English Leaders Debate

So I watched the debate last night, myself and twelve other people across Canada who had nothing else to do. Seriously though this was one of the best debates I have seen. Every single leader came to the table and performed wonderfully. I am not sure I could pick a clear winner.

The format was different. It was a round table approach. Quite nice if you ask me. The leaders all sat around a table and they had more of a discussion then a debate. Although the questions were still posed rebuttal time still given for every accusatory comment. It made all the leaders seem more approachable and less like soap box preachers. I hope they run with this format and use it from now on. It was by far one of the best things about the debate last night.

Stephen Harper was lambasted from all sides, every single leader at that table, which is no surprise since every debate focuses on slamming the incumbent leader. What was a surprise was how well Harper handled it. Harper was swimming in shark infested water with each of the leaders snapping at him in a feeding frenzy, but Harper sat there calmly, with an aire of being untouchable. Continually stressing that he believed the opposition parties were all extremely sincere in their beliefs but that he just had differing opinions. Harper admitted that the war in Iraq was not justified, despite his well documented support of it in the past and took the lickings from that. His major problem was that his party has yet to release an economic platform, in fact the Conservatives are the only party that has not done so. He continually dodged these accusations while continually referring to his economic platform. At various times during the debate Harper was called a fraud, and a liar. The accusations rolled off him without Harper even batting an eye. Although I do have to say to Mr. Harper "It's Laissez-faire, not Lazy Faire you goof!" As my coworker said "despite Harper having all the charisma of a rock, he did really well for himself in the debate."

Stephan Dion was barely there. He made one or two well aimed jabs at Harper that bounced off the PM, but otherwise he was just a body in a seat.

Jack Layton, living up to his name "Happy Jack" was all smiles and giggles. He scored some pretty scathing points against both Dion and Harper, and stood behind May on a few points as well. I think Jack did very well, outlining the very real flaws in Harpo's government and Dion's history of supporting the government.

Gilles Duceppe was a real shock for me. I found myself actually liking the guy. He scored some very serious points against Harper, and of all of them I think Duceppe was the only one that really and truly rattled Harper's cage. Several times Harper outright dodged Duceppe's questions. I had too laugh when Duceppe pointed out the irony in the Bloc being the party that put forward the "Buy Canadian" policy proposal.

Elizabeth May was the real winner of last nights debate in my mind though. Despite being a late entrant, or perhaps because of it, she outshined them all. She had all her i's dotted and t's crossed. She knew what she was there to talk about and she was damned well going to talk about it. She continually tossed legitimate questions at Harper, calling him and his government a fraud and then backing up her claim. She was the little engine that could last night proving all the other leaders that she was a federal party leader, not some crackpot heading a laughable fourth rate group of political activists calling themselves a party. She played well with the big boys, demonstrating how miserable Harper's plans are then backing her claims up with real trusted sources. She truly debated, one might even call her a master debater, ok I digress. Really I don't like the Green Party, I think they are a fourth rate party of political activists who have a week platform and candidates who range from silly to sincere, that being said I must say they have an extremely strong leader.

Final Call:

Winner:
Elizabeth May

Second Place:
Stephen Harper

Tied for Third:
Duceppe and Happy Jack

Loser:
What's his name, Celine Dion's grandfather, Stephan

Who Wants to Be Prime Minister

Ok, so is an election which will take place on October 14th (that's right American's we go from election call to election in less then two months) and the choices are slim for who to vote if you plan on voting for who should be PM rather then who will represent your area. In the Canadian system you really should vote for the best local candidate, but lets be honest most of us vote on party lines for who should be the PM. So lets take a look at the options:


Stephen Harper (Leader of the Conservative Party): AKA Harpo, Stephen Harper is the current Prime Minister of Canada and has been so for the last three years. Despite his campaign promise of fixed election dates and open and honest government he has called a snap election in order to take advantage of the Liberals having such a weak showing in the current polls. Harper actually adopted a law to force the election dates to a static date, and yet called a snap election because he claims he can no longer run the government as a minority power, yet he also predicts he will win this election and have another minority government.


Stephan Dion (Leader of the Liberal Party): AKA ummm who is this guy? Stephan Dion is the Leader of the Liberal party, no seriously he is I looked it up. Stephan Dion has less charisma than Stephan Harper (and considering he'd lose out to a wet noodle in that department that's pretty sad). He seems to shy away from the camera and has little to say other then "Harper, bad man". Ok sure there is a Liberal platform, somewhere just give the Liberals some time to dust it off will you I am sure we'll hear about it any day now.


Jack Layton (Leader of the New Democratic Party): AKA Happy Jack, (and in case you are wondering, yes Canadians do nickname all the prime time candidates) Happy Jack is the most charismatic candidate in this race, which isn't saying much considering lame and lamer mentioned above. Jack himself is a tool in my books, constantly putting his foot in his mouth and blundering through his career blindly. However he has made some pretty effective deals to prop up various minority governments in the past. Jack is a good opposition leader, can he make a good PM? Only one way to find out, I know I'll be voting orange (NDP's colour is orange) this election.


Gilles Duceppe (leader of the Bloq Quebecois): AKA Traitor, Why even talk about this guy, unless you are from Quebec you can't vote for the Bloq, and if you are from quebec you better be pure blood quebecois if you expect him to do much for you, and you better be ready for yet another referendum vote on if Quebec should split from Canada.


Elizabeth May (Leader of the Green Party): AKA OMG is she ever going to get a seat in parliament. Whats to be said about Liz, well not much, you can't go on her voting record cause she has yet to sit in parlaiment, you can't go by her charisma because being a green you never see her on TV, you can't go by her platform (well ok the greens have a pretty well defined platform, but COME ON they are the green party, does anyone take them seriously?). Another note to consider is that the green and the liberals have a deal in which in many ridings they won't run candidates against each other. They are working together it seems, which is why the Conservatives and the NDP are opposed to the Greens being able to be at the televised debate since, in theory, it would mean there are two Liberals at the event.


Dennis Young (Leader of the Libertarian Party): AKA ummm sorry don't have one for him. Libritarians have a party in Canada really... wow.


Blair T. Longley (Leader of the Marijuana Party): AKA pass the dutchie on the left hand side. Forget the Green party vote FOR green;).




Ok so there are more, but come on who votes for anyone but Liberal Conservative or NDP anyways.

In case you do, or at least want to see other parties, here is a list of the registered parties according to elections Canada.

Election

Ok, so Harper finally saw fit to call an election. So much for his promised set election dates eh, but who honestly expects politicians to follow through with election promises once they are in office.

But now that the elections are eminent campaigning is in full swing, though I did notice some Conservative election signs up before the actual call, but lets ignore that (just like I am sure Elections Canada will), and now Harper and his Conservatives have announced an additional 9billion in spending on the first day in parliament since the call, but Harper expects Canadians to believe that this sudden spending spree has nothing to do with the elections. Come on Mr. Harper, how stupid do you think... oh wait, you got in for one term already, obviously the average Canadian voter is really that stupid.

Howie's Turn 11:20

Howard Hampton's turn to speak. The A-Channel was wondering if Howie would step down as leader after this. Personally I hope he does. He may be smart, but he's as fun to watch speak as watching grass grow.

He looks quite teary eyed, did he expect to become premier? Although perhaps he's been into the sauce already, who knows? Well I shouldn't be so mean, Hampton's father did recently die and this is his first campaign without him, so perhaps that is what was causing the teary eyes.

Well he opened his speech not really thanking people who were there, but pointing out that they were there, I guess the thanks were implied, but it seemed odd.

Good on him for saying he'd continue to work towards first nations issues, and minimum wage increases, though I would expect nothing less from the NDP.

Wow I didn't realize he'd been an MPP since '87, that's quite a run.

One comment he made that made me laugh is "Governments have a lot of tools," of course I was thinking of tools like McGuinty and Tory, but I know that wasn't quite what he meant.

Wow talk about the bums rush the A-Channel actually cut him off when he began thanking some other NDP candidates. It could have been because he was just repeating his speech, but it didn't seem like he was done to me.

John Tory's Speech 11:00

Tail between the legs time for Tory. His smile looks quite forced, but one could hardly blame him, though when he talked about his first grandchild he actually seems genuinely proud.

Although I dislike his party and I think he is a tool Tory does seem to have the most amount of charisma out of any other politician in Ontario politics, though that really doesn't say anything.

He pauses briefly to slam into McGuinty a bit, but again that's not surprising. He is after all still technically the leader of the PC party, without a seat, but really that's not a big deal.

John Tory is remaining as the PC party leader. This isn't really a surprise, though if I were him I would step down in shame. He considered his campaign honest and disciplined? Wow he has an odd concept of honesty and discipline.

10:50 Dalton's Speech

So Dalton is doing his election speech. Well he sure showed off his French language skills. It was a typical acceptance speech, nothing interesting or new said. "I want to thank the volunteers.... blah blah blah... I want to thank all the candidates in all ridings for accepting public life.... blah blah blah." Not that I expect anything different from anyone running this time around. Not an ounce of charisma amongst the lot of them.

Seemed to be more applause for Terri McGuinty then for Dalton, she's certainly easier on the eyes.

He continually hinted at the Religious Education debate, I wish he'd let it drop as everyone else has. He knows as well as the fool who started it, John Tory, that it's done and over with it killed Tory's campaign though and McGuinty knows it. It's kind of like rubbing salt in the wound.

If he said "We are Ontario" one more time I might just have walked to his headquarters and bitch slapped him myself. Is he trying to start a new catch phrase? It's not nearly as catchy as fuddle duddle in my opinion, so I doubt it will catch on.

10:37 PC Party

Well John Tory did not get elected in his own riding. I find that terribly amusing.

10:27

Four more years for Khalil Ramal. Well I feel bad for Stephen I was really thinking it would go to the wire on this one, I was even thinking he might have a real chance at it. Well four more years of the MPP who is invisible. Sure he seems to do the job, but I can't think of anything of importance he did while in office. Well time will tell if that changes with this term.

10:25

Liberal - 71
PC - 25
NDP - 11

Well most channels have called it a Liberal majority for now, hate to say I told you so, but well I told you so. I am sad to see the NDP doing so poorly though, I had hoped they'd gain some ground in this election.

Referendum current result
Mixed Member Proportional - 27676 - 38%
First Pass the Post (current System) - 45409 - 62%

10:14

London-Fanshawe:
Lib 2304
NDP 1841
PC 1655

Province Wide
Liberal - 69
PC - 24
NDP - 13

10:02pm

NDP is trailing a little behind Kalil in London-Fanshawe, but Stephen could still win it.

Lib 1652
NDP 1376
PC 1195


Province Wide

Lib - 67
PC - 25
NDP 14

9:45

Liberal - 63
PC - 25
NDP - 16
Other - 0

London-Fanshawe 9:37

Stephen Maynard is in the lead by one poll right now.

9:35

Liberal - 60
PC - 25
NDP - 12
Other - 0

Polls Closed

Ok, votes have been cast. Of course no polls have been tallied yet, but it won't be long. Naturally, since it is my riding and I campaigned for Steven Maynard, I am most interested in the results of London-Fanshawe. It is expected that London-Fanshawe will be a close race, Khalil Ramal is the favorite, and Jim Chapman is a well known local radio personality.

Wow as I typed this some results trickled in.

PC - 6
Liberal - 2
NDP - 0
Others - 0

With only two polls actually fully in.

Polls Close In Under 30 Minutes

And I am calling it. I know no polls have reported in yet, however I am saying another Liberal Majority Government. Hampton was barely noticed. Tory started a debate he had no intention of following through in. Basically McGuinty will win because there is no one that made enough of a splash.

Live Election Blogging

Throughout the night I will update this to let everyone know what the status of the election is. As I find results I will post them here. Check back often for live updates.

Best of luck to London-Fanshawe NDP candidate Stephen Maynard.

Tory Flip-Flops on Religious Education

According to The London Free Press John Tory is expected to announce today that if he forms government he will have a free vote in the legislature to determine the fate of his faith-based education initiative. Technically this is not a flip-flop since he is still supporting it, and it could be argued that he is just encouraging proper democratic procedure. Since I am not a fan of the forced vote practice one would think I would applaud Tory on this, but the fact is I see it for the blatant parlor trick that it is.

What Tory is doing is admitting that the public has not been overly fond of his faith based school policy plans, so he is killing it without ever officially changing his stance. He knows that such a controversial topic will never pass a free vote, the NDP and the Liberals will crush it even if his own party votes pretty much along party lines, if even a few break ranks it will be defeated. This is Tory breaking a promise before he is even in government, which tops even McGuinty’s record for promise breaking.

Tory started the whole tempest in a teapot by saying that other faith-based schools should receive the same funding as public schools. The Liberals point out it would cost at least 100 Million more then the PC parties projected 400 Million, and the PC’s have no plan for how to pay for it. Now Tory is washing his hands of it in a manner that ensures his hands are clean. I think its time to show Tory that Canadian voters aren’t that stupid. Tory has practically made two issues his entire campaign:

• Issue #1: Dalton McGuinty’s hanging from the telephone wire with pants on fire

• Issue #2: All faith-based schools should receive government funding

How can a man who is breaking a campaign promise before the election even takes place be trusted?

Who to Vote For in the Upcoming Election Part IV: The NDP

The NDP, or the Dippers, are lead by a soggy noodle who goes by the moniker Howard Hampton. Don’t get me wrong, I intend to vote NDP, however I think Howard Hampton is the most boring political personality in Canadian History. I mean this is Canada where politicians have a long and wacky history. There’s Sir John A MacDonald, the first Prime Minister of Canada, well known drunk and wheeler and dealer extraordinare forced to resign in shame over questionable dealings between the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Conservatives. Then there is William Lyon MacKenzie King, holds the record for longest term (non-consecutive), and he received policy advice from his dead mother and dog, Then there is Joe Clake, the Conservative of the people, 20 years after his defeat he was still trying to regain the Prime Ministership. What about Kim Campbell, she was Prime Minister for about ten seconds, and she lead the conservatives to the worst defeat in Canadian political history destroying the PC Party and putting them in the same rankings as the Green Party. Of course there is my all time favorite Prime Minister, not for his leadership style, not for his policies, but just because he is so darned zany, Jean Chretien, what can be said about Chretien, the man had more charisma then brains. And that leaves out the greats like Pierre Elliot Trudeau, Brian Mulroney, The Dief, and more, not great because of their intelligence or politics, but great because they had what it takes to be PM in Canada, balls the size of coconuts and charisma up the yin-yang. Sure Hampton isn’t going for the Prime Minster position, just the Premier of Ontario, but even for that role there are some notable freaks, look at the last four. Dalton McGuinty broke more promises then he made, a difficult task even for politicians. Ernie Eves is runner up for the creepiest man in Canada (Stockwell Day took that title long ago). Mike “The Hatchet” Harris made more cuts to public services then any politician ever, and yet still managed to avoid becoming the most hated politician alive. Bob Rae is the current most hated man in Ontario. What is Hampton? He should take a look at the “great” leaders of Canadian History and learn to show a little charisma, punch a protester, drink a little too much at the NDP Christmas party, just do something to create some minor scandal that will show Ontario that you have a pulse. Ok now that I have ranted on and on, making personal attacks towards a man I have never met, lets take a look at his platform.

I used to think the NDP was a party of dreamers. They’d shoot for the moon using a slingshot. The NDP has a proud history, the likes of Tommy Douglas, the founder of public health care system, rose from the ranks of the NDP. However in recent years there were too many Dippers like Bob Rae, the get it done and ignore the cost types. However, they learn from their mistakes and while they are still the party for the common man, they are also the party of common sense. A very nicely done PDF document outlines their fiscal plan demonstrating that they can keep the budget balanced AND increase spending. Of course some taxes will have to be raised, but only for the rich, so I know I have nothing to worry about.

The over all NDP platform is based around six easy to understand, self explanatory commitments:

1. Health Tax Rebate
2. $10 Minimum Wage/Roll back MP pay raises
3. Protect the children and environment
4. Making sure kids get the education they deserve
5. Removing barriers to post-secondary education
6. Reducing wait times and improving health care

Of course Hampton is not likely to be the next premier of Ontario, however he will have a powerbase in that the next government will most likely be a minority, they will have to rely on the NDP to prop them up. That means Hampton will hold some pretty kick ass cards come any confidence votes, any party in power will have to play ball with Hampton in order to remain in power. The more Dippers in an MPP chair, the more power Hampton will wield.

Who to Vote For in the Upcoming Election Part III: The Conservatives

The Progressive Conservatives, or the Regressive Conservatives as critics often call them, is headed by John Tory. The Conservatives are often called Tories, which has absolutely nothing to do with John Tory heading the party. The Liberals are Grits, and the Conservatives are Tories. This is from the British parliamentary system and dates back a very long time before John Tory was born. John Tory is running on a Campaign of “Leadership Matters” mocking McGuinty’s apparent lack of leadership. Tory seems obsessed with making McGuinty look bad, this is neither uncommon, nor difficult to do. His platform is broken down into four sections:

1. Investing in Stronger Communities – Tory’s Education, Police, Poverty, and arts and culture stance
2. Fairness for your Family – Tory’s Tax platform
3. Government that Works for You – Accountable government, truthful Taxes, Jobs, and Law
4. Building Ontario’s Future – Jobs, education, immigration, environmental, energy, and infrastructure.

Basically Tory’s stance is that the Liberals had four years to implement a plan and the only thing they managed to do was raise taxes after promising not to. After reading his policy document I would have to conclude that there is very little new in it. It is 90% blame Liberals 5% increase services and 5% lower taxes oh yes and keep the budget balanced while doing so.

As for Amoralist issues, well I’d have to say that any Amoralist looking to vote conservative better get their heads examined. Sure Tory wants to lower taxes, but he won’t be able to do it. He wants to somehow give funding to religious schools while not cutting any money from the public schools. I have no problem funding religious schools, however I do feel that most of the money should come from private donations, after all they want to bypass public education in order to educate kids in the ways of their religion. The only thing I like is his immigration policy, which would break down the barriers which turn skilled trades workers into cab drivers. His environmental policy is abysmal, his fiscal plan is nonexistent, he will bankrupt the education system, he seems bent on privatizing health care, basically he is a mirror image of his federal counterpart Stephen Harer, but at least Tory has a personality.