Canada: Liberals Lose Parliament Control
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| Tue, 06-29-2004 - 12:31am |
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4256685,00.html
The Liberal Party lost outright control of Parliament on Monday, ending an 11-year monopoly on power, but easily won the largest share of seats and will now try to lead Canada's first minority government since 1979.
Though dogged by scandal, and pressed hard by a newly unified Conservative Party, the Liberals of Prime Minister Paul Martin prevailed by largely holding their ground in Ontario, the most populous province and the pivotal battleground in the election.
Most minority governments in Canada's past have proven unstable and short-lived. The Liberals may try to govern in an informal coalition with the left-wing New Democratic Party, which favors higher taxes on the affluent.
The Liberals had won three straight landslide victories under Jean Chretien, starting in 1993, and there were signs during the campaign that many Canadians were disenchanted with the party and its recent entanglement in a financial scandal.
However, the results suggested a widespread reluctance to turn over power to the Conservatives' relatively untested leader, Stephen Harper, whose stances on tax cuts and social issues prompted concerns about unwelcome change.
Nearly complete returns showed the Liberals winning 134 seats overall, short of the 155 need to single-handedly control the House of Commons, but far more than 93 seats the Conservatives were projected to win.
In Quebec, the Bloc Quebecois, which advocates independence for the French-speaking province, did well at the Liberals' expense. The Bloc was on track to boost its share of Quebec's 75 seats from 33 to 56, a performance likely to fuel talk of another separatist attempt to hold a referendum on secession from Canada.
The New Democrats were winning 24 seats, which - added to the Liberals' share - would be just enough to forge a majority.
The final polls taken before the election suggested the Liberals and Conservatives were deadlocked, and many analysts had predicted the Conservatives would win the most seats.
Thus the results, giving the Liberals a comfortable plurality, were a relief to Martin, the 65-year-old Liberal leader who replaced Chretien as prime minister last year. He had called the election five weeks ago, hoping the results would provide a solid mandate for his administration.
The outcome was a deep disappointment for Harper and others who had worked relentlessly in recent years to merge rival right-of-center factions and the divisions that had enabled the Liberals to dominate recent elections. The merger took place last year, but the hoped-for breakthrough in Ontario - home to one-third of the population - failed to materialize.
Among the first-time Liberal winners in Ontario was hockey Hall of Famer Ken Dryden, former star goalie of the Montreal Canadiens.
Although the Liberals and Conservatives had much in common - including support for the national health insurance system and reluctance to deploy troops in Iraq - there were some key differences. Harper wanted to slash taxes for the middle-class, increase the military ranks from 60,000 to 80,000 and pull Canada out of the Kyoto Protocol, which commits industrialized nations to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.
Harper, 45, started the campaign strongly, but was placed on the defensive by repeated Liberal claims that he would try to move Canada to the right on social policies. He denied that he would seek restrictions on abortion, but conveyed some doubts about Canada's steady move toward legalization of same-sex marriage, which already is legal in three provinces.
Roughly 22 million voters were eligible to cast ballots. In the last national election, in 2000, turnout was the lowest ever at 61 percent.
The new Parliament - with 308 seats - will have seven more members than the outgoing one, in which the Liberals hold 168 seats, the Conservatives 73, the Bloc Quebecois 33 and the New Democrats 14. There are nine independents and four vacant seats.


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Ever since the 1960's (this me first or it's mine) attitude has been on the increase... it has been evident in other posts in this thread. Help others? Why? Let them help themselves. Oy. I so love that attitude.
Liberals are constantly derided, to the point people run from being labeled "liberal." Not me. As you mention... minimum age and wage laws, unemployment compensation, workers compensation, medicare, OASDHI, laws governing our environment, civil rights, gurantees on savings, etc... all brought to law by liberals... conservatives were against them all.
And of course, government regulation is seen as bad. This current administration is for free movement of money, including how it is earned... no matter if it destroys the environment. Conversely, they wish to restrict human rights, from choice, to same sex marriage, to even protesting. An 85 year old woman was arrested here for protesting against the president, because she stood along a street and not in a "designated area." I don't trust this administration one bit. They are sneaky and weasely and out to take care of a few who are haves at the expense of everyone else.
>"Ontario's former Conservative government left the province with a $5.6-billion deficit,"<
>" "I think the report suggests they messed up bad," "<
He must have gone to the Reagan/Bush school of economics. Then leaves the mess for liberals to clean-up. Then they look like the bad guys for increasing taxes.
Coming out of lurkdom here................
"He must have gone to the Reagan/Bush school of economics. Then leaves the mess for liberals to clean-up. Then they look like the bad guys for increasing taxes"
I could not have said it better (about many Canadians feelings towards Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty).
Hi Kim glad you've exposed yourself! :)
Welcome to the "In the News" board.
ITA They are certainly honest and forthright. Just like Fox News is not fair and balanced.
Many in the US have lost this concept. Plus you never know when you'll need the care.
"Social Conscience"
ITA.
Of course, it only works if you're healthy and wealthy. But if you're healthy and wealthy, who cares, Eh?
I just discovered this thread today (it's been a while since I've been to the In the News board).
A little background on the election from my POV:
The reason that Jean Chretien got landslide majority governments in the past was mainly because the opposition (namely the Conservatives) was a shambles. It wasn't so much because Chretien was greatly admired but Canadians could not see trusting the governing of the country to the hands of inexperienced (and in the minds of some) right wing radicals.
This election was a little different for a number of reasons.
1. The Conservatives FINALLY got their act together enough to put up a legitimate alternative which most of the country welcomed with a sigh of relief (but this alternative has only been in existance really since March....not enough time for many to feel at ease with these unknowns)
2. Many of us are sick of the liberal party and feel that they have had a free hand for far too long (but obviously not sick enough to trust the country to the hands of unknown, untested and to some, right wing radicals).
3. A recent scandal over spending practices within various Liberal Party departments has left much of the country rather disillusioned with the Liberals
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Paul Martin, the leader of the Liberal Party since Chretien stepped down happens to be one of the most respected polititians in Canada today (even if we are sick and rather wary of much of the rest of the Party). He was Minister of Finance for a very long time and I happen to know people personally who work in the Ministry of Finance and everyone there from the lowliest on up have nothing but respect for the man and his work ethic and intelligence. This is incredibly rare in the annals of the civil service.
A little background on what he accomplished as Finance Minister...and this was something he promised and delivered on:
http://www.fin.gc.ca/budget03/bp/bpa4e.htm
"Canada has had the largest improvement in its budgetary situation among the G7 countries over the last decade. In 2002 Canada was the only G7 country to record a surplus.
Canada has achieved the sharpest decline in the debt burden among the G7 countries since the mid-1990s. In 2002 Canada’s debt burden declined to 41.1 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), below the G7 average."
It's true that with everything positive there are negatives that counteract them. Some areas that experienced cuts in funding to reduce the deficit are in need of funding but now the governemnt is in a position to revamp how the money's are distributed. He vowed to eliminate the deficit and he did. This time around he vowed to reduce wait times for health care and some people are willing to give him a chance to proove that.
Like the US, Canada has a bit of a divided society....there's Quebec, which is an animal of a different stripe but there is also the West. The East vs the West in Canada is similar to the North vs the South (though Canadians the country over have a more open attitude towards sharing the wealth). The West is more conservative but they don't have the numbers of seats due to population that Ontario and Quebec does. I can understand their frustration when elections are pretty much won before the Western votes are even counted. This is how this particular Conservative Party arose...as a grassroots party that speaks only to those out west and not to the entire country. Quebec now has it's own seperatist minded party that only runs in Quebec but I might get into that in another thread.
I think it is good news that the Conservatives did so well. In Canada we can all watch our politicians in action and think on their feet as they stand up in Parliament (a doddering idiot like Bush would get no where in a Parliamentary system like ours). This gives us all a chance to watch these new conservatives in action and get to know them (and for them to get some experience under thei belts) and perhaps the next election......
However, since the election results came in there has been some talk about Stephen Harper wanting to step down. After being instrumental in the success in bringing the party to the point where this many Canadians would vote for them, I thought that this was a petty and immature move of a spoiled kid who didn't get his way. If he does this, he might be setting the Conservatives back again (rather than possibly winning the next election).
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