So we're having an election or something

[Arthmail]

Ive voted NDP, Green, and Conservative in the past. Conservative leaning boards im a part of dont necassarily give Harper a win last night, but definitely dont give him a loss.

I agree with Layton on proportional representation. His quote about the Bloc and the Greens was perfect.

Anywho, the National Post poll gives Harper a clear win last night

Here

As does CP24, a Toronto based news station.

Here

It's all spin. The National Post would give Harper a blow job if he asked. I would like someone to make mention of his continuing need to control the questions directed at him. Following the debate, when they did their little media scrum, Harper answered questions in English and French - which was useless as there were interpreters doing their job at the same time. He effectively limited himself to three questions that way.

I just don't want someone in charge who is not willing to answer questions from the public. I am a firm believer that the government is there to do our bidding, not the other way around.

[blasted_saber]

It's all spin. The National Post would give Harper a blow job if he asked. I would like someone to make mention of his continuing need to control the questions directed at him. Following the debate, when they did their little media scrum, Harper answered questions in English and French - which was useless as there were interpreters doing their job at the same time. He effectively limited himself to three questions that way.

I just don't want someone in charge who is not willing to answer questions from the public. I am a firm believer that the government is there to do our bidding, not the other way around.

What is your opinion then on vote whipping? As in say the long gun registry votes last year where the Liberal MPs reversed their votes for final reading (under the whip), despite saying earlier their constituents wanted the registry scrapped?

And CP24 is far from pro-conservative. They're based in TO, the only Liberal stronghold left in ON.

[Aemon Stark]

Wiki has a nice aggregator for all the poll results. That one showing the Cons at 45% is absolute BS; Chretien never did that well against even weaker foes.

[blasted_saber]

Wiki has a nice aggregator for all the poll results. That one showing the Cons at 45% is absolute BS; Chretien never did that well against even weaker foes.

Thats awesome. Thanks for posting that.

[Lord of Oop North]

Well, you can hardly call CP24 a news channel at all. They're like the twitter of TV news.

[blasted_saber]

Well, you can hardly call CP24 a news channel at all. They're like the twitter of TV news.

Who to trust then?

The G8 "scandal" so far has had little to no effect on the campaigns. Ignatieff failed last night to gain anything on Harper (and from what ive read of the French debate, it was much the same). Polls are now suggesting Liberal support is dropping like a rock in Quebec, opinion polls are suggesting Harper won the debates.

Is the threat of coalition enough to push Harper into a majority? I dont think its as far off as some may think.

[Zelgrath]

Anyone here about this?

No votes cast Wednesday in a special ballot at the University of Guelph should stand, according to the Conservative Party of Canada.

The party wrote Elections Canada on Thursday to request that none of the votes collected during the U of G session be included in the final tally of votes in the Guelph riding. The letter was sent by lawyer Arthur Hamilton, of Toronto-based law firm, Cassels Brock.

In his letter, Hamilton alleges the polling station was illegal and also that partisan election material was present at it, which is a violation of the Canada Elections Act.

[blasted_saber]

Anyone here about this?

Sleazy if nothing illegal was going on.

However, nowhere in the article are the allegations denied, and in a comment a student confirms party paraphernalia was being handed out to students going to the station.

EDIT -

"Elections Canada confirmed that no advance poll or other form of polling had been sanctioned for any location at the University of Guelph. Besides not being sanctioned, many of the controls that must be in place at a polling station did not exist,'

Sounds like the Conservatives have a legitimate complaint.

[Shryke]

Here's some stuff on Harper's opaque budget schenanigans and his general disdain for accountability and the like:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2009/06/14/flaherty-deficits.html

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/941742--ottawa-s-real-budget-whiz

Basically, Harper's government introduces a budget with ridiculously rosy numbers, passes it and then revises it afterwords towards it's actual, much more "Holy shit, this budget is terrible" numbers later when no one is looking.

The Parlimentary Budget Officer, a position that Harper created, has been saying this for years. Harper has been trying to discredit him for just as long, despite his predictions being far more accurate then the Harper Government's fudged numbers.

[Shryke]

Oh yeah, and Harper loves the military, am I right?

Col. Pat Stogran, a retired infantry officer, has spent the last three years advocating better treatment for Canada’s wounded veterans.

But the federal ombudsman only realized the enormity of the battle he was fighting after a recent conversation with a civil servant who watches over the government’s purse.

“I was told … that it is in the government’s best interests to have soldiers killed overseas rather than wounded because the liability is shorter term,” Stogran said.

For the former Canadian commander in Afghanistan, it was a revealing answer to a stunning problem. The government’s treatment of soldiers and Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers who have sacrificed their limbs, mental health and lives for the country was a question of dollars and cents.

In some cases, said veterans who joined Stogran at a news conference Tuesday, Ottawa is even using tax dollars to avoid paying compensation to veterans.

The fight against Kenneth Young, who said he was exposed to the deadly chemical known as Agent Orange at CFB Gagetown in the 1970s, has cost some $8 million, the former army soldier said. At least $1 million has been spent fighting a class action suit brought by 6,500 veterans to stop the government from cutting their long-term disability insurance benefits by the amount of their monthly disability pension from Veterans Affairs Canada, said Dennis Manuge, who left the military for medical reasons in 2003 and is leading the lawsuit.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/848820

[Aemon Stark]

Sounds like the Conservatives have a legitimate complaint.

No, they don't:

Elections Canada has ruled the votes cast by University of Guelph students earlier this week are valid despite a challenge by the Conservatives.

The controversy erupted after an incident at the university where students were lining up to cast special ballots. The Conservatives had a lawyer send a letter to Elections Canada complaining about the special voting on the southern Ontario university campus.

Elections Canada issued a statement on Friday that said the special ballots were not pre-authorized but they will still be counted in the May 2 election.

"All information at our disposal indicates that the votes were cast in a manner that respects the Canada Elections Act and are valid," the statement said.

[Arthmail]

Who to trust then?

The G8 "scandal" so far has had little to no effect on the campaigns. Ignatieff failed last night to gain anything on Harper (and from what ive read of the French debate, it was much the same). Polls are now suggesting Liberal support is dropping like a rock in Quebec, opinion polls are suggesting Harper won the debates.

Is the threat of coalition enough to push Harper into a majority? I dont think its as far off as some may think.

Where do you get your polling information? Even the claims that Harper won the english debate are off the mark. He didn't make a mistake, nor did anyone else. Holding the course without fucking up is not winning.

Sleazy if nothing illegal was going on.

However, nowhere in the article are the allegations denied, and in a comment a student confirms party paraphernalia was being handed out to students going to the station.

EDIT -

"Elections Canada confirmed that no advance poll or other form of polling had been sanctioned for any location at the University of Guelph. Besides not being sanctioned, many of the controls that must be in place at a polling station did not exist,'

Sounds like the Conservatives have a legitimate complaint.

Sounds like you are wrong.

[blasted_saber]

Where do you get your polling information? Even the claims that Harper won the english debate are off the mark. He didn't make a mistake, nor did anyone else. Holding the course without fucking up is not winning.

Sounds like you are wrong.

I watch the news. And if you bothered to check the links I posted, you'd see the polls. I also never said Harper won the debate. I said Iggy failed to gain anything on him, which is true.

Im still not wrong.

Elections Canada issued a statement on Friday that said the special ballots were not pre-authorized but they will still be counted in the May 2 election.

Its a legitimate complaint. They werent authorized to have a poll, but the ballots will still be counted.

I see nothing wrong with that, but I also see nothing wrong with the conservatives questioning it.

[Shryke]

CBC News has learned that the "serious allegations" Prime Minister Stephen Harper referred to last year in connection with former Conservative MP Helena Guergis included unsubstantiated claims of fraud, extortion and involvement with prostitutes.

But a letter written by a Harper aide and obtained by CBC News states that the Prime Minister's Office learned the allegations had been made by a Toronto private investigator. The letter also reveals the allegations were not based on any hard evidence.

Harper has never explained what the allegations were against Guergis, who was later cleared by the RCMP of any wrongdoing. The Ontario MP, who was ousted from cabinet, caucus and the party in April 2010, also has claimed she was never personally told what the allegations were, something the Tories deny.

But CBC News has obtained the letter sent by Harper's principal secretary, Ray Novak, to RCMP Commissioner William Elliott regarding Guergis and her husband, former Tory MP Rahim Jaffer.

"The allegations are numerous and include fraud, extortion, obtaining benefits by false pretences and involvement in prostitution," Novak wrote in a letter dated April 9, 2010.

But Novak wrote that the Prime Minister's Office has "no first-hand knowledge of these allegations."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadavotes2011/story/2011/04/14/cv-election-guergis.html

Gotta love it. Harper gets an political enemy kicked out of the party based on entirely spurious allegations with absolutely no evidence to back them up. Plus, tons of RCMP money wasted to do a pointless investigation.

[Aemon Stark]

You see nothing wrong with Campus Conservatives disrupting the legal voting process and then questioning the legitimacy of the lawful exercise of our fundamental rights?

[Shryke]

And hey, stop acting like Elections Canada did the opposite of what it did:

Elections Canada has declared that disputed votes in a special ballot at the University of Guelph were cast legitimately.

In a statement, the electoral body said: “All information at our disposal indicates that the votes were cast in a manner that respects the Elections Canada Act and are valid.”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/elections-canada-validates-contested-student-ballot-in-guelph/article1986799/

Go go Conservative Voter Suppression!

[Ser Reptitious]

Shryke,

Go go Conservative Voter Suppression!

The Conservatives pretty much seem to adopt Republican strategies wholesale, so I guess it's hardly surprising that they'll try this tactic as well.

[blasted_saber]

You see nothing wrong with Campus Conservatives disrupting the legal voting process and then questioning the legitimacy of the lawful exercise of our fundamental rights?

Again

"ballots were not pre-authorized"

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadavotes2011/story/2011/04/15/cv-election-guelph-student-vote.html

How is it wrong that a party question whether or not votes should be counted when the station had no authority to be collecting ballots?

[Aemon Stark]

Again

"ballots were not pre-authorized"

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadavotes2011/story/2011/04/15/cv-election-guelph-student-vote.html

How is it wrong that a party question whether or not votes should be counted when the station had no authority to be collecting ballots?

On what basis are you arguing the station had no such authority or that pre-authorization (from whom?) is required? You're just swallowing odious Cons spin wholesale.

Oh, and what evidence do you have that these Campus Cons douchebags had any knowledge of whether this special ballot had been "pre-authorized"? They can't justify their actions by appealing to *subsequent* statements from Elections Canada. It was either legitimate or it wasn't. And we already have the answer to that.

[Shryke]

Again

"ballots were not pre-authorized"

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadavotes2011/story/2011/04/15/cv-election-guelph-student-vote.html

How is it wrong that a party question whether or not votes should be counted when the station had no authority to be collecting ballots?

The fact that a party is trying to influence the voting process?

We have a group called "Elections Canada" to handle this shit.

Also, for the 3rd time in the last 2 pages, Elections Canada said the whole thing is completely valid.