Canadian Politics 2017: I've Got a Pipeline Straight to the Heart of You

https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/comments/6ae5mr/we_are_two_ubc_political_scientists_ama_about_the/

Green leader Andrew Weaver @AJWVictoriaBC says deal breaker to working with parties is getting big money out of politics. #bcelxn17 pic.twitter.com/XJW3m4UHNQ

— Gordon Hoekstra (@Gordon_Hoekstra) May 10, 2017

And Horgan hammered that same point today.

And for me, that is probably the #1 thing I'd like to see addressed

I don't mind Horgan staying on, he ran the first semi-successful ndp election in 20 years. it gives us a strong bench for the future. could spencer herbert lead one day or is that crazy?

with 176,000 absentee ballots nobody who won by less than like 700 votes should feel safe. this election will never end.

Spencer's too nice to be party leader. Seen him speak lots of times and he's so well-liked that it's more like a "great to see you all, thanks for comin'" vibe. Just can't see him smiling while sticking a knife between his opponents ribs.His strength is being an available and active community member, and truly representing his constituents.

Wildrose and PCs plan to merge in AB: http://globalnews.ca/news/3461146/alberta-wildrose-and-pc-parties-to-make-announcement-thursday-morning/

Will the NDP be a one-term phenomenon? Honestly, not that I've paid extremely close attention to AB, but my sense is that they have been doing a pretty reasonable and not-at-all-extreme job with the hand they were dealt.

can't imagine they can compete with the united right. only caveat i suppose would be if a lot of wildrose voters are disillusioned with the party teaming up with the PCs.

Is there somewhere else they could go (other than not voting)?

I was wondering the opposite: if moderate PCs shift left instead of backing what will probably be a further-right party. If what they care most about is lower taxes, though, probably not.

A fringe party but ugh: https://www.facebook.com/Parti.Independantiste.du.Quebec/photos/a.580290878652647.144921.522503504431385/1891635784184810/?type=3&theater

If you can't see that, it's a sign for Parti indépendantiste candidate Alexandre Cormier-Denis, competing in the upcoming provincial byelection in Gouin with a picture of two women, one a white brunette in a blue toque with a fleur-de-lys, and one in a niqab. The text says, roughly "Choose your Quebec. Canadian multiculturalism: no thanks!"

http://www.tvanouvelles.ca/2017/05/18/une-pancarte-electorale-provoque-lindignation-de-citoyens

That's my hood, between the austerity party, the dude who turned the student strike into utter chaos, the right winger whose party promises me '1000$ in my pocket!!' and these islamophobic bullies, I'm really wondering if it is too much to ask for a Quebec NDP? (made a similar comment not too long ago, I realize).

NDP will be one-term, and would have been even if they had single-handedly caused a full recovery in global oil prices, slashed taxes to zero, and built a new pipeline for every conceivable market. They've done a decent job, but it was a protest vote against the corrupt, ineffectual PCs, and hatred of the Dips (fuelled by misogyny and the rise of the alt-right as well as an unshakeable perception of them as hardline Marxists and SJWs) runs deep & is daily, casually expressed in coffee-room chatter.

thank you courtenay comox!

anyone think the Greens will go Liberal?

Me

a small sick part of me wants it to happen so we can watch green voters freak out

So a social conservative wins his party's leadership race. Is Trumpism on its way here?

is Scheer a bigger social con than Harper?

I always felt that Harper was a politician first and then whatever else second, at least in that Harper made an occasional point of silencing this element of his party if he felt it threatened his brand. Not saying Scheer isn't the same (he's already made "I don't agree with it, but same-sex marriage and abortion are done deals" type statements), but in the bit I've read about him, he sure likes to tout his social conservatism.

I thought Bernier might have been able to make inroads in Quebec but there is basically zero chance of Scheer doing this, right?

If Harper did then anyone can.

Scheer seems like a politician created in a lab to lose to Trudeau lol

If Harper did then anyone can.

At their best, Harper's CPC won 10-12 seats in QC compared to 45-50 for the BQ or NDP, right? Afaict, the CPC were able to win power because the Liberals were unable to win QC for a while, not because the Tories could. Now that Quebec has returned to the Liberal flock under Trudeau, it is hard for me to see a path to victory for the Tories unless this changes somehow.

More like 45-60, ha.

Oh there is a section if Quebec that hates the liberal more than anything, and BQ is in major disaray. Scheer could play a bunch of specific cards and win 5-8 seats, that would be a very realistic scenario (and kinda what i was implying). But obviously it would'nt be enough. Which, thank god.

Greens going NDP.

ヽ(・∀・)ﾉ

We'll likely end up going back to the polls soon, which is cool with me. Voting is fun.

anyone got a question for niki ashton

Are you interviewing her? This is where I admit that I bought an NDP membership but haven't really done my research yet.

No, she's going to be present at a recruiting event with the theme of pushing the NDP to the left on Sunday in TO. I assume there's going to be some kind of question period.

:)

Monumental

Things are going to get veeeerry interesting

are we referring to BC?

Think so. I'll be interested to see how they manage to elect a Speaker and keep the government going. If they can do the latter, will we see a BC NDP vs AB NDP showdown on pipelines?

If NB can do it I don't see why we can't: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/55th_New_Brunswick_Legislature

definitely going to be interesting times i feel. i am a little worried about the coalition staying united, but as long as we do not have a bc liberal government say, this time in 2 years i will be delighted.

God bless the protestors who erected the teepee on Parliament Hill. All the hipsters joining the bandwagon on that outrage while gentrifying Parc-Extension and Parkdale can go to hell.

Appointing Geoff Meggs as Chief of Staff (in BC) is the beginning of the expected softening of the NDP's election stance and possibly signals how it will fail. Like they had to appoint another old-fart goateed pink baldy union dude instead of someone a bit more lively and efficient without the baggage of the previous failed NDP governments. For nine years he's been #pretendingtocare about housing, transit, etc. on city council. In fact #pretendingtocare could've been created just for this guy. Very, very disappointing. Fuck off Geoff Meggs!

Niki Ashton's tax platform looks interesting. Unlike anything the federal NDP have put out in a decade or two, she's taking a left line on the issue with increased rates for everyone who makes over $120K and a top rate of 38%, taxing capital gains at the same rate as employment income, an estate tax, a financial transaction tax, reduced limits for TFSAs and RRSPs, a wealth tax, doubled GST/HST rebates, increased disability credits and GISs. I had so far been leaning towards Charlie Angus but she might persuade me.

it's not quite fully automated luxury communism but yeah I'll take it

Ha, yeah. And before Fred comes by to point out that "left" and "right" just refer to relative seating positions in Parliament, what is significant is that Ashton is proposing making appreciable changes to the tax code to actively redistribute wealth, which seems like a break from NDP tax policy for the last decade or two.

might join the ndp and vote for ashton

have til august 24th to do so apparently

have joined the ndp. first time being a member of a political party at 32 years old.

will likely do the same. a recent poll put Angus at 22 and Ashton at 20 with Singh trailing back in the single digits, a third or so undecided iirc

u got my support Jim

i was a member about a decade ago, might be time to join up again.

i joined up after layton passed away to vote for several non-mulcairs in the leadership race. guess its time to come back!