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2015 Canadian Federal Election Thread

So… our friends in the north who say sorry a lot and have a leaf on their flag will also be having a general election in three months to decide whether they want to keep the Conservative party in power as it has been for the last nine years, or make some big changes in Parliament. The Conservative, New Democratic, and Liberal parties will be attempting to win votes from Canadian citizens in order to be elected into the House of Commons. The polls are relatively even, though the NDP are slightly leading in said polls right now, with the Libs and Cons close behind.

Elections seem to be discussed here rather often, and since we have had threads for the general elections for America and the UK, I figured I’d try to see if a discussion thread on Canadian politics would be successful. Feel free to post news and updates as well and discuss who you feel is most likely to be in power when the election is over

For reference these are the Canadian federal political parties and their leaders:

The main parties –

Conservative Party – led by Stephen Harper
Political position: Centre-right to Right wing

Ideology:
Conservatism
Economic liberalism

________________________________________

New Democratic Party – led by Tom Mulcair
Political position: Centre-left

Ideology:
Democratic Socialism
________________________________________

Liberal Party – led by Justin Trudeau
Political position: Centre to Centre-left

Ideology: Centrism, Liberalism

________________________________________

Other parties –

Bloc Québécois Party – led by Gilles Duceppe
Political position: Left wing

Ideology: Quebec sovereignty, Separatism, Social democracy
________________________________________

Green Party – led by Elizabeth May
Political position: Who knows at this point.
There are former Conservatives, Liberals and New Democrats in the Green Party.

Ideology: Green politics
________________________________________
Forces ET Démocratie – led by Jean-François Fortin
Political position: Centre-left

Ideology: Social Democracy, Quebec Nationalism, Regionalism​
 
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I'm for whichever one that dislikes Quebec the most and would be less resistant to taking back Justin Bieber. But nah, i have no earthly idea about how the Canadian political spectrum is in relation to my own country's..I just know that the conservative party are called Tories...
 
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Kdude146

Well-Known Member
I feel like the NDP will win they are becoming more and more popular with Canaidains and they just one Alberta in after having a conservative government for 44 years.
 

Griff4815

No. 1 Grovyle Fan
How conservative are their conservatives relative to those in the GOP?

Our (Canadian) conservatives are quite a bit less conservative than the Republicans. They're economic conservatives and their foreign policy is pretty much towed by whatever the American one is, but they're more secular and socially progressive.
 
Our (Canadian) conservatives are quite a bit less conservative than the Republicans. They're economic conservatives and their foreign policy is pretty much towed by whatever the American one is, but they're more secular and socially progressive.
So their foreign policy is non-existent like ours. That sucks. I'd also characterize your conservatives as moderate with left leanings. Both of our political parties have the backing of major religious groups, but the evangelical christians tend to be more vocal. Aside from our politics and back to yours, I've been intrigued enough to research the Canadian political atmosphere and it seems like the only viable parties are the conservatives and the NDP. Though it is a three way race, the 3rd party that is close in the polls (Liberal Party) has a tendency in past elections to start strong then trend downward. Other than that i know nothing about the party leadership.
 

Phsy-Spark

your wish is my strong recommendation
I feel like the NDP will win they are becoming more and more popular with Canaidains and they just one Alberta in after having a conservative government for 44 years.

Yeah, feeling like that might and probably will happen in here in BC too. Our premier is widely hated by teachers.

Anyways, I'm betting the NDP will win. No clue why, but I do.
 

WizardTrubbish

much more beastly
I'm guessing Harper wins. Harper is an excellent polician, and the Conservative political machine is great at what it does. True, he's probably in the worst shape going into an election yet, but given his political talents, as well as the fact that the opposition remains divided, I just don't see him losing.
 

Silver Soul

Well-Known Member
I'm guessing Harper wins. Harper is an excellent polician, and the Conservative political machine is great at what it does. True, he's probably in the worst shape going into an election yet, but given his political talents, as well as the fact that the opposition remains divided, I just don't see him losing.

You do know he passed Canada's version of the Patriot Act which received huge backlash?
 

WizardTrubbish

much more beastly
You do know he passed Canada's version of the Patriot Act which received huge backlash?
And the American GOP shut down the government, received huge backlash, and then won its largest majority since the 1920s. A party that knows what it's doing can win even if it's record in office shows that it has no business winning.
 

Silver Soul

Well-Known Member
And the American GOP shut down the government, received huge backlash, and then won its largest majority since the 1920s. A party that knows what it's doing can win even if it's record in office shows that it has no business winning.

Not really the same when 2014 had the lowest turnout and this year is the equivalent of a general election. High turnout decides the election and Harper has been facing low approval ratings.
 

The Admiral

the star of the masquerade
Not really the same when 2014 had the lowest turnout and this year is the equivalent of a general election. High turnout decides the election and Harper has been facing low approval ratings.

The answer is simple: conservative plants just have to swindle left-leaning youths into thinking that no candidate is "progressive enough" and therefore voting is worthless.

At least, I assume it's right-wing plants that have been working on doing that to young voters since at least 2012.
 

Mye

Someone has to win..
Kinda assumed it was that time of year (the sheer amount of conservative attack ads were making youtube almost unbearable to watch at times). I really think that the conservatives will win, as the Liberals are riding a rookie and the NDP "peaked" when Layton was leading them. Harper's party may be the most corrupt (with the whole phone-hacking related stuff and the countless staffers overspending/abusing their budgets), but I really don't see them losing with the faces in this federal election being pretty new (barring duceppe, which thanks to Air Farce I cannot watch without immediately comparing him to an owl/giggling constantly afterwards).
 
Harper's approval rating is increasing and the conservatives and NDP are tied in the polls.

I feel like the NDP will win they are becoming more and more popular with Canaidains and they just one Alberta in after having a conservative government for 44 years.

Yeah I really don't think this helps that much.

As far as I can tell, Alberta is showing no signs of supporting the NDP over the Conservatives federally. The NDP victory in Alberta's recent provincial election has less to do with the NDP's ideology and a lot more to do with the leaders. Jim Prentice, the leader of the conservative party of Alberta, was extremely unpopular and a lot of Albertans just wanted him out, even if it meant voting in a different party. (His approval rating was at 22% at the time of the election). Polls show that the majority of voters in Alberta still side with the conservatives and they're showing no signs of having the same distaste for Harper as they did for Prentice.
 
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Mye

Someone has to win..
Agreed, kinda. According to a few articles I read, Prentice did nothing to really boost Alberta's economy (oil went pretty low when he was around) and was "apparently" planning on retiring anyways even if he did win (though he did after the NDP won the majority). NDP winning one province doesn't matter too much, as the Liberals held at least 4 in each of the last 6 federal elections yet only won 2 of those.
 
Silver Soul is correct in saying that a high voter turnout will decide the election. It would be more likely than Alberta randomly changing their tune and would help the Liberals and NDP more. High turnout means more votes for other parties.

Not really the same when 2014 had the lowest turnout and this year is the equivalent of a general election. High turnout decides the election and Harper has been facing low approval ratings.

Problem is that voter turnout has been crap recently. The last two federal elections in Canada have had rather low voter turnouts (the 2008 election had about 59% of the electorate cast a ballot, which is the lowest in Canadian history. The 2011 election wasn’t much better with a voter turnout at about 61%). If voter turnout decreases or stays the same, I can see Your Favorite User’s prediction coming true. Hopefully not though. I’m hoping for a large increase in voter turnout so that the left votes being divided between two parties is less of a problem, and an NDP victory. The cons are overdue for a much deserved loss imho, since a number of things that Harper has done need to be reversed ASAP – especially the Anti-terrorism Act, and the parts of the Jobs and Growth Act that remove environmental protections.

Aside from our politics and back to yours, I've been intrigued enough to research the Canadian political atmosphere and it seems like the only viable parties are the conservatives and the NDP. Though it is a three way race, the 3rd party that is close in the polls (Liberal Party) has a tendency in past elections to start strong then trend downward.
Well not only this but the libs currently hold only 36 seats in the House of Commons, while the NDP hold 95 and the cons hold 159. Besides that, the conservatives are constantly campaigning against the Liberals even when there is no election in the near future. Justin Trudeau, the Liberal party leader, is somewhat new and the conservatives have been pouring money down the drain in the last two years making attack ads in an attempt to make him look like a complete farce. He seems to be losing support while the increasing popularity of the NDP party makes them the most likely alternative to the cons.


Other than that i know nothing about the party leadership.

None of them have a bad history as far as I can recall. Stephen Harper has a lot of experience as leader, as does Elizabeth May. Justin Trudeau and Thomas Mulcair are rookies. Most of the things the leaders are talking about the most are

- What to do with the current tax rates, which are pretty high
- Climate change
- How to reform the senate, which is stained by constant scandals.
- whether Harper is as good with the economy as he claims
- The current treatment of First Nations communities
- (added) The refugee crisis. How many refugees to accept and whether or not Canada should continue the war against ISIS

so if you're interested, you can look up the parties' stances on these things and decide for yourself who to support
 
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Psychic

Really and truly
I'd really be happy with anyone but Harper (not counting Duceppe because the Bloc isn't getting anywhere, lol). Unfortunately, I have the sinking feeling the Conservatives are going to win anyway. It's a shame we have two left-leaning parties right now - having more than one is theoretically great, but there's always the concern that it's dividing the vote. If Layton were still alive the NDP might have had a better shot, but as it stands my hopes aren't high.

I don't know how much of an impact this has, but Harper has really won over the Jewish vote - many Jewish adults I know support him solely because of his stance on Israel. Who cares about all of the sht Harper did, right? :/

~Psychic
 
I gotta say, the Canadian parties are pretty bland compared to the British ones. Come on, where's the resident right-wing party at?

In all seriousness though, I think the only option is Harper, as long as conservatism means traditional values and a "our country, our rules" motif. Then again I don't live here (though half of my family do and I travel there most summers, and it's an ideal place to move to depending on how the UK turns out) so I could be wrong.

Funny how both of the Quebec nationalist parties are left-leaning. It's literally Scotland 2.0, though if I recall correctly they had their referendum some decade ago and lost.
 
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