Elections suck

[peter_puck]

We are having an election for no good reason. It is going to return the same Conservative minority we had before. The election itself is going to cost half a billion dollars. The pre election pork -barrel spending of the alleged conservatives have likely put the country into a deficit. The spending plans of the Conservatives and Liberals will sink us even deeper.

We are likely a few more elections away from bankrupcy

[Jobu]

We are having an election for no good reason. It is going to return the same Conservative minority we had before. The election itself is going to cost half a billion dollars. The pre election pork -barrel spending of the alleged conservatives have likely put the country into a deficit. The spending plans of the Conservatives and Liberals will sink us even deeper.

We are likely a few more elections away from bankrupcy

Dear Chicken Little;

Half a billion? Nothing like a little exaggeration, eh?

P.S. It will be a CPC majority.

[Smallc]

We are having an election for no good reason. It is going to return the same Conservative minority we had before. The election itself is going to cost half a billion dollars. The pre election pork -barrel spending of the alleged conservatives have likely put the country into a deficit. The spending plans of the Conservatives and Liberals will sink us even deeper.

We are likely a few more elections away from bankruptcy

First, unless the media is lying, the spending before the election was all re announcements of what was already budgeted. Second, deficit isn't bankruptcy. I hope we're not in the former and we're not even close to the latter.

[gc1765]

Dear Chicken Little;

Half a billion? Nothing like a little exaggeration, eh?

P.S. It will be a CPC majority.

It's not that much of an exaggeration. The number that I have heard most often is $300 million for an election (and that probably doesn't even include all of the costs).

[Smallc]

It's not that much of an exaggeration. The number that I have heard most often is $300 million for an election (and that probably doesn't even include all of the costs).

Its somewhere between 3 and 400 million with everything included. It won't bankrupt the country regardless.

[gc1765]

Its somewhere between 3 and 400 million with everything included. It won't bankrupt the country regardless.

There might be other costs that we don't think about. What about taking time of work to vote? That costs money, but not directly.

No argument that it won't bankrupt the country.

[Riverwind]

We are having an election for no good reason. It is going to return the same Conservative minority we had before.

Actually, there is a good chance the composition of the minority will be altered enough to make the election worthwhile (i.e. the parliment will better reflect the current priorities of the people). I am willing to bet the NDP and Greens are not complaining about the election call right now.

[PoliticalCitizen]

Actually, there is a good chance the composition of the minority will be altered enough to make the election worthwhile (i.e. the parliment will better reflect the current priorities of the people). I am willing to bet the NDP and Greens are not complaining about the election call right now.

I'd love to see at least a couple of greens get in

And I'm sure NDP will win some votes from the Liberals

[peter_puck]

Its somewhere between 3 and 400 million with everything included. It won't bankrupt the country regardless.

I am not saying that the 400 million would bankrupt the country, it is the pork-barrell spending that will bankrupt the country. Have you looked at all the money the Conservatives has spent lately ? Have you look at all the money the Liberals (and Conservatives) are promising to spend ? The 400 million will be a drop in the bucket.

Almost every election, government gets bigger.

[peter_puck]

Dear Chicken Little;

Half a billion? Nothing like a little exaggeration, eh?

Not really. As someone here mentioned, the official costs are somewhere between 300 to 400 million. I can throw in all sorts of other costs associated with an election that would push it to the 500 million dollar mark. The cost of the extra security provided by local police forces, the cost of having at least a thousand people leave their day jobs for a month or so. The cost of all those people that take advantage of the "getting time off to vote" law (esp in unionized shops). Even the gas to go vote could be thrown in there. I could go on, and the real cost to everybody would likely be close to 500 million or over.

P.S. It will be a CPC majority.

Okay, then something would be acccomplished. The problem is that almost all non-partisan commentators are not saying this is going to happen. Certainly none of them would have expected a majority when the decision was made and the election was called.

Personally I really don't think it will happen. Even if Harper hits 40%, he has two problems. The first is that his support is distributed poorly. He will get huge victories in some Alberta contests, but they will only garner him the same one seat that the Liberals get for winning a seat by twenty votes in Ontario. The Liberals do not have anywhere near the number of lopsided victories the Conservatives do, and this means their vote is much more effecient. To put it another way, the Liberals would win more seats with 38 percent of the vote than the Conservatives would with 40. (and no, this was not a scientific survey, it just illustrates a point)

The second problem is, that faced with the threat of a Conservative majority, there will be a certain amount of strategic voting. Given a choice between making a useless vote for the Greens, or preventing a Conservative majority, many of the Greens will vote Liberal or NDP. Many in the NDP would go Liberal (or vis versa).

[scribblet]

Well, it did save us the cost of a few by-elections, and is worth it if we can get a parliament that works and can get some work done.

[peter_puck]

Well, it did save us the cost of a few by-elections, and is worth it if we can get a parliament that works and can get some work done.

They were getting work done. For a minority government, they were getting a lot of work done. The sole reason this election happened is because the Conservatives thought it would be better to go now because the US troubles could spread to Canada and the money was running out.

[M.Dancer]

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Edited September 22, 2008 by M.Dancer

[M.Dancer]

del

Edited September 22, 2008 by M.Dancer