The Problem with Federal Elections

[cybercoma]

I'm just wondering what everyone here would do when posed with the following problem.

In my riding there is a particular candidate that has done tremendous things for this city, has sat on city council and has been very vocal in demanding the things we need here most. Of all the candidates he's probably the only one who has his head squarely on his shoulders and actually knows what's going on around here.

Here's my problem....the NDP picked him up as their candidate.

So during a federal election, do you vote for the party you want in power, regardless of the particular candidate that is running for them...or do you vote for the person whom you think will be the most beneficial for your corner of the country?

[The Terrible Sweal]

I don't think there's a formula. Every voter owns their vote and doesn't need to answer to anyone for how they make their choice.

Personally, I like to always vote against the incumbent, unless there's something wrong with the other guys.

[geoffrey]

The system would work much better if people all voted for their personal interests, thats the way majority democracy is supposed to work. However people more than often vote for the party they want in power, which is the cause of many of our problems.

[ScottBrison]

If I were faced with this situation I would vote for party over man, because you know the guy on most occasions is going to be whipped into voting with his party, and I mean he must support their ideals because that's a requirement to join the party. If you don't support their ideaology then really you'd be voting for something you don't want.

[ScottBrison]

The system would work much better if people all voted for their personal interests, thats the way majority democracy is supposed to work. However people more than often vote for the party they want in power, which is the cause of many of our problems.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well, the reason I picked my party is because their ideaology supports my personal interests.

[Bakunin]

Depend of the intention vote in your riding if the guy has a chance to win then vote for him, if he's 3rd in the poll then you better vote for the parti you want in power.

[Pateris]

I tend to vote with the party that most closely matches my personal views. However, if the local candidate was a complete idiot or wingnut (Rob Anders, CPC Calgary West) I'd vote for an alternate choice (say the Green Party)

[playfullfellow]

In our area we are in the midst of nominating new candidates for the Conservatives. I haven't heard the results yet as I think the voting was for today. The problem is that one of people vieing for the position is a local lawyer whom has some very questionable clients. This is mainly contractural stuff, not much criminal law here. Now this guy helps set up questionable contracts for realestate deals so hence forth I have to question his basic ethics. I know his job is to do the best for his clients but some of these clients are down right nasty and cheaters. The results have been that a lot of people have lost everything they own.

My problem that I would hate to see this skidmark get into office yet I am generally a fairly strong conservative. Do I still vote for the party and pop more pepto if this arse gets into office or do I send a message (yep, one vote more or less is a strong message) to the party. for the first time since I have started voting, the party flavor does not seem so inticing if they let this arse run.

[ScottBrison]

In our area we are in the midst of nominating new candidates for the Conservatives. I haven't heard the results yet as I think the voting was for today. The problem is that one of people vieing for the position is a local lawyer whom has some very questionable clients. This is mainly contractural stuff, not much criminal law here. Now this guy helps set up questionable contracts for realestate deals so hence forth I have to question his basic ethics. I know his job is to do the best for his clients but some of these clients are down right nasty and cheaters. The results have been that a lot of people have lost everything they own.

My problem that I would hate to see this skidmark get into office yet I am generally a fairly strong conservative. Do I still vote for the party and pop more pepto if this arse gets into office or do I send a message (yep, one vote more or less is a strong message) to the party. for the first time since I have started voting, the party flavor does not seem so inticing if they let this arse run.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If I were you, I would wait until an election call and then take a look at all the parties platforms and go with the one that you like the best. Other than that, maybe you should run yourself

[daniel]

...

Here's my problem....the NDP picked him up as their candidate....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Why is this a problem? Your favourite candidate just proved to you the NDP is a viable option.

[kimmy]

I had no intention of voting Liberal last election, of course, but if I had planned to do so, I'd have faced a real dilemna: the Liberal candidate in my riding was a complete tool. I won't mention his name.

You know how lawn signs often have the candidate's personal website address? So you can visit the site and read what the candidate has to say, party platforms, his personal comments about issues that are important, his qualifications or whatever?

I visited the website at the address printed on my local Liberal party candidate's lawn signs... and it's the guy's personal injury law practice. (you know.. "Been injured? You may be entitled to seek compensation...") So, essentially, the dude used Liberal election signs (which I assume were at least in part funded by the party?) to publicize his own personal business enterprise.

And, a family friend is the assistant manager of a local pub which this candidate had booked for a fundraising dinner. I don't recall the exact numbers, but I believe he booked for 30 but only 22 people attended. Or something like that. The pub's policy is that a day of notice was supposed to be required, or the money wasn't refundable. So he was charged for 30 seats. Came in the next day and went into a screaming rage, threatening to sue... and finally succeeded in bullying the manager into returning payment for the 8 dinners that weren't needed, even though the pub had gone to the expense of preparing them and even though the policy about advance notice was clear.

I can't imagine having voted for such a person even if I'd been firmly behind Team Martin.

The recent provincial election provided somewhat the opposite experience for me. I'd planned to vote NDP, as I believe this province needs a more effective opposition, and I believe that Brian Mason is better suited to the job than Kevin Taft, whoever he is. But in the final days before the election, I received 3 (!) phonecalls from my Liberal candidate's volunteers; they were the only contact I received from any candidates in the election. I was so impressed with the effort of the Liberal candidate's organization that I decided to vote for him. He quite simply worked his ass off, and I decided that was the sort of persistence that I should vote for.

-k

[cybercoma]

...

Here's my problem....the NDP picked him up as their candidate....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Why is this a problem? Your favourite candidate just proved to you the NDP is a viable option.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I simply don't agree with the idea of spending us into bankruptcy.

[Black Dog]

I simply don't agree with the idea of spending us into bankruptcy.

Funny, I don't see that in the NDP platform anywhere. It appears you made it up.

It amazes me that peole can repeat this kind of bullshit with a straight face, yet get their knickers in a twist the second someone raises the spectre of a CPC "hidden agenda".

[kimmy]

Funny, I don't see that in the NDP platform anywhere. It appears you made it up.

It amazes me that peole can repeat this kind of bullshit with a straight face, yet get their knickers in a twist the second someone raises the spectre of a CPC "hidden agenda".

Why does it amaze you? If anything, it strikes me as very predictable. I'm sure that many NDP-boosters who object to the conventional wisdom that the NDP can't manage money buy into and even promote the "hidden agenda" line of attack. I think it's the same phenomenon at work, I think it's a telling comment about the average voter, and I think it's something that has enabled to the Liberals to maintain their hold on power in this country.

-k

[daniel]

...

Here's my problem....the NDP picked him up as their candidate....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Why is this a problem? Your favourite candidate just proved to you the NDP is a viable option.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I simply don't agree with the idea of spending us into bankruptcy.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Has your candidate ever done that? What makes you think the NDP will? What makes you think Conservatives are fiscally responsible - just because that myth is perpetrated by their supporters? Have you seen the track record of some so-called fiscally responsible (Progressive) Conservative or Republican governments? Not so fiscally impressive.

[Black Dog]

Why does it amaze you? If anything, it strikes me as very predictable. I'm sure that many NDP-boosters who object to the conventional wisdom that the NDP can't manage money buy into and even promote the "hidden agenda" line of attack. I think it's the same phenomenon at work, I think it's a telling comment about the average voter, and I think it's something that has enabled to the Liberals to maintain their hold on power in this country.

I agree, which is why you'll never hear this NDP-booster talking of a hidden CPC agenda. Mainly because their agenda isn't that much different fromt he Liberal agenda, or the progressive Conservative agenda before them. They want power and there's no position they won't water down, no principle they won't abandon, and no empty platitude they won't mouth to acheive it.

[playfullfellow]

If I were you, I would wait until an election call and then take a look at all the parties platforms and go with the one that you like the best. Other than that, maybe you should run yourself

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

sounds like a good idea but I doubt people would like my way of doing things. Besides, I don't relish public speaking that much.

[cybercoma]

Stronach switching parties makes this question even more difficult.

How fair is it to the voters that voted for the party they wanted in power (in this case the Conservatives for Newmarket) only to have their candidate switch to the other team?

[Riverwind]

Stronach switching parties makes this question even more difficult.

How fair is it to the voters that voted for the party they wanted in power (in this case the Conservatives for Newmarket) only to have their candidate switch to the other team?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This is a red herring. Stronach can argue that she is representing the wishes of the majority of her constituants since over 50% voted Liberal or NDP.

http://www.cbc.ca/canadavotes/riding/160/

Regards

[PatM]

Has your candidate ever done that?  What makes you think the NDP will?  What makes you think Conservatives are fiscally responsible - just because that myth is perpetrated by their supporters?  Have you seen the track record of some so-called fiscally responsible (Progressive) Conservative or Republican governments?  Not so fiscally impressive.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Just take a look at the fact. Every "conservative" government around the western world in the last 30 years has TANKED their own economies and created MASSIVE debt. Instead of spending, they cut taxes to business and the very rich while borrowing to make up for the lost revenue - then raise taxes on the lower classes to pay back the money they borrowed to make up for the money they gave to the rich.

In the 1950s, tax on business accounted for 50% of government revenue - today that is down to 9% - they've had a 41% tax cut! The wealthiest 10% account for less of government revenue now too - 20% less just in the last decade!

We middle and lower income earners had to make up all that lost revenue.

Just WHO is the "bankrupter"?

Read "Confessions of an Economic Hit man" - though not specifically about liberal vs conservative politics, It'll show you the "conservative" mindset.

[willy]

I am a conservative; I don't need a book written by a liberal to explain what I think.

If that is necessary, I suggest you read Anne Coulter and her view of what liberals think.

There are two types of government good and bad. In our system neither party is extreme on policy. The question is which one can you trust. The consistent I see in the world is too much power corrupts and our home grown Liberals are a best practice.

If you hear the word moderate in the media this week replace it with Liberal.

If you hear the word extreme replace it with Conservative.

[mirror]

A chance for politics to come in from the cold

There has to be a better way to conduct such affairs.

How about, for instance, a winter campaign centred on a string of debates rather than a crescendo of competing monologues culminating in a make-or-break shouting match in each official language?

How about fitting the logistics of the leaders' tours around debates held in every region of the country?

Surely that would not be harder than trying to plan daily flights around an uncertain weather forecast and it would still give all leaders time to touch base with supporters from coast to coast.

How about making sure those debates do not turn into a mere road show by agreeing to discuss a different theme on every occasion?

Although the cat seems to have gotten the tongue of many federal politicians in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling on medicare, surely the leaders have enough to say on social policy to fill more than the half hour or so devoted to the issue in the last election's televised debates.

Ditto for the future of free trade. Or the challenges posed by the energy issue. Or the so-called war on terrorism.

Surely it no longer makes sense that candidates for the leadership of the same party — who, presumably, are fundamentally like-minded people — have more occasions to debate policy with each other than Canadian leaders do in the lead-up to an election.

Some of our politicians have cold feet at the thought of a winter campaign. Good!

Then they should be eager for their leaders to come out of the cold and under the sun of the networks' cameras so that voters can watch them trade ideas in the comfort of their living rooms.

I think this is the best possible idea but unfortunately there is one political party that would never buy into it. Guess which one? If you said Conservatives, you would be absolutely right. The difference between the Conservatives and the New Democrats is that the New Democrats have policies but they can't get people to discuss them, and the Conservatives have policies but they don't want people to discuss them.

[shoop]

This is a red herring. Stronach can argue that she is representing the wishes of the majority of her constituants since over 50% voted Liberal or NDP.

http://www.cbc.ca/canadavotes/riding/160/

Regards

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I didn't realize she was sitting as a co ND-Liberal member of parliament.

Oh wait she isn't.