CBC projects Conservative government

[ungodlycrosscheck]

Walt, I think (or rather I hope) Urban Shocker was referring to the previous leader Stockwell Day, because Prime Minister Harper has never discussed his religoius beliefs... the man is very secular in his outlook.

Paul Martin incidentally was very quiet about his religion, but he is a God fearing Catholic, who like Day believes God created the earth in 6 days, and put his feet up on Day 7. Did Paul Martin scare anyone on this forum?

 

[kEiThZ]

Walt, I think (or rather I hope) Urban Shocker was referring to the previous leader Stockwell Day, because Prime Minister Harper has never discussed his religoius beliefs... the man is very secular in his outlook.

Paul Martin incidentally was very quiet about his religion, but he is a God fearing Catholic, who like Day believes God created the earth in 6 days, and put his feet up on Day 7. Did Paul Martin scare anyone on this forum?

That would be unusual. Even the Catholic Church does not believe that God literally created the world in 6 days and rested on the seventh. Are you suggesting Paul Martin believed this of his own accord or are you assuming he believed this because he was a religious Catholic?

 

[Eug]

Ruth Allen Brousseau is winning her riding so far. She's the NDPer that just got back from Vegas.

BTW, apparently her French isn't very good, but the riding is hardcore francophone. Not surprisingly, she didn't attend any of the local candidate debates.

Ouch, it's even worse than I expected. Apparently she hasn't even ever visited the riding.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/video/video-when-will-ruth-ellen-meet-the-press/article2009569/

Reporter: Has she been to the riding? Is she familiar with it?
Brousseau's dad: She's familiar with it.

Layton comes across like a used car salesman when trying to defend her and the party on this issue.

 

[Urban Shocker]

Doris was a party leader with a shot at becoming PM, not a rookie in the opposition, and it was perfectly reasonable to question his "fitess" ( not physical fitness, because we all know he can jet ski ... ) to govern, gven his eccentric personal views. Voters were similarly concerned ( Rob Ford came under quite a bit of scrutiny for his views ... ) during our recent municipal election.

 

[Tewder]

Walt, I think (or rather I hope) Urban Shocker was referring to the previous leader Stockwell Day, because Prime Minister Harper has never discussed his religoius beliefs... the man is very secular in his outlook.

Paul Martin incidentally was very quiet about his religion, but he is a God fearing Catholic, who like Day believes God created the earth in 6 days, and put his feet up on Day 7. Did Paul Martin scare anyone on this forum?

Why do we assume that somebody who holds certain views will not accept the differing views of others, or do we only attribute this failing to christians? We all have a point of view and we all have to leave it at the door when it comes to public service.

 

[Eug]

Vacationing NDP candidate accused of falsifying nomination papers

A resident in the Quebec riding of Berthier-Maskinongé said he and his wife were improperly listed on Ms. Brosseau's nomination paper.

“I’ve got nothing to do with the NDP,” René Young said from Trois-Rivières.

“This morning I went to the [Elections Canada] office. I saw the document and I saw my name and my wife’s name too. My wife never signed that. It’s not her signature. Her name is even misspelled.”

He said the signature that appeared next to his name appeared genuine but insisted he had never intended to support the NDP.

“I’m not into politics. I don’t get involved in those things.”

He said he has only given his signature once since April 2, when someone came to his door and he signed a petition to fundraise for heart-disease research.

Defeated Liberal candidate Francine Gaudet said other signatures on Ms. Brosseau’s nomination papers were from people who do not live in the riding – allegations the NDP denied on Wednesday.

The Liberal candidate came a distant third in Monday’s election, with roughly one-third the votes that Ms. Brosseau received.

The NDP’s Quebec lieutenant, Thomas Mulcair, said the allegations aren't true.

“There is absolutely no problem with her nomination papers. I am categorical. We have a photocopy of them. Everything has been checked out,” he told The Globe and Mail.

Elections Canada requires that candidates submit 100 signatures from residents in the riding in order to be eligible to run for office.

 

[jeff316]

It's definitely embarassing that she got elected without speaking French, but I think a lot of the focus on her is flat out sexist.

Would anyone have ever cared if this happened with some two-bit used car salesman in rural Ontario? She's hardly the first to get elected without campaigning - see Alberta.

If a woman with two kids working at a bar is made to seem unqualified for office, gheeez we don't wanna know some of the other 'qualifications' of our MPs.

 

[Mongo]

Ruth Allen Brousseau is winning her riding so far. She's the NDPer that just got back from Vegas.

She is getting a lot of attention, due at least partly to her looks, but I personally do not think that she is the hottest of the newly-elected NDP women. How about Mylène Freeman (Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel)

Or, if you like older women, how about Joanne Corbeil (Westmount—Ville-Marie)

(I hope that this is not too off-topic)

 

[Eug]

It's definitely embarassing that she got elected without speaking French, but I think a lot of the focus on her is flat out sexist.

Would anyone have ever cared if this happened with some two-bit used car salesman in rural Ontario? She's hardly the first to get elected without campaigning - see Alberta.

If a woman with two kids working at a bar is made to seem unqualified for office, gheeez we don't wanna know some of the other 'qualifications' of our MPs.

That makes no sense whatsoever.

She's getting the attention not only because she doesn't speak the language well (and hasn't even visited the place), but because she was in Vegas during the campaign. Is Wendy Mesley sexist against women for making that observation during the CBC coverage? There are other people in Quebec ridings that have been parachuted it in as well, who got elected for the NDP. However, AFAIK, none of them vacationed in Vegas during the campaign, which is probably why you don't hear as much about them.

 

[Mongo]

You ARE aware that when she went on vacation, the election had not yet been called, right? And since nobody at the time (including her) expected the NDP to get more than a few thousand votes in her riding, and as you said she was not expecting to actively campaign in her riding (not speaking French and all), I doubt that she thought it worthwhile to cancel her personally paid-for trip to go back and... what? Return to her pub job? Certainly not go campaigning, given her lack of French.

The fact is that every political party (other than the BQ) will put "warm bodies" into ridings that they have no hope of winning. The reason is that federal party funding depends on the number of votes they got in the last federal election. The more votes, the more money. Even if a party has no chance of winning a given riding, it is still worthwhile to run a candidate there in order to pick up a few thousand votes, which would equal several thousand dollars a year in additional federal support. By my estimate, the NDP was likely expecting 4-5 thousand votes per riding averaged over the 75 ridings in Quebec, which works out to over $300,000 per year in extra funding, even though they would not have realistically expected more than a couple of wins. Well worth the effort of asking 70 or so people to run no-hope campaigns for their party. The Liberals, for example, do exactly the same thing in Alberta, fielding "warm bodies" (who also often don't bother campaigning) in order to pick up the funding.

So this is a case where this wide-spread practice got put under the spotlight because the NDP unexpectedly swept Quebec. If the Liberals were to unexpectedly sweep Alberta, you would see the same type of situation being exposed there as well.

 

[Eug]

You ARE aware that when she went on vacation, the election had not yet been called, right? And since nobody at the time (including her) expected the NDP to get more than a few thousand votes in her riding, and as you said she was not expecting to actively campaign in her riding (not speaking French and all), I doubt that she thought it worthwhile to cancel her personally paid-for trip to go back and... what? Return to her pub job? Certainly not go campaigning, given her lack of French.

Yep. Fully aware. I would doubt the integrity of ANY candidate, regardless of the party, who behaved like this.

The problem with this woman is that once the election had been called, she chose to go on her vacation anyway... and yet she gets full support of her party. Lame.

Your long post above is just internet handwaving, but it does nothing to justify Layton's hypocrisy on this matter. Voice of the people, my ass.

By the way, I think ANY party that behaves this way should be ashamed of itself. Oh and I wonder just how many Green candidates were on vacation in Vegas last week.

The fact is that every political party (other than the BQ) will put "warm bodies" into ridings that they have no hope of winning. The reason is that federal party funding depends on the number of votes they got in the last federal election. The more votes, the more money. Even if a party has no chance of winning a given riding, it is still worthwhile to run a candidate there in order to pick up a few thousand votes, which would equal several thousand dollars a year in additional federal support. By my estimate, the NDP was likely expecting 4-5 thousand votes per riding averaged over the 75 ridings in Quebec, which works out to over $300,000 per year in extra funding, even though they would not have realistically expected more than a couple of wins. Well worth the effort of asking 70 or so people to run no-hope campaigns for their party. The Liberals, for example, do exactly the same thing in Alberta, fielding "warm bodies" (who also often don't bother campaigning) in order to pick up the funding.

Perhaps it's time for the Conservatives... with their majority... to put a end to this stupid practice. Ban the extra funding completely.

 

[Mongo]

Perhaps it's time for the Conservatives... with their majority... to put a end to this stupid practice. Ban the extra funding completely.

Harper already wants to do this. Of course, this would give a huge advantage to the Conservatives, with their more well-heeled supporters. There is a reason why political parties in Canada are publicly funded according to their vote totals. It's to avoid having those without big corporate money behind them (NDP and Green) be unable to compete financially with the parties in the pockets of Big Money (Conservatives and to a lesser degree Liberals).

 

[Peepers]

Your long post above is just internet handwaving, but it does nothing to justify Layton's hypocrisy on this matter. Voice of the people, my ass.

+1

What amazes me about this is the fact that voters knew all about this BEFORE the election and yet thousands voted in record numbers for Layton thereby splitting the vote and handing Harper a solid majority.

Voters knew that Jack Layton was running bogus candidates across Canada including in Toronto (Don Valley West) for the sole purpose of collecting federal campaign funds, in essence he was committing a form of fraud.

Of course during the election Layton also showed a complete lack of integrity when the rub-n-tug parlor visit was revealed.

Instead of admitting to past mistakes Layton (and Chow) fabricated the totally unbelievable story that he thought he was in a "community clinic" and that a naked Jack Layton was "shocked" when vice squad cops informed him he was in fact in a bawdy house. Not only was Layton (and Chow) deceitful in making this statement, Layton also proved what a complete hypocrite he is since at the time of his rub-n-tug visit he was waging a successful crusade against lap-dancing which had serious (and lasting) repercussions for ALL strip clubs (Remington's was raided by police as a result of Layton's moral crusade).

http://www.walnet.org/csis/news/toronto_96/now-960229.html

 

[Earth Heals Herself]

Aren't something like 5 of the newly elected NDP MPs still in college? I'm curious as to how they're going to juggle their studies and duties in Ottawa? How the heck can a 19 year old be elected to parliament? What kind of life experience could they offer? Is this who we want running the country?

 

[kEiThZ]

Harper already wants to do this. Of course, this would give a huge advantage to the Conservatives, with their more well-heeled supporters. There is a reason why political parties in Canada are publicly funded according to their vote totals. It's to avoid having those without big corporate money behind them (NDP and Green) be unable to compete financially with the parties in the pockets of Big Money (Conservatives and to a lesser degree Liberals).

You do know that corporate donations are not allowed right?