Canadian Politics

[pappajacks 0]

I'm an Ignorant American. Well, I'm really not, since I hope to go to college there sometime soon and figure I'll hear a lot of this stuff on the news there, but I simply know less about the political system than the average Canadian knows about ours.

 

When people talk about a minority government, they mean that regional elections have changed seats since the last federal election and now the opposition has more MPs, right? Because all I read is "Harper has a minority government, Dion doesn't want to force an election." Why is that? Assuming things stay the way they are, doesn't an election automatically bump Harper out? Or are they afraid they'll lose a bunch of seats again?

 

Sorry if this is makes me sound like an extreme n00b. Our nation is large enough that many of our citizenry don't really need to know how any other system of government performs (and our own is complicated enough that grasping it is enough trouble) or even leave the country.

 

The reason there can be minority governments in Canada is because there are more than 2 political parties.

 

In Canada, the political party that gets the most seats forms the government. Just like in the US, where the party that wins the most electoral vote wins.

 

There are 307 seats in Canada (307 regions that have a seat, the power to send a representative to the House). Thus, to have a majority, a political party needs 154 seats. With 154 seats, they can vote the laws they want without the opposition stopping them. There are 4 political parties who have seats in canada: Conservatives have around 124. The 3 opposition parties combined have 183. Thus, the government needs an alliance with at least another party to vote laws.

 

For comparison purposes, let's say the States had a credible 3rd party. There are 537 electorate votes in the States. A majority is 269. Let's say the Republicans get 260, the Dems 240 and the Green Party 37. That would be a minority government, although the Senate plays a much bigger role in the States.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

So basically, Liberal isn't as afraid of losing ground to Conservative so much as it doesn't want to lose voters to other opposition parties for being such a pathetic opposition, but the only way to stop being a pathetic opposition is a road to an election.

 

Do I have this right? (blink, blink)

[pappajacks 0]

Liberals want to avoid an election because the poll numbers aren't good. No point for them to have an election and lose and give the conservatives a majority government. So, the liberals decide to sit on their hands and avoid voting in the House. Like that, the government doesn't get defeated and gives the liberals some time to improve their poll numbers. It doesn't take much in politics for things to change. A scandal here and there and you never know.

 

 

 

[Red Baron 0]

And with a majority government, the Conservative Party can hold power for up to five years until they call an election. The Prime Minister can stay in power until he resigns, defeated or becomes terminally ill/death.

 

 

Currently this is the best government Canada has had in a while. Prime Minister Harper has done wonders to improve our economy and has actually kept a majority of his promises. I like Harper, but there are plenty of people in his party I truly despise.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

He's been surrounded with plenty of scandal, though. Hillary should send him a Christmas card this year.

 

I don't mind Harper for the most part, but I think with a majority government the Conservatives could be damaging if they actually bother to act on their agenda. Things like amping up the drug war, tightening immigration, and privatizing CBC kind of work against what makes me like Canada in the first place.

 

I suppose they're not too serious, though, since all Canadians seem to bitch about his global warming stance, and I'm not convinced that the Libs did anything other than hold press conferences to talk about how they're making progress with this series of press conferences.

[Red Baron 0]

The scandal that the Conservatives have now is truly sad. I mean its only $200,000 out of a government almost 20 years ago. The Liberals should have done something while they were in power and hamper any Conservative movement.

 

Right now, its kinda boring in federal politics, or politics in general in Canada.

[Red Baron 0]

I'll retract my earlier statement, as this happened earlier.

 

 

Ottawa to probe report that anti-terror unit blueprints found in trash

 

 

Last Updated: Thursday, March 20, 2008 | 9:21 PM ET Comments77Recommend114CBC News

The government will look into a report that blueprints for a new building for the military's counterterrorism unit were found in a pile of trash in downtown Ottawa, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said on Thursday.

 

A passerby discovered the plans in garbage bags on Bank Street in the Glebe.

 

 

Anthony Salloum said he and his spouse were heading to dinner last week when they spotted seven or eight rolls of paper stamped with Department of Defence markings.

(CBC) The blueprints, dated March 5, 2007, appear to be for a new building for the Canadian Joint Incident Response Unit, created post-Sept. 11 to respond to large-scale attacks. The building is under construction at Canadian Forces Base Trenton.

 

The plans detail the location of security fences, the electrical grid system and layout of offices and other rooms, said Anthony Salloum, who found the documents.

 

Salloum said he and his spouse were heading to dinner last week when they spotted seven or eight rolls of paper stamped with Department of Defence markings.

 

"By sheer accident, my spouse said, 'Anthony, look at this bag of garbage. It's filled with rolls of paper that say National Defence, Trenton 8 Wing,' " Salloum told reporters on Thursday.

 

Asked early Thursday about the Ottawa Citizen article that reported the discovery, Day said he is awaiting for a detailed report on the incident to determine what happened and what type of documents were involved.

 

"If a security breach of some kind has taken place, then clearly that's a huge concern for me," Day said. "We'll wait for all the details and see exactly what that was."

 

Not sure what happened to other rolls

At first, Salloum didn't pick up the papers since he was on the way to dinner at a restaurant.

 

But more than an hour later, when he passed by the garbage heap and discovered they were still there, he decided to grab one roll.

 

The day after discovering the documents on March 13, Salloum unrolled the blueprints in the boardroom of his workplace, the Rideau Institute, an Ottawa-based advocacy group.

 

But having little understanding of the blueprints, he decided to wait until the institute's director returned from a family vacation on Wednesday.

 

"It quickly became apparent how important these were. And I did not want to leave my office yesterday before handing them back to National Defence," said Salloum.

 

Salloum has returned the blueprints to the Defence Department, who thanked him but refused to comment on the discovery.

 

It's uncertain what happened to the rest of the rolls, though they're likely at a garbage dump or recycling facility, he said.

 

Salloum speculated that the documents may have been discarded by an architectural firm following a failed bid for the project.

 

Even so, he says the discovery is a security concern since the blueprints outline other existing structures at the Trenton military base.

 

One security expert also hypothesized that the document could have been tossed by a civilian contractor.

 

 

[CanadianChris 0]

That's almost as bad as the CSIS agent who had documents stolen from his car while he was at a Leafs game.

[Red Baron 0]

This is why government should take third parties very seriously when handing out shit like that. Now someone has a dirty job in finding the other blue prints in the Ottawa dump.

[Red Baron 0]

I really hate Jim Flaherty. I know Ontario economy is staggering, but being a dick about it and calling out Mr. McGuinty doesn't win over voters. Remember, Ontario runs (or ruins) this country.*

 

*Well, technically, Alberta does, but Ontario has the most seats in parliament.

[Guest tom cody]

I generally like Jim Flaherty, he's been a good finance minister. I disagree with his stance on what is happening in Ontario however. As finance minister he should be working with his home province to help turn the economy around instead of this name-calling he is doing.

[Red Baron 0]

I know this might not be a big deal to some people, but after hearing this I might be unemployed very soon.

 

Imperial Oil loses bid to get Kearl water permit reinstated

Last Updated: Wednesday, May 14, 2008 | 4:14 PM ET Comments9Recommend9CBC News

Imperial Oil Ltd.'s attempts to get a water licence reinstated for its $8-billion Kearl oilsands project hit a snag Wednesday when a federal judge dismissed the company's request.

 

In a decision filed in Ottawa, Federal Court Judge Douglas Campbell upheld an earlier decision to pull the water licence for the proposed development.

 

The permit was revoked earlier this year after another court ruled the environmental assessment on the project was incomplete.

 

The environmental group Ecojustice had challenged the assessment.

 

"The environmental affects of the oilsands in particular have been mismanaged and until the federal government and the Alberta government can show that their laws are good enough to control those impacts, then those concerns are going to continue," said Sean Nixon, a lawyer with Ecojustice.

 

At a hearing last week in Calgary, Imperial argued that the federal government doesn't have the right to revoke a permit once it's been issued.

 

Imperial has 30 days to appeal the latest decision.

 

On the TSX, shares of Imperial slipped 56 cents, closing at $57.38