kengs333

You have to keep in mind that media coverage and money have a lot to do with determining what parties get attention. If the Marxist-Leninist Party was able to raise say $50,000,000 and have front page coverage in all of the newspapers, then the Conservative party would sink to fringe status (as you see it) quite quickly.

Excuse me? Spare me the personal attacks... How did a party that champions the cause of the environment "sell it out" by doing so?????? No other party took the environment seriously until they realized that the Greens posed a serious threat. Europe, where members of Green Parties get elected, has a much better environmental record now because of it.

Well, let's see him change the name back to the Reform Party, and see how many votes he gets. The point of changing the name to the Conservative Party is to fool/deceive people. I can't tell you how many times I heard the CPC referred to as the PCs while watching election coverage. The CPC is NOT the old PC.

So what? The National Post is a neoconservative rag. Of course they don't want Canada to be a democracy.

There's only two countries that use the system that Israel uses: Israel and Italy. The system that was proposed for Ontario is one that is used successfully in countries like Germany. Parties get close to proportional representation, and those that don't reach a minimum of 5% do not elect members to the respective legislature.

The military? The Afghan Mission? Or how about not calling an illegal election?

The Liberals aren't affiliated with the federal party, and are much more right-wing--a throwback to the Bill Davis Tories...

Like who? Stephen Harper? Admit it: the Conservative Party is simply a revamped Reform Party, hence Harper's statement after winning the 2006 election that the West was "finally in". Harper's agenda has always been to have an Alberta-based regional party take control of Ottawa--even if it meant revamping the party to look as though it was a national party. The fact that they could off their conservative rivals and take on their name to complete the deception is just a bonus for him. As I've always said, in order to see the Reform come back out in the party, they have to get a majority.

What do you mean? The Reform Party is currently in power.

Good, then I shall tomorrow ask my Conservative MP to champion my wish for a Carbon Tax once Parlaiment resumes...

I doubt it, but if it is I apologize for always heartlessly referring to the New Democratic Party as the NDP...

Please, if you consider wanting all Canadians to be represented in Parlaiment "whining" then there's no discussion. I ask you one thing, though: was the Reform Party "whining" when they wanted "democratic reform"? Didn't think so...

The issue has been around for quite awhile.

LOL... So the Greens are a "fringe" party because they actually manage to run candidates across the country as opposed to just one province? I guess that makes the Cons a fringe party too, then?

M.Dancer always says that, though; and I'm sure that he does so oblivious to its stupidity because he has a Conservative MP. I'd sure love to see the day when his riding goes NDP and what he has to say about his "representation".

An odd claim considering that it was the Green Party that forced the other parties to take the environment seriously.

Unlike the Conservatives, who only got 37.7% of the vote...

So true. He only managed to get 1% point more than in 2006.

A party that runs over 300 candidates and gets 940,000 votes isn't "mainstream"? Until you can grasp basic aspects of politics such as registered parties are legitimate parties and parties that receive numerous votes and have an organized party structed are "mainstream", then discussion is useless.

I've been thinking this for awhile, but people just can't uproot their lives for the sake of a political gamble. Still, for anyone interested, one likely candidate is Orillia, Ontario and the surrounding area. The Greens have done very well in the region both federally and provincially.

Wrong. It had to do with the party leadership and the desire of party members not to conform to the system. Jim Harris managed to change this perspective; by making the party more mainstream, it began to grow and has become what it is now. This caused some of the diehards to form a new party that eventually floundered. Whatever the case, it unfortunately takes money for a party to exist in our political system. That's how the Reform Party emerged so quickly, which in a way is kind of ironic...

For the first time. Ontario still is the ONLY province that has never received equalization payments. Anyway, we'll see where the West is by 2010 the way things are going.

You mean that only about 35% of Ontario is Conservative.

"the West" as opposed to "west" tends to refer to the Prairie provinces and BC.

I agree with all of your points.