Comments on: Election Date Set

By: anonymous

anonymous — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 20:32:00 +0000

I used to love elections, now I dread them, as I expect to be disappointed in my fellow voters lately. I still vote and still expect to immerse myself in electoral maps and statistical results though.

By: Barb Saylor

Barb Saylor — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 16:47:05 +0000

Passion for your position may be clouding your perception and judgement, Emmet. I think it’s wise that we don’t debate, as your anger will not allow for reasonable discussion.
If the centre-left could unite, that would make for a real contest.

By: Barb Saylor

Barb Saylor — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 15:20:54 +0000

Clarity, Emmet: it’s still lacking, and ascribing motive to me doesn’t help the problem. (Did you have any argument with Moon Daddy’s reinterpretation?)
A reading of history should make anyone cautious about coalition governments. An awareness of Canadian history and of the intentions of the Bloc Quebecois should make anyone leery of trusting them as a coalition partner.
The centre-right parties united successfully; the centre-left, it seems, cannot, and the separatists remain a stumbling block(no pun intended). It seems that the current government’s track record hasn’t been bad enough to push the centre-left together; their coalition represents failure, and is a poor hook on which to hang your “anybody but the Conservatives” hat.

By: Emmet Matheson

Emmet Matheson — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 02:17:20 +0000

Come on, Barb, now you’re deliberately misreading. I did not say that a coalition itself would be intrinsically Canadian. Perhaps I should have more precisely said “could” instead of “would”, but I doubt that would have scanned any better for you.
But if you want to talk about “short-term goals, self-interest, trolling for pet portfolios, and very tough bargaining”, let’s get down to it. Where do we begin? There’s the two-time Prorogation of Parliament, the jettisoning of Harper’s own fixed election date in 2008, Bruce Carson, Bev Oda, in-and-out election financing, the attempted bribery of Chuck Cadman, the $18-30 billion fighter jets, or half a decade of ineffectual Parliament.
I don’t see how a coalition gov’t that actually enters into an agreement to work with elected Members of Parliament to do the business of the nation could possibly be any more unstable the last five years of Harper and his gang of goofs.

By: Barb Saylor

Barb Saylor — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 01:49:22 +0000

Even with that interpretation, Moon Daddy, a coalition is still not intrinsically Canadian. Ask the French, Italians, Israelis or Australians.

By: Moon Daddy

Moon Daddy — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 21:27:30 +0000

I think what Emmet meant was that a coalition government is more intrinsically Canadian because it would represent a broader swatch of the voting public, and not that we intrinsically have a tendancy to support a coalition.

By: Barb Saylor

Barb Saylor — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 20:20:58 +0000

With all due respect, Emmet, I don’t think the problem is my reading.
If you want a really depressing look at coalition governments, read William Shirer’s “The Collapse of the Third Republic: An Inquiry into the Fall of France in 1940″.

By: Emmet Matheson

Emmet Matheson — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 00:30:28 +0000

You misread me again, Barb. Check my non-restrictive clause.

By: Barb Saylor

Barb Saylor — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 00:23:40 +0000

Coalition governments are more the European than the Canadian way – hardly intrinsic to us – and there’s a lot more short-term goals, self-interest, trolling for pet portfolios, and very tough bargaining than there is co-operation and shared values.

By: Greg Roch

Greg Roch — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 22:19:25 +0000

It’s a monday! Nobody likes mondays.