Oh, Canada

[ZGangsta 0]

I don't understand parliament-style politics well at all, but I read that the Greens and NDP combined for about 52% of the vote. Wouldn't they, along with the Liberals and the (leftist?) Bloc be able to basically prevent Harper and the Conservatives from doing anything?

I don't know where you got 52% from, cause the Green and NDP combined only made for 21% of the popular vote. But that traslated into very few seats so your point still stands. Yes the Cons will have to get support from other parties to get anything done. They pretty much need the Bloc, because 124 (conservative) + 29 (NDP) is still shy of the 155 seats needed for a majority. And I don't think the Liberals will be voting with the Conservatives anytime soon.

[Red Baron 0]

why in the hell would the NDP vote with the Conservative government.

 

Now here's a question.

 

Is the 29 the most seats the NDP ever had?

[Red Baron 0]

rumour has it that Stockwell "Doris" Day is is going to be the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

 

STOCKWELL DAY!

 

WOW

 

I'd rather see Preston Manning as PM instead of Stephen Harper.

[dubq 0]

This whole GST thing baffles me. It was an issue when it was introduced many years ago.. but in the here and now, it's a non-issue as far as I'm concerned. I'd rather see personal income tax rates cut over the GST.

[Red Baron 0]

I think it was just something they used from the Red Book the Liberals used 13 years ago, and it worked for them...again.

[CanadianChris 0]

Is the 29 the most seats the NDP ever had?

No, they had 43 in the 80s under Ed Broadbent.

 

This whole GST thing baffles me. It was an issue when it was introduced many years ago.. but in the here and now, it's a non-issue as far as I'm concerned. I'd rather see personal income tax rates cut over the GST.

It's a great issue for their core supporters, i.e. affluent people. They're the ones who spend more in disposable income, so they're the ones who would benefit the most. Whereas poorer Canadians spend less and would thus save less, plus they get a GST rebate when the file their income tax return anyway.

 

Being rich myself, I have no problem with tax cuts for the rich.

[starvenger 0]

This whole GST thing baffles me. It was an issue when it was introduced many years ago.. but in the here and now, it's a non-issue as far as I'm concerned. I'd rather see personal income tax rates cut over the GST.

It's a great issue for their core supporters, i.e. affluent people. They're the ones who spend more in disposable income, so they're the ones who would benefit the most. Whereas poorer Canadians spend less and would thus save less, plus they get a GST rebate when the file their income tax return anyway.

 

Being rich myself, I have no problem with tax cuts for the rich.

I don't think that they get a full rebate though.

 

Who's in line? Thats unfortuante, he really got the wrath of the Crhetien *ahem* legacy.

Considering that he was a Minister for much of Chretien's run, I wouldn't call him completely innocent though.

 

So, what are the odds that Belinda will jump back to the Conservatives or to the NDP (and get Layton to ditch Chow in the process)?

[The Metal Maniac 0]

Something I wanted to point out to everyone who bitches that the American system doesn't always follow the popular vote.

 

The Green Party recieved 665,940 votes, which gave them 4.5% of the popular vote.

 

The Bloc Quebecois got just over double that; they got 1,552,043 seats, and 10.5% of the popular vote.

 

What does this mean? This means that the Bloc Quebecois gets 51 seats, and the Green Party gets zero.

 

But if that doesn't seem weird to you, let me point out that the NDP got 17.5% of the popular vote, with 2,590,808 votes cast for them. They recieved....

 

29 seats.

 

Something about that is very wrong.

 

Anyway, I'm glad things turned out the way they did; a conservative minority is just what I wanted (even though I didn't vote for them) because a liberal victory would've been the same as declaring Paul Martin Dictator-For-Life, in my eyes, and with such a slim minority, the conservatives will have to make deals to get their stuff passed, and they won't be able to get anything absurd passed.

[dubq 0]

Is the 29 the most seats the NDP ever had?

No, they had 43 in the 80s under Ed Broadbent.

 

This whole GST thing baffles me. It was an issue when it was introduced many years ago.. but in the here and now, it's a non-issue as far as I'm concerned. I'd rather see personal income tax rates cut over the GST.

It's a great issue for their core supporters, i.e. affluent people. They're the ones who spend more in disposable income, so they're the ones who would benefit the most. Whereas poorer Canadians spend less and would thus save less, plus they get a GST rebate when the file their income tax return anyway.

 

Being rich myself, I have no problem with tax cuts for the rich.

 

That said, I don't get the credit and I also spend more in disposible income, but I still have no issues with the tax at 7%. It's been there for so long now that they're just going to end up having to tax something else to make up for the lost money that it brings in.

[dubq 0]

Something I wanted to point out to everyone who bitches that the American system doesn't always follow the popular vote.

 

The Green Party recieved 665,940 votes, which gave them 4.5% of the popular vote.

 

The Bloc Quebecois got just over double that; they got 1,552,043 seats, and 10.5% of the popular vote.

 

What does this mean? This means that the Bloc Quebecois gets 51 seats, and the Green Party gets zero.

 

But if that doesn't seem weird to you, let me point out that the NDP got 17.5% of the popular vote, with 2,590,808 votes cast for them. They recieved....

 

29 seats.

 

Something about that is very wrong.

 

 

http://www.fairvotecanada.org/

[ZGangsta 0]

why in the hell would the NDP vote with the Conservative government.

I'm not saying they would, I'm just saying that even if the unlikely situation occured where the 29 NDP votes go with the Conservatives for some reason, the Conservatives would still need votes from the Liberals or Bloc to win anything.

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

ZGangsta, I don't know where the hell I got that 52%.

 

Another question:

 

Could somebody summarize Adscam for me in 43 words or less?

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

Where'd you come up with 43?

 

The Liberals funneled cash or let taxes slide for ad agencies who did pro-Lib ads. Second report expected Feb 1.

 

Main culprit is essentially Chretien. Maritn has been basically cleared, but as finance minister under Chretien, it's tough to fathom...that's basically what did him in last night.

 

The fuck if I'm counting that, but it was to the point.

[CanadianChris 0]

ZGangsta, I don't know where the hell I got that 52%.

I do...you added the Liberal vote in there.

[... 0]

Alberta's popular vote was something like 65% Conservative, but 100% of the seats are Conservative. But the democratic deficit only applies to Ontario and Quebec, right.

 

Hey Slayer: Cowtown = Calgary. To tell the truth it's close enough to being from the US, yanqui.

[Stephen Joseph 0]

Is the 29 the most seats the NDP ever had?

No, they had 43 in the 80s under Ed Broadbent.

 

This whole GST thing baffles me. It was an issue when it was introduced many years ago.. but in the here and now, it's a non-issue as far as I'm concerned. I'd rather see personal income tax rates cut over the GST.

It's a great issue for their core supporters, i.e. affluent people. They're the ones who spend more in disposable income, so they're the ones who would benefit the most. Whereas poorer Canadians spend less and would thus save less, plus they get a GST rebate when the file their income tax return anyway.

 

Being rich myself, I have no problem with tax cuts for the rich.

 

You're incorrect.

 

Consumption based sales taxes necessarily hurt the POOR more than they do the RICH. The RICH can afford to move money into things that aren't taxed (savings). POOR people have to consume regardless, so they are actually impacted more.

 

Economic literature definitely supports this. It's a fact. If you want to relieve the tax burden on POOR people, you do it by a progressive income tax, not a consumption tax. (It actually doesn't matter that they get in back in refund form later, because it impacts their decisions at the moment).