in debt (although along with the name of the tipster we do not know how much "in debt" they will be).

You and I may be using different functional definitions of the term....but reading that article did not make me think "cash crunch".
 
TOareaFan said:
I hardly think it was a huge issue in this election and certainly not the focus of most....although people who have electoral reform as one of their key issues might have been aware of this promise and influenced by it.

I think, honestly (and not bitterly) it is just a function of us having more left of centre parties than right of centre parties....so when one of the LoC parties benefits from our current FPTP system less people get upset because "for once" the system worked for them......when it benefits a tory/RoC party there are more aggrieved people and they complain more.

this is not a "bad" or "good" thing...I just think it is human nature working. Many of my friends are LoC/Liberals and for weeks (maybe months) after the 2011 election I was reminded that it was not a "true" majority since less than 37% of people voted for "Harper" and more than 63% voted against him (as if that's the way the system does, or ought to, work). I am just not hearing that anywhere after this election even though percentages are slightly "worse" for Mr. Trudeau.

Just one of those "it is what it is" things.
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Fair enough. I'm definitely one of those for whom it was an election issue, so my position might be biased.
 
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