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TOTA Election Poll (pg. 2)
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| EvilTree |
| quote: | Originally posted by b4k-oz
LOL took you long enuf to catch on Ahahahahaha
There is no way that the Green Party will ever be in power...that said..it is funny to think that someone would actually say...GREEN ALL THE WAY --> LOL!
What a way to waste a vote |
If environmentalism gains hold in Canada as it is in Europe, you may see Green Party in power in future... |
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| Moral Hazard |
| quote: | Originally posted by EvilTree
If environmentalism gains hold in Canada as it is in Europe, you may see Green Party in power in future... |
Green is much more then just an environmental party. They have a very well thought out and comprehensive policy platform. |
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| EvilTree |
| quote: | Originally posted by Moral Hazard
Green is much more then just an environmental party. They have a very well thought out and comprehensive policy platform. |
Yeah I know. But afaik environmentalism is key to their policy no?
Feel free to tell me I'm out to lunch if I'm wrong :) |
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| Moral Hazard |
I don't know if I would say key but it is their raison d'etre.... the rest has more or less been peiced together in order to support their environmental initiatives.... to lay the economic and social infrastructured to make their environmental policies viable.
The one thing that makes their platform appealing to me is that it transends the political spectrum. They have managed to balance (in theory) the desires of both the social left and the fiscal right in a way that compliments each other recognizing that social issues in some cases must be tempered with financial responsibility and the goal of the fiscal policy should be to fund the social program. Their mix seems to me better thought out then the crude "a little of this and a little of that" mix held by the current big three parties (the Bloc also transends the spectrum but that is due to expediancy rather then ideology). |
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| NuERA |
| i vote we change to a system of proportional representation |
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| ShadoWolf |
| quote: | Originally posted by NuERA
i vote we change to a system of proportional representation |
Uh no.
The parties are already way too powerful, and PR would make it worse.
If anything, we should get rid of "official" parties and get back to true representative government. Each MP should represent his/her constituents, not the Party Line.
PR was just rejected in PEI.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Politic...1325186-cp.html
A better alternative is the preferential voting system, used in many countries including Australia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preferential_voting
An MP should be the people's representative in Ottawa, not the Party's representative to the people. |
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| EvilTree |
| quote: | Originally posted by NuERA
i vote we change to a system of proportional representation |
Meaning, like what Germany does? Each party gets a set number of seats based upon how many total votes they get? |
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| niveole |
GREEN! |
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| Moral Hazard |
| quote: | Originally posted by NuERA
i vote we change to a system of proportional representation |
I disagree entirely. First of all, proportional representation is a minority making machine. Changing to such a system will result in a glut of new parties being formed each garnering a little support thus removing the ability for any party to form a majority. While some may view this to be advantageous they are flawed in their thinking. Minority governments are woefully inefficient (as evidenced by such govenments as Italy or Ireland where a good parlimentary session will yeild one or two peices of legislation). This inefficiency results in the government being increadibly slow to respond to the demands of a changing world or the needs of the populace. Moreover, coallition governments give a great deal of power to the minority parties. These parties are then able to hold the parliment hostage by demanding their agendas be adopted in full or part or else they will disolve the government. This is bad democracy as the wants of the few take precedence over the wants of the many in a great number of instances.
Secondly, proportional representation gives a tremendous amount of power to the party leaders. The leaders are tasked with preparing the priority list of members when it comes to seating. If one party gets 56 seats then the leader, NOT THE ELECTORATE, gets to decide who occupies those seats. This is a recipe for corruption and pay offs deciding who comprises parliment rather then merit and voter response.
Thirdly, Canada is a federation comprised of provinces that are subdivided by ridings. The member of parliment for each riding is (in theory if not practice) responsible to represent the needs of their ridings. This has been developed to ensure that all areas and regional interests are represented in the house. In a proportional representation system the riding model would be either impossible or at the very least inaccurate as seats are given by % of popular vote nationwide rather then the present "first past the post" in the particular riding. There would be no way to tell what riding should have which MP representing it, subsequently, it is VERY probable that NDP ridings would be represented by Conservatives, Liberal ridings represented by Greens, Greens represented by the Marijuana party and so on.
Finaly, in order to have proportional representation we would have to ammend the constitution. I do not believe that Canada is ready to re-open the constitution debate at this time. With such a large regional and linguistic cleveage that is very much active re-opening the constitution is almost guarenteed to damage national unity if not destroy the confederation.
Proportional representation is a bad fit for Canada, a dangerous idea to toy with presently, and illadvisable for any country with mobilized minority groups. Conversely, PEI is looking at PR presently and I fully support it there, however, you must beare in mind that PEI is a small population that is relatively homogenious in it's cultural base and interests. Canada, clearly, is not. |
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| MarkT |
I'll assume this is an "if you had to vote right now" question.
Liberal.
I will certainly be paying close attentions to the actual platforms put forth (assuming the CPCs ever do that) and making my decision from there. It would take something extraordinary, something I can't even fathom, to cause me to vote CPC so long as Harper is leading them.
I'm dismayed at the early # of non-voters thus far...unless you're rich and just don't give a either way because you feel protected...and don't have any sort of desire to see life improved for other Canadians. |
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