So there's an election going on...one signifiacntly less existing than the one going on to the south of us.

I personally would like to see a left-wing party back in control, whether it be the Liberals, NDP or Greens doesn't matter much to me....whichever has the best shot at beating Harper. Though to be honest, even the re-eclection of Stephen Harper wouldn't be a complete tragedy...he has moved much closer to the centre of the spectrum in his search for a majority.

Though to be honest it still scares me a little that he might in fact get a majority. The only reason i think he hasn't been so bad is because he cant really do anything with a minority parliament. We've seen the effects of deregulation and privitization in the states, and I really would not like to see Canada move, even if only a small amount, closer to that type of system.

But overall, unlike in the US, the country is not at any sort of major crossroads. The country is not at the brink of a depression, and the government is not on the brink of bankruptcy and borrowing from the Chinese like our neighbours to the south are doing.

The only real difference on a major issue I see is with respect to the environment. Harper's record has been an embarassement, which is why I really dont want to see him win again.

However...since our system allows for 60% of the country to vote for a party to the left of the conservatives, yet the conservatives still win the election, its very likely that will be the outcome again.

Im not really into politics, but from what i gather, the less we hear about the prime minister... he seems to be doing a decent job. nothing too big has come about and life goes on as normal.

Just please do NOT think about NDP. They may have good ideas but they came into power in ontario once.. my mom said they forced nurses to only work a certain number of days, making everyone understaffed and with less wage. so balls. they have no idea how to run anything.

I figure conservative and liberal are both close enough to the middle of the spectrum that i dont really care who wins

*shrug*

Originally Posted by micadjems

Im not really into politics, but from what i gather, the less we hear about the prime minister... he seems to be doing a decent job. nothing too big has come about and life goes on as normal.

Just please do NOT think about NDP. They may have good ideas but they came into power in ontario once.. my mom said they forced nurses to only work a certain number of days, making everyone understaffed and with less wage. so balls. they have no idea how to run anything.

I figure conservative and liberal are both close enough to the middle of the spectrum that i dont really care who wins

*shrug*

sigh, that is unfortunate.. especially because i am in nursing. however, for the most part hamilton is a NDP dominated city.. with the exception of the Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale riding. That being said, they may have changed by now, who knows.

As for the liberals and the conservatives, they have very different policies, no matter how moderate they are perceived to be. Among other things, I'd like a funding boost in public transportation projects and the arts - voting conservative wouldn't make sense on that front.

One thing I'm curious about that doesn't get much media attention is each party's stance on copyright law. The bill the Conservatives were proposing was horrible. I would like to see what the other parties would do instead.

Parties change their platforms with each coming election, so saying that once upon a time this party did that isn't really fair to any of them. All of the parties in power have broken promises and made mistakes. Why not look into their current platforms and see what's going on for this election?

Get informed before you make your decision.

Yeah, but considering that was the only time they were in power, and they royally screwed it up -- you cant just expect people to ignore that

p.s. did anyone attend the debate at MDCL today? how was it?

People definitely shouldn't ignore it, I'm sure there are lot of people that would have a hard time forgetting it. I just think students should be looking into the histories of all the parties and the party platforms themselves and make an informed choice from there.

The debate at MDCL had a really good turnout (students, staff, and community members were present), it was a full house and a lot of good questions were asked.

When the NDP ran Ontario, they were not completely responsible for all of the bad things that happened. The economy was already in a terrible phase.

The federal NDP is also significantly different than the provincial NDP, and the federal NDP have moved towards the centre this election in an attempt to try and unseat the liberals as the official opposition.

I peronally hope Stephane Dion wins this one, because I, unlike many voters, am not so greedy as to vote solely based on my personal finances. I recognize that if we dont do soemthing about the environmental crisis, in the future our personal finances will be the least of our worries. Say what you must about the "green shift" being just another new tax...it is a necessary tax.

I'm really interested in the US election, but I have no knowledge of any of the party's ideals here. So I can't give an honest answer to whom I'd rather see in power. Chretien was the best though (is that how you spell it?). Now I don't even know anyone cause we keep changing leaders so often. Harper is similar to Bush in some ways which is not good, but I know nothing about Dion, except that he's french. I see all the negative ads about him on TV, but where are his ads? Even though I can learn about him on the internet, he has seemingly no presence. There was a debate in MDCL? When did this happen? I know it's our job to be informed, but if they want to win they should be advertising their main points and philosophy loudly for everyone to hear. Nonetheless, I hate all the negative ads out their. I really don't like Harper's ad just talking about Dion. What are his policies?

Can Obama just come to our country instead?

i find some of the attack ads hilarious because of how unprofessional/uncreative they are.

has anyone seen the one with dion and the slot machine? hahah. that one made me laugh for a good while. the unfunny part is that people are actually influenced by such ads.

personally the liberal's tax sounds like a suck up to metropolitan areas with lots of alternative options. what are rural ppl suppose to do, if they have to drive 15 mins just to get to that gas pump in the first place?

I personally think that the increasing gas price will be what causes a greener shift naturally as ppl try to find cheaper alternatives. money rules all after all. if there are cheaper alternatives, such as hybrid and smart cars, ppl will go for it. they should look into making the purchace of smart cars cheaper than normal, gas run cars instead. especially considering the problems that the auto industry has been in lately. (and yes I ralize that they arent that expensive in the first place but it seems we need more incentive still.)

I also wish that they would advertize their platforms more rather than advertizing the opostition's faults but that's a rather fuitile hope at this point.

I also didnt know there was something in MDCL, is there a website which shows a calander of upcomming events anywhere?

The MSU website has a calendar of upcoming events. There was also an article posted on macinsiders on Monday advertising the debate in MDCL.

http://www.msumcmaster.ca/calendar/allEvents.htm

http://www.macinsiders.com/showthread.php?t=1977 2

I just think the most confusing and frustrating part of our electoral system is that we dont vote directly for the guy we want. let's say you want liberals in power but you really want a conservative or whatever in your area? youre screwed!

i hate that.

Ya our electoral system is just stupid. Because we dont have proportional representation, some people's votes count more than others.

Consider that the Green part has 10% support nationally, while the Bloq Quebeqois has about 8% support. Meanwhile the BQ got 51 MP's elected to parliament, while the green party got zero. Makes absolutely no sense.