[HighSpeed_LowDrag]

CBC News

Quote:

Stephen Harper has begun the mid-summer marathon that will be longest federal election campaign in recent history.

Harper emerged from Rideau Hall shortly after 10:18 a.m. ET, confirming he had asked Gov. Gen. David Johnston to dissolve Parliament for a general election to be held Monday, Oct. 19.

After his visit to Rideau Hall, Harper is expected to head to Montreal for a rally at 5 p.m. ET in the riding of Mount Royal.

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair is scheduled to speak in Gatineau, Que., at 10:30 a.m. ET.

The other two federal leaders are scheduled to be at a weekend pride event in Vancouver. Liberal Party Leader Justin Trudeau and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May are expected to attend that before heading elsewhere to kick off their campaigns.

Voters will get their first chance to see the party leaders together in action on Aug. 6 during a debate hosted by Maclean's magazine in Toronto.

Historic length

The election campaign, which will last 11 weeks, or 78 days, will be one of the longest in the country's history.

According to The Canadian Press, only Canada's first two election campaigns were longer. The 1867 campaign lasted 81 days, while the 1872 campaign went for 96 days. Back then, voting was staggered over the country for a period of several months.

The longest race in recent history was a 74-day campaign back in 1926.

A long campaign is seen as benefiting the Conservatives, who are acknowledged to have the biggest war chest.

During a typical 37-day election period, each party can spend a maximum of $25 million. For each additional day, that limit is increased by 1/37th, or an extra $675,000, meaning an 11-week campaign would allow parties to spend more than $50 million.

Individual candidates also get an additional $2,700 a day to add to their usual limit of approximately $100,000.

A longer campaign will also cost Canadian taxpayers more. By Elections Canada's estimate, a traditional five-week, 35-day campaign costs about $375 million to run. Parties are also reimbursed for half the money they spend during an election campaign.

The Conservatives under Harper are seeking a fourth consecutive mandate, while Mulcair and Trudeau are both entering their first federal election campaigns as the leaders of their respective parties.

A key issue of the campaign will likely be the management of the economy.

Canadian economic growth has stumbled in recent months. Statistics Canada reported Friday that the total value of the country's economy declined by 0.2 per cent in May, the fifth consecutive monthly slide.

More seats up for grabs

The Conservatives hold 159 of the 308 seats in the House of Commons, compared with the NDP's 95 and the Liberal Party's 36.

The Bloc Québécois, the Forces et Démocratie party and the Green Party have two seats each. There are also eight independent MPs and four vacant seats.

However, there are more seats up for grabs this time round. Following the release of 2011 census population numbers, federal electoral boundaries were revised, which led to an increase in the number of seats in the Commons to 338.

The new ridings are located in:

Ontario: 15 more seats (121 seats in total).
British Columbia: 6 more seats (42 seats in total).
Alberta: 6 more seats (34 seats in total).
Quebec: 3 more seats (78 seats in total).

The seat total in all the other provinces and the territories remains unchanged.

[DjembaDjemba]

The 2015 election....

Stephen Harper did a good job realigning Canadian politics over the past few years. Canada's conservatives are the only party in the West that has its strongest support from 'visible minorities', aligned with business interests, aligned with fiscal conservatives.

He destroyed the liberals by moving his party to the centre, however it unexpectedly gave rise to the Ndp.

This election can swing in any direction now.

A big issue is the collapse of the PQ in Quebec, this just gave the ndp a huge boost of voters. The liberals centrism has hurt them brutally. Thus Harper now needs to campaign his ass off in Quebec to keep whatever he can get there.

May the best campaign win and keep Canada's high standards of living and relative prosperity moving forward. And of course an abundance of good, easy pussy that has made our lives good.

[HighSpeed_LowDrag]

(08-02-2015 10:48 AM)DjembaDjemba Wrote:  

The 2015 election....

Yep, my bad. Mods, could you edit the title to read 2015?

[DannyAlberta]

I have a terrible feeling about this one. We are riding the crest of a leftist-statist wave here in Canada now. An NDP majority with "Trotsky Tom" Mulcair seems inevitable. The really sad part is that our present "Conservative" government isn't even actually that conservative, but is apparently way too conservative for the vast majority Canadians, who want more "free" stuff.

Useless people who see successful people as little more than dollar signs for their pet spending programs now make up the majority of the Western world.

I now have a sort of inverse Karl Marx view: socialism has to crash and burn spectacularly before the free market can ever rise again in any significant way.

EDIT: Further prediction: a huge issue in this election will be "universal daycare". Watch how many useless people who can't afford their own kids flock to that banner to have someone else pay the state to raise their kids and start the early indoctrination into statism. Meanwhile these same useless people will be free to pursue their "careers" as low paid cubicle drones without having to worry about their kids for 8 hours a day. What a charming society that will breed.

[LeBeau]

(08-02-2015 10:56 AM)HighSpeed_LowDrag Wrote:  

(08-02-2015 10:48 AM)DjembaDjemba Wrote:  

The 2015 election....

Yep, my bad. Mods, could you edit the title to read 2015?

I don't think you can just post inside the thread and hope they happen to come across it.

It would work better just to PM one of them.

[Bad Hussar]

Good idea for a thread. And we're off...

Although I am definitely not an NDP supporter here is what I actually hope happens:

NDP win minority government, only to immediately be faced with the inevitable....
...housing bust. Prices drop as much as 50% across the nation
causing the already weak economy to get even worse
NDP lose confidence vote within two years of forming government
Liberals or Conservatives win subsequent election
NDP harmed for 10+ years as a result (As happened in BC...)

Now I know this is monstrously unfair. The current housing bubble and economic situation is not the fault of the NDP. If it can be said to be the fault of anybody, rather than due to simply cyclical factors, it is the fault of the Conservatives and the Bank of Canada. Especially Mark Carney. But someone has to take the fall. If I were Harper I would actually not want to win this time. There is massive potential downside in the next couple of years. Why would any sane person want to be at the helm at this time? Nothing anybody can really do about it. Interest rates are so low, and the US will increase later this year, so there is nowhere to go but up. Also, oil price likely to stay low.

The Conservatives and Liberals should be happy sitting it out the next two or so years. By that time a no-confidence vote will be easy to achieve, and you have the benefit of the NDP taking the wrap for inevitable problems genuinely not of their making.

The NDP can have a short period of show taxes "for the rich" (ha). The rich's money is mostly well protected in trusts anyway. And the short period of unpleasantness will be a very small price to pay for the ability to come back in as the heros. The public will accept either the Conservative or Liberal orthodoxy much easier after two hard years...

[scotian]

(08-02-2015 11:45 AM)DannyAlberta Wrote:  

EDIT: Further prediction: a huge issue in this election will be "universal daycare". Watch how many useless people who can't afford their own kids flock to that banner to have someone else pay the state to raise their kids and start the early indoctrination into statism. Meanwhile these same useless people will be free to pursue their "careers" as low paid cubicle drones without having to worry about their kids for 8 hours a day. What a charming society that will breed.

It could turn out like Quebec, where they have subsidized, universal day care, oh the horror!

Honestly I don't know who to vote for in this upcoming election but it will be an interesting one and it really is Harper's to lose, I don't know why the guy didn't step down as leader and let someone less robotic who appeals more to the masses take over. Overall he did a decent job as PM and I voted for him twice but his rigidity on social issues which appeal to his prairie red neck base is what will cost him this election. I don't believe that the average Canadian wants USA-style "tough on crime" laws, or seeing tax payer money being used to build prisons, we don't have USA style crime up here, our country is incredibly safe so these measures are seen as wasteful and unnecessary by many. Harper has toughened laws against marijuana while several US states are legalizing it, way to miss the boat on that one.

Harper claims to be the one who did such a good job with the economy but really, the economy was riding on a solid ten year commodity super cycle that has now unfortunately come to an end. How much did the Conservatives invest in other sectors like high tech? I'm not sure but RIM is done and our petro-dollar is tanking, us Canadians seemed destined to remain hewers of wood and drawers of water. As for real estate, again the Harper government took a lot of credit after the global financial melt down of 2008 by saying "Canada's banks are rock solid, none tanked like in the USA because of our strong mortgage rules", which is basically bullshit as the Liberals created those laws and the conservatives were actively trying to loosen or outright dismantle them before everything went to shit.

Of course over the past decade, Harper has done some pretty good things such as eliminating the wasteful, redundant gun registry, abolishing the Court Challenges Program (I can't believe that even existed), taking some power away from the ridiculous human rights commissions and implementing a massive coast guard/naval ship building program.

Anyway, I will probably hold my nose and vote for Harper again just because I think Justin would be a complete embarrassment on the international stage and I don't even know who Mulcair is other than he's no Jack Layton. I still believe that Chretien with Martin as finance minister was the best federal government that I've seen in my life, and none of the candidates inspire me too much but it'll be interesting to say the least, bring on the attack ads making fun of Trudeau's hair!

[Tytalus]

Same here - gonna hold my nose and vote conservative. However, my local candidate ©, whom I've emailed several times over the years has always responded to me and seems to do a good job in parliament.

Scotian - not sure what you're saying about the conservative ship building program - it seems to be a giant underfunded clusterfuck that's produced nothing.

[scotian]

(08-03-2015 11:46 PM)Tytalus Wrote:  

Same here - gonna hold my nose and vote conservative. However, my local candidate ©, whom I've emailed several times over the years has always responded to me and seems to do a good job in parliament.

Scotian - not sure what you're saying about the conservative ship building program - it seems to be a giant underfunded clusterfuck that's produced nothing.

^You're probably right but I got a job in it

[scotian]

I came across a very thorough report on the Harper governments economic performance during his reign as PM and it isn't very pretty, actually the author claims that the Canadian economy performed the worst under Harper than any other PM in our post-war history!

Here is a link to the nearly 40 page report, its an interesting read: http://www.unifor.org/sites/default/file..._eng_0.pdf

*I know that it was written by a union economist but some of the numbers are very eye opening and hard to argue with.

[FrenchCanadian]

Will either vote for Harper, (even if he's a George Bush clone) or waste my vote on the Libertarian party or the Bloc

[Emancipator]

Prediction, minority NDP Gov, Harper resigns and Oliver becomes leader of the CPC

[Bad Hussar]

(08-04-2015 10:40 AM)FrenchCanadian Wrote:  

Will either vote for Harper, (even if he's a George Bush clone) or waste my vote on the Libertarian party or the Bloc

It's such a shame that pretty much no Libertarian candidate can win any election anywhere, while remaining true to the general principles of Libertarianism.

...Or maybe it isn't such a shame. Elected office is probably a poor environment to promote Libertarian ideals anyway. Business, especially a truly "disruptive" one and maybe even the civil service(if you're DEEP undercover) would be better platforms.

[Nonpareil]

(08-03-2015 06:07 PM)scotian Wrote:  

Anyway, I will probably hold my nose and vote for Harper again just because I think Justin would be a complete embarrassment on the international stage and I don't even know who Mulcair is other than he's no Jack Layton. I still believe that Chretien with Martin as finance minister was the best federal government that I've seen in my life, and none of the candidates inspire me too much but it'll be interesting to say the least, bring on the attack ads making fun of Trudeau's hair!

Ah, the attack ads...the best and most entertaining part of any Canadian election. Unlike our friends south of the border, Canadian politics and governance (and History) is generally devoid of intrigue.

I don't know what I like the most here:

- The out-of-touch baby boomer, who probably made his money outsourcing jobs overseas and today complains about young people because 'they can't find a job!' and is only there because Karma has been a real bitch these days.

- The supreme-and-all-wise broad talking about balancing budgets when her experience doing so is limited to deciding what to spend her ex-husband's money on.

- The fat HR chick who never hires white men because she hates them and then wonders why her 'all female and minority hiring policy' has run her company into the ground.

- The IRT who wasn't even born in Canada telling me who I should vote for. Me personally, I'd rather focus on internal issues (notably that big fuckin' housing bubble that's just around the corner and unchecked immigration AKA the reason you're here) and let the States clean up the mess they've created in the Middle East.

Also it's long past time to legalize Marijuana - How in the fuck did America beat us to this punch? I'm tired of never being able to find a dealer and sometimes having to get less-than-stellar weed.

It's the IRT.

Though we agree on one thing...Justin Trudeau's haircut game is solid. If I was in the country to vote, I'd probably vote for Harper.

[Vronsky]

I still believe that Chretien with Martin as finance minister was the best federal government that I've seen in my life, and none of the candidates inspire me too much but it'll be interesting to say the least, bring on the attack ads making fun of Trudeau's hair!
[/quote]

Quoted for the truth. The reason that Canadian banks not only survived the 2008 crisis, but actually set a global standard in terms of regulatory frameworks, was solely due to Chretien's delegation of the Finance portfolio to Martin who instituted tough banking rules. We also had a surplus under Martin that got changed into a deficit under Harper. He is not a good economic leader, not on the level of Martin. I especially dislike what he has done to in terms of dismantling renowned and respected federal science programs and StatsCan, all done for politically motivated reasons.

Harper has not been good for Canada and I will be happy to see the back of him soon.

[DannyAlberta]

The first of many, many, many polls to come showing the NDP in majority territory:

http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/polit...cle/440111

Quote:

The new poll showed 39 percent would vote for the NDP. The Conservatives fell back to 28 percent and the Liberals were about the same as the earlier polls [25%].

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/polit...z3hscsHXmc

The longer the Liberals poll lower and the NDP is projected ahead, the more voters will switch from Liberal to NDP to ride the gravy train.

I think by election day they will be in the low 50% area. Massive majority government and then 5 years of utter parasitism, graft, hilariously high taxes and economic decline to follow.

[LeBeau]

(08-03-2015 11:50 PM)scotian Wrote:  

(08-03-2015 11:46 PM)Tytalus Wrote:  

Same here - gonna hold my nose and vote conservative. However, my local candidate ©, whom I've emailed several times over the years has always responded to me and seems to do a good job in parliament.

Scotian - not sure what you're saying about the conservative ship building program - it seems to be a giant underfunded clusterfuck that's produced nothing.

^You're probably right but I got a job in it

Spoken like a true Maritimer!

[scotian]

^I was just pulling positive accomplishments outta my ass because I really can't think of all that many great things that Harper has done during his tenure especially having a majority government, which in Canada is a pass to get shit done. I think he was able to get elected because he's: not Stephane Dion (Green Shift anyone?), not Michael Ignatieff and if he gets re-elected it will only because Thomas Mulcair is even more lame than him, which I didn't think was possible! Most of the Cons star MPs are gone, Flaherty is dead, Peter Mackay and John Baird bailed, now who's left? Apparently up to 2/3s of Canadian voters' votes are up for grabs (including mine) and the NDP are polling in majority numbers, I can't wait for October.

[Tytalus]

I'm not sure what the last 4 years the conservatives have spent doing. I know that the economic numbers will be poor simply accounting for the global economy, we're starting to see the whole system go belly up. Honestly - it seems to me rather than passing actual legislation there was a bunch of weird psuedo conservative things (like picking fights with Stats Canada) that appeased about 1-10% of the conservative base but definitely appeased lobbyists and the quiet oligarchs we have behind the scenes.

[HighSpeed_LowDrag]

First leader's debate:

[DannyAlberta]

Sometimes the only thing to say is "WTF?"

I would usually rant about how dumb the NDP look by using kids (none of whom have any idea what they are being used for) in an attack ad. But what's the point? There is no level they and the Canadian MSM will not stoop to this time to get a progressive Prime Minister in power.

As a slight digression, I am disheartened at how semi-literate some of the kids are. They all appear to be of an age where most of these words should not be throwing them for a loop. What a wonderful job our socialized education system is doing...

Also it is never a good choice to use a kazoo - for anything.

[LeBeau]

So I was looking over details regarding the Libertarian Party of Canada, since I was aware they are running more candidates this year, and I'm always curious to read about "fringe" parties or ones outside of the mainstream.

For a party that supposedly prioritizes reason, free speech, and liberty, even they are not safe from feminist and SJW drama:

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/...-southern/

Quote:

CANADIAN LIBERTARIANS IN REVOLT AFTER PARTY LEADERSHIP SUSPENDS ANTI-FEMINIST CANDIDATE LAUREN SOUTHERN

Quote:

The Libertarian Party of Canada is in turmoil following the bizarre suspension of Lauren Southern, one of the party’s most visible and popular candidates, at the behest of a small group of aggrieved feminist activists.

Members and candidates are now in open revolt amid concerns that the party has been co-opted by a small group of left-wing culture warriors whose socially authoritarian agendas are alien to the majority of libertarians and toxic to the general public.

Southern, a libertarian activist and commentator for The Rebel Media, rose to global prominence last month when a video emerged of her challenging feminist campaigners at a “Slutwalk” demonstration in Vancouver.

The article is actually quite extensive and worth a read, I just pasted the beginning summary so the post wouldn't be too long.

[Last Parade]

^ the good news is she was re-instated a week later: http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/...art-story/

Quote:

But not everyone was happy. Mark Burnison, the former VP of Political Action who pushed the hardest for Southern’s expulsion from the party, immediately resigned. In a rage-fueled Facebook post, Burnison said he no longer wanted to be associated with “anti-feminists,” adding that “Lauren Southern can go blank herself.”

There are times when a person's profile picture speaks volumes, and I think the little image of Mark does just that.

But here's a perfect example illustrating his hyprocrisy. He's got a blog, last updated a few weeks before Lauren's ouster from the party (which he pushed for, per Breitbart):

https://archive.is/lUVWL

Quote:

I will be the first one to tell Lauren that her views on the issue of feminism and rape are misguided and her actions in support of those views are aggressive and wrong, however I am proud to fight beside her in the battle for liberty, and I will not support any effort to revoke her nomination. In the Libertarian Party, we don't petition the leader to revoke the candidacy of a fellow candidate we don't like, we argue with them until we are blue in the face, and in the end, we accept that we are on the same side, fighting for the same ideal--liberty for Canadians, and equal rights for all.

Not only was he literally "mansplaining" to her (hah!) about "feminism and rape", but that paragraph was proven to be a lie since he ultimately didn't support her. What a joke.

Well, at leas she's back and he's gone to the trashbin of twitter.

[HighSpeed_LowDrag]

Conservatives now slipping to third place:

CTV News

Quote:

As the marathon federal election campaign passes its halfway mark, it appears that Stephen Harper’s Conservatives are losing support while Tom Mulcair’s New Democrats have pulled into the lead. And Justin Trudeau’s Liberals are close behind the NDP.

According to the new nightly tracking from Nanos Research -- conducted for CTV News and The Globe and Mail -- if an election were held over the Labour Day weekend, it would be a two-way race between the NDP and the Liberals.

The latest survey shows each party’s support at:

• NDP: 32.7 per cent (up 2.3 pertage points from last week)

• Conservatives: 26.2 per cent (down 2.3 points from last week)

• Liberals: 30.8 per cent (up 0.6 percentage points from last week)

This represents a notable five-point drop for the Conservatives compared to just one month ago, when the Tories sat at 31.2-per-cent support – a blow to a party that began the race in first place.

That support has slid over the past month as revelations emerged out of the Duffy trial, the economy slipped into a recession and the Tory leader was faced with tough questions over his government’s response to the Syrian refugee crisis.

"They’ve had a problem or an issue managing the Syrian refugee affair, and I think that was the emotional trigger for a lot of Canadians," Nik Nanos, chair of Nanos Research, told CTV News. "It looks like it was the tipping point."

According to the latest numbers, the NDP lead in Quebec and B.C., while the Liberals lead in Atlantic Canada and Ontario. The Conservatives hold the highest support in the Prairies.

"There is not a lot of growth potential for the Conservatives," Nanos said. "They don’t have a lot of second-choice voters out there, so they really got to energize their campaign."

As for Canadians’ preferred prime minister, survey results show Mulcair holds a slight lead over Trudeau, as Harper continued a month of falling popularity.

• Mulcair: 29.8 per cent

• Harper: 25.5 per cent

• Trudeau: 28.2 per cent

Trudeau is up 5 percentage points from last week, but the question remains as to whether he can keep up the momentum, Nanos said.

“The Liberals are very well-positioned because they are the second choice of New Democrat voters. They’re also the second choice of Conservative voters, which means if Trudeau can create some momentum he’s going to draw from both of the other parties,” he said.

Asked which leader has qualities to be a good political leader, respondents ranked Mulcair in first (62.8%), Trudeau in second (53%) and Harper in third (49.3%).

The numbers come at a critical point in the campaign – Labour Day – when many Canadians head back to work and have traditionally paid closer attention to the election issues.

Personally, I believe that unless Harper gets another majority government, this will likely be his last election as Conservative leader - whether he gets a minority or not.

[DjembaDjemba]

As the economy slips into stagnation the conservatives' chances of forming a majority also slips. The only thing the conservatives had going for them was that they're perceived as strong stalwarts of the economy. If they lose that they're left with little else. Canadians as a whole are too liberal to ever hand them a victory over culture wars.