Labour Party Sweeps

[jdobbin]

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/stor...?hub=TopStories

Labour Party Leader Kevin Rudd swept to power in Australia's general election today, ending an 11-year conservative era and promising major changes to policies on global warming and the Iraq war.

The win handed a humiliating end to the career of outgoing Prime Minister John Howard, who became Australia's second-longest serving leader - and who had appeared almost unassailable as little as a year ago.

Howard went on national television in Sydney to concede victory to Labour. He said he had telephoned Rudd and `I congratulated him and the Australian Labour Party on a very emphatic victory. This is a great democracy and I want to wish Mr. Rudd well.'

It seemed improbable a year ago that Labour would be able to defeat the Howard government. Last word I heard was that he was struggling to hold on to the seat he has held since 1974.

It seems that Harper has lost an ally on issues like Kyoto. Even this weekend, he found that he was more or less alone with his emissions policy.

[margrace]

Perhaps its time that Harper it al realized that democracy has made people more aware of their power. Perhaps we are not sheep to be led to the slaughter. The rise in our area of Cancer and Asthma should give one food for thought.

[runningdog]

right on!!

[Fortunata]

Well now it's just Steve and George. Who's going to be Steve's friend when George is gone?

[kengs333]

Well now it's just Steve and George. Who's going to be Steve's friend when George is gone?

Nicholas Sarkozy?

[sideshow]

This is great news indeed. If we can see the Democrats beat out the Republicans in the next US election, it would be an excellent turn of events. The lesser of evils is always better then the greater of evils.................

[Riverwind]

Well now it's just Steve and George. Who's going to be Steve's friend when George is gone?

Politically Harper is to the left of any serious democratic contender for the whitehouse.

[trex]

It is good news. Lets just hope he has the courage to stick to his promises.

Edited November 25, 2007 by trex

[bush_cheney2004]

This is great news indeed. If we can see the Democrats beat out the Republicans in the next US election, it would be an excellent turn of events. The lesser of evils is always better then the greater of evils.................

Indeed....it would be funnier still when Canada is left standing alone with a "neo-con" Prime Minister.

[Keepitsimple]

Indeed....it would be funnier still when Canada is left standing alone with a "neo-con" Prime Minister.

Funny thing is....John Howard is leader of the Liberal Party in Australia. You'll find that our media coverage does their best to prevent bringing this up. Here are two news reports from yesterday and although they are lengthy, the fact that Howard leads the Liberals is only mentioned once in each article - near the end, where no one has the patience to get to. This is just another example of media bias. Any decent report should have mentioned that "John Howard's Liberal Party was defeated....." either in the headline or in the first paragraph. I'll leave it to our posters to come up with reasons why this was not the case. In my opinion, it's another subtle way of "protecting" Dion's Liberals from being associated with Liberals being ousted from power. Here's the two articles and see for yourself - keep your eye on other articles in the coming days:

The Star: http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/279549

Yahoo: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/071125/...lia_election_dc

[capricorn]

I agree that few media stories refer to Howard as leader of the Australia Liberal Party. It's not uncommon for the Australian Liberal Party to be referred to as "conservatives". Example, there are at least 2 references here to Howard as conservative:

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5h7GwBt...3UyM2Wj9W1Zl2Kw

In many respects, the victorious Labor Party's platform mirrors the ideologies of the Canadian Liberal party.

They don't have a party called Conservative. Here's a list of their parties.

http://www.australianpolitics.com/parties/list.shtml

Note they have an Australian Men's Party but it is not restricted to men's issues.

[jbg]

It is good news. Lets just hope he has the courage to stick to his promises.

We'll see whether he governs as "New Labour" or as a leftist. Given Whitlam's experiences, www.whitlamdismissal.com , I have my doubts that he'll stray too far left. Remember the recent tussle between skinheads and the Lebanese? If the government tries to be too "politically correct" and ventures too far from traditional Australian values, I don't reckon Rudd will be able to control matters.

[Topaz]

Since both England and Australia have the Labour Party in power were does that put the NDP? One thing I have to say is Layton is good in question period and if enough voters did watch this, I think the Cons and Libs would have a problem when election time came. I think Layton should have the chance to be PM, he couldn't do any worse, give all parties minorities, until we see how they work.

[Higgly]

Since both England and Australia have the Labour Party in power were does that put the NDP? One thing I have to say is Layton is good in question period and if enough voters did watch this, I think the Cons and Libs would have a problem when election time came. I think Layton should have the chance to be PM, he couldn't do any worse, give all parties minorities, until we see how they work.

Yeah, that would be interesting. The various unions - for example, the auto unions, have developed a good strategy of late - the big 3 auto companies are starting to sign on - why are we throwing open our doors to asian imports while asian countries are closing their doors to ours?

The NDP is starting to make more sense and Layton looks good here. He has some good bench strength and his wife is a formidable politician in her own right. I can see him taking votes from Dion who has not been effective at all.

The NDP can be very effective in many parts of the country if it gets its act together. I can see them being effective in Quebec and the Maritimes. Layton and Olivia are very string in Toronto.

Steve is itching for an election but it could be a case of "be careful what you wish for".

Australia and Howard were an early buy-in to the George Bush game, and clearly they do not like what they see. Sarkoszy was a late comer and he is not going to last. The Brits are running for cover. Steve could be next. His game was looking pretty bad in Kampala.

[jbg]

Australia and Howard were an early buy-in to the George Bush game, and clearly they do not like what they see. Sarkoszy was a late comer and he is not going to last. The Brits are running for cover. Steve could be next. His game was looking pretty bad in Kampala.

Anyone who read Gordon Brown's recent remarks (link) couldn't possibly take that position. More here (link).

[capricorn]

Since both England and Australia have the Labour Party in power were does that put the NDP?

Just because the UK and Australia parties in power have the word Labour in them does not mean they have ideologies or policies equivalent to the NDP in Canada.

Having Labour parties in those two countries doesn't make one bit of difference to the NDP's standing in Canada.