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anyone planning to vote in the federal election (canadian)?

Discussion in 'Chit Chat' started by alan t, Apr 5, 2011.

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  1. Artemicion

    Artemicion
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    In my riding i have so many...old people living here...not that i'm labeling all of them...but they all tend to have...conservative tendencies...>_<
     
    #41 Artemicion, May 3, 2011
  2. xequar

    xequar
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    Yep, gotta love that 60 percent voted for NOT Harper, and yet Harper gets a majority government... Fucked up.

    Also, you all have my deepest condolences on this disaster. Here's to hoping Canada can survive a Harper majority.
     
    #42 xequar, May 3, 2011
  3. endless poetry

    endless poetry
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    Canadians have survived Mulroney, we can survive Harper.

    The 905 and the 416 have been deeply penetrated by the tories... surprising that Scarborough would even think of turning Orange...

    Then again the entire province of Québec turned Orange =S

    Weird because my friends are a good mix of tories grits and dippers. But the NDP has never been elected anywhere near my area ... until this year that is...
     
    #43 endless poetry, May 3, 2011
  4. Chandra

    Chandra
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    Welcome to Canada's version of the Bush Years.
     
    #44 Chandra, May 3, 2011
  5. Totoro

    Totoro
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    I am terrified at the Harper gov't having a majority. If it was a minority I wouldn't be :\
     
    #45 Totoro, May 3, 2011
  6. Eric

    Eric
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    Let's look at the positive side of things. It'll probably make for a more efficient government. :/
     
    #46 Eric, May 3, 2011
  7. stageone

    stageone
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    Don't know if I want to cry or swear :frowning2:
     
    #47 stageone, May 3, 2011
  8. Mirko

    Mirko
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    It's called First Past the Post Electoral System, where voters vote for candidates who were elected by party members and party supporters to run in constituencies (i.e. one constituency = one seat in the House of Commons). :slight_smile:

    The candidate with most of the votes wins a seat and represents the constituency and the party in the House of Commons (Canada's parliament). It is quite possible to form a majority government with under 40% of the popular vote. In some constituencies, the difference between the votes for the candidates is less than 100 votes. In other constituencies, the differences in the votes are anywhere between 1,000 and 10,000 votes.

    If a party has enough regional support (and especially in the larger provinces like Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec) it could form a majority government without support from the other parts of Canada. Throughout the early to late 1990s, the Liberal Party was able to form majority governments because most of its support came from Ontario, which as the largest province, always had a good 1/3 of the total available seats in the House of Commons. The other seats/constituencies they were able to pick up in other parts of Canada, gave them enough to form a majority government.

    Canada has inherited the electoral system from Britain and has never changed it. There have been ideas floating around on how to change the electoral system to better reflect the wishes of the voters. But given Canada's political landscape and party system, changing the electoral system would actually cause political instability at this point, as no party dares to go into a coalition with another party, something which parties would need to do if the electoral system would be changed to a more proportional representative system.
     
    #48 Mirko, May 3, 2011
  9. xequar

    xequar
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    I understand the system just fine. That said, it's a dumb fuck system, since although you're technically voting for your own MP, you're really voting for a party and a party's agenda, especially when the parties can force their MPs to vote as a bloc. If the US had multiple parties, FPTP would make a bit more sense than it does in Canada or Britain (which votes tomorrow on whether to abolish FPTP in favor of an Alternative Vote scheme), as in the US the parties have no official mechanism to force a particular Rep or Senator to vote in lock-step with the party, and we elect the national leader entirely seperately from our Congress (since realistically, the Prime Minister is the national leader).

    Anyways, remember the US 2001-2005 under W and a Republican congress? Remember what a debacle that was? That's what Canada just voted into office for itself. Good luck, you're going to need it!
     
    #49 xequar, May 4, 2011
  10. Chandra

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    Anybody who voted Liberal/NDP/Green/Bloc should go here:

    Leadnow | We are the Majority.

    (Unfortunately they're having technical issues atm, but I think it's very, very important for us to make our voices heard once it's up and running again...)

    This is what I had to say about the situation on another forum:

     
    #50 Chandra, May 4, 2011
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