[Lennox970]

Canadians like v

You've got to be kidding - the current policy vacuum on abortions at the Federal level is very much a hedge by Mulroney in the politics of the late 80s; and guns - do recall ecole polytechnique, the public outcry and policy responses afterwards. I think it might just be that you weren't paying attention, or was expecting the Canadian discussion on these issues at the time to reflect a US level of vitriol (which it never did, even now, thankfully).

AoD

Of course I remember ecole and I think the exception proves the rule in this case. Put bluntly, the polytechnique massacre is a regular occurrence in the US in a way that here, thankfully, it is not (noting QC, and NS). It did rightly cause outcry, etc which caused the tightening of restrictions (which affected my own ownership) but was enacted by a Conservative government (IIRC) in a way inconceivable down south. We certainly don't have that level of vitriol as they do in the US ('gun registry' issue?) but that may be because the gun issue in the US is far more reflective of deeper societal divisions. As for abortion, I would look deeper than the policy bodge - as @NorthernLight rightly identified religion plays a bigger role in the US and the abortion issue can likewise also be reflective of deeper social divisions.

But this is not a headline I would recognise as Canadian until comparatively recently: sounds like American politicians slogging it out?

Canada PM Trudeau angrily accuses main rival of favoring abortion curbs, gun owners

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Of course I remember ecole and I think the exception proves the rule in this case. Put bluntly, the polytechnique massacre is a regular occurrence in the US in a way that here, thankfully, it is not (noting QC, and NS). It did rightly cause outcry, etc which caused the tightening of restrictions (which affected my own ownership) but was enacted by a Conservative government (IIRC) in a way inconceivable down south. We certainly don't have that level of vitriol as they do in the US ('gun registry' issue?) but that may be because the gun issue in the US is far more reflective of deeper societal divisions. As for abortion, I would look deeper than the policy bodge - as @NorthernLight rightly identified religion plays a bigger role in the US and the abortion issue can likewise also be reflective of deeper social divisions.

But this is not a headline I would recognise as Canadian until comparatively recently: sounds like American politicians slogging it out?

Canada PM Trudeau angrily accuses main rival of favoring abortion curbs, gun owners

Not really either - Harper et al literally campaigned on cancelling the long gun registry, and O"Toole flip-flopped a bit on the guns issues himself - and all of it made headlines and had been commented upon by political opponents. But you are right that the issue of gun ownership in the US - it's been tied to the constitution, and became a signifier of identity (and you get hints of that from the Canadian version of NRA - e.g. the language they use).

AoD

 

[Lennox970]

See this book: https://www.environicsinstitute.org/michael-adams/books/fire-ice

****

Also, Canadian Thanksgiving is a fairly typical fall harvest festival, which is quite common among northern hemisphere nations. They simply have different names for it elsewhere.
American Thanksgiving, however, is tied to ideas of pilgrims and other mythologies never discussed at Canadian Thanksgiving.

****

Really, I don't get this line of thought at all; regardless, we should head back in the direction of the topic of this thread.

The relationship between Canada & US - surely not the narcissism of small differences?

Our projection of dystopian fantasies onto America, reciprocated by American projection of its utopian fantasies upon Canada is national sport enjoyed by both. I get an occasional chuckle when JJ (accepting he can be what Aussies call a vegemite personality: love or hate, little in between) bursts the bubble of national stereotypes.

Each countries politics stems from a different historical origin. Americans traditionally an inward looking continental power. Canada had strong social/cultural/political outward links through Imperial connection. In politics, for example, Canada has more social democratic flavour, lacking in the US, that may be traced (as in Australian/NZ) to 19th C British social movements.

+ + +

OK, back on track - who upset Angus?? Or is this normal.

 

[W. K. Lis]

It is incredibly dismissive to say that Canadians and Americans are culturally identical. We are very similar in all the superficial ways, but there are some historical reasons why differences have developed over time. I mean, you could poll Canadians and Americans on any number of political topics and it is clear we are not in sync. I'd say we're not more similar than Austrians and Germans. Cousins but not identical twins.

Noticed that in Canada, Elections Canada tries to make it easy to vote. You can even register to vote when you file your income tax forms or at the last minute at the polling place. In the United States of America, they try to make different to vote.

From link.

In Canada, unlike in American states with voter ID laws, voters may prove their identity at the polls using a broad range of 40 forms of ID. The Canadian government has modified this list several times since its creation in 2007, adding documents to allow more eligible voters to cast ballots.. Accepted IDs include driver’s licenses and other types of government-issued ID similar to those required in many U.S. states. But voters in Canada also may identify themselves using student IDs, employee cards, and various forms of non-photo IDs, as long as one of them has a current address. Unlike many U.S. jurisdictions, Canada also allows the use of expired driver’s licenses, which many seniors and others who no longer drive continue to use for identification. The wide range of documents accepted limits the possibility of the ID requirement disenfranchising voters.

By contrast, U.S. voter ID laws are unduly restrictive in ways that can disenfranchise eligible voters. Alabama, for example, accepts only 10 forms of ID. Texas accepts only seven, including a concealed handgun license but not a University of Texas ID, which is available to over 200,000 students. Neither state accepts expired IDs.

 

[PinkLucy]

In talking to friends and family, they are almost all voting PC. They don’t support PC policies, they’re just annoyed at Trudeau for calling the election and “want a change”. They are banking on a minority so that the PCs policy making can be kept in check.
I don’t know what I am doing. None of the leaders or their policies particularly inspire me.
Negative voting also concerns me. If enough people do it, we move to majority territory, and I can’t face the thought of a PC majority.

 

[John_Dee]

There's a lot of ambivalence about the upcoming election, understandably enough. Elections tend to be unpleasant slogs at the best of times...and what we're currently living through is far from being that. The Toronto Star headline from last Saturday's edition struck me as almost shockingly naive: "Why Is Everyone so Angry?" Really? I can think of at least a dozen reasons. I'd say that the sheer hubris in calling another election so soon after the last one definitely deserves some punishment at the ballot box; If the Liberals get their asses kicked this time out, it'll be richly deserved.

And yet, that leaves us with the problem of who'll come in to replace them, and the Tories seem to be bending over backwards lately to prove how unfit they are to hold public office of any kind. Poor old Bill Davis passing away recently seems eerily fitting; his kind of essentially decent small-c conservative politician really is extinct now. His old party is now exclusively the domain of corporatists, grifters, religious primitives, assorted mouth-frothers, crooks, extremist ideologues, and out-and-out lunatics. Some of these koo-koo birds may have migrated to the PPC, but far too many of them still remain in the more, er, 'mainstream' party. Protest voting in the hopes that the Cons will at least be restrained in a minority government is dangerous, IMO. It's the sort of thinking that will almost certainly lead to the disaster of a Tory majority. If the Liberals win again, I expect it'll be precisely because of the fear of that happening. It's why I'll probably be voting for them myself...as little as I want to.

 

[Admiral Beez]

In talking to friends and family, they are almost all voting PC. They don’t support PC policies, they’re just annoyed at Trudeau for calling the election and “want a change”. They are banking on a minority so that the PCs policy making can be kept in check.

That’s the same reason I’m voting NDP in Toronto Centre, to support a PC minority by knocking the Libs out of Toronto Centre. That’s the same reason I voted Green last time, but Paul is going to get smoked this time around and then summarily tossed into oblivion by her membership.

 

[Northern Light]

Get a load of this poll from EKOS, I rather hope their PPC result is one of the one times out of 20............

 

[Videodrome]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1436498501077192705

Not like the CPC could ever win this seat…

 

[slickpete83]

 

[Richard White]

View attachment 348094

This is actually very true.

 

[Admiral Beez]

View attachment 348094

What you’re describing above is not insane. It’s exactly how it needs to work within our FPTP system. What’s the alternative to that chart, keep one party forever? A better chart to describe the poor system we have is how people get angry at the party in power, but then do NOT vote their preference because they don’t want to waste their vote.

 

[Admiral Beez]

My first time voter kids both voted for Andrew Chang. My wife and I are about to do the same today. There’s a lot more NDP signs in Toronto Centre this time around, and far fewer Green Party sign. I sense that Paul’s going to get wrecked this election.

 

[Jonny5]

My first time voter kids both voted for Andrew Chang. My wife and I are about to do the same today. There’s a lot more NDP signs in Toronto Centre this time around, and far fewer Green Party sign. I sense that Paul’s going to get wrecked this election.

I voted this morning. It went reasonably well, though they were obviously not prepared for a line of people waiting at 9:00, but they managed to clear all of them by 9:15, and then people could walk right in and vote immediately.
Somehow the Paul campaign has my phone number and have robo-called me three times to vote for her. That's three strikes and out from my point of view, though I had already found many other reasons not to vote for her or her party.

 

[Richard White]

I voted this morning. It went reasonably well, though they were obviously not prepared for a line of people waiting at 9:00, they managed to clear the whole line by 9:15, and then people could walk right in and vote immediately.
Somehow the Paul campaign has my phone number and have robo-called me three times to vote for her. That's three strikes and out from my point of view.

I voted yesterday.

The only problem I found was that on Monday the Elections Canada website said that my advance voting was at Don Montgomery community centre. When I got there, I looked at my voter card and it directed me to the Warden Hilltop Community centre instead.

It was a pain in the ass because they aren't exactly close.

It makes sense though because on Tuesday, my voter and poll information on the Elections Canada website was non-existent. It told me to call the returning office for more information.

I do think these last minute changes will put off alot of people. It will also confuse alot of people who saw one thing on the offical elections website and not bother to read the voter card (which is what my mother did).

I voted NDP. I hate Jagmeet but I deeply respect the candidate. I know the Scarborough Southwest NDP Candidate from my time on their riding executive.