2015 Elections

[Vrede too]

Liberals win Canadian election, ousting Harper: TV projects

... The projected win ends the Conservatives' nine-year run in power and reflected a political shift away from Harper's brand of fiscal and cultural conservatism....

The Liberals' win marks a swing toward a more multilateral approach in global politics by the Canadian government, which has distanced itself from the United Nations in recent years.

Trudeau has said he will repair Canada’s cool relations with the Obama administration, withdraw Canada from the combat mission against Islamic State militants in favor of humanitarian aid and training, and tackle climate change.

The former teacher took charge of the party just two years ago and guided it out of the political wilderness with a pledge of economic stimulus and stirring appeals for a return to social liberalism....

Trudeau has pledged to run small budget deficits and spend on infrastructure to stimulate economic growth, which has been anemic for years. He has also promised to raise taxes on high-income Canadians and reduce them for the middle class....

Congrats. Your take, rstrong?

[rstrong]

1) It's not really a shift to the left. The NDP on the left lost big too, but it's not really a shift to the center either. It's about a party and Prime Minister who have been in power for ten years and were well past their Best Before date. It was anti-Harper, pro-change.

2) ...Although anti-science policies hurt Harper and the Conservatives, and their recent anti-Muslim race-baiting backfired on them badly.

3) I could easily have voted for the Conservative candidate in my riding. He's a paraplegic, and thus reliably pro healthcare. But I didn't like him enough to give him what would also be a vote for Harper. Plus the Liberal who just replaced him is a doctor.

4) I like Trudeau (Liberal). I like his policies. I think he has good advisors and ran a good campaign. And yes, I liked his dad, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. But there's NO WAY IN HELL that I was going to vote for an American-style family dynasty. (Er, now Canadian-style as of this evening.) I might not dismiss him as a Paris Hilton any more - much. But for Christ's sake, the Liberal Party chose him as leader over Marc Garneau - experienced politician, engineer, astronaut on three Shuttle flights and CAPCOM on several more, retired senior military officer, leadership training, etc. The Liberals chose Trudeau because of his family connection.

5) Frankly I wasn't going to vote for the NDP guy either. This is a guy who would make ANY promise to any special interest, no matter how damaging to the country, in order to get elected.

6) That left the Green Party. They don't have the experienced people to run the country, but I'll like to see them have a lot more influence. In our system, fringe parties can do that.

7) The Conservatives would have done even worse had the vote on the left not been split. Where I have property in eastern Ontario, the usually solidly conservative riding would have gone liberal if the liberals weren't competing for votes with EITHER the NDP, or a former Liberal candidate running as an independent. The south-eastern Manitoba riding where I used to live - heavily Mennonite - is usually overwhelmingly Conservative. This time the Conservatives got only 55% of the vote there.

8) The Liberals now have a solid majority. (Rather than needing a coalition to form a minority government.) They're in for the full four years.

9) Harper will step down as leader of the Conservatives. They'll try to do Romney's "Magic Etch-a-Sketch" thing before the next election, with a new leader. The question is whether they stick to a leader from Alberta's former Reform Party crowd, or hand control (lose control) back to Quebec/Ontario conservatives.

[rstrong]

Apparently this election is putting a HUGE number of neophytes into Parliament. Sure, most have municipal or provincial experience, but Ottawa is getting a colon cleansing.

[Vrede too]

Thanks. I would most likely be NDP or Green, subject to the individual candidates and the politics at the time.

... But there's NO WAY IN HELL that I was going to vote for an American-style family dynasty....

I know what you mean. It's a shame here that it's only in the primaries, sometimes, that we have a range of viable choices.

[rstrong]

Even Canadians think it's weird that we're not waiting for results from Florida.

[Vrede too]

Is that why your elections aren't in November like ours or deeper into the winter? You would be waiting for results from Florida.

[O Really]

Is that why your elections aren't in November like ours or deeper into the winter? You would be waiting for results from Florida.

So - you're saying southwest Florida isn't a Canadian province?

[Vrede too]

Less so in October than later in the winter.

[Vrede too]

Snowboarder - Brah, is Justin Trudeau the world's first gnarly national leader?

[rstrong]

Snowboarder - Brah, is Justin Trudeau the world's first gnarly national leader?

There are plenty of pictures of him online, skiing, boxing, etc. He's well pre-Putin'd.

Trudeau's brother was skiing at British Columbia's Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park when an avalanche swept him into Kokanee Lake. His body was never found.

[rstrong]

"I'd like to toast the future prime minister of Canada: to Justin Pierre Trudeau."
- President Richard Nixon, in 1972

Really.

[neoplacebo]

I always thought it was cool that Justin's mom (Margaret?) used to hang out with The Rolling Stones.

[Vrede too]

Ohio votes on whether to legalize marijuana today. Should be interesting to see the results. Good luck Ohio.

Also,

Democrat favored in Kentucky governor's race amid focus on gay marriage

That said, I haven't looked him up and am not that optimistic about any KY Dem.

Also, I've been emailed that party control of the VA state legislature, especially the Senate, is up for grabs but I haven't been following it any closer than that.

[O Really]

You were right to be pessimistic, although the Kentucky Dem losing the governor's race is the outlier.

[O Really]

No legal grass for you, Ohio.

[Vrede too]

You were right to be pessimistic, although the Kentucky Dem losing the governor's race is the outlier.

Actually, I meant not optimistic about a KY Dem's performance if he was elected.

[Vrede too]

No legal grass for you, Ohio.

I had not been paying much attention. I only heard about this aspect today:

... "The people of Ohio have understandably rejected a deeply flawed, monopolistic approach to marijuana reform that failed to garner broad support from advocates or industry leaders," said one of those advocacy groups, The National Cannabis Industry Association. "This debate has shown that there is a strong base of support for legalizing, taxing, and regulating marijuana." ...

Might have been a bad initiative?

[O Really]

No legal grass for you, Ohio.

I had not been paying much attention. I only heard about this aspect today:

... "The people of Ohio have understandably rejected a deeply flawed, monopolistic approach to marijuana reform that failed to garner broad support from advocates or industry leaders," said one of those advocacy groups, The National Cannabis Industry Association. "This debate has shown that there is a strong base of support for legalizing, taxing, and regulating marijuana." ...

Might have been a bad initiative?

I thought there were several things bad - starting with combining medical and recreational use in the same amendment, and then including the "monopolistic" parts. A better approach would have been to limit the initiative language (and I guess the amendment) to allowing use of marijuana in such ways as the legislature may define (for example). Then, they could set the rules and either follow Colorado or even just start with medical. As is, the antis can claim with some degree of accuracy that "the people of Ohio soundly rejected legalization of marijuana by a two to one margin."

[Vrede too]

There was a secondary initiative to reject the "monopolistic" parts, which would have thrown things to the courts and/or Leg. Whenever a ballot issue becomes confusing voters, quite correctly in most cases, vote "No".

I guess JTA will still have to move to CO rather than OH.

[O Really]

There was a secondary initiative to reject the "monopolistic" parts, which would have thrown things to the courts and/or Leg. Whenever a ballot issue becomes confusing voters, quite correctly in most cases, vote "No".

I guess JTA will still have to move to CO rather than OH.

Yeppers. That's why I think the referendum was a bit bogus.