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Intrigue in the Canadian Parliament

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    #76
    Intrigue in the Canadian Parliament - 2011 edition

    This article is probably the best summary of the campaign to date and where things are headed.

    Ignatieff is having the best campaign of the leaders so far, but as Amor says, that's because no one's paying attention. In part, that's a Tory strategy - they are trying to keep people asleep everywhere other than the 30 or so ridings they think they need to get a majority.

    But as Amor says, no one's paying attention. Hell, even I'm bored and I'm not even in the country. I think that changes on debate night. Iggy's clearly going to come out swinging, Layton and Duceppe are always pretty good, and Harper's going to try to do his hypnotist act. It worked last time because Dion couldn't argue his way out ofa wet paper bag - I don;t know if it will this time.

    The Tory campaign is really sub-par. I don't think they're taking enough risks to get them to a majority. But the safety first approach is stopping the Liberals from making many inroads, either. What the Liberals need some event to help them catch fire, something to give them some energy - possibly sometihng from the debates - or the results are pretty clearly going to be a carbon copy of last time.

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      #77
      Intrigue in the Canadian Parliament - 2011 edition

      ursus arctos wrote:
      And WoM, I was talking about both of them, thus the Wilde reference.
      Wilde reference? Sir, you give me too much credit.

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        #78
        Intrigue in the Canadian Parliament - 2011 edition

        Only in Canada: Political crisis erupts as scheduled French debate conflicts with Habs-Bruins opener.

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          #79
          Intrigue in the Canadian Parliament - 2011 edition

          Crisis averted.

          See what we can do as a country when we unite on an issue?

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            #80
            Intrigue in the Canadian Parliament - 2011 edition

            So, is this Muskoka thing going to matter to anyone?

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              #81
              Intrigue in the Canadian Parliament - 2011 edition

              Only if Iggy mentions it during the debate to get Harper back on his heels, but I don't know if the disinterested masses will even register it. Honestly, the 'abuse of power'-type outrages have come so fast and thick that it's almost desensitizing.

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                #82
                Intrigue in the Canadian Parliament - 2011 edition

                The amounts are risible by Italian standards.

                Silvio has always felt that if you can't skim off at least a couple of hundred million, you aren't really trying.

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                  #83
                  Intrigue in the Canadian Parliament - 2011 edition

                  We're a thrifty people. The last government arguably fell over revemaltions that someone improperly tried to claim a pack of Chiclets.

                  This is a fantastic scandal, and whoever it is who leaked it is either going to be promoted under a Liberal government or exiled to the moons of Neptune if the Tories stay in. Procedurally, it;s an absolute nightmare: the leaker has leaked a document of an officer of Parliament. The actual document (this is apparently an early draft) legally cannot be released unless Parlaiment is sitting. Which means not only does the oppositionget to claim Harper spent money inapproproiately, they get to claim he's stonewalling the final report, too.

                  On it's own, this isn't enough to putthe Liberals in power, but I'd guess it's probably enough to deny Harper a majority.

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                    #84
                    Intrigue in the Canadian Parliament - 2011 edition

                    Not because the revelations themselves are particlularly scandalous - but the "misled Parliament" line reinforces a particular narrative with the press and will change the way the PM is covered. It won;t be "frontrunner runs safe campaign", it will be "defensive PM in a shell".

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                      #85
                      Intrigue in the Canadian Parliament - 2011 edition

                      It's touching to find a country that still expresses a belief in the integrity of their elected officials.

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                        #86
                        Intrigue in the Canadian Parliament - 2011 edition

                        I don't know about that. Maybe we just find that hypocrisy is a useful stick with which to beat them.

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                          #87
                          Intrigue in the Canadian Parliament - 2011 edition

                          What was the "scandal" that Harper benefited from?

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                            #88
                            Intrigue in the Canadian Parliament - 2011 edition

                            This. It was an intriguing demonstration of Canadian psychology, actually. Oddly, people weren't upset by the lavish lunches and dinners as it was the fact that he claimed a pack of chicklets on his expense accounts (thus provoking the memorable comment that Dingwal "got his money for nothing and his chicklets for free".)

                            Canadians seemed not to mind the expense accounts, but when it seemed dome people were filching it for petty change, they got angry. And they got angry at the Liberals for tolerating it (arguably it wouldn't have been as bad had he not been a former minister himself).

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                              #89
                              Intrigue in the Canadian Parliament - 2011 edition

                              What kind of percentages would you be looking at for either the Tories to win a majority or for a Lib-NDP agreement to be guaranteed control? It's interesting in that despite FPTP, your voters are still prepared to vote tactically to give smaller parties fair representation.

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                                #90
                                Intrigue in the Canadian Parliament - 2011 edition

                                "got his money for nothing and his chicklets for free"
                                This is one of the great political quotes of our time.

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                                  #91
                                  Intrigue in the Canadian Parliament - 2011 edition

                                  This should add some much needed spice to the leaders debates this week. If the oppo leaders can't make Harper squeak a bit they don't deserve to win.

                                  Tony Clement to be made minister without portfolio for a Hudson's Bay ice-floe in the next cabinet re-shuffle.

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                                    #92
                                    Intrigue in the Canadian Parliament - 2011 edition

                                    Has anyone else done this? It's pretty funny. Almost everyone I know have emerged as Bloc voters.

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                                      #93
                                      Intrigue in the Canadian Parliament - 2011 edition

                                      I think Clement is doing an excellent job as Minister for Spouting Preposterous Inane Shit on Behalf of the PM When Someone Has to Make These Arguments But the PM Doesn't Personally Want to Look Like an Idiot.

                                      DR, the country is quite split along regional lines, so national numbers tend to matter less because our elections are really a series of regional fights. That said, we've only once in our history elected a majority government with less than 40% of the popular vote (1997, when we had two rightwing parties which both did reasoonably well), so that should give you some idea. A coalition government would necessarily have a less efficient vote - I think you'd need to get awfully close to 50% for that to work.

                                      There's actually very little evidence of tactical voting in Canada. What you may see as exaggerated representation of smaller parties is actually just the reuslt of the fact that parties' support is to some degree regionally concentrated

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                                        #94
                                        Intrigue in the Canadian Parliament - 2011 edition

                                        NDP.

                                        Not surprised.

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                                          #95
                                          Intrigue in the Canadian Parliament - 2011 edition

                                          Fraser strikes back.

                                          But in her letter addressed to members of a Commons committee on Friday, which was received by the clerk and members on Monday, Fraser said the quote had nothing to do with the summits.

                                          Instead, she said, the Conservatives recycled an old comment she made on security spending by a previous Liberal government after the 9/11 terrorist attacks a decade ago.

                                          “The comments attributed to me in the [Conservative] report are completely unrelated to G8/G20 spending,” Fraser writes in her letter.

                                          “I would appreciate it if the report could be modified as it is clearly erroneous.”

                                          New Democrat MP Pat Martin called the Conservatives’ attempt to put words in Fraser’s mouth “probably the sleaziest thing I have seen in politics."
                                          Pat Martin needs to get out more.

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                                            #96
                                            Intrigue in the Canadian Parliament - 2011 edition

                                            Pat Martin says whatever comes into his head at the time.

                                            Truly. There was a stir about it a couple of years ago when he admitted having some kind of very mild mental issue...not dyslexia, but soething not far from it, either.

                                            Nice guy, though. My mother used to share an office with him (he's MP for my part of Wpg).

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                                              #97
                                              Intrigue in the Canadian Parliament - 2011 edition

                                              WOM, WTF?

                                              Lauren S. sent in this ad for a used car dealership that ran in the London Free Press, a free newspaper in London, Ontario. The ad compares used cars to sexually experienced women with the lines, “You know you’re not the first. But do you really care?”:

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                                                #98
                                                Intrigue in the Canadian Parliament - 2011 edition

                                                Amor de Cosmos wrote:
                                                Has anyone else done this? It's pretty funny. Almost everyone I know have emerged as Bloc voters.
                                                It actually described me as a Liberal, when I had a guess I'd be NDP. Not that I'm much use on a) eligibility grounds and b) general voting patterns in this neck of the woods.

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                                                  #99
                                                  Intrigue in the Canadian Parliament - 2011 edition

                                                  The Free Press isn't actually free.

                                                  Minor point, sorry.

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                                                    Intrigue in the Canadian Parliament - 2011 edition

                                                    That makes it worse, actually.

                                                    Means that they likely paid more for the advert.

                                                    The Detroit Free Press isn't gratis, either.

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