Politics by the numbers: Election 2015

Politics by the numbers

                Okay, Big Shocker here, Most 40 something’s like me get most of their political news from the now retired comedy central star John Steward, and its all American information that wont help us one bit…other than entertaining us. We don’t even bother to watch Rick Mercer because…well its dull Canadian stuff and to be frank…its on channel 2…who watches CBC?

                Most of us don’t know anything about the political parties outside of what our parents told us about politics in the 70’s and 80’s. If you asked a hard line right wing 40 something about the Conservative party you probably would get back party line BS that actually has no historical fact backing it up. The parties histories, traditions and the way they see the world have changed and yet they stay the same. This is one of the longest elections EVER in Canadian history thanks to the prime minister trying to ensure he gets back in to power, and in my mind it’s a HORRIBLE Tactic. Not only is it costing us more money as citizens, it gives us plenty of time to look deep into politics, not exactly a Canadian past time, and see what is going on.

                This Blog is going to go over a few things, history of the parties, their platforms and a scoring method to let you know how I feel about them….just ME. So make up your own mind. The blog will use facts, but my spin. I encourage you to go out and read more, look at the facts and remember….if you don’t vote…..you cant bitch!

 

History of the parties….a BREIF look.

Conservatives

                Of all the parties that are trying to win our votes the “Conservative Party” has gone through the most changes. The party in its latest form was actually only formed in 2003 and was previously known as the CPC and was two different parties, the progressive conservatives and the Canadian Alliance.

                The Progressive Conservative party was formed in 1867 and other than the liberals was the only party to ever hold power in Canada. Essentially the original idea was that they were a broad alliance of people who were NOT liberal. That was about it. They had no major direction other than they did not vote liberal and did not see things the same way as liberals. Oh, and one more thing…they were English Canadians that defined themselves as loyal to England….I kid you NOT!

                They believed in Social Darwinism, Imperialism and protestant traditions. You can imagine how hard it would be to get a vote in Quebec if they flaunted this today! They also fought like crazy to not change the flag from the original that had the Union Jack (British flag) on it to our modern, more distinct flag.

                In the 80’s the whole party went through a change. With Brian Mulroney organizing and really developing a social image and ideology of “neo-conservative” views that brought a right wing movement to the whole country. It focused its ideology on dropping taxes, deregulation and privatization of the government services to generate greater wealth and prosperity. The issues that came up were less governmental oversight, more corruption in attempting to gain government contracts by big business and with a smaller government the oversight was not available. However, most of the western world was going through this shift as well with the Republican government holding office in the states. What seemed like a time of prosperity turned into a time of spending and little funds coming back into the government coffers. The party soon fell to a more accountability and control minded Liberal party.

                With Mulroney leaving the party politics after seeing lots of political scandal and culminating in the air bus affair the party threw in Kim Campbell an MP from Vancouver Central to lead the party, she led the party to a windfall loss to the Liberals. The party was in Chaos and needed direction if it hoped to survive.

                The Reform party and Alliance party were formed when some of the right wing Canadians saw Mulroney and his Conservatives as not being right wing enough. By 1987 a large group of western political leaders separated and created the Reform party to push the right wing even further right. The Reform Party soon became the Canadian Alliance Party. Much like the American Tea Party they were hyper Religious and Moralists that had libertarian/anti big government views  and carried a hardline right wing ideology. While the PC party continued to move into just right of center politics the new Alliance party was moving further and further right. This split the right of center voters and some felt that it propped up the Liberal party. The Far right wing leaders (Stephen Harper and Peter MacKay) moved to align the right wing parties into a moderate to right wing party so they could challenge the Liberal party for control of Canada.

                The Parties merged into the New Conservative party of Canada and the strategy proved profitable as the new Conservatives took power a year later. The party today is lead by former ultra right wing leader Stephen Harper who says that he is against high taxes, especially for the rich and companies, wants a smaller less structured government, a strong regime of law and order, a strong military and respect for traditional (Read Christian) Values. With a large Christian base they tend to be opposed to or at least neutral to any Gay rights issues, aboriginal issues or women’s rights issues/health issues.

 

Liberals

                The longest running political party in Canadian History. Originally the party was made up of French Canadian Catholics in the early colonial period. Over time the party evolved into a more generic base that is more of a center left or center right group that favors traditional liberal values and free market economy with a focus on personal responsibility with tolerant relations between French and English Canadians. They focus on common sense, moderate Canadian Liberalism. Over time they moved to a more left of center political stance, starting after WWII. The move was in reaction to the budding post war economy and the need for control over the growth of the country post WWII.

                Pierre Trudeau is seen as the father of modern Canadian Liberalism. Wanting more government controls the party created a larger government that was more active in the economic workings of Canada, and also worked to take care of the citizens from a more compassionate and egalitarian or just society stance. Most Canadians point to the Liberal process for developing our reputation as a multicultural, multilingual and internationally compassionate country. The focus of the government on reaching out and helping others however did come at a cost to the tax payers. But they put up with it because of the view that they were helping others and they also got assistance with better medical care, increased government assistance and a growing economy, and more importantly a country identity that brought a great deal of pride.

                After holding the prime minister’s office for a most of the 90’s the party went through a rapid decline in popularity. The Liberals under Trudeau had really alienated Western Canada and had paid for it with Mulrony taking power. With the leadership in the early 2000s, being Cretien and Paul Martin, the party did a lot of good or the country, however they got caught up in different scandals that the Conservatives were more than ready to push to the forefront of Canadian voters’ minds.  The final straw was the Sponsorship Scandal that saw the down fall of the party and the election of the newly formed conservative party.

                The liberal party has gone through a bit of a change. After holding power in Canada for an extended period of time and keeping their “Left of center” character in tact after losing to the Mulroney Right wing party and then regaining power based on their views , the party became a third place party in parliament with only 34 seats.  Most provincial Liberal parties also suffered from the backlash and down fall of the federal party. However it appears to be on the rise again and in some polls they have jumped up to first place. With Justin Trudeau as the new leader, son of Pierre Trudeau, the party is on the rebound. The former leaders of the party that lead to Rideau’s being elected leader were seen as ineffective and weak leaders. Its with Justin that many feel the party will be brought back to its former level of appeal to the people of Canada.

                The New liberal party under Justin Trudeau is suggesting that it has grown and changed. It si fiscally conservative and socially progressive. It supports aboriginal, Gay and Woman’s rights and also supports an increased immigration program. It favors a unregulated market but opposes right wing control of the market and supports the cherished social programs like Universal health care and old age pension.

 

NDP

                For the most part the New Democratic Party was a small sociality party that was founded during the Depression with a focus on social support for Canadians. They are a hard line sociality (Left wing) party that has recently moved in a more moderate but still defined Left direction. They prefer to regulate but not rule.

                Traditionally the party has always been a third or fourth place party in parliament and has never held power in the Parliament. They were always seen as a Fringe or radical leftist party that never really garnered mainstream support. Unions, street protesters and anti-capitalist groups supported them even though historically they were supporters of the Liberals and helped balance the power against the PC government or when the Liberals were in a minority.

                Many of the important Canadian social programs were part of the NDP’s program generation, such as the old age pension and health care system.  The party was always seen as a small party that pushed for social issues and was the farthest left group, while this group was important it often looked like it was on the edge of disappearing or being replaced by other left leaning groups. Until the 2011 election!

                In 2011 the liberals fell hard and the NDP capitalized on this and were catapulted to a second place party with a strong leader in Jack Layton. The party had taken advantage of the fall of the liberals and also pushed hard in Quebec to gain more leverage in elections and grew overnight. By 2013 the NDP made the move to remove much of their socialist leanings and now are seen as a left of center pragmatic social conscious group. They focus on maintaining the social safety nets and generating programs that will assist all Canadians with programs that will help with health and they are still very popular with Labor groups and public sector unions and groups.

 

Green

                One of the articles that I took information from for this Blog points out that its kind of hard to take the Green party seriously. They have two seats in the house of Commons and yet they get to play with the big boys come debate time. And the fact that I am writing about them shows that they get a lot of media time to. To illustrate my point, the Bloc has 2 seats, the Strength in Democracy group has 2 and the independents sit with 8 seats, so why no write up about the Bloc and strength in Democracy? Well for one the Bloc will never rule Canada as they are a provincial party that is running for federal election really and the Strength in Democracy wont last very long.

                The Green party is a extreme fringe group that has come into its own and promises to pickup steam if they can stay focused. Or they could fizzle out and die on the vine. I think that they could be a replacement for the NDP/Liberals as a third place party if the two bigger groups ever merge to take down the Conservative government.

 

                The group started out as a one issue based party that devoted itself to raising awareness of environmental issues. It was essentially a lobby group that got into politics for itself. When Elizabeth May took control of the party she made the party put on its big boy/girl pants and pushed to become a power in the political sphere and took on more than just the environment as a policy. They market themselves as a centralist party for those that are tired of dealing with the old politics and getting nothing for their vote.

                After the 2011 election many of the bigger parties had to take notice because the rest of the country did. The party grew in popularity and offered a sound platform for its members. While other groups like the Liberals, PC and NDP often ask if the Greens even know about things like the economy ext the party has grown in political momentum and may be set to offer an alternative, or they are just a bunch of tree hugging granola crunching lefties that are trying to get some foot hold…but will fizzle in time. Only time will tell.

 

 

                So, those are the parties history and a bit in a nut shell…here are their plat forms explained to help you form an opinion….based on what I wrote…of the groups. Remember I never said I was any party supporter and I wont. If I was pushed Im a Liberal/Green supporter as I believe in the center! But trust me…I hate political stuff equally….so read, go research and vote! Its important.

 

Domestic

                When talking about Canadian issues or domestic issues you see a VAST difference in the four parties platforms from the economy to justice issues you will see a defined difference in the parties ideas on what the country needs.

 

Economy, Taxes and financial issues

Conservatives C-

                Nothing new here, the Conservatives have promised to balance the budget this year, something they have yet to EVER be able to do. They also want to cut government jobs and open up government services to contracts for competition. Essentially this will eliminate a tone of jobs, guarantee that the work done is done as cheap as possible and in essence limit the amount the government pays for subpar work.

                As far as Taxation the PC group is looking at reduction in personal income tax by 10% (ish) and they are also introducing a Family Tax cut for children under 18, allowing for more tax free savings account contributions and an increase in the universal child care benefits. They also want to allow for old age security benefits to be accessible at 65 not 67. The issue, they actually cut the amount overall that you can claim for children and children with special needs by doing these cuts. It ends up with most people who need help having a negative gain in this department.

                To generate more economic growth the government is proposing a corporate tax cut to a rate of 8% from 11.5%. Does not sound like much but it’s a great deal for big business and this is why they had to screw over families and make it look good by sending a check to us, which in the end is actually going to cost us more.

                Some of the stranger things that they also suggest are priority for them would be removal of restrictions on skilled trades and putting skilled immigrants on accelerated paths to live in Canada. By removing the restrictions you will have a lot of unskilled….skilled tradesmen that are now responsible for our labor force. Lots of accidents and poor  work.

                They also want to deregulate work place insurance, meaning they don’t want to be on the hook to govern over WCB type groups. This would lower the insurance available for those that are looking to protect themselves in work place injury situations….bad for the little guy, good for businesses that are sick of paying WCB premiums.

                And lastly they want to cut regulations on business specific rules such as “Eco fees” for recycling on big businesses.  This basically gives the big companies a free path to destroy the environment and no government restrictions to keep them in check.

 

Liberals B+

                The liberals or “New Liberals” as they are promoting are of course just left of center and want to reach out to the vast middle class from coast to coast, and all of their policies are geared towards gaining votes from this group.

                Their tax plan would broaden the middle class income bracket and include a reduction in taxes for that bracket, they would increase for incomes more than $200,000 up to 33%. They would also cancel income splitting for families as it only helps the top 15% of Canadians and costs Canada 2 billion in revenue. They would also boost child benefits to families who earn less than $150,000 to help off set the cost of raising kids in Canada.

                While they say they can’t balance the budget this year, they feel they can by 2016 if they also cancel some specific policies that help well off Canadians who don’t need the help and cancel conservative plans to drop the Old age pension plan to lower the age to 65 for when you can collect. They also feel it’s a great idea to increase CPP contributions for Canadians and retain tax breaks for smaller businesses to help grow grass roots businesses. They also want to ensure that the richest of Canadians pay their way and that middle and lower income groups are supported.

 

 

NDP  B+

                The NDP also say they cannot balance the budget this year, they say maybe by 2016. Actually the one thing that struck me was that the NDP and Liberal plans look really similar. They would both cancel income splitting, reverse TFSA contribution limit changes as it only helps the wealthy, Increase taxes for the wealthy and big business and decrease it for the middle and lower class, cut small business taxes, Cancel the conservative decision to lower the OAS eligibility age and  Increase everyone’s contribution to CPP.

                The few things they differ on would be that the NDP would hold onto the PC’s universal child care benefits that stink, Create a $15 a day national Child care program and create child care facilities across Canada (that’s a new one), Increase minimum wage to $12 and establish tax provisions that help create jobs. And the4y would invest in a “Over 55” Retraining program for workers.

                If it was not for a slightly deeper look into Economic plans the NDP and Liberals could have shared their platform portfolios in this case. But both now being Left of center we should expect nothing more or less from them.

 

Green C+

                The Green party is unique….like you did not see that one coming….in their approach to taxation and the economy. First off taxes….they will cut them big time for the little guy. In fact if you make less than $20 a year…you won’t have any taxes to worry about.

                The Greens look to take care of the Small businesses as well and push for higher taxes on the big businesses. They also want to help the little guy by lowering payroll and income tax for lower income and small businesses and push for higher taxes on the big guys to balance it. They want to help establish a loan system for entrepreneurs and assist with grants and loans to mentorship programs.

                To help pay for this they will look to tax the hell out of Tobacco and Alcohol and they also say openly they won’t be able to do this without pushing an increase in the deficit. At least they are honest.

Security and Terrorism

                Put simply over the last decade and a half the world has CHANGED and we live in a world that is not so much more dangerous, but in a world that has new and more devious ways to cause us pain and anguish. Okay, drama over. The world is a dangerous and dirty place…so how would the different parties deal with the issues.

 

Conservatives D

                Much like Bush did in the white house…the conservatives will do in the…well…er Brown and gray brick home??? Send in more military bombings in Iraq and Syria to combat ISIL…never mind that its not working. Push for more money to the RCMP,CISIS and CBSA to combat terrorism in Canada. Domestic Terrorism is just starting to peak through the terrorist vail so we see it here at home. This is a good move, the only thing is…is it enough. Oh, and they are dropping a TONE of money on parliamentary security because of the embarrassment they saw when a local terrorist bust into the house and ran amuck till our “ceremonial” security dude shot him dead….thus proving again…even our ceremonial guard are duff buggers.

                Up to now I would say that its not enough, that the conservatives were going easy on terrorism and needed to go farther right wing…till we find out about Bill C-51…then I have to ask who they are and what kind of Nazi wrote this bill.  Now the idea…or sales pitch….was that it would give CSIS more power to expand surveillance and actively disrupt threats to national security.  I for one am all for that….but…and you saw this coming…..it does SO MUCH MORE that is just off the hinges and caused a MAJOR stir…especially with the already unhinged. It gave police the right to arrest and or detain with out cause, it gave the government the right to “Peek” at your personal information, internet activities ext and gave them the rights to suspend personal freedoms for a unlimited amount of time if they felt…read said they felt…that it was for the national good. ……Scary!

               

 

Liberals C

                The Liberals have the second weakest stance on terrorism of the four groups. They would end the bombing of ISIS, which I agree with….we needs boots on the ground. …..But they won’t put boots on the ground, instead they are going with the same failed plans the Americans had in Iraq. They would train locals to carry out military campaigns on ISIL. Yah, that’s weak!

                They also feel that increased humanitarian aid is a great idea….yes it is…but it won’t do anything to counter ISIL other than deal with the aftermath of their terror, we need solid international aggressive movement at this point and the Liberals seem shy to commit or even suggest that ISIL is more than just a problem for those overseas. They want to create an “All party national security oversight committee” to oversee those government groups and departments with national security responsibilities. AND?

                Lastly, They would slice up the BILL C-51 to limit the personal information sharing, eliminate the new powers that CSIS has and include mandatory parliamentary review of existing security measures. So, no new powers and the fact is you need your hand held by parliament to ensure we are safe…from those that are supposed to protect us.

 

NDP C

                By far the biggest shocker for me was the positive and progressive thoughts that the NDP put into protecting society from the ugliest of Terrorism.  Not because they shouldn’t but because I still often think of them as the SOCIAL IDENTITY group. First thing they say to do is stop the bombing, which as you know I feel is not working to start with. ……but then they don’t say put boots on the ground, they go all NDP’ish on us and say more humanitarian aid and pull out completely from the middle east. They want to help the refugees that ISIL created and do NOTHING about ISIL in the end. WEAK!...wait, kinda like the Liberals.  However they say they also want to “prosecute war crimes” against ISIL and other terrorists….they are delusional in this…how do you prosecute someone without first arresting them?

                The NDP also want  to provide more independent oversight of CSIS and support a more aggressive counter-radicalization program. Nice so far. And to put a cherry on top…They want to turf C-51 completely. So, not so bad…but still a tad weak!

 

Green D

                The Green party actually has a stance on something not related to the oceans, or the trees. Not bad. They want to introduce a comprehensive security plan that would coordinate the many different levels of security in Canada….Okay, to what end? I mean it’s a good start, but unless ISIS is not stopped in the middle east then so what. They also want any counter terrorist reactions to fall within the law. Again, so what….nothing about repealing bombings, increasing them, moving troops in or out of the middle east. They, as expected, are a bit light on their anti-terrorism stance.

 

Energy and environment

            So, I started reading the Energy and Environment components of each parties policies and expected to have hours of reading by the Green party and little else by others. I was wrong. The four groups are all looking at this area not only for economic reasons but also to try and pull voters that are looking at the big picture away from other parties.

 

Conservatives C-

                Now everyone is going to say that the PC government is pipeline crazy and creating potential issues. The truth is that pipelines exist already…all over the damn place, and they are safer than transporting the raw crude than any other way. The PC government wants them criss crossing the country and they make no apologies for it.

                They also talk about reduction in emissions and such but they don’t really push it as they are trying to convince us to let them throw pipes with potentially environmental disaster juice running through it so why confuse us. Oh, and they kind of leave it up to the provinces to boot. They also agree with the G7 to lower fossil fuels by the end of he century, which is about the time that most of them will be dead and the current PC government will have been out of power for some time…so not their problem.

 

Liberals C

                I was shocked when I saw the number of points that the Liberals held on the environment and such. But when you look at them closer many of them are show pony’s that wont happen. They would also instruct the provinces to put a price on excess Carbon pollution to big companies, however this is not an issue as the big companies would not mind paying a bit more to pollute a whole lot more. They also like pipelines, but just those they want to see happen, a few they find unnecessary….because we already have like 1000 weaving their way across Canada. Oh, and no more money as subsidies for those companies that use fossil fuel. Again, the missing money will just come in the form of increased price for the products.

                More on working with others, the Liberals want to work with the States and Mexico to create and environmental agreement for clean energy, which they will dump more money into creating Green Jobs….yah, because those two countries have such great records on being green and sticking to agreements about the environment. Oh and they would increase protected marine and coastal areas from 5-10%. Uh, yah because that will stop oil spills happening.

                And last in the weaker than normal approach to the environment and energy, Justin said he would create a environmental review process with more “teeth” what that means I don’t know and how he would do it…I don’t know. What he needs to do is increase laws and fines and put companies under that break the law, promote those that don’t and really back the Green energy market. But allas that would be to much for a Liberal government to commit to….even in an election.

 

NDP C+

                You have to read between the lines here, the NDP are not opposed to nor for any pipelines, they think that their needs to be more reviews. However, depending on who you ask…this gives them a yeh, or nay ability. Yes, we are for some of the pipelines….no we oppose them….wait, we need more info. You would think they would get more info before they put out a paper sort of supporting and also sort of not supporting it…both emphatically.

                The NDP would help us get away from the ugly oil needs by helping us retrofit our homes to be more energy efficient and safe us money……great….still not as green as it could be. Then they would dump 1 BILLION bucks into subsidies to invest in clean energy sectors. Now that’s a start. They also would invest in sustainable development projects like wind, hydro and solar power…oh and my favorite Geothermal technology. This would both create jobs and help the environment. Now that’s cool.

                The much more confusing but very beneficial move to put a Cap-and-Trade on carbon emissions and put the money from that into green energy sector.  So what this means is they would charge you for the use of fossil fuels and overages on carbon emissions and dump that money into the Green Tech. industry. I like that. A tad weak on the surface but not a bad plan in the end.

 

Green  B

                You would expect that this is where the Green would run on and on about their plans….but they have three points…three good points but three points. First they would work with the provinces to make sure no new coal fired electrical plants are built in Canada. Only thing better would be to cut them out of service in short order. I get why they are not going after it here, but really…they should.

                They to would “Tax” Over users and force them to reduce fossil fuel use, they would encourage private sector investment in clean energy and green jobs would increase. And lastly they would push for construction of green infrastructure, ensuring a majority of Canada’s energy needs come from renewable sources in a decade.

                This sounds great, but it wont happen. Why?  Two reasons, one the Green’s wont ever come into power, at least not in a decade so that’s shot. Also big business would never let this happen…but it’s a great idea.

 

Social issues

                Health care, Canada post, The youth and the rest…well anything that falls under social issues. The parties are careful to stay away from hot button topics like Racism, Gay rights/marrage ext. they basically put together a plat form safe and without any approachable points that others can strike out at.

 

Conservatives D

                The PC’s felt it necessary to state that they wanted to retool labor markets, increase annual funding to provinces in line with nominal GDP and work with the school system and the businesses to help them better align the curriculum of schools to the needs of the businesses in the real world. Not bad but who cares!

 

Liberals C

                In a nut shell, fix the health care system, make drugs cheaper, restore door to door mail service and some dull stuff about the long form census that no one cares about. Blah, Blah, Blah…no teeth and dull.

 

NDP C

                In a nut shell, fix the health care system, make drugs cheaper, restore door to door mail service and some dull stuff about the long form census that no one cares about. Blah, Blah, Blah…no teeth and dull…..wait this is so weird, it’s like I read this before.

 

Green C+

                This is where the Greens can get preachy so I am glad they only made it three points long. They hate unpaid internships and would boost apprentice ship programs in key areas like carpentry and other trades. And they would propose a program to put the youth to work and pay them minimum wage. Not as dull as the NDP or Liberals or as PC as the PC’s. Not bad.

 

Justice

                As a staunch right winger when it comes to Justice I was so interested in what each of the groups had to say. This is a make or break deal for me to marshmallow on this and you can’t get my vote, to strict and you won’t get anyone else’s. But there was some interesting and funny things that came up that were not shockers…but really telling as to who they are trying to get the vote from.

 

Conservatives B

                The PC government would NOT decriminalize Pot, but they would allow for giving out tickets for people holding more than 30 Grams of pot or less. So they don’t mind making a bit of money but they wont make it legal.

                They would much rather go after hard and violent criminals and put them away for life! Put in mandatory minimum sentencing for crimes performed with a fire arm and deport criminals who are not home grown. None of which I find offensive in any way.

 

Liberals C-

                The liberals would legalize Pot and tax it. Not a bad plan to be frank. They also suggest that it would be much like Booze and you have to be 18/19 to partake. The truth is that this wont stop kids from getting it, they already to and it would  make sure that the gov. gets its cut of the proceeds as well. And they could monitor it for quality and ensure people don’t get killed by spiked batches.

                They would look at the mandatory minimum sentences as well and just to be silly, all Supreme Court of Canada judges must speak French and English. Like that’s a priority here?

                It lacks teeth, it does not address the serious crimes and it does nothing to move our general criminal code or process for dealing with the criminals forwards.

 

NDP C-

                The NDP are pretty much the Liberals here as well. Ake Pot legal, they want a consultation with Canadians about this however….they also want to throw the book at Drunk Drivers…I hope that includes the huge rash of Pot smoking drivers that will end up on the roads….not like they arent already. And of course the same silly “they must speak both languages” rules for judges.

                Totally toothless and…hey I said this before…Déjà vu!

 

Green B+
                Wow, NO mention of POT! Really, from the “GREEN” party?  Okay all foolishness aside, they want to repeal the mandatory minimum sentences, a step in the WRONG direction in my mind. And they want to review the young offenders act to ensure that young criminals are dealt with properly, That would be a first to be sure.

                They also want to increase penalties for domestic violence and ensure that the victims are protected. A HUGE step in the right direction, but still missing the point on a few issues. The Green should be gutsy in this election, go after domestic violence, Rape and other violent crimes and suggest a new law to deal with these animals that do this, grade it based on crime and get hard on crimes…you know….like the old PC’s would have said…”:hang em High!”. In the end they had a good idea or set of them, they just did not take it far enough.

 

 

Aboriginal issues

                In more than one way the Aboriginal issues is a sign of how the government will treat the whole of Canada, it represent compassion, fair governance and logic in a lot of ways. Let them walk all over you or push them down, both are bad. It has to be fair, understanding and true to the feel of Canada. I find it racist to treat them with kid gloves as much as I find it racist to treat them to harshly. So, each party has to figure out how to deal with the Aboriginal issues that they are needed to help solve, as well as how to help them self-govern their own problems and not rely on government handouts. They are a stronger people than we give them credit for, and yet deserve assistance because of the social issues that face them.

 

Conservatives D

                The conservative government would deal with the Aboriginals by throwing money at them. They would throw 500 million into new schools, 567 million into “building stronger communities”…yah, I have no idea what that is either….and 215 million into retraining in skills development, 200 million to provide education  and 30.3 million to expand plans to create self-land management laws to improve economic development on reserve land.  That’s 1Billion 510.3 million dollars ABOVE what they already pay…and no closer to an answer than before.

                Now to be fair they also said they would REVIEW the 94 recommendations that the Truth and Reconciliation commission made…not that they will do anything about it…but they will review it. In my mind the PC’s treat the Aboriginals with a specific level of disrespect that we should not allow. Time to step up and clean up some of the issues and help them build a better future.

 

Liberals C+

                The liberals are looking to rebuild the relationship between aboriginal and non-aboriginal Canadians. This is a HUGE step or at least it would be if they honor the idea, I fear however its just lip service being granted to the Aboriginals around vote.  They do however say that they will create a more transparent process so that First Nations can see the reforms and help move the process along when it comes to legislation ext. I don’t really think that this is necessary, what needs to be done is to get more aboriginals in the parliament and show them they are part of Canada, not outsiders in their own land.

                One thing that they suggest that I really like is the idea of stable and predictable funding for the first nations people and close the “unacceptable gap” in learning outcomes for Aboriginal students, in others words push and education program that helps students, Always a great idea.

                The Truth and Reconciliation commission came out with 94 recommendations and the Liberals said they would implement all of them.  Now I don’t know what all 94 are, my next project, but I think that this is voter fishing. The one thing I don’t agree with is another inquest into murdered and missing aboriginal women. It will cost the tax payers 5-15 Million dollars and we already have 12 inquests with complete papers on this…we know who is doing it and why…now lets fix it…not pay for another damn paper.

 

NDP B

                Creating a cabinet committee to oversee federal government decisions respect treaty rights is a damn good idea. It does not give away power or represent this, it simply says we respect you and will ensure we keep up our end of the deal. They also want to reduce poverty, improve education and create options for employment in the communities. All good ideas on paper and if they could do it it would be a huge step in the right direction. However they also say they will call another expensive inquiry on missing aboriginal women and act on all the TRC recommendations. That’s where they lose it for me, but the first part is so over the top positive, I don’t mind the stupidity at the end. 

 

Green C-
                The Green party did not do very well in this area, we won’t blame them as they are not a party that has a lot of history dealing with Aboriginal issues. They said they would adopt the recommendations from the TRC and also go for the waste of money inquiry, but we will forgive them for pandering. They also said they would amend laws to recognize Aboriginal approval of natural resources projects as equivalent in weight to that of the feds. BAD MOVE really. We know they will be black mailed on that one when the time comes, and I don’t blame the Aboriginals for doing so. But it makes things clunky and not smooth. I would not include this as a idea at all.

 

Foreign

Foreign affairs and defense

                With all the dangers of the world and all the issues we face, the foreign affairs and defense seem to be hot topics on the line of safety and terrorism. The parties are vastly different in how they would handle these threats so its interesting to see their perceptions of what they would do.

 

Conservatives D

                Peace through superior fire power! They want to increase spending on defense by over $11.8 billion, yet they won’t go into the middle east and actually do anything. They also want to commit to 3.5 Billion over 5 years towards maternal, new born health initiatives abroad. Not a bad start but kind of weak.  Seeing as they closed a bunch of vet affairs offices and are scrambling to do more damage to the vets I don’t think anything they actually do to increase the military will help them.

 

Liberals C+

                The liberals are on to something here, and yet they fail to see the big picture in some ways. First off they would work hard to regain our reputation as world leaders in multinational aide and assistance and reverse the decline of foreign aid, not a bad start. They also would reopen the closed veterans affairs offices and fix what the PC broke! Major ups here! But then they throw in a list of thigns about meeting with Mexico and The USA and finding a summit to talk about…..I have no idea! We have NAFTA…lets leave it at that. The intent is good, they went the right direction, but at the last minute they zigged when they should have zagged.

 

NDP C

                The NDP keep it simple and clean, increase foreign aid and re open the Veterans affairs offices. Not a bad little plan and its basic, fixes the issues and does not go over board with plans to meet the USA or other groups that we don’t have issues with.

 

Green C-

                This is were the green are the greenest. They want to drop money out of the DND and push it into peacekeeping contributions. They want to develop a plan to assist the poorest of the poor and move away from paying for contractors, consultants and other private sector contracts to help our military and move away from NATO war missions into UN Peacekeeping ones.

                Not realistic and in todays modern issues we need a strong military to help out with international issues like ISIL and if we don’t, we will face generations of tortured and beheaded people, missing history and lost antiquity. Time to get a tad tough with them and reverse the damage they have done. The green party is not set up for this.

 

Leaders

 

Conservatives C-

                Current leader of the government Stephen Harper was an accountant for Imperial Oil before breaking into politics. He is one of the only leaders to run the country without a Law Degree. An economist (has a masters in Economics) he got interested in politics as a member of the “young liberals” in high school.

                During his leadership there has been plenty of issues. Whenever he was faced with major opposition he would suspend parliament with a prorogation, basically putting the ability to vote him down out of the picture until he could make plans to counter these issues. This did not sit well with the majority of Canadians.

                While he states that he would do away with the Senate and had even stated that he would suspend the senate appointments he has personally put five new senators in seats since 2010 a crazy number when you look at the number previous. He was also accused of cheating during elections on several occasions in the Robocall scandal that directed non conservative voters to the wrong polling stations. He is now facing many senate issues and a legal battle with Mike Duffy whom the courts found overs pent illegally and the office of Harper repaid his debts.

                Harper is a polarizing figure in Canada with most Canadians sick of him and seeing his government as being almost Totalitarian Regime that is looking to institute a police state. Their biggest two blunders being the Bill C-51  and the Duffy senate scandal…and every other time the prime minister opens his mouth. Yet to some in the west he is a true leader that is not scared to lead by example. Truthfully if the party fails they will fall apart without his leadership. It only works with him bossing others around and My guess is that if they fall to the NDP or Liberals he retires and they become a third party group for a while until they regroup. Only time will tell, but Harper has managed to put his party into a strange position, pass or die.My call, they die a horrible death and he is gone shortly, then the party really falls apart like the liberals did before them.

 

Liberals B

                The cult of personality may be on the side of the Liberals in this case. Justin Trudeau is the son of famous Liberal royalty and younger than the rest of the candidates. He has the looks, the charisma and the personal character to push the Liberals ahead. Not only that but he is a strong advocate for Liberalism in Canada. He has the French and English skills to really drive home the multilingualism and multiculturalism and will get votes from inside Quebec and out.

                Justins problems may be his plus points as well. A tad to young for older voters and an easy target for conservatives, Justin needs to counter the PC’s with maturity and show his opposition that their words are unfounded. He reaches out to a younger voter and the older voter who have name recognition on their side. I think he may not make it this time, but his Liberals will be back on track and they don’t have a lame duck leader like the last few leaders after Martin.

                Justin is a huge upgrade from Dions introverted and nervous field mouse and Ignatieffs elitist who did not connect with the people. Justin will ensure that the cult of personality is going to bring the liberals back in line with the older popularity.

 

NDP C-

                Its unfair to give someone who is not ready the burden of running a growing party, a party that went from third to second and then lost their charismatic leader to be run by a school principle looking guy that looks cranky all the time and makes me think his breath has the stench of  coffee and broken dreams.  After Jack Layton died he was saddled with running a massive group trying to expand and possibly take power. Not since Tommy Douglas has there been an issue like this. When Douglas was replaced by David Lewis the whole party melted into the sunset and almost left the political realm. Ed Brodbent kept it going and then after two more rather dull leaders Layton took the helm.

                A lawyer by profession Mulcair took the position from Nycole Turmel who sat for a uncomfortable amount of time after Jack Died as a Interim leader. Now Mulcair, a Quebec lawyer is leading the group and about as appealing as a proctologist with large hands. He comes across as clunky and grumpy and I don’t see any way that he can make Trudeau look bad and not make himself look worse. The PC don’t even attack him all that much because they know that the freak show NDP growth is done for now that Mulcair is in the lead.  He is the only leader that actually makes Harper not look that bad.

 

Green C-
                The Green party has its strong and weak points and leadership is now not one of them. Once seen as a freaky fringe group that was getting far to much time on them from the media they are now seen as a legit small power house of a group with May at the helm. When jim Harris ran the group in the early 2000s it was seen as more of an annoying group and when it first started in the 80’s it was an unheard of group that probably would have died out by now if not for a shift in the way they did things.

                May, an lawyer who counts herself as a environmentalist (obviously) and activist started running the group and it seemed to have taken on a life of its own. Her participation in debates impress some but her controversial statements tend to limit her appeal to those in the know. She has stood up and said that Abortion should be illegal, she compared Neville Chamberlain to Hitler and supports Homeopathy as a science….a true quack!

                In 2015 she had a meltdown at a press dinner and made an ass of herself. She has apologized but it showed a true lack of tact and it took a MP from a different party to pull her off stage and stop the curse laden speech that made no sense. She has apologized but all the good she had done for the party may be done.

 

Final Scores.

                Almost a dead heat in my mind between the Liberals and NDP this election, I think that the deciding factor will be in the leadership and the Green, if May can keep it together should gain some ground. The PC’s will lose ground big time and if they don’t lose the election they better buy a loto ticket as well.

 

Conservatives

                The conservatives again are one group that seems to be completely different and polarized from the others. The Liberals and NDP as well as the follow up Greens are all Left of Center groups and the PC’s are far right wingers. They are strong in Justice but after the run they had they are weak in just about every other area. My take is that they are a C- right now and unless they get a huge group confused and coming out to vote they are in a load of trouble.

 

Liberals

                The once power house of a party fell hard after Martin stepped down and away based on political scandals that blew his party out of the water. The new Liberals are riding high with a strong economic position and the Cult of personality that could sweep many of the undecided to them.  The leadership race, if it were about personality would go easy for him. He does not look like a pissed off school teacher like the NDP leadership and does not run things like a Military leader like the PC’s leader…and does not look like a loony like the Greens. I see them as a C+ group this election and really they don’t have a lot of weaker points to poke holes in them. They beat out the NDP by a thin margin.

 

NDP

                Yes Mulcair is a draw back as he looks like a grumpy old man, but his biggest down fall, and its unfortunate, is that he is not Jack Layton. The NDP power push was behind the enigmatic and energetic man that died of Cancer after leading his party to a second tier party. If his widow had ran I am sure she would have walked away with a win and then taken the PC’s to task, but she knew she was not Jack and so does Tom.

                Much like the Liberals in many ways they are neck and neck in most of their party stances and really if they needed to topple the PC’s and amalgamation is not a bad idea. If they could work it that the Liberal leadership took over the NDP structures they would have a winning party. They are a C+ party that just is eaked out by the Liberals.

 

Green
                on most things the Green party has grown and developed beyond a party that would just push issues and not expect to become a contender. They have developed as an alternative, but still fringy group that keeps the big boys honest. The issues they have is that they have not developed a good way they would deal with security and terrorism and they also have weakness in anything not having to do directly with Canada. They are not very realistic still.

                The advent of Mays nose dive in character also delivered a huge blow to them and left them at a C level party that could potentially be thrown back to meaningless if they are not careful.

 

 

                As you can see  no clear winners but its going to be an interesting ride.