Canadian Federal election. 2011

[Timminz]

Yeah, I heard one guy is 19, was making $12 an hour at his last job and now he's making $157,000 a year!

I don't believe this. New MP's don't make nearly that much.

No it's true Tim. Unless the papers, CBC radio and the networks are all wrong.

Wow! If this is true, I am genuinely shocked. I would have guessed they made half of that, and I would have thought I was guessing high.


eta- I just looked it up, and yeah, that's the base salary for all MP's. I think that's far too high, especially considering all the travel and other paid benefits they get.

[General Brock II]

There is nothing wrong with being young...even though 19 is REALLY young. If you are dedicated and know your stuff, you can be an MP at any age. What is funny about the 19 year old is that the NDP won't let him do interviews right now because they say he isn't "ready" for the interview aspect of his new job. WHAT? He is old enough to run...but not do interviews? Sounds like the NDP is silencing their caucus. Now where have I heard people complain about that before?
Anyway, moving along...the NDP are either going to sink or swim in the next four years. They made huge gains...but in their haste to ensure they had representation in all ridings in Quebec, the seem to have made some poor choices. If this blows up in their faces, the NDP could end up doing more damage than good. And as was mentioned, it is clear that everyone voted for Layton and not the candidate.
If Harper and the Cons govern nice and steady, without raising taxes or the ire of the public, this could prove to be a big win for them as well. If they put the "rightest-boogey-man" fears to bed and show they can run the country competently...it could go a long way with the Canadian public. But if they drop the ball...

Tim, yeah, before the election, the Harper minority government, pushed by the Liberals, opted to raise the former MP salary... Unbelievable. I'm not sure if I said it here, but they should slash the civil workers' salaries (did anybody know that the Ottawa head librarian nets a little over $100,000 annually?) and use the gains to cut the deficit. Perhaps now that the Conservatives have this majority, they will do just that.

Nineteen is too young - he hasn't got any political experience at all! He'd be lucky to know what a simple legal term such as, "certiorari" would mean. He hasn't even gotten two years at University to obtain any sort of legal degree... therefore, his knowledge is limited to personal knowledge, high school classes and one or two years at University? That scenario is positively frightening. He couldn't possibly have even sat on a small town council, for he wouldn't have been old enough. So he's jumping from little knowledge to representing an entire riding equipped with infrastructure etc.? Good thing that the NDP is only opposition to a majority government... Crikey, they're all pawns in Layton's game.

I concur, these four years are pivotal for the Conservatives.

Last I heard, the Libs were considering Bob Rae - hurrah, if they do that, they'll never be back.

[jpcloet]

Last I heard, the Libs were considering Bob Rae - hurrah, if they do that, they'll never be back.

IMO, Bob Rae is a good choice due to

1) People know who he is and will keep them on the map, remember they have 4 years to get ready
2) Don't expect this person to be the next Liberal Leader at the next election in 4 years, my gut says Trudeau is still their main guy in the wings, although a provincial Liberal may make the national move
3) He has the experience to re-organize and mentor the next Liberal Leader(s)

[2dimes]

http://twitter.com/#!/ruthellenndp

[Woodruff]

There is nothing wrong with being young...even though 19 is REALLY young. If you are dedicated and know your stuff, you can be an MP at any age. What is funny about the 19 year old is that the NDP won't let him do interviews right now because they say he isn't "ready" for the interview aspect of his new job. WHAT? He is old enough to run...but not do interviews?

That seems like a REALLY weird way to handle the situation. If he's talented enough to have run successfully, I would think that they could fairly easily just coach him through any interviews.

[Baron Von PWN]

There is nothing wrong with being young...even though 19 is REALLY young. If you are dedicated and know your stuff, you can be an MP at any age. What is funny about the 19 year old is that the NDP won't let him do interviews right now because they say he isn't "ready" for the interview aspect of his new job. WHAT? He is old enough to run...but not do interviews?

That seems like a REALLY weird way to handle the situation. If he's talented enough to have run successfully, I would think that they could fairly easily just coach him through any interviews.

Thing is allot of these candidates were not expected to win, and won due to the party and the leader's popularity. Which in the Canadian context makes sense, as Canadian parties are pretty tightly controlled. Vote against the party line and you're out of caucus.

[keiths31]

Thing is allot of these candidates were not expected to win, and won due to the party and the leader's popularity. Which in the Canadian context makes sense, as Canadian parties are pretty tightly controlled. Vote against the party line and you're out of caucus.

Depends. Some votes this is very true...but on other votes they are allowed to vote freely. Last year when the Cons had the long gun bill up, the NDP in my riding voted for getting rid of the registry...though most NDP voted in favour of keeping it. On the other hand, when the same sex bill was up for vote, we had a Liberal MP. He voted against it and Paul Martin booted him out of caucus. He even had a cabinet seat.

On a side not, the NDP MP elect in Quebec who was in Vegas during the campaign has spoken up. She plans to visit the riding soon...and has pledged to learn French. *sigh*

[keiths31]

http://twitter.com/#!/ruthellenndp

That is funny. Wonder how long until Twitter removes it...

[2dimes]

http://twitter.com/#!/ruthellenndp

That is funny. Wonder how long until Twitter removes it...

I hope they don't but they probably will.

[Timminz]

http://twitter.com/#!/ruthellenndp

That is funny. Wonder how long until Twitter removes it...

I hope they don't but they probably will.

That's hilarious!

[notyou2]

Hilarious.

Thanks.

[Baron Von PWN]

Thing is allot of these candidates were not expected to win, and won due to the party and the leader's popularity. Which in the Canadian context makes sense, as Canadian parties are pretty tightly controlled. Vote against the party line and you're out of caucus.

Depends. Some votes this is very true...but on other votes they are allowed to vote freely. Last year when the Cons had the long gun bill up, the NDP in my riding voted for getting rid of the registry...though most NDP voted in favour of keeping it. On the other hand, when the same sex bill was up for vote, we had a Liberal MP. He voted against it and Paul Martin booted him out of caucus. He even had a cabinet seat.

On a side not, the NDP MP elect in Quebec who was in Vegas during the campaign has spoken up. She plans to visit the riding soon...and has pledged to learn French. *sigh*

That's true but those are the exceptions to the rule. More often than not they vote the party line, especially when compared to say the US congress.

[2dimes]

http://twitter.com/#!/ruthellenndp

That is funny. Wonder how long until Twitter removes it...

I hope they don't but they probably will.

That's hilarious!

Booo! Thanks for sucking twitter, they suspended it.

[keiths31]

Harper more popular than Trudeau?

http://www.troymedia.com/2011/05/13/believe-it-or-not-harpers-more-popular-than-trudeau-ever-was/

[Timminz]

Harper more popular than Trudeau?

http://www.troymedia.com/2011/05/13/believe-it-or-not-harpers-more-popular-than-trudeau-ever-was/

...if you ignore Quebec (25% of the entire population of the country)...

[keiths31]

...if you ignore Quebec (25% of the entire population of the country)...

[Timminz]

No really. That's what that article said.

[keiths31]

No really. That's what that article said.

I know. But the whole article is based on the results without Quebec. It doesn't hide that fact.

[Timminz]

No really. That's what that article said.

I know. But the whole article is based on the results without Quebec. It doesn't hide that fact.

So, how's it look if we ignore Ontario?

[keiths31]

No really. That's what that article said.

I know. But the whole article is based on the results without Quebec. It doesn't hide that fact.

So, how's it look if we ignore Ontario?

Oh probably very similar results. I find the article more humourous than anything. Trying to show that our current PM is more popular in the rest of Canada than arguably our most popular PM of the last 100 years was. But it is true in that if you take out the numbers from Quebec, Harper did quite well. Conversely if you took out the NDP results from Quebec there would be totally different numbers for the NDP nationally as well. The article is just playing with numbers...it's a slow news week for politics

[Timminz]

I really would be curious to see the same thing, ignoring Ontario. I think it would be just as interesting.

[Baron Von PWN]

No really. That's what that article said.

I know. But the whole article is based on the results without Quebec. It doesn't hide that fact.

So, how's it look if we ignore Ontario?

actually more interesting would be if we ignore the prairies. After all they have anomoulous vote patterns, what other provinces voted almost purely conservative. what doese the ROC look like without them?

[2dimes]

Ruth Ellen speaks.

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/201105 ... au-110507/

[Timminz]

Ruth Ellen speaks.

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/201105 ... au-110507/

She's a star!!!!