Yeah !! New Primeminister !
 

Countdown is on till we (Canadians) get our new prime minister. For me, this is a good thing, I liked Chretien for his first term but he should have handed over the reigns to Paul Martin for the second term (obviously my opinion), even though I am not a Liberal follower. So on December 12th we can look forward to some changes, good ones (hopefully).

Well, He's in. Lets hope he does a good job

Yes, because, there really isn't an alternative.

On one hand, there are the regional right wing nuts who are trying to link up with the not-so-regional right wingers (who couldn't elect JC right now). On the other, we have the left wing nuts. From out of the spectrum are the seperatists, who control 1/4 the seats in the house -- it is in their political interest for there not to be a functioning government.

The Quebec people don't trust the Liberals, because of 1982.

The Quebec people don't trust the PCs, because of the Brian Mulruney betrayal.

The Quebec people certainly don't trust the Western regional party, because the West hates Quebec with a bit too much ghusto.

The West doesn't trust anyone, other than their own nuts.

BC is BC.

Ontario doesn't want to rock the boat, and doesn't trust the PC because of the GST. However, Ontario tends to not vote for the same provincial and federal party.

And nobody lives on the east coast anymore, other than the occasional fiddler.

There isn't another viable party to replace paul. So, yes, Canadians better hope he does a good job.

Liberals make my skin crawl, how anyone could actually vote for the likes of Allan Rock or Sheila Cops is beyond me.:|
The Canadian political system is so sad.

The system isn't sad... it is just frustrating for those not in power...

The solution is vote reform... percentage of seats in parliament is equal to percentage of vote.

It's sad to me because the Prime minister is much like an elected dictator. If you don't vote the party line, you get tossed. If we had free votes in the house a member could at least vote the way his or her constituents wanted rather than the way the PMO wanted them to.
There is no way proportional representation will ever happen, the ruling party would never allow it IMO.

So how long before Canada splits into 3 countries?

Canada won't split, not as a country anyway. Although we bitch, we still love the country and what Canada stands for. Doesn't mean the bickering will stop... God forbid we focus our efforts and energy on REAL matters. It will be interesting to see what Martin does to the defecit, I think he's strongly motivated to sharply reduce it.... will he be able to pull it off??? We'll wait and see.

I agree that the PMO has a lot of power when they have a majority government. The Canadian PM is the most powerful (internally speaking) ruler in the western world. None of the balances that exist in other governments exist in our system.

Three things can fix this:

1) An elected Senate with actual teeth
2) Allowing members to vote as they wish rather than the party line
3) Proportional representation (more chance of minority governments)

Martin seems to be making a lot of noise about the latter two issues. It will be interesting to see where he goes with this...

This is about as likely as Texas or California succeeding...

Problem is, everytime Senate reform pops up, the prarie provices pipe up "we want 3 times more Senators than fat cat Ontario!".

Which makes it hard to discuss Senate reform.

It's interesting to hear you say this 'cause even when they're given the chance to "represent their constituents," they choose not to.

For instance, I was watching an interview with several PM's over motions such as the reaffirmation of marriage. Many of the liberals voted for it while the official party position was against it.
Anyway, during the interview, a PM was saying things like "call me old fashioned but I think..." Now, doesn't she mean "call my constituents old fashioned but they think?" Not at all, because she's out there to represent her own view and not the views of her riding...

Not likely.

All you have to do is watch what happens the next time there is an international hockey game (Olympics, etc.) It's amazing how all squabbling is put aside for that, so there must be something there.

She may say that in an interview but rest assured that if it came down to a vote in the house, she would cave to the party whip and vote the party line, regardless of her or her constituents wishes.

Funny nobody mentioned the formation of the new party between PC and the CA. If successful, that could be the turning point in Canadian politics. I'm a Canadian but nothing happens in Canadian Politics, which is why I tend to be more interested in American politics...on the other than, Russian politics are far more interested cuz their politicians actually do fist fight among themselves :D

Well, about half the Liberal party voted against the party wishes, so I guess that whip wasn't working too well.

Anyway, my point was that she was more concerned about her own wishes than those of her constituents...

Ah, I re-read your post and see what you mean.

What vote are you talking about that half the Liberal party voted aginst the party line?

The Alliance party (who else?) moved to "reaffirm the definition of marriage" in an attempt to make some legal foothold to resist the legalization of same-sex marriage. So, it came to a vote and the interview of which I speak was in response to that vote. In particular, the newsperson was interested in why so many liberals voted for it despite the party's official stance on the issue...

Yeah, down with FREE TRADE !!!!

Eight days and counting.....

we're stuck with him now, i will miss jean though.

damn right we want a little political influence for all the economic weight we carry around. Plus we have to put up with a conservative abusive drunkard.