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Canadian PoliGAF - 42nd Parliament: Sunny Ways in Trudeaupia

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SRG01

Member
Is it likely for Harper or his staff to ever face charges on this?

If the email records can be entered as evidence in another case, then most likely, yes. However, it takes political capital and willingness from the RCMP to press charges against any government, past or present. Otherwise, we'll just get Airbus/Shawinigate-esque cases that go nowhere.

edit: Is it my imagination or is the scrum more aggressive than usual?
 

Pedrito

Member
Another blow for our conservative friends as Justin makes Time's list of the 100 most influential people...along with Kim Jung Un and Pewdipie.

Also, after Duffy's acquittal, I think this great man deserves our apologies:

Cowan610px.jpg


He was right all along. #EarlForSenator
 
Is anyone following the Newfoundland budget debate? It's crazy! Anonymous is threatening to get involved, and there's a petition with more than 5,500 signatures calling for the legislature to hold a free vote on it.

This is almost guaranteed to amount to nothing, but I love how a free vote on the budget would basically destroy one of the core conventions of parliamentary democracy and make governments completely unaccountable between elections (since, by design, votes on money bills have to be confidence votes). Thankfully some people out there have pointed this out, but the fact it's being discussed seriously by so many people is hilarious in a "Wow, people really don't understand how parliament works" kind of way.
 

gabbo

Member
Is anyone following the Newfoundland budget debate? It's crazy! Anonymous is threatening to get involved, and there's a petition with more than 5,500 signatures calling for the legislature to hold a free vote on it.

This is almost guaranteed to amount to nothing, but I love how a free vote on the budget would basically destroy one of the core conventions of parliamentary democracy and make governments completely unaccountable between elections (since, by design, votes on money bills have to be confidence votes). Thankfully some people out there have pointed this out, but the fact it's being discussed seriously by so many people is hilarious in a "Wow, people really don't understand how parliament works" kind of way.

We all want people to be more engaged, but this.... this isn't going about it quite the right way
 

Silexx

Member
Sorry to shift the subject here, but some interesting developments with the Canadian hostage that was executed this week and the government's response to it.

First came this article which reported that the government was directly involved in negotiating for John Risdel's release. The source was Bob Rae himself.

Now Trudeau has stated categorically that we do not pay ransoms, neither directly or indirectly. It should also be noted that, under Harper, the Canadian government was involved in indirectly in securing ransoms for Canadian hostages.
 

Tapejara

Member
Conservative party to debate same-sex marriage policy next month

OTTAWA—A social policy showdown could be in the works for next month’s Conservative party policy convention.

On one side: a bid to further entrench the party’s stand against same-sex marriage with a resolution to protect “the rights of Canadian workers who believe in the traditional definition of marriage from employment discrimination on the basis of their deeply held religious beliefs.”

On the other: efforts to get the existing policy banning same-sex marriage dropped altogether.

The party policy, as it stands, is that Parliament and not the courts should determine the definition of marriage and that the party supports legislation defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

But it also allows for free votes on matters of conscience, including same-sex marriage, so there’s no sense having a specific policy prohibition against it, the group says.

A resolution to delete the same-sex marriage provisions was backed by a policy congress of Alberta Conservatives earlier this year, as well as regional policy meetings in Quebec and Toronto, although that one was a close vote

It's embarrassing that one of our major political parties even needs to debate this.
 

Tabris

Member
For the conservative party to be successful, they need to update their platform to be left wing on social items such as same-sex marriage.

As Canadian voters have proven they are left wing on the social items, while a lot aren't necessarily left wing on economics.

I guarantee you that the conservatives would get a lot more traction if they just focused on conservative tax platform and dropped all those other items. Because their social right wing voters will still vote for them as there wouldn't be another option, and they could get the swing voters on taxes.

But then, for me personally, I don't want them to be successful. So keep it up :)
 

maharg

idspispopd
Wildrose would go national if they went explicitly left on social issues. The reform split would happen all over again.
 

Tabris

Member
Wildrose would go national if they went explicitly left on social issues. The reform split would happen all over again.

Then they would need to merge again after losing another election to become the more centrist PC again.

As each generation goes by, the social right becomes smaller and smaller. Economic right still thrives due to the natural trend of becoming more conservative as people get older and make more money (we really need to break this and get more into moral economics).
 

SRG01

Member
Thought's on a land value tax?

I've encountered some people online who are of the belief that taxation should primarily come from land value taxes, as they do not distort markets, and taxes on externalities like carbon taxes. It's an interesting thought, not that I feel qualified to propose that we ought to make such drastic changes to our tax system.

The problem is that the primary generator of wealth these days is not through land ownership but rather through income generators such as stocks and dividends.

Don't get me wrong: Real estate does generate some money, but it pales in comparison to where the real money is.
 
this is great!!!

first the NDP tears itself apat between the Toronto Lefty-Left Urbanites versus the Alberta workers

please, continue

now we have the Conservatives doing the same being LOLOLOL talking about social conservatism like debating about Same Sex Marriage LOLOLOL

please, continue



Trudeau wins
 
this is great!!!

first the NDP tears itself apat between the Toronto Lefty-Left Urbanites versus the Alberta workers

please, continue

now we have the Conservatives doing the same being LOLOLOL talking about social conservatism like debating about Same Sex Marriage LOLOLOL

please, continue



Trudeau wins
Getting rid of Mulcair was a huge mistake.
 

Tabris

Member
this is great!!!

first the NDP tears itself apat between the Toronto Lefty-Left Urbanites versus the Alberta workers

I keep hearing this kind of talk from you. You know the current Liberal government is the most left it's ever been (in my opinion, some of their platform items being much more left then NDP), and quite far from centrist. It's not the Liberal government that you remember.

Their change in platform is what won over "lefty-left's" like me.
 

Walpurgis

Banned
I keep hearing this kind of talk from you. You know the current Liberal government is the most left it's ever been (in my opinion, some of their platform items being much more left then NDP), and quite far from centrist. It's not the Liberal government that you remember.

Their change in platform is what won over "lefty-left's" like me.

The Liberals are still red and that's all that matters.
 

SRG01

Member
I keep hearing this kind of talk from you. You know the current Liberal government is the most left it's ever been (in my opinion, some of their platform items being much more left then NDP), and quite far from centrist. It's not the Liberal government that you remember.

Their change in platform is what won over "lefty-left's" like me.

Lefty-left would be... extreme left. Liberals are still mostly centrist despite some progressive platforms. Don't forget that the Liberals are also pro-free trade and other globalization/economic liberalization measures.
 

Tabris

Member
Lefty-left would be... extreme left. Liberals are still mostly centrist despite some progressive platforms. Don't forget that the Liberals are also pro-free trade and other globalization/economic liberalization measures.

I disagree. Well I agree on pro-globalization, but their infrastructure commitment is a very socialist economic technique. Their main platform item is a kin to the New Deal and the Autobahn development in Germany (which led to the opposite of a left sided government in the fascist Nazi Germany but that's another point entirely.) Or in another way of saying it, Keysian economics is a very left economic platform.

Not something a centrist government would do.
 

maharg

idspispopd
Er... Comparing it to the New Deal seems like more than a bit of a stretch. Like, the New Deal was a radical re-organization of an entire country, including a massive expansion of the welfare state.

The only thing even remotely on the table that could compare to that these days would be a basic income. Adding drugs to universal health care would be a step towards something that could compare.

Did you mean the development of the interstate road system? That was a post-war effort, mostly credited to Eisenhower, afaik.
 

Tabris

Member
I wasn't comparing the degree of the New Deal to Liberals Budget, but the intention. Sorry for the confusion.

They are both keysian economic policies. Both "lefty-left".
 

Boogie

Member
And in sort-of-but-not-really political news, RCMP recruiting numbers are so bad that the Force is literally gutting the applications process to get more people in.

http://www.cbc.ca/news

-no longer have to be a Canadian citizen, now you can be a permanent resident with 10 years in Canada
-no longer have to successfully complete the physical fitness test before going to the training academy
-if you want to work in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan or Manitoba, you get your province of choice to work in, compared to being at the whims of staffing like everyone else.
-if you have at least a two-year college diploma, you get to skip the initial aptitude test.

And, in my opinion, the real biggie

-no more selection interview. The part where you actually had to sit down for two hours with an actual human being investigator/interviewer who could assess your suitability for doing the job.


This organization is sooooo fucked.

*laughs*

....

*cries*
 

Apathy

Member
For the conservative party to be successful, they need to update their platform to be left wing on social items such as same-sex marriage.

As Canadian voters have proven they are left wing on the social items, while a lot aren't necessarily left wing on economics.

I guarantee you that the conservatives would get a lot more traction if they just focused on conservative tax platform and dropped all those other items. Because their social right wing voters will still vote for them as there wouldn't be another option, and they could get the swing voters on taxes.

But then, for me personally, I don't want them to be successful. So keep it up :)

I say they should stick to right wing social stances and have less and less chance to win as time goes on and the old generation die off. Them trying to fight things like same sex marriage is analogous to people fighting against civil rights of minorities. If someone today told you they were for segregation and said that minorities should not have basic rights like whites, you'd think those people vile and stupid. We say the same for people who want to discriminate against the lgbt community and we'll be saying it even more later as the youngest generation grow up in a world where they understand gay rights and become the future voters.
 

Tabris

Member
This organization is sooooo fucked.

*cries*[/i]

But can't they facilitate that all via the academy process anyways? You're going to go through things like psych evaluations and background evaluations there.

I mean all that really means is the RCMP may be wasting a bit more money on people who fail in the academy that would have been filtered out in the previously tougher application process?
 

Boogie

Member
But can't they facilitate that all via the academy process anyways? You're going to go through things like psych evaluations and background evaluations there.

No. Psych evaluation and background investigation takes place during the application process, prior to being selected to go to the training academy. The training academy is for training.

Imean all that really means is the RCMP may be wasting a bit more money on people who fail in the academy that would have been filtered out in the previously tougher application process?

Think about that for a second. If that was what is going to happen here, management would absolutely see that all it would do is waste money for no change in the recruiting numbers. And they've been in extreme penny-pinching mode from years of conservative government already.

No, this is absolutely about trying to widen the application pool and push people through who wouldn't previously make the cut. Once you've spent the money to fly a recruit to Regina and start spending money training them, there will absolutely be institutional pressure to push people through who would have been drummed out before/otherwise.
 

maharg

idspispopd
I wasn't comparing the degree of the New Deal to Liberals Budget, but the intention. Sorry for the confusion.

They are both keysian economic policies. Both "lefty-left".

Well, I don't really consider Keynesian economics "lefty-left". Actually I think it's the definition of centrist: It pursues market efficiency through judicious, but not universal, application of socialist policies.

The New Deal was, by the standards of its time, considerably more than just some deficit spending in bad times -- it established spending that would continue well past the end of the depression and raised the bar for government spending on social programs virtually permanently. There was *also* make-work in the New Deal that was more explicitly Keynesian, of course, but it went well beyond that. Which is why I'm saying it's not really an apt comparison and makes a few billion dollars of catchup on infrastructure spending look like something it isn't.
 

Jebusman

Banned
And in sort-of-but-not-really political news, RCMP recruiting numbers are so bad that the Force is literally gutting the applications process to get more people in.

http://www.cbc.ca/news

-no longer have to be a Canadian citizen, now you can be a permanent resident with 10 years in Canada
-no longer have to successfully complete the physical fitness test before going to the training academy
-if you want to work in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan or Manitoba, you get your province of choice to work in, compared to being at the whims of staffing like everyone else.
-if you have at least a two-year college diploma, you get to skip the initial aptitude test.

And, in my opinion, the real biggie

-no more selection interview. The part where you actually had to sit down for two hours with an actual human being investigator/interviewer who could assess your suitability for doing the job.


This organization is sooooo fucked.

*laughs*

....

*cries*

My coworker tried to get into the RCMP and somehow failed the psych test part of it. I wonder now if he would've been able to bypass that given he has a 2 year college diploma
 
And in sort-of-but-not-really political news, RCMP recruiting numbers are so bad that the Force is literally gutting the applications process to get more people in.

http://www.cbc.ca/news

-no longer have to be a Canadian citizen, now you can be a permanent resident with 10 years in Canada
-no longer have to successfully complete the physical fitness test before going to the training academy
-if you want to work in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan or Manitoba, you get your province of choice to work in, compared to being at the whims of staffing like everyone else.
-if you have at least a two-year college diploma, you get to skip the initial aptitude test.

And, in my opinion, the real biggie

-no more selection interview. The part where you actually had to sit down for two hours with an actual human being investigator/interviewer who could assess your suitability for doing the job.


This organization is sooooo fucked.

*laughs*

....

*cries*

Maybe I should look into being a Mountie if it's that easy to get in!
 

Pedrito

Member
Rumour has it that PKP might resign at 2 pm.

Confirmed. He resigns for family reasons. Quits political life. He's barely able to speak without crying.

It's completely out of the left field. Something must be going on with his divorce. His ex-wife was on tv last night and insinuated that her long relation with TVA (Quebecor's main tv channel) was pretty much over. Sounds like a messy divorce. Retaliation? Dirt about to come out? Custody battle?
 
Quitting the leadership and his seat, too. There must be some major dirt about to come out for him to be quitting so abruptly. The only alternative is that he's decided to run for the BQ leadership, but...yeah, that's not happening in this case.

Can't wait for the CPC to tear itself apart on another years old already settled battle: abortion.

And right on cue: C-225: An Act to amend the Criminal Code (injuring or causing the death of a preborn child while committing an offence). They know that a frontal assault on choice doesn't work, so they're hoping that no one notices if they try and sneak it in through the back door.
 
And right on cue: C-225: An Act to amend the Criminal Code (injuring or causing the death of a preborn child while committing an offence). They know that a frontal assault on choice doesn't work, so they're hoping that no one notices if they try and sneak it in through the back door.

They know it won't go through either way but there's been increasing noise from a minority of religious right-wing Conservatives that want abortion banned. Even talking about it is extremely harmful for their party in the public eye but that won't stop them from trying.
 

Sapiens

Member
Quitting the leadership and his seat, too. There must be some major dirt about to come out for him to be quitting so abruptly. The only alternative is that he's decided to run for the BQ leadership, but...yeah, that's not happening in this case.



And right on cue: C-225: An Act to amend the Criminal Code (injuring or causing the death of a preborn child while committing an offence). They know that a frontal assault on choice doesn't work, so they're hoping that no one notices if they try and sneak it in through the back door.

so...they don't get that Stephen Harper being a centrist was a good thing for the popularity of the party?
 

Tapejara

Member
With Harper gone it'll be interesting to see where the party moves along the political spectrum. Between the abortion issue and the debate on gay marriage, it certainly feels like the party is regressing in terms of social policies, but clearly the party leaders have to realize that model isn't sustainable?
 
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