Your thoughts on the platform of the Libertarian Party of Canada?

[Second-class Canadian]

Your thoughts on the platform of the Libertarian Party of Canada?

https://www.libertarian.ca/platform/

I don't agree with everything in their platform, plus their platform is somewhat ambiguous, but when comparing party "packages," it still has some good things in it.

It proposes significant reductions in Federal government expenditure and seems to support more religious, linguistic, and other freedom than the other political parties.

Though some of its ideas are somewhat extreme, having a few Libertarian MPs in Parliament would not necessarily be a bad thing in terms of allowing them to at least share new ideas with the Cabinet.

Even assuming the extremely unlikely scenario that it's members formed a government, though it would significantly reduce funding for social programs on the one hand, it would also allow us through reduced taxes to give to the charity of our choice on the other.

Your thoughts on the Libertarian Party of Canada?

[Second-class Canadian]

Plus their platforms intends to give indigenous peoples a significant degree of sovereignty, much more so than the other parties it would seem.

[-1=e^ipi]

Libertarian party are a bunch of extremists. The Freedom Party of Canada/Ontario is far more reasonable.

[Second-class Canadian]

Libertarian party are a bunch of extremists. The Freedom Party of Canada/Ontario is far more reasonable.

Libertarian party are a bunch of extremists. The Freedom Party of Canada/Ontario is far more reasonable.

Given that the Libertarian Party is not likely to form a government in this election anyway, even if I disagree with it on some points, it still doesn't negate the value of a Libertarian MP in Parliament, as long as the Liertarian candidate is the best candidate in the riding of course.

As for the Freedom Party, its platform is even more ambiguous than that of the Libertarian Party's, making comparisons very difficult.

[-1=e^ipi]

Libertarian party are a bunch of extremists.

I guess I should elaborate, since extremism doesn't imply bad policy. The Libertarian polices advocate no government intervention even when it makes sense (externalizes, public goods, etc.).

As for the Freedom Party, its platform is even more ambiguous than that of the Libertarian Party's, making comparisons very difficult.

The Freedom Party had a relatively specific platform during the Ontario election, did you just check out their national website? They advocate abolishing the LCBO for example. Their leader, Paul McKeever, appeared on Sun News occasionally before Sun News died and explained his party's positions on a large variety of positions. Maybe try using youtube to see some old clips?

[Derek 2.0]

Your thoughts on the platform of the Libertarian Party of Canada?

Some ideas, if tempered, have some merit:

• Reduce federal income taxes to a maximum rate of 15% and increase the personal income tax exemption amount to $17,300 from $11,000

• Eliminate all tax credits, and replace them with 4 additional exemptions, valued at $4,000 each (Child, Senior, Disability, Student)

Eliminate the unfair price manipulation and quota system of the Dairy Board.

• Repeal the Canada Health Act

  1. To ensure that healthcare is a provincial responsibility
  2. To allow private alternatives for care and insurance, which will alleviate public wait times and the growing fiscal burden of healthcare. Provinces will be free to choose the system that best fits their needs

Some ideas I'd think would be worth adopting wholesale:

The Libertarian Party of Canada would end the war on drugs by legalizing cannabis and immediately decriminalizing the consumption and possession of drugs. The war on drugs has cost Canadian tax payers billions of dollars in enforcement and incarceration of citizens who have harmed no one besides themselves. Drugs should be dealt with through harm reduction strategies, and as a matter of public health, not through the criminal justice system. The decriminalization of illicit substances ensures that organized criminals, both domestic and foreign, cannot profit from the drug trade.

End all forms of corporate welfare

Repeal the powers of the CRTC over radio, television and communications

• Create sponsorship guidelines whereby organizations and individuals can sponsor immigrants if they are willing to financially support them.

• Repeal section 91 and 92 of the Criminal Code to make responsible gun possession legal

And some ideas are plain nuts:

Immediately withdraw Canadian armed forces from international conflicts. The Libertarian party strongly opposes the foreign interventions of the past 13 years

Reallocate military resources for the purpose of national defence, and Arctic sovereignty.

Replace the Indian Act with a blanket guarantee of sovereignty for all indigenous groups.

Enforce property rights so individuals have full ownership over their land and the natural resources above and below it

At the end of the day, regardless of those proposals that might have merit, the party is a non-entity and not electable......Some of said policies, as I said if taken in moderation, could be very well be adopted, if there was a logical case for them made, at a CPC policy convention.

[Second-class Canadian]

The CPC is pretty big government relatively speaking.

[Second-class Canadian]

Supposing the CPC ended up as a minority in Parliament with a couple of Libertarians making a majority coalition, that would be about the right combination to temper the CPC side a little. That would be a good thing.

[-1=e^ipi]

Supposing the CPC ended up as a minority in Parliament with a couple of Libertarians making a majority coalition, that would be about the right combination to temper the CPC side a little. That would be a good thing.

You would need the first past the post system to be replaced for any reasonable chance of that happening.

[Derek 2.0]

The CPC is pretty big government relatively speaking.

Sure, and despite past suggestions that they would be different, the political reality that is the governance of a first world economy prevailed......Government of any stripe is big and bloated, only allowing a variance to a slight degree.....

[Derek 2.0]

Supposing the CPC ended up as a minority in Parliament with a couple of Libertarians making a majority coalition, that would be about the right combination to temper the CPC side a little. That would be a good thing.

It won't happen, two separate right-wing parties equal a left-wing Government......

[Second-class Canadian]

It won't happen, two separate right-wing parties equal a left-wing Government......

Though a left government might be a good thing. Consider the Reform days. The Progressive Conservatives wouldn't budge initially, but once they saw the Reform Party wasn't budging either and Liberals were winning, finally the PC's budged a little.

Hypothetically, if the Libertarians did the same, after an election or two the Conservatives would smarten up again.

It may be a tough pill to swallow, but sometimes necessary for the progress of the country.

[Derek 2.0]

Though a left government might be a good thing. Consider the Reform days. The Progressive Conservatives wouldn't budge initially, but once they saw the Reform Party wasn't budging either and Liberals were winning, finally the PC's budged a little.

Hypothetically, if the Libertarians did the same, after an election or two the Conservatives would smarten up again.

It may be a tough pill to swallow, but sometimes necessary for the progress of the country.

The Libertarians are not anywhere near the same position the former PC party was, nor the emergence of the Reform (born out of the PC and Social Credit parties) to be in the position to budge the party in any direction.......The Libertarian movement in Canada, like other countries, is stillborn and not even competitive with the Greens........

If one wants Libertarian polices, join the party (CPC) that is the next best thing and make your case from within........there is already a Libertarian wing within the CPC for that mater, with several members in cabinet.

[Second-class Canadian]

Why give the CPC my vote? The Libertarian wing of the CPC is a fringe element within that party. Should the CPC win a smaller majority this time around and more votes go Libertarian, that would put more pressure on the government to shift at least somewhat more libertarian come the following election.

[Derek 2.0]

Why give the CPC my vote? The Libertarian wing of the CPC is a fringe element within that party. Should the CPC win a smaller majority this time around and more votes go Libertarian, that would put more pressure on the government to shift at least somewhat more libertarian come the following election.

There is no plausible scenario in which the Tories win a majority, of any stripe, with a libertarian party receiving enough votes to mater politically......in the last election, in not a single riding did a Libertarian candidate receive more than 1% of the vote.......

Why give your vote to the CPC? Simple, they are the only party with a shred of Libertarian ethos that can form a Government......or elect an MP.

[-1=e^ipi]

Why give your vote to the CPC? Simple, they are the only party with a shred of Libertarian ethos that can form a Government......or elect an MP.

The chances of your vote mattering anyway are basically 0, especially if you don't live in a swing riding.

Also if the mainstream parties are as repulsive as they are, why vote for them? Voting for the least bad option only makes sense up to a certain point.

[hendrix2]

Has anyone seen any of the candidates addressing our $1 trillion deficit? http://www.nationaldebtclocks.org/debtclock/canada

Harper got us there. The silence of the other parties seems to say that they will be content to add to it. Every Canadian citizen owes over $28,000 dollars. I can't afford it, can you? We are following the US with their Keynesian method of printing money out of thin air to solve their debt problem by adding even more debt. Doesn't work in my household. Might not matter much as the Asian markets are crashing as I write over the Greek vote. The Puerto Rico default will add to the US problem. The sky is falling? Soon, I think. Watch out for the BOND markets!

[Second-class Canadian]

You would need the first past the post system to be replaced for any reasonable chance of that happening.

I actually prefer FPTP. Just take the party names off the ballot though please.

[Second-class Canadian]

There is no plausible scenario in which the Tories win a majority, of any stripe, with a libertarian party receiving enough votes to mater politically......in the last election, in not a single riding did a Libertarian candidate receive more than 1% of the vote.......

Why give your vote to the CPC? Simple, they are the only party with a shred of Libertarian ethos that can form a Government......or elect an MP.

Few saw the orange wave coming, and even after that few accepted that it could repeat itself in the next election. Strategic voting only leads to stalemate. A split vote is a small price to pay to shake things up a bit.

[Second-class Canadian]

Has anyone seen any of the candidates addressing our $1 trillion deficit? http://www.nationaldebtclocks.org/debtclock/canada

Harper got us there. The silence of the other parties seems to say that they will be content to add to it. Every Canadian citizen owes over $28,000 dollars. I can't afford it, can you? We are following the US with their Keynesian method of printing money out of thin air to solve their debt problem by adding even more debt. Doesn't work in my household. Might not matter much as the Asian markets are crashing as I write over the Greek vote. The Puerto Rico default will add to the US problem. The sky is falling? Soon, I think. Watch out for the BOND markets!

Unfortunately even the Libertarian Party seems too eager to lower taxes. That said, I like their plan to cut spending though.

[Derek 2.0]

The chances of your vote mattering anyway are basically 0, especially if you don't live in a swing riding.

I disagree, especially in swing ridings......

Also if the mainstream parties are as repulsive as they are, why vote for them? Voting for the least bad option only makes sense up to a certain point.

That is based on the assumption that I find (my) mainstream party "repulsive", furthermore, with party politics, individual membership in a party, can lead to greater participation in crafting party policy.........after all, parties are simply a reflection of their membership.

[Derek 2.0]

Few saw the orange wave coming, and even after that few accepted that it could repeat itself in the next election. Strategic voting only leads to stalemate. A split vote is a small price to pay to shake things up a bit.

No it isn't, as ones party won't shake anything up sitting on the sidelines, out of Government.

[On Guard for Thee]

Apparently Harper is not a very good reflection of his own party. More members jumping off a sinking ship than since St. Laurent.

Edited July 6, 2015 by On Guard for Thee

[-1=e^ipi]

I actually prefer FPTP. Just take the party names off the ballot though please.

You are fine with a system where large minorities have no representation in parliament?

[Bryan]

Libertarianism doesn't really fit properly on the left-right spectrum. Some aspects might appeal to conservatives, but others are usually attributed to those on the left -- especially their views on decriminalizing/legalizing drugs and deviant behaviors.

In a lot of ways, it always surprises me that Liberatarian parties don't get more traction politically (not just in Canada, but especially in the US), as they really seem to be to be the more logical choice for the widest number of people. Stop taking so much money from the citizens, and stop interfering in their lives. That's practically the least extreme political position you can have.

Why give your vote to the CPC? Simple, they are the only party with a shred of Libertarian ethos that can form a Government......or elect an MP.

Agreed. CPC is not my first choice, but I vote for them because my first two choices are not ever going to win so much as a seat let alone the government. So I support the one out of the parties that can win whose policies are the least distanced from those of the policies I do want.