Canada re-elects Stephen Harper.

[hutch--]

I am not sure whether to congratulate Canadians or sympathise with them but I hope it works out OK.

[Tight_Coder_Ex]

I am not sure whether to congratulate Canadians or sympathise with them but I hope it works out OK.

At least with the majority it will go horribly right or horribly wrong, but we will know who to blame.  Harper is like a snake in the grass and you don't know your in danger until it's way too late.  BUT we shall see!

[donkey]

Pretty much agree with you there Tight_Coder_Ex, hopefully they stop spending like drunken sailors this time.

[baltoro]

:eek ...Lots of anxiety down here in the United States over political developments in Canada,... :eek

[Tight_Coder_Ex]

:eek ...Lots of anxiety down here in the United States over political developments in Canada,... :eek

At least Quebecers have spoken loud and clear, they are tired of this seperatist shit, so just for that reason this election was worthwhile. 

[Bill Cravener]

Growing up, family, friends and I, use to make frequent trips to Canada. Often to bring back fireworks hidden in hard to find places in our vehicles. Why hell, the ex-wife and I even honeymooned there in Canada. Now you have to get a passport to travel up there and I don't have one, nor do I care to have to get one, thus no more trips to beautiful Canada.

[donkey]

At least Quebecers have spoken loud and clear, they are tired of this seperatist shit, so just for that reason this election was worthwhile. 

I'm a Liberal but the Bloc results made it a good day, the fact that Duceppe lost his seat pleases me to no end. Good to see that slimy little toad out of politics.

[baltoro]

In this morning's Los Angeles Times was this informative article: Canadian Politics Just Got Interesting. I read the entire article, hoping for some enlightenment.
What ? I'm a little confused,...what happened ? :eek
...Canadian politics may be a little boring,...but, in contrast,...American politics,...is COMPLETELY HOPELESS,...a CIRCUS OF DEMENTED EGOMANIACS,... :eek

[donkey]

Well, from one party to the next not much changes, universal health care is pretty much untouchable, issues that seem to be perennial in the US like abortion and gay marriage are not really brought up much here except to say that the issues have been decided and will not be reopened. So in reality, yes the elections here are mostly non-contentious. This one was marked by a repulsive decent into American style innuendo campaigns, but that has happened before and usually the party that does it pays for it in the next election and since anyone advertising has to register with the party they support they could be found liable for what they say and spend by Elections Canada. So yeah, the conservatives (who are just to the left of your Democrats) won as was expected, what wasn't expected was the rise of the NDP, a very left wing party, they are now the official opposition and the almost complete wiping out of the separatist Bloc Quebecois.

As for issues, there really weren't any, the country's economy is doing well enough, there was no real collapse in the banking sector here, the conservatives spend way to much having turned a surplus federal budget into a deficit but that was ignored for whatever reason. Harper's conservatives were in a bit of legal trouble but voters tend to accept that politicians are not angels so that was a non-issue. Basically it comes down to Harper didn't completely screw up the country while he was in a minority so he was given a majority, the separatist cause in Quebec has been dead for years and that was reflected in the vote, the liberals managed to find two leaders in a row that nobody liked and they paid for it, and the NDP filled in the gaps.

[Bill Cravener]

By the gods, you folks up there in Canada seem so civilized!!

[dedndave]

in Canada, a big issue is French-speaking vs English-speaking   :P
the French-speaking population is primarily in the east (Quebec province)
the English-speaking citizens in the west have to pay a lot of money for signs in French - lol

we see the same thing here - only it's Spanish and, hey, Spanish is hardly an "official" language in this country
we have to dole out a lot of doe for signs so that the illegal immagrants can read them

[donkey]

Hi Dave,

French is only an official language at the Federal level, western provinces don't pay for French signs and it is quite rare to see them outside of Quebec and New Brunswick (Quebec has only French signs and NB has bilingual, all federal areas ie parks have bilingual). Some communities outside of those two provinces have bilingual signs, generally those with a high ratio of French speakers, mostly in northern Ontario and Manitoba. The federal government does have all information available in French and English but since 30% of the population is French that is to be expected, however there is no requirement for provincial governments to do the same. I think it has really been a long time since the language issue has come up (the 70's), most Canadians accept the status-quo or have no opinion on it. No, its really difficult here to find a galvanizing issue, for the most part people are ambivalent about government and politics since the institutions and policies we care about are generally untouchable, for example it would be political suicide to attempt to dismantle universal health care and the government would definitely fall if it even made a suggestion to the effect. The voters here aren't as polarized as they are in the US, the press is generally well behaved and the kooks are marginalized and rarely get their 5 minutes of fame, all in all its makes for pretty boring elections but I like it that way.

I guess if you had to pick a "big" issue it would always be universal single payer health care, never to dismantle it but how each party plans to make it better.

[baltoro]

EDGAR,
Thanks for the intel. I know you have a good sense of humor,...so, when I say something like:

...Canadian politics may be a little boring,...

,...you know I'm kidding, right?
In all seriousness, your description of Canada makes it sound like Shangri-La,...and, I mean the kind of Shangri-La that only Hollywood could come up with,...
I'm surprised that you don't have a tsunami of disgruntled ex-Californians vacationing on long-expired Visas,...laying waste to your unspoiled paradise.
You should hire a number of Public Relations firms to create fictitious stories about economic train-wrecks, political debacles, and, internecine warfare to export to our voracious news media,...so that Americans won't load up their RVs and head north for conquest.
...Just an idea,...bet you've thought of it already, haven't you ???

[donkey]

Well, we're called boring all the time and its generally true. There are enough stories about Canada in the US media already, they like to use our health care system as their whipping boy and like to label us as socialists but I can't think of much I would change about our country. A buddy of mine used to say that Canada is the world's most invisible country.

[oex]

They like to use our health care system as their whipping boy and like to label us as socialists but I can't think of much I would change about our country.

Dont worry about it Edgar.... We call them morons because of theirs :lol

A buddy of mine used to say that Canada is the world's most invisible country.

Seriously if it wasnt for 'Due South', a sun out of a popular sci-fi series (Andromeda), oil sands, a big splodge of landmass above the US and a hard as nails assembly programer I probably wouldnt know Canada existed