Separatists Hold Canada Inches From Evil

Bushist neocon Stephen Harper and his so-called "Conservative" Party emerged from Canada's federal election Tuesday with another minority government, but in a stronger position than before the election. A record number of Canadians slept through the festivities.

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Comments

Too Much, Too Much.....

Television.
I believe that nothing would have more impact for the good than people, en masse, throwing out their televisions.

McJ's picture

Vive le Quebec

I was so angry watching the election coverage I wanted to throw something at the television. I had to switch to following it online. sad
You hit the nail on the head with this comment:
"It's a far cry from the nationalist conservative philosophy which most Canadians think of when they see the "Conservative" banners waving."
Canadians don't equate Harper's conservative party with the right wing politics in the states. As far as I can tell, they still believe it is old style conservatism, good fiscal management, small government, blah, blah, blah... They are as misinformed about what is really going on as their American neighbours.
I am not really that surprised about the results and I am thankful that Harper didn't get his majority.

From the chatter on the blogs I take it the "Alberta Conservatives" are pretty pissed that Quebec dashed Canada's hope for a strong central government. laughing out loud laughing out loud They don't understand why they weren't more grateful for the money and favours Harper was throwing at them. He even said he loved Quebec. They think Quebec didn't vote for Harper because they are a bunch of whiners and that they should leave Canada if they don't like it 'Alberta Conservative' style. I say Vive le Quebec! Thank goodness they think freedom is important! My theory is they are better informed then the rest of English speaking Canada because they dislike and distrust the federal government so much they pay attention to what it is doing (at least as far as Quebec is concerned). Not to mention that they hate the American government even more and do not want to be "be swallowed up by the United States in a North American Union". Quebec has been passionately opposed to the Afghanistan War and our continuing presence there. They see Harpers proposed funding cuts to the arts as an attack on their cultural freedoms. They have pushed back against the coming police state by opposing Harper's 'tough on crime' initiatives as apparently, they are not in favour of throwing our children in jails.

It is disappointing, to say the least, the NDP did not do better in British Columbia, where I live. There is an Eastern/Western divide in Canadian politics. I don't think westerners really warm to Jack Layton, no matter what he says, they see him as a Bay Street boy unlike Harper who is from the west and 'one of us'. In my riding we didn't have a Conservative candidate for the first 2 or 3 weeks after the election was announced. Then they parachuted in some women that no one knows and had never heard of. She threw up a fews signs and got her mug on TV, but didn't show up for any debates etc. with the other candidates. She knows nothing about the issues in our riding and doesn't even seem to know much about her own party's platforms. She followed the winning conservative strategy: Silence is Golden and Duct Tape is Silver. The NDP candidate was a well known local, a teacher of human resources at the university here. He's a decent man, active in the community and a strong supporter of the working people. He lost to this woman no one knows by 4000 votes! One of his supporters summed it up nicely when he was asked what he thought happened. He said "I guess people would vote for a monkey if they were running for the conservative party."

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/election-2008/story.html?id=883026
"I set it down,
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain..." -- Shakespeare, Hamlet, I, v

How do they count the votes in your riding?

Are we still talking about paper ballots counted by hand in public?

In other words, did she really get those votes? or are other forces at work here?

McJ's picture

Yes we are

Yes, we still have paper ballots. Voting is a very simple process here. If you are a registered voter you get a card sent to you in the mail telling you where you go to vote. If you are not registered you can register on voting day by showing two pieces of Id (with proof of your address). You go to the appropriate station (based on your last name), show your ID, they mark your name off their voters list and give you a small folded paper ballot with the candidates names on them. You mark a X in the circle next to the candidates name you are voting for, fold it and bring it back to the station. They rip the ballot number off and you put it in the box. There are scrutineers (sp??) watching at most voting stations for anything suspicious (and I am not sure what that would be) and they stay after to watch the count. Ballots are counted by hand after the polls have closed and the results (and all the ballots) are sealed in an envelope and taken to the election headquarters for the riding where all the votes are tallied. I have worked a federal election and the counting is very strictly regulated and everything has to add up. They will keep you there all night until everyone gets it right. smiling That's it. There are not a lot of places for vote fixing to take place but I'm not saying it couldn't happen and I'm not sure how they keep track of everything at the election headquarters.
I remarked to one of my daughters that if we had voted on electronic voting machines I would have been sure they had fixed the vote! Frankly, I was stunned with the results here. I still can't believe it.

"I set it down,
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain..." -- Shakespeare, Hamlet, I, v

Rite on WP, McJ

Harper's policies only make sense when you add the Bush NeoCon element. Then they snap into focus. His economics are more palatable than Bush's but wait until Harper has a majority.

What was it you said a while ago WP... perception control and vote rigging? I haven't about vote rigging in Canada, but Harper has perception control well in hand. Not as bold as Bush et al, but its the Canadian version.

Although, I did hear a classic rock radio station the other day spouting off about how old fashioned the voting booths were, what with their paper ballots and cardboard enclosures in this day of internet. So maybe vote rigging is next.

The prisons are being privatized. My old company is helping out. So that's good.

Oh, and the Police can do anything they want up here, according to a report on the Special Investigations Unit. That's the police who investigate police questionable doing. The report slammed them for laying almost no charges, which it had to, but it was still toothlessly lacking in anything that anyone could take to a judge.

And we've convicted a kid who didn't know what the hell was going on with Terrorism.

Bush would be proud of Harper if only Harper could get that vote rigging thing going.

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