Canadians elect a Conservative minority

[Teen_Catholic]

Originally Posted by Ani lbi
I agree. Except for the Christian Heritage which is a fringe party that does not run candidates in all ridings, there is no such party. Not even the Conservatives.

Isn’t it sad when the Liberal attack adds are too good to be true? (I’m of course refering to their abortion ad)

Truth be told, in this election it was was either Liberal or Conservative. The Conservatives aren’t perefect, they aren’t even close, but if we look morally where the Liberals were leading us, they were going full throdle on the hiway to moral hell.

The sad thing about Mr. Harper is the fact that it seems to work. I can’t go two feet without learing how they are either sexist, racist, or homophobic, or some combination of the three.

Poor Mr. Harper, oh well, lets hope he proves them wrong!

 

[Gerry_Hunter]

Al Masetti:

Maybe Ani or someone else could explain some of the nuances of Canadian politics to me.

If Conservatives were already the minority party, then how could Conservatives be elected to be the minority party?

Clearly there are terms at work that I have no understanding of.

[dangling participle… sorry… “…at work, of which I have no understanding.”]

So, anyway, what exactly happened?

What’s at the root of the confusion is the difference between the US system of independent mandates, and the Canadian system of Parliamentary government.

In the US, the Head of State and Head of Government are combined in the office of the President. In Canada, the Head of State if the Governor General, as the Queen’s representative (Canada is a constitutional monarchy). In the US, the members of the legislative branch’s assemblies have mandates separate from that of the Head of Government, in the form of fixed 2 and 6 year terms for Representatives and Senators respectively. In Canada, a Parliament has a life of 5 years maximum, but the government has a mandate that exists only up to that limit, or until it loses the confidence of the members of the House of Commons. That’s how we ended up with a short, 18 month parliament this last time around. The government was defeated in the house; parliament was disolved, and a new parliament just elected.

The Governor General will ask Mr. Harper to form a new government, and on so doing he will be Prime Minister and Head of Government. That government will continue to govern as long as it has the confidence of the House of Commons, and no longer, up to a constitutional max of 5 years. If he loses a vote on a major issue (“issue of confidence”), we’re back to the polls again.

If the party of the leader has a majority of the seats in the House, and confidence votes go on party lines, the government can’t be defeated in the House. If the party does not, it can be. This is impossible in the US system, where Representatives, Senators, and Presidents (and with the latter, Administrations, the equivalent of “Governments” in Canada) come and go independently of each other, barring impeachment.

If a US President proposed a major piece of legislation to the US Congress, and they turned it down, the President and his Administration would continue in office. If a Canadian Prime Minister proposed a major piece of legislation to the House of Commons and they turned it down, he’d have to resign, parliament would be disolved (unless the Gov Gen thought another party could form a government that would get a vote of confidence from the House, and asked its leader to do so, which rarely is an option), and we’d have another election. Big difference.

Blesings,

Gerry

 

[Libero]

Just a quick question:

Is there any real difference between the parties?

I can only compare to the UK, but here, the conservatives are not very different at all when it comes to matters of morals - the only significant thing is the stance on abortion, if you can consider it significant - Conservatives propose a reduction in the time limit to which one can apply to have an abortion.

Most of the differences revolve around issues like immigration.

What are the moral differences between the parties in Canada?

 

[Lost_Found]

Libero:

Just a quick question:

Is there any real difference between the parties?

Yeah. Dark Red, Medium Red, and Pale Red.

Libero:

I can only compare to the UK, but here, the conservatives are not very different at all when it comes to matters of morals - the only significant thing is the stance on abortion, if you can consider it significant - Conservatives propose a reduction in the time limit to which one can apply to have an abortion.

NO - We do not consider “limited time offers” to determine the appropriateness of murder to be a significant thing.

Libero:

Most of the differences revolve around issues like immigration.

Just starting to dawn on us now. We are still dealing with guilt issues, so we let everyone in - the more exotic the better.

Libero:

What are the moral differences between the parties in Canada?

As you already know, they’re mostly all opportunists, using different appeals to manipulate us. Every so often, someone rises above morally, but it can be from within any party. It’s always a pleasant surprise.

 

[Deacon2006]

Marilena:

Actually, there are more parties. The Marxist lennists, the marijuana party, ext.

What is really funny about the party system is that Canada has two communist parties. The Communist party of Canada and the Marxist Leninsit Party of Canada. I guess these guys just couldn’t get along.

 

[Ani_Ibi]

Deacon2006:

What is really funny about the party system is that Canada has two communist parties. The Communist party of Canada and the Marxist Leninsit Party of Canada. I guess these guys just couldn’t get along.

We have The Communist League party too.