The Shrine

The Green Party will not be allowed to participate in national debate. The current Prime Minister Steven Harper has called a "snap" election for October 14th to try to expand his minority government. Three of the four main parties have said they will boycott the debate if Green leader Elizabeth May is allowed to participate. The Liberal Party has said that they won't show up if the Conservatives aren't there, so based on that information it would be a lonely debate if the Greens were allowed. It is based on that information that the Canadian Networks have not allowed the Green Party to take part in the debates. A little background for the Americans and those not particularly inclined to care in Canada - The Green Party actually has a seat in parliament after a Liberal Party minister was expelled from the party and decided to join the Greens.

Link to CBC article

Sensational topic to keep politics exciting.

I remember I was in Greece when I found out Harper and team won...I had never been so ashamed of my country than as I was at that moment. Actually, I think I posted while in greece...let's see if I can dig it up.

Edit: Yeah there we go...but I sounded less pissed off than I really was.

viewtopic.php?t=10078&highlight=canada

We live in more of a veiled democracy than the US does. Our politicians are fucking awful and we let them get away with it

We have politicians now?

Black Lotus wrote:We have politicians now?

Well, businessmen who are getting paid by our tax dollars. That's what passes as a politician nowadays

I'm voting for whichever party has the hardest laws on pollution, the best environmental conservation policies first and foremost. I heard something about a carbon tax which I think is an excellent idea in curving the population away from wasteful practices.

oh, sorry that I didn't update this. The Green Party can go into the debates now. Democracy was restored and everyone rejoiced. It was a party.

Maybe the real issue is how a party can get 11% of the popular vote and not have any representation in the government......then having 2/3rds of the population (in Ontario, at least) vote to ensure they never will.

they do have an MP, but he was an old Liberal minister that crossed over to the Greens. He also was kicked out of the Liberals because of the whole sponsorship scandal. I agree that our electoral system is fucked for a multiparty system, but I've already posted that a couple times. People from Ontario are not allowed to whine because you guys had the chance to have a different system and voted it down. BC gets to complain because they had the vote to get PR (proportional representation, the same thing Ontario was voting for) and they got over half, but since they didn't get over 60% of the vote for the required super-majority, nothing happened.


Blah blah blah.

That's another issue, we do need proportional representation because our entire demograph is being ignored until 50-60 years worth of people die off above us.

bovine wrote:they do have an MP, but he was an old Liberal minister that crossed over to the Greens. He also was kicked out of the Liberals because of the whole sponsorship scandal. I agree that our electoral system is fucked for a multiparty system, but I've already posted that a couple times. People from Ontario are not allowed to whine because you guys had the chance to have a different system and voted it down. BC gets to complain because they had the vote to get PR (proportional representation, the same thing Ontario was voting for) and they got over half, but since they didn't get over 60% of the vote for the required super-majority, nothing happened.


Blah blah blah.

I can complain about the vote...and I will....a lot. I was shocked that for the first time in 80 years we had an opportunity to shape the structure of our government to actually allow a speck of accountability into the system. Everyone I ever talked to during the 2 months leading up to the election got a HUGE "vote yes for this" speech from me. And you're talking about someone who, in 13 years, never had a reason to vote since the only options I was given was Tweedle Dee or Tweedle Dum. It's like deciding which shitpile you want your supper to come from.

I was educating people on what I thought it really meant (I did the research on how it was going to work) and what it would lead to. I did everything in my power to get people to vote "yes" (and yes, I went out and vote for it). And what was the end result? 2/3rds of the people disagreed with me. It just proved to me that I'm in the minority as real change to include accountabilty in our political system (whcih is what I want) will never occur because my fellow provincemates don't want it. But I sure as fuck did my part so I can complain for the rest of my natural life about the fact that we'll never have this opportunity again. But like me voting for a politician, it'll mean nothing

Yeah, B.C. got screwed huge. At least the majority of them (unlike the moronic, sheep-like Torontonians) had the good sense to see change was required. I feel sympathy for them as they were really screwed. The politicans set it up to make sure you needed a super-majority rather than a simple one. It's the same as the majority of the Americans voting for Gore but them having to live with Bush. The system failed them huge yet there are no repurcussions. Sad really

Dutch wrote:That's another issue, we do need proportional representation because our entire demograph is being ignored until 50-60 years worth of people die off above us.

The real problem with proportional representation is the benefits won't be realized for a good 10 years. It'll take that long for parties like the Green party to have their voice heard and have a platform to talk to the public (and be heard) as well as for the politicians to figure out how to make the system work (mostly for them). Most people (well, Torontonians as they represent the majority of our province) don't have that kind of foresight. People in Vancouver did but Torontonians? They're too busy trying to look out for #1 right now and deciding which Thomas Pink shirt to wear to their daily dinner engagement to have that kind of foresight