11 posts tagged “canada”
Go here to check out a reporter who connected the dots between . . . Dion's interview with CTV last October in the last week of the election campaign,. . . the airing and criticism of the whole interview by Mike Duffy, . . . the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council's ruling on the two pieces, and . . . Duffy's appointment to the Senate as a Conservative.
Sighs.
I remember back in October being bummed about the fact that Dion wasn't given a fair shake for, to me, really superficial reasons. Like the fact that he's very well lettered, experienced and respected academic and politician. Heaven forbid we have someone intelligent in the PMO! Sure, folks may not have agreed with his politics or ideas - fine - but that's different than these kind of barbs.
I had heard of the CBSC's ruling a few weeks ago and noticed that is was underplayed. CTV should have at least hung their heads in shame.
h/t - Constant Vigilance
Cheers.
Man, Canadian politics is getting exciting.
Yep, that's right. I used "Canadian politics" and "exciting" in the same sentence without sarcasm.
I know!
Sure, it's exciting in a geeky, current event watching, this-is-how-a-parliamentary-democracy-can-work kind of way. But still.
Today's latest is that the Liberals & NDP have been able to form a coalition with Dion at the helm in the event of a non-confidence vote and the GG turns to them instead of sending us back to the polls. Whee! Unless, of course, Harper decides to porouge the session, which would either only put off the confidence vote, or else give them a chance to fiddle with their budget/economic package, the bone of contention in this whole thing.
I know that this whole deal is not without its challenges and questions. Many people don't like the fact that the coalition would be dependent upon the Bloc, given it's basis for existence, but I'm not too fussed over that point. Maybe I should be. However, it seems to me that the goals of the Bloc these days have far more to do with looking out for Quebec instead of succeeding.
Folks are also pointing out that they didn't vote for Dion as PM, which is absolutely true. However, 60 some percent of Canadians DID NOT vote for Harper... but that's how things work in a parliamentary democracy. First past the post and all. Interestingly enough, a coalition gov't taking over in these circumstances... well, that's also the way things can work in a parliamentary democracy, too.
I keep coming back around to the fact that the Conservatives are a minority government. Good on them for getting to steer the boat, but they don't have complete control over all the oars and so they shouldn't be acting like they do. Everyone should be, you know, COMPROMISING.
What really gets to me is the stuff the Conservatives tried to pass with a minority government, (taking away civil servants right to strike and removing the per vote funding to parties, for example). If that's what they try as a minority, I am apprehensive as to the way the wind would blow if they had a majority.
Right now the next 'move' is supposed to come with the vote on Monday the 8th. Things are looking pretty interesting on the Hill.
Voting was one of a couple of things to do for today's outing. I had Peaches snugly wrapped and Gus riding in his stroller, equipped with snack, water, his cars and blanket. We first went to pick up some baby clothes for a good friend who just had a baby boy on the weekend. I thoroughly enjoyed it since I never spent any time simply shopping for clothes for my own kids; folks have been very generous with either new or used stuff and so it just hasn't been necessary.
Anyway, on our return trip we went to our assigned polling station which also happens to be a church. (Which prompted Chris to remark earlier, "I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with this - mixing church and state.") I suppose it is pretty common - churches usually have large spaces that are (relatively) unoccupied during the week. I think the most common space I've voted in has been elementary school gyms.
Just in case you weren't sure where to go, they had handy signs.
While things weren`t busy, they were steady. My husband said it was the same when he went to vote before going to work around 7:30. After presenting ID and my voter card, I was directed to one of 6 tables set up where my name was located and crossed off the list and I was given my ballot. I re-arranged the stroller so Gus could see me; he seemed a little overwhelmed at being in this new place. From behind the carboard screen, I hesitated before marking my ballot.
It was like that last time - I wasn't sure as I took my ballot. I thought I was mildly certain this time, but found it wasn't so. But I made my mark and found myself wishing I had voted differently later. Who knows: any other day, any other time, I may have voted differently. But there you are. At least I don't feel like it was a wrong vote, per se, I just felt like I had options - both among the parties and in how I could vote, that is, by party (and their platform), by party leader, by representative, strategically, by issue.
It's times like these that I really wish we had proportional representation...
How do you decide which way to vote?
Here's me and my voting support team on our way out.
Hey all you Canucks!
The poles have been open on the left coast for almost an hour now - that means 11 hours until we can start hearing the results. That also means you have all day to take your voters card and a piece of picture ID down to your nearest polling station and cast a ballot.
Men and women died so we could take part in this freedom and responsibility. And while your coming and going, be thankful you can do so without fear of reprisal, unlike other 'democracies' in this world.
Cheers!
nb: This is for interested Canucks - and since y'all (of voting age) should be getting out to vote, that means ALL of you - and any other interested parties in other countries.
Anyone else hear of this site?
The impetus for this site came about for those who care about climate change issues and are concerned that the Harper government is the worst things to address it. Given this, they've set up a page that suggests how one should strategically vote in their respective riding in order to avoid placing a Conservative candidate in power. In essence, it helps avoid vote splitting.
I just heard an interview with the founder of the site, and while it sounds a bit like Danny William's ABC campaign, the founder claims it has very little to do with a specific political party, per se, and more to do with establishing a government they believe will address environmental issues more effectively.
Right now, the riding I live in is listed as a "Red Hot Riding" on their homepage.
I popped in my postal code and learned what I already figured: that the NDP candidate has a good shot in this riding. We've gone Conservative for the past couple of years but the incumbent isn't up for re-election and the newbie is an unknown. The NDP candidate had a decent showing in the last election coming in second so one may figure he's got a shot.
The NDP federal party leader, Jack Layton has even shown up in our (relatively) small city for a day where he took questions from the crowd and later attended a hocky game. Guess he and the campaign organizers figure Crawford has a good shot, too, if he's willing to spend some time here.
Now all of this is really interesting, but if you want to take it seriously, you have to be willing to vote strategically. (Some like to consider only their local representative when they vote, or the party leader, or the party itself, or the platform/ideology, etc.) I'd say the past indicates that that is something Canadians are willing to do. Time will tell... actually, 8 days time, to be precise!
So what do you think?
What did you think about the Vice Presidential debate?
There was a debate?
Ah - just kidding. I knew that, though I didn't realize it was the two Vices going at it.
Instead, I watched our own federal leaders debate instead. (We head to the polls on Oct. 14th.)
I missed parts of it which isn't surprising because the debate ran between 6 and 8pm, smack in the middle of Peaches fussy time and Gus's 30 min bedtime preamble. However, I was very glad to have taken the time where I could.
I thought the opposition leaders did a pretty good job of calling Harper (and each other at times) to account. I was especially pleased that they continued to harp on (on pun intended) the Conservatives lack of a platform. I was more impressed with Dion than I have ever been: he really seemed to step up and lay things out. So far he's always seemed so weak to me and if I've supported him from time to time, it's been out of pity. I suppose that's why Harper is campaigning on 'leadership.' Layton always looks and sounds confident but something about him just rubbed me the wrong way, and I usually get a kick out of they guy, whether or not I agree with his particular stances. I was impressed by May - she seemed to know her stuff - though I really wish she wouldn't talk through everyone else. I know she wasn't the only one, but it grated on me. Oh, but I did think it was fantastic that she brought up Proportional Representation. Good one, May.
Oh, and if you get the chance, read some liveblogging that happened during the debate. (This is also how I got some feedback on the French language debate 2 days ago.) Check out Macleans.ca/blog for their input. I got more than a few chuckles out of it.
Advance polls have already begun.
Time's ticking.
I don't care how you vote - just that you get yourself educated and get out there and DO IT.
Cheers.
The other day I posted about how I was ticked off that the Green Party leader wasn't being allowed to participate in the federal leaders debate. First, I was ticked off that the broadcasters consortium 'asked' the other leaders in the first place, and second, did the consortium really think that the federal party leaders wouldn't show up to the debate? (Imagine this: a debate in which just the Green Party leader showed up - yeah, that would go over really well with the public!)
And then the leaders were pretty moronic in their responses as well.
Anyway.
It's official: Elizabeth May will be present at the federal leaders debates.
The thing I really love about all of this is that things changed because of a groundswell of public and media pressure. The CBC.ca's initial on-line article had over 1800 comments on the story, the majority in favour of allowing Elizabeth May to participate. Between protesters and media questions, Jack Layton was getting downright annoyed and finally caved. And so it went.
When it's easy to be cynical about voting, it's nice to see things moving in the direction that the public wishes. Makes one feel almost democratic*. ;)
*To my American friends - this is not to be confused with the Democratic Party. :)
subtitled: It's about bloody time.
Today, the Government of Canada finally got its act together and extended an apology to the First Nations Peoples of Canada for the policy of forced assimilation of its people and children through residential schools.
You can read excerpts of Prime Minister Harper's speech here. Check around the CBC site if you want more background info.
For all it's past shame in this regard, Canada now has a day to be proud of.
Some will say it's sufficient, some will say it isn't enough. But it's another step. And an important one.
| What American accent do you have? (Best version so far) North Central What people call the "Minnesota accent." Sounds almost Canadian. You may have even been asked if you were from Canada before.
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| Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests. |
Courtesy of: http://www.youthink.com/quiz.asp?action=take&quiz_id=9827
And I first found this from grrrace's vox.
I sound like a Canadian? Shocking! ;)
One year during college one of my roomies was from Colorado (Nikki) and the other from Alberta (Rebecca). And Nikki said that I sounded strange, whereas Rebecca sounded more 'normal' - to her ears anyway! :)
I love the differences across Canada too - from sounds to vocab. That was a good year or 2 of school for learning about that sort of thing - both language and culture. For example, I learned what a bunny hug is and realized I owned one, discovered that there are regional differences between guy's underwear (ginch or gonch) and that people in Ontario play Euchre and in Saskatchewan the card game of choice appears to be Rook.
My mom is travelling across Canada this year. I can't wait to hear more of that kind of thing.
Wonder why it intrigues me so?
