Pellaken

what about Clement? he is "stomachable"

the more tories that become grits, the better it is for the NDP why? A-it hurts the tories B-it says the grits are right wing (being able to attact tories) lets keep out fingers crossed, and hope 3 or 4 more people jump ship

the NDP is a single party, very few, if no, members threathen to leave. check the news, see what orchard says read what neal says right here this new party has major problems.

ok, so I was slightly off...

"I'm a right-winger, and I dont like the new party because its too progressive" "I'm a progressive conservative, this new party is too right wing" you dont know how GREAT this is for someone in the NDP keep on squabblin!

can you be more specific? what about my remarks do you find "ill-prepared" is it simple gramatical and spelling errors? I can run them through a spell-checker if thats all it is. do you want proof (links to) what I am saying? or do you disagree with my prediction?

Stephen Harper, weather anyone likes it or not, is still seen as a Canadian-Alliance-Reformer. Hence, the people in the know do not want him as leader. They are looking for someone to rally around, and both Clement and Strahl have too much baggage. Why would someone support Clement or Strahl over Harper? the ONLY reason I can see is because they are not Harper. Hence, if you are voting for one not-harper, you'r more likely to vote for another.

because she's not Harper

its a prediction of mine that will either come true or be proven wrong in the nest 24 hours the evidence is there IMHO. Martin has commited himself to the party, and in the CBC's call in show a stratigest hinted that someone else may want to enter the race. For the record, I've also said that Layton would not win the NDP leadership, and that Paul Martin dident stand a chance in hell to win the Liberal Leadership... I've also said that there would be a merger on the right before the 2008 election which, technically, came true. (made before october 03) lets see if I'm right about this

no extremist right or left winger will NEVER, I repeat, NEVER, I say again, NEVER will become Prime Minister Social Conservatisim and Economic Socalisim are consitered extreme by most. Like it or not, if you are a social conservative, you will never have a Prime Minister who agrees with you. Same goes for Socalists.

due to recent events, I am changing my prediction the first ballot results will look thustly: Harper-45% Stronach-30% Clement-15% Strahl-10% most of Clement and Strahl's supporters will go to Stronach. Every other person who wants to run (and even most who dont; Klien, Harris, Lord, MacKay, etc) has too much baggage. they have this or that reason why people dont like them. Stronach is totally new, I dont even know if she speaks french! it is this "newness" that the new party needs.

Harper is a social conservative if he wins, social conservatives will run the party, and Jack Layton will become the leader of the opposition Stronach is an economic conservtive if she wins, some social conservatives will leave, but she will gain many more votes, and may beat paul martin (her company dosent cheat) and the NDP will be devestated .... go harper!

if she speaks french she will be the PM by june if not Jack Layton will be the in Stornaway by june

I dont see how that is true. if I am a new democrat, I am going to put a liberal 2nd before a tory if I am a tory, I am going to put a liberal 2nd before a new democrat

complex? no. if a party gets 15% of the vote, they get 15% of the seats. our current system is more complex, but because we are used to it, we cant see it. more MP's mean more waste? I doubt that. We could keep the same number of MP's but make ridings bigger. no change? I doubt that. Germany and France have had similar governments for years. In canada we would surly alternate and I dont beleive it would involve the constitution.

PrefBalloting tends to favour centrists in Canada, the Liberal party is the centrist party. If we adopted PrefBallots we would NEVER end the Liberal government. PrefBalloting tied to PR is a great idea though. we can add 100 MP's. I dont see how we have "enough"

actually, its a great encouragement "the party has no contenders. Mr.Harper said that he will not fight conservatives" AKA "join the race, and harper will be nice"

here is some stuff on senate reform. current seat distribution: ON-24 PQ-24 NS-10 NB-10 BC-6 AB-6 MB-6 SK-6 NL-6 PE-4 TR-3 (TR refers to all the territories combined) originial EEE suggestion: ON-6 PQ-6 BC-6 AB-6 MB-6 SK-6 NS-6 NB-6 NL-6 PE-6 TR-2 (we had 2 at the time) now, EEE has too many problems. Canadians like EE (elected and effective) but the biggest problem most provinces have is with the seat-distribution. EEE means that Ontario, with 40% of the populaiton, has 10% of the seats (actually less, because of TR!) and that PEI, with 0.1% of the population, also has 10% of the seats. now, if atlantic canada was a single province, then EEE may work, but atlantic canada is not a single province, nor will it be pulling any shotgun weddings neither. We must work with what we have, and we must think of new ways to deal with the problems we have. I beleive that I have come up with 2 soulitions to solve the problems. one of them, is the 50-50 system. where we give out two different types of seats. "Equal" seats, and "Population" seats. Ontario, would get 5 "equal" seats, but a whopping 19 "population" seats BC would get 5 equals, and 7 populaiton seats PEI would get 5 equals, but no population seats result: ON-24 PQ-17 BC-12 AB-10 MB-7 SK-7 NS-6 NB-6 NL-6 PE-5 TR-3 (one each) now, this causes a problem. Quebec would not like this senate. we can adjust the formula to give Ontario and Quebec the same number of seats, but then if BC were to surpass Quebec in population, we have a problem. Hence, this idea: Ontario is massive. current population trends say that BC, AB, and PQ will have near the same population, and that these 4 provinces are pulling away from the other 6 in terms of population. the gulf between these two groups is growing. Hence, this plan: ON-24 PQ-24 BC-24 AB-24* MB-9 SK-9 NS-8 NB-8 NL-7 PE-4 TR-3 *=Untill Alberta reaches a certain population, they will only have 18 seats. This will give us 138* senators, to 308 MP's Some countries have more senators then MP's and most states in the US have either a 1:2 ratio. It is only the US Federal Government that has so reletivley few senators, so these numbers are not way out there. *=144 with AB at 24, but by that time we should have more MP's This senate will be, for the most part, done by preferential ballot (note1) in ridings, but some of the seats would be proportional. PEI would have 3 ridings, and 1 PR seat NL would have 5 ridings, Labrador will have 1 riding for itself, and the province will have 1 PR seat NS will have 5 ridings, Cape Breton will have 1, and the province will have 2 PR seats NB will have 6 ridings, split as evenly between Anglo's and Acadians as possible, plus 2 PR seats SK will have 6 ridings, 1 for the northern part of the province, and 2 PR seats MB will have 6 ridings, 1 for the northern part of the province, and 2 PR seats. Winnipeg should never have more then 3 ridings. BC, ON, and PQ will all have 18 ridings, and 6 PR seats Alberta will eventually have that too, but for now they will have 14 ridings, and 4 PR seats now, here's the kicker each senatoral election will be run under the provincial election agency, using PROVINCIAL PARTIES! yes you heard right, provincial parties. Ralph Klien can refuse to sign the nominaiton papers of any senators he dosent like! This also means that provincial BC Liberals do not have to sit with the federal Liberal party. There will be very good benifits for sitting in large caucuses, this will encourage at least some parties to sit togethor. The senate would have all the powers that it currently has, but like in Australia, there will be provisions of what to do if the two chambers disagree. Senatorial elections will take place at the same time as provicnial elections in each province. Senators will sit from the moment that a provincial government is sworn in, to the moment the next one is. This means that we will not go long stretches without senators from any province. The senate will also sit forever essentially. They may take breaks, of course, like the house does, but it can never be 'dissolved' The leader of the senate (leader of the largest caucus) will be the Preimier of Canada, or in french "Preimier Ministere du Senate du Canada" (without the spelling and gramatical errors, if any) One good idea for what to do when the two chambers disagree on a single issue multiple times is to put the issue to the people in the form of a referendum. This would encourage the side that know's they would lose to comrpomise summore. And thustly, a reformed senate, and a reformed canada --(Preferential balloting) like what was used in the NDP leadership, and what will be used in the Conservative leadership, where you "rank" all candidates, first to last.

yes, there are precedents every country (or body over a certain populaiton) found that this form of government is to corupt, as people need to pay-off others to support them. also, other such bodies have just dissapeared as parties naturally devloped. For the sole naitonal body, its a bad idea, but somoene proposed it for Senate reform, and I think that idea does have some merrit.

it depends on the threshold. most countries have it at 5%. Israel has it at 1% I beleive there are some countries that WOULD elect an MP with 0.33% of the vote. Turkey has a 10% threshold. plus Proportional Representation does NOT mean that we have to stop electing MP's form ridings. that is a common myth poeple use to de-bunk PR which is not true.

so who's in and who's out Prentice - Out Strhal - In Lord - Out Stronach - In Charest - Out Clement - In Harris - Out MacKay - In Brison - Way Out Harper - In Klien - Out no matter how you look at it, you guys are skrewed he he he, this is GREAT

I was right he's dropping out due to "lack of funds" .... the new party is skrewed .... YEAY!

*yawn* no parties = no fun

harper will win perhaps 50% in BC maybe 75% in alberta 66% in SK and MB 0.1% in Quebec, if he's lucky maybe 5% in the east (yes, some people out here even think we are defeatest) the key, as you say, will be ontario. the key the the election is also ontario... fortunatly, only 1 major party has a leader who is from ontairo

recent polls have showen the NDP's naitonal vote is almost locked to its ontario vote. if we are at 17% naitonally, we are at 17% in ontario, etc.