Anyone else done the CBC's political compass thing for these elections? Apparently I should be voting Green. That won't get Harper out of office, though lol

If anyone wants to do it for fun: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/cana...1/votecompass/

Yeah, I did that a while ago. I also got Green - which is strange cuz I thought I was "orange".

I missed the first half of the election debates last night, but from what I saw of the second half Ignatieff and Duceppe were well ahead of the others...and Duceppe made some hilarious comments. Honestly, if I lived in Québec I'd vote for him. I loved one of his comments on Harper's anti-gun registry spiel that went something like: "With the Conservatives you register the dogs, you register the ducks, you register everything except for the gun!" :rofl:

Also, I wish Layton would stop trying to pick at Ignatieff, that kind of left/liberal division is not what this election needs. We need to get rid of Harper, not pick at other liberal/left parties. We need a left/liberal coalition, and barring that Ignatieff is the best shot we have. But looking at the polls, it'll probably be another minority government. Since last time it looks like the Liberals have won 3% from NDP to give them a greater edge on the Conservatives.

Anyways, in case anyone else missed a part of the debate, they are apparently on youtube. Will be sure not to miss the French language debates tonight.

First part:


Second part:


Third:


and beyond that you can listen to the rest of the parts (there are 12 in total) through this guy's channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/chrisgratton#p/u

I know some folks I know were having problems finding the French language debate. It's on CBLFT/Radio Canada for those looking for it (and everyone should watch!).

Also, Ignatieff needs to spruce up his French a little "Il faut dire des choses vrai à des gens!" Lulz :P

Harper is robotic as usual...but somewhat more hesitant in French which throws of his "look at me, I shall be calm yet belittling...beeeliiieevveee mmeee! Pretty please!", lol. I don't think he's staring as creepily at the screen as last night though...but continues to lie outright about everything.

Shit Harper Did - and none of it is any good.

Don't forget to vote, people.

Lots and lots of news! And most of it fucking sucks these days!

On the topic of Shit Harper Did: These elections have resulted in some pretty skeezy moves the Conservative Party and highlights how important it is that we get them the fuck out of office!

One of the biggest issues: On Thursday April 14th, Students at the University of Guelph were lining up to vote at the special ballot station on the UofGuelph campus when Conservative party members stormed onto the scene questioning the legality of the voting station. One Conservative even tried to grab the ballot box, which is completely illegal. As such, there was a huge issue on whether or not Elections Canada would count the 700 votes placed by UofGuelph students. They've ruled that they will count the votes, but fell to Conservative pressure and have now stated that NO special ballot voting stations are to be placed on University campuses despite that they were legal before. This is a DIRECT blow to student voters and I hope its enough for my peers to realise how important this election is. Harper is systematically trying to dismantle democracy in this country, by discouraging young Canadians from voting; a vote that would almost certainly unseat him since only 21% of Canadians voted for Harper in the last elections and they were largely over 40 years of age, many organised into voting by leaders in Canada's religious right.

Many Canadians between the ages of 18-30 are often politically apathetic. And even Canadians in their 30s don't go out and vote as often as those over 40. These age groups are very often, albeit apathetic, supporters of Liberal and Left-leaning parties, moreso than their older counterparts (though that isn't to say there aren't those over 40 that support the Left...otherwise we might not have had a minority, but a majority)...they make up a chunk of the 50% of Canadians that didn't vote last election. So to I'll expand that 18-30 to 18-39...GET OUT AND VOTE!

I highly recommend that everyone vote strategically in their area. http://catch22campaign.ca/notes is a website that has detailed most/all uncertain ridings. If you live in one of these ridings under threat of a Conservative seat, then I'd encourage you to vote for the Liberal/NDP/Green leader who is closest to unseating the Conservative in your riding.

Ignatieff made an excellent speech yesterday in Sudbury telling Canadians that this is no longer about party politics, about who you vote for, but about ending the threat to democracy that Harper represents. He told Canadians to "Rise Up!" and that has quickly become the Anti-Harper slogan. So help secure your riding from the Conservatives!

In other news, the Jewish Defence League protested outside of the Toronto Pride office yesterday, throwing around homophobic slurs at mostly silent lgbt counterprotestors. Boo on them, and screw that idjiot Rob Ford...at least he has no excuse to cancel Toronto Pride funding without revealing himself even more as the bigot he is.

http://www.xtra.ca/public/Toronto/Je...nto-10031.aspx

I just wanted to drop a link to Ignatieff's amazing speech yesterday:

Rise Up Canada! Levez-vous, le Canada!


and might I add a Vive le Canada libre! :D

Canadians are really starting to talk about this speech last night and today. I wonder how it'll affect the Conservative lead in the polls...negatively I hope!

Ok. I need someone to explain something to me. The Charter of Rights says the following:

But Elections Canada says...

So do I suddenly not become Canadian once the 5th year passes? I lose one of my basic fundamental rights as a Canadian? :blink: :rant:

@Linus...that is really strange, I've never heard of that before. I'd call their 1-800 number and ask them. I can't see why Canadians should have to stop voting after residing outside the country for 5 years...you still have Canadian citizenship. For some reason I always thought my relatives over in Europe with dual citizenship still voted in the elections. If that's true then that sucks arse! :blink:

On that note, to those who may not have been paying attention (but really, who wouldn't be!? lol) advanced polls are open today, tomorrow and Monday from 12-8pm. I have officially done my duty to help take Harper down :canada:

Now it's time for the massive link/video drop. Check here to see if your riding's a swing riding: http://www.stopthesplit.org/

Mocking Harper's attempt to get "the ethnic vote" lol:


And McGill vote mob cause UofT one (hellz yeah!) isn't up yet:


Had Enough Harper?


Ok, I'm done now :P

My Riding
 

Recommendation: Vote freely

NDP 51.9%
Liberal 19.4%
Conservative 23.9%
Green 4.5%

http://www.stopthesplit.org/

Harper's latest stunt now appears to be promising to create an Office of Religious Freedom. Canada seems to be turning into a dystopian novel and the perfect picture of a dictatorship. I've no doubt Harper will use this to get even more of his evangelical friends into office, maybe give Faytene Kryskow an official job...these people are nuts.

This is how our government continues to promote discrimination and abuse of individual's rights under the guise of "religious freedom." I don't know if anyone read Harper's Rediscovering the Right Agenda essay, but he's even gone as far as excusing parents physically punishing their children as "religious freedom." I'm sure same-sex marriage would come under attack as well under the guise of "religious freedom" as well as women's right to abortion and so on.

http://www.conservative.ca/press/new...ound_the_world

Am I reading right? The NDP are in second place? :blink: And gaining?

So the EKOS polls say, though some others say differently. Also, even pollsters have gone over the real problems with poll accuracy. They only poll people via landlines and only 1,000 or so at a time...so likely completely leaving out many demographics including youth and students. Only 15% of respondants actually agree to answer these things anyways. We won't know what's going on until May 2nd. That said, an NDP surge is better than a Conservative surge so it doesn't worry me too much. I just don't trust Layton that much, but I trust Harper 100 times less, lol.

I dunno, I'm kind of against polls in the elections cause I worry that they suppress votes by making people think their vote won't make a difference anyways. Then again, already they said the advance polls attracted far more than in the last few elections, so that's good news.

Yes but Canada has far less polling than the US when it comes to elections and, IIRC, Elections Canada puts a limit on when the polls can be asked near an election (I think they can't ask within a 24-48 hour period before the election or something like that)

Even so, I think the damage is already done by that point. Tbh, I'd support getting rid of them outright. They often seem self-prophecizing as far as how important many people think they are. Especially when it comes to getting the youth/student vote out I think it's important to realise how polls can affect results or suppress votes since many young Canadians are already under the impression that they can't make a difference. These elections things are going better what with vote mobs, social media etc., but still really hate how much weight the public puts on polls.

Oh and Rob Ford just said he endorses Harper. Surprised, anyone? Anyone at all? lol

Not necessarily. Remember they only show how Canadians feel across the country as a whole and isn't reflective of local MP. Many vote based on that person alone, regardless of the overall party. Certainly there are those that "toe the line" but I don't think it's as prevalent as previously.

I think Canadians are not happy with Harper and if the advanced polls are higher than usual we may be seeing something entirely new. IIRC, when the NDP won in Ontario years ago the same thing happened: backlash against a PC gov't and deciding to give someone new a chance in the ridings.

I've heard a few of the ads on CHUM-FM (listening Live Online) and have to said that some of them are just bad, like really bad. They treat Canadians as if they are children and I don't think I've really heard any ads by any party state what they are going to do for the country. They've all been about what's wrong with the other guy (negative ads like that are why people don't vote).

Here's the solution for the election:

Rob Ford can suck my left one. Wait, no he can't because I wouldn't let him. Nevermind.

Yes, please. It's really much more sensible.

p/s:

Get out there and vote, motherfuckers! (I've only been awake for an hour and I've done it already. I'd do it again if they'd let me!)

I'm very sad today. And more than a little pissed off. How does 40% of the vote become a "clear majority"? We need electoral reform in Canada - what we have now does not work unless there's a two-party system.

I looked at the vote breakdown in many of the ridings that the Conservatives one, and it's really clear that the smartypants vote being split between the NDP, Green, and Liberals is to blame - with the Cons winning by having as low as 35% of the vote in those ridings and the remaining 65% being split between the NDP and the Liberals. So either we need an AV+ voting system or the NDP and Liberal parties need to merge.

I'm also mad because my Dad bet me $20 that the Cons would form a majority government this time around. I took that bet (because I didn't think it was possible!) and said "Not in my country, Dad." How long do you think I can dodge him for?

Blech.

<<SIGH>>

I knew the cons would get the majority. I think Canadians wanted stability. But 60% turnout, shame for freaking shame.

I am surprised by the amount of seats the NDP got, Layton was on fire. Iggy did not even win his seat, not surprising to me. And Bloc is without a leader. Holy Moly.

Yeah Elizabeth May. Glad to hear she finally got in. Not sure what good it will do as a one seat party, but one seat is more than they have had. And green is my color.

So... now where did Harper put that Trans bill? Oh yeah, right back to square one.

<sitting back sipping coffee waiting for the world to turn>

I don't think a coalition is a bad thing. I mean, really, it has the potential to represent MORE of the voting public than the party that holds the minority government has. The NDP/Bloc/Lib "coalition" represented the people who had not voted for the stupid Cons - which is the actual majority of Canadians.

When the Cons go on about how scary a coalition in the government is - it's because they hope we don't know how to count.

Is Mammoliti Scared of Drag Queens?
 

Source: http://www.xtra.ca/blog/national/pos...y-council.aspx

Mammoliti on Drag Queens: http://fordfortoronto.mattelliott.ca...iti-on-queens/

Pride TO Funding Likely Safe
 

Well, the bullshit surrounding this year's Pride continues. Yesterday was the 8 hour or so city council meeting that would determine if Pride gets city funding this year or not. They are still saying that they are going to withhold funding until after Pride (which is just stupid) to see if QuAIA participates or not. The problem is they are so fucking vague about QuAIA's participation. They've already said they will not march this year, but now the mayor and Mammoliti are saying that if members of QuAIA show up in any Pride events then funding could be withheld. How do you ban individuals from a public festival? It's so stupid.

The other thing too is that the moderate Jewish community doesn't even appear to be the ones who give a damn about QuAIA. It's radicals like the Jewish Defence League who are calling QuAIA a hate group, despite that the JDL are a hate group themselves and even considered a terrorist group themselves in some nations. At the first or second rally they held in front of Pride headquarters they were yelling homophobic slurs. The JDL themselves are a hate group and its obvious city hall is just trying to use their hatred not only for QuAIA and Palestinians/Arabs but for the gay community as well to further city hall's own homophobic views.

Anyways, here's the article:

http://www.xtra.ca/public/National/2...afe-10209.aspx

Who or what is QuAIA?

Queers Against Israeli Apartheid, a Toronto-based group who's aim is solidarity among LGBT Palestinians and who oppose seeing Israel (note the government/military of Israel, not the Jewish people as a group) try to use LGBT issues to justify its violence against Palestinians.

You can check out the group description on their site:
http://queersagainstapartheid.org/who/

Stupidest thing I've ever heard of. God, I hate Rob Ford.

(And yes, I have been following this closely)

A big part of Ford's motivation in this is his dislike for our community. But you know what? He should be leaning close and kissing Our Queer Asses considering the amount of money the city makes during Pride Weeks. I mean look at all of the out-of-towners who shack up in Toronto hotels and eat at Toronto restaurants and spend their money in Toronto shops and drink in Toronto bars during Pride week! The tourism revenue around Pride is fucking HUGE and he OWES us.

(By the way, colour me sad that I won't be able to make it back home for Pride this year. I just started a new job and I'm not able to take any vacation days for 6 months. BOO!)

Boo, indeed! That sucks hard that you can't make Pride this year!

I agree, he should be supporting Pride if he gives a shit about bringing money into the city and helping local businesses. He goes on with his "champion of the taxpayer" facade claiming he won't "waste our money" on a parade that supposedly supports a "hate group" (despite that the city's executive council ruled otherwise...), yet if he were really such a "champion" he would realise that the money Pride makes for the city outdoes the funding it receives by leaps and bounds. Either his hatred for our community is so strong that even his greedy ass won't support a festival that is good for the city financially just because he hates queers, or he and his cronies are so clueless on finances that they just don't get it. It could be either one, really, given the financial fiasco that has been "Ford Nation" since he got in.

2011 has been a real bust for me. I haven't been back home since early January, I just haven't had the time (I need at least 3 days off in a row to make it worth my while, since the train ride is like a 5 hour fiasco.)

Although, to be perfectly honest I don't really enjoy Pride. I do like the Dyke March on Saturday, but that's about it. It woulda been nice to see my sister (and parents) and friends sooner rather than later, though - and Pride is always a really good excuse for me to go home. Next year!

How many more years of Ford do we have? And can we trust the suburbs to not act stupid next election?

A letter to Canadians from the Honourable Jack Layton

that made me sad yesterday when my mom told me.


My father in law died of cancer three weeks ago. He told us ever since the facist Geert Wilders got into power in the netherlands, that if he came down with a terminal disease, he'd kill the fucker on his way out. When he became ill he said "the shittiest thing is now that I do have a terminal illness I'm far too sick and weak to kill Wilders..." lol I did love my Father-in-law a lot

One of the things I did think when my mom told me about layton was "too bad he didn't take Harper with him on the way out..."

But I'm not a very nice person.

Lol, I guess that just wasn't Jack's style.

And really, I would hate to see Harper martyred. Ick. The news coverage would be so annoying.

I hope the NDP can come up with a leader who is as....likeable as Jack.

(It's so embarrassing that I've bawled like a baby on several occasions since finding out that he died. He had something that Canadian politics needed and it hurts me that we don't have that thing/him any more. Now what?)

I agree. I've been an NDPer for a very long time (federally. I did vote socialist party but they don't run federally) and for a while I was despondent with what they had done. But I understand Layton had been doing very good things and frankly I think he would have taken the next election. I sincerely hope they come up with someone just as good. I am quite sad about his exit. My mom, who works for an NDP MP was beside herself.

I still wish that canada would have word with itself and get rid of harper before I come home. Honestly. I leave and the country falls to shit. Next thing you know, they'll be asking Van Der Zalm for advice on how to run a province or sumthin. Oh. wait....

CRAZY STUPID

http://fighthst.com/wp-content/themes/main/img/Bill.jpg

LYING BASTARD

and being both crazy and a bastard, I know what I'm talking about.