SpankyMcFarland

Actually, the popular vote for the Greens went up. FPTP creates a ceiling for the NDP and Greens. When they enter the booth, many left-of-centre voters realize that a vote for non-Liberals helps the Tories under our present system.

Rees-Mogg is a minor political figure in Britain. His views on social issues are of no importance. The Conservatives need to dump all vestiges of social conservatism if they’re serious about making inroads with young urban voters. The easiest way to do that would be with a woman who is clearly pro-choice and pro-gay marriage.

Have you been to Atlantic Canada? Or a developing country?

We live in more divided times. People live to be outraged now. Trudeau has failed on pipelines but if it was so easy to do Harper would have solved the problem in the decade he was given at the top.

If I was in charge of charge in Mexico, I’d be telling the cartels that the least violent ones will be tolerated by government but any attacks on police or tourists will mean elimination. Wrecking your own country won’t reduce demand in another.

Steady on, old chap. Sounds like the cure would be worse than the disease.

Expectations were a whole lot higher for Scheer than Singh.

PR is no panacea but it would tend to favour small national parties like the NDP and Greens over regional parties like the BQ.

Modern British election campaigns are focused on the leaders.

Same in Britain. The talk is already about Corbyn vs BoJo.

They are, really. Many of those defiant Tory MPs have been booted from the party.

Party politics matters a great deal in the UK too. People tend to vote for parties rather than MPs.

Alberta is a stronghold for the Conservatives. Under FPTP, there’s almost no point voting there if you have any other preferences. That’s one of the worst aspects of FPTP - exaggerating regional differences that already threaten to break up the country. By my count, four of the last six federal governments in Canada have been minority governments. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minority_governments_in_Canada It’s becoming our new normal as many mainly left-of-centre voters choose something other than the Liberals. We’ve had a traditional hostility to coalitions here that’s beginning to look a little silly.

Actually, in the multi-seat STV system of PR, voters decide which candidates from a particular party they want to vote for, so they have far more say who represents them than under FPTP.

Two majority governments? I thought he had two minority govts and one majority?

Unless multiple countries collapse and disappear off the map I’ll be OK, but younger people are facing serious challenges no matter who is in charge.

The end is nigh is hardly a plan, Dougie. Shouting on the corner like a crazy person isn’t going to impress too many people. We had a consensus in this country from Wilson to Harper on fiscal probity that was promoted by centrists.

Doesn’t sound like a very happy scenario for Canadians. Persistently low interest rates are an unexpected international trend, possibly due to such factors as globalization and technological innovation - Lord knows when they will come up again. In the meantime, politicians should deal with the current reality.

The political arena is a marketplace and I don’t see a big demand there for a rightward shift by the Tories.

I’m surprised they didn’t run for the leadership. However, likeability is a key requirement for the top job and I’ve never seen much of that from Pierre. Rempel would be a better choice and a woman would address a subliminal problem the Conservatives have as Reform in disguise. If they do tack right it better be on a few chosen issues like budgets and immigration or they’ll be toast. Given that Trudeau has moved the Liberals left, there are surely more votes to be had in the centre of Canadian politics than on the Bernier fringe? We saw how much demand there is for that product right now.

To be fair to Bernier, his rhetoric cannot be accused of rousing anybody very much. He presented his platform in a fairly dispassionate way.

Finland is the eighth largest country in Europe. It’s only small compared to monsters like Canada.

I thought his own preference was for a ranked ballot system? Anyway, wouldn’t we have JT trying to form a government first? Even if the Tories had the most seats, they would be in the minority on many votes.

FPTP makes voting a waste of time in many ridings and exaggerates regional differences but Canadians have shown little appetite for change to a system that more accurately reflects the popular vote. One issue is that we seem to distrust formal coalitions here (none in a century at the federal level) which would be all but inevitable in PR.

Some of the talking heads are going on about seats - much less important than vote share at this stage.