Anyway, back to normal stuff. In sports news, the NBA is finally done the first round of the playoffs, with the huge surprise coming that the Memphis Grizzlies beat the San Antonio Spurs. Apparently that's only the second time since 1985 that the no. 1 seed has lost to the no. 8 seed...much less a no. 8 seed that had never won a playoff series in the team's entire existence. The Spurs must feel like crap, but, well, they played like it too, so ah well.
Politics really have been inundating all the social media lately. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, mind you, because everyone is always spouting the message that the young people need to get out and vote, and they're obviously targeting my age range. That's fine with me, and I DO believe that people our age should probably care more about the future of the country. Still, I can't go an hour without logging onto Facebook or Twitter or something, and seeing my other friends post every single link that comes across is just a little annoying. I GET IT, the elections are happening, thank you, you're not the only one who can read the news. Here are some of the links that I've found (and that have since been re-posted many...many times):
It's a little unfortunate, in my opinion, that the Conservatives, who really HAVE shown a ridiculous level of contempt and disdain for democracy in the past, will likely win the election with the most seats...though I think the majority is out of reach for them. It's also a shame that the NDP is going to be probably gaining more seats than even the Liberals. Let's face it, no one is voting for the party based on principles....well, okay, maybe SOME people are. But the vast majority of voters who go out are voting on the LEADER of the party, aka, on Harper, on Layton, and on Ignatieff. Harper has been villanized by everyone, Ignatieff has been villanized by the Conservatives (being framed as someone who is less than 'Canadian', who is more American, as someone who doesn't truly care about what the Canadian people want)...and Layton is reaping the benefits. It also helps that Layton DOES come across as a pretty genial, likable guy...and that's what people are voting for. Along with the ridiculous headway he's making in Quebec (not the NDP, that JACK LAYTON is PERSONALLY making in Quebec/rest of the country), the NDP has subsequently pulled to within 2 percentage points of the Conservatives. I didn't really trust the polls when it was just the EKOS polling, but now it's being said by the Angus Reid polling data stations, and those stations are actually fairly accurate, to within a few percentage points of error. Indeed, they're saying that the Conservatives are at 33%, the NDP at 31%, and the Liberals at 19%. I genuinely wonder if a coalition parliament is in the works, should this come to pass next week, or if Layton will be happy just being the Official Opposition. But, as I have said in the past, my riding has always been a Liberal one, and probably always be a Liberal one. I'm going to vote Liberal, like I always have intended, so....well, chalk at least ONE riding up for Ignatieff and the Liberals, haha.
I wonder if the Liberals will dump Ignatieff at the next leadership convention. It's funny, they haven't really had a strong leader since Paul Martin, and I didn't even really think he was THAT strong of a leader. He WAS great with the economy, I will not say anything to the contrary, and before him was Chretien, so...yeah, for many years, the Liberals had a strong party base. Now what? People have misgivings that the corruption and scandal of the past has not completely been eradicated; Stephane Dion happened, Michael Ignatieff happened. It's really unfortunate, but, alas, that's the way politics works. I'm sure that in the years to come, the Liberals will rise again, but not for THIS election, that's for sure.
I suppose we'll find out on Monday, though. I'm going to go vote sometime tomorrow, whenever the polls open...it's nice, the chapel right down the street from my house, that's where one of the polling stations for my riding is, so I literally just have to walk there, vote, and walk back, and it'll take probably 10 minutes, or less. I was going to talk about other things, but, I'll save that for another day. Might as well the political rhetoric sink in for now, hehe.
If I could vote, I'd be voting for NDP on principle. But I'd also vote strategically, so.
ReplyDeleteAs for "...though I think the majority is out of reach for them." Well. :(
I really, really strongly believe that they'll replace Ignatieff soon. He was dismal, and now that they've lost Official Opposition status, I imagine they'll have to make some changes. I'm also pretty interested about Layton... I heard some conjecture that if they lost, he'd probably be replaced soon too, due to his ailments, and his inability to secure a government in all this time. But then there's all this popularity! What do you think?
I'm pretty nervous/terrified as to what happens next. I have also realized that my understanding of the Canadian electoral system is really shaky. Like: does this mean Harper can BASICALLY do whatever he wants? Does this mean there won't be another election until he chooses to call one (read: in four (five?) years)? So great, the NDP has Official Opposition status, but what does that mean in a majority?
Haha, oh well. I should probably take a Canadian politics class, my goodness.
Also- good choice on the non-trolling decision. :)
ReplyDeleteThis is going to be a very long reply, Carrie, so bear with me =P Also, yeahhhh, the majority comment was completely wrong. Ah well, I don't think very many people saw that coming =P
ReplyDeleteIgnatieff has said that he'd like to stay on as leader, but, there's no way in hell that he's going to. The Liberals are going to oust him for sure! Goodness, the Liberals just had their worst showing probably EVER, and they're not recovering for another decade or so, I'll tell you that. I honestly can't see Layton going out for another year or so; he's just TRIPLED their previous seat count!! That's pretty nuts. I don't much care for the NDP or their policies, so I would never vote for them, but my goodness, they are riding the popularity wave right now, with Layton surfing on top.
As for the majority stuff...well, it's like this. Because Harper has a 'true' majority, meaning, he controls more than 50% of the seats in the House of Commons (167/308, for a nice %age of 54%), he can effectively pass nearly any bill through the House in order to pass it into law...of course, this is assuming that every single Conservative votes for whichever bill he wants, which is what he'll need now. It's a hell of a lot better for him, though, considering before he had to make concessions to the Liberals and NDP if he ever wanted anything to get passed. Because he has the majority he wanted, though, he is ASSURED the confidence of the House of Commons, meaning that if every single other seat-holding MP in the House voted against him, the Conservatives would just defeat the motion, if they all voted against it.
Harper is pretty much going to do the following: recall Parliament with all its members, both returning and new, and deliver a new Throne Speech. After that...well, he's going to deliver the budget, a topic of so much contention lately, and is almost certainly going to get it passed, since the Conservatives know that Harper no longer has to make concessions to other parties to get them to vote for it; he can just have his OWN party do it!
Yes, there won't be an election for another five years. Down south in the States it is indeed every four years, with Obama coming up for re-election next year (you can vote in THAT election, at least! =P), but here it's every five years. It's just that for the past however many years, the minority governments did not approve of many of the things Harper was doing, which is why they were called so often. With a majority, he no longer has to pander to them, and only has to have his OWN party vote for whatever is being pushed through, but it is mandatory for elections to be held at least every five years.
(wow, the comment was so long, I had to split it up. Here's part I, and part II is right afterwards)
Finally, what does the Official Opposition mean? In a majority OR a minority, the Official Opposition really is there to keep the government in check. It is, obviously, more difficult with this new majority, but good ol' Jack is going to have to try his hardest. It also means that the OO is typically seen as the party/gov't-in-waiting; you know how the Cabinet exists for the gov't in power? It also exists for the OO; often, the leader of the OO will appoint 'shadow' ministers, and they have actual portfolios as the REAL ministers, and its their job to call out the actual ministers on their job performances. It's important to note that while Harper has a majority, and will more than likely get a lot of things passed that wouldn't have otherwise gotten passed, he still needs to placate his very large power base in the Conservative party. Not all of them will vote with the party line all the time, and its to those people who waffle on issues because they either don't believe in it or because their riding is asking something of them that the NDP will now be going to and asking to vote the other way, if they don't like it either.
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty crazy; the Conservatives have a financial policy that I like, and Matteo rightly pointed out that not enough credit is due to the Liberal gov't of Paul Martin (who was the Finance Minister prior to becoming Prime Minister), who put a lot of those policies in place. Even so, the Conservatives know what's up, so I'm hoping the lack of change in the gov't means that the budget will be balanced sooner rather than later...but I guess we'll see.
also, huzzah for non-trolling!
(woo if you've read this far, then kudos =P)
I should clarify the 'five years' thing: the MAXIMUM time that Harper has until the next election is five years. However, if he feels that the tide is turning against him, and that waiting it out would only hurt him, he can call it sooner. Many parties DO only stay in power for four years before calling new elections, but then again, we haven't had a majority for a while.
ReplyDelete