SpankyMcFarland

The Libs couldn’t go anywhere but down in this region, really, but probably more down than they thought.

So far, in very early going, we are seeing a significant swing (about 11%) to the Conservatives in NL and the Maritimes even though they won’t get any seats in NL. Both parties will have a struggle to reach 170.

Northern Ireland is already semi-detached from the UK. For decades after 1921 it had its own awful provincial government that had to be abolished, and it has been allowed to keep bans on abortion and gay marriage going while the rest of the archipelago has moved on. The two main parties remain hopelessly sectarian - Sinn Fein don’t even turn up for work while the DUP faithful are bible-thumping dinosaurs. Brexiteers would gladly trade NI in if that would bring about their escape from the EU. Young people in NI are showing signs of thinking for themselves but a generation of deluded geezers will have to die off before the province can join the modern world and leave the old tribalism behind. Brexit was always going to be disruptive for the island of Ireland and the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace over twenty years ago. The challenge was to minimize the impact and keep as much of the status quo as possible. There are conflicting reports about the effect of BoJo’s deal on NI and RoI. First, we’ll have to wait and see if it ever is accepted by Westminster.

I presume Scheer endorses himself so we already have American involvement in this election.

This is a thread about Canada.

Here’s a promise from Scheer I like, also unlikely to succeed: reform of interprovincial trade.

The Prime Minister is elected by parliament and must command the confidence of the house. It doesn’t matter what parties such votes come from.

Here‘s a rather different take on things from a Turkish politician: The Kurds have faced their own ‘endless war’. And this is a dark new chapter | Giran Ozcan Turkey’s latest offensive was avoidable, says Giran Ozcan, Peoples’ Democratic party (HDP) representative to the USA www.theguardian.com

You see these people, fellow Muslims BTW, as bargaining chips.

If even the NHS can afford it, spending less than we do, we should be able to do it too.

Oh Dougie, do you not use a phone any more? Cell phone rates in this country are absurdly high. I don’t care who raises that point - it needs to be said. It’s mildly amusing that somebody would be so off the political chart to consider me left wing. Any proper leftie would be horrified by that.

Sure, but try putting some big new ones in and see what happens.

I could see ferocious nimbyist resistance to new ‘urban reserves’ that would sink any MPs involved in it. One proposal might be to gradually consolidate native communities into larger centres where resources could be more efficiently deployed.

Like Erdogan, you haven’t the faintest respect for Muslim refugees from your own region.

Have you talked to people about it? It’s a low profile issue for a reason. I would agree that we should spend more on it but I don’t see a big wad of voters demanding such changes.

One problem is that the working poor do not have access to some expensive medications. A doctor working in my town was unable to prescribe drugs to patients that were available on the UK’s NHS.

Be that as it may, the Canadian political class had a peculiar fear of coalitions.

What I want is genuine competition in the sector - you know, capitalism.

I don’t see any support for a big increase in military spending and building our own ships was a mistake.

If Scheer wins the most seats but is short of a majority, Singh has floated the idea of a left-wing coalition government.

One Singh promise I like - reduce cellphone charges. Harper and Trudeau were utterly hopeless on this matter.

Erdogan’s plan to dump millions of refugees in northern Syria would be a crime against humanity. Fortunately, he has friends in the Security Council: https://euobserver.com/foreign/146242

Is this fake too? Turkish-backed proxies leading a ground offensive on Kurdish-held border towns in north-eastern Syria have summarily executed nine civilians including a female politician, a human rights monitor has claimed. A Kurdish political leader, Hevrin Khalaf, and her driver were among those killed on Saturday, according to Kurdish forces. Handheld videos captured by the assassins widely distributed on the internet also show several people being repeatedly shot by the side of a road. Their killers are heard to shout insults as they fire their military weapons at them. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/13/female-kurdish-politician-among-nine-civilians-killed-by-pro-turkey-forces-in-syria-observers-say

Let’s hope a deal can be made at this eleventh hour: https://www.independent.ie/business/brexit/brexit-hope-as-johnson-finally-gives-ground-on-customs-checks-38583617.html

The great thing about Bernie is his overall consistency. It’s refreshing to hear a politician tell us what he believes in such clear prose. One of my favourite moments of the last election was when he told Hillary he was sick of hearing about her “damn emails”. There were more pressing issues to discuss. Ron Paul was like that and, in this cycle, John Delaney has spoken unequivocally for free trade even though he must know it’s electoral poison these days.