An Apology Letter

[Lyze]

You may or may not know, but today, we held our 41st Canadian General Election. Our government functions as a parliament system, electing Members of Parliament (MPs), with the leader of the party with the most MPs becoming the Prime Minister. We are a member of the Commonwealth (though perhaps for not much longer), and thus have the Queen as our Monarch. As such, we also have a Governor General who supposedly holds equal power to the Prime Minister. There is an appointed Senate as well, which reviews bills passed in Parliament.

Now for the apology. I apologise for Canada. Despite the best efforts of over sixty percent of Canadians, Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party have been elected with a majority government. The Canada of ten years ago, that was viewed with respect around the world, eroded slowly over the past six by Harper's rule, is now gone, lost to the Sands of Time. Despite our best efforts, Stephen Harper has been re-elected with all the power he needs to harm this country. His rule will be damaging, both to our country and to its reputation, and so I must apologise for Canada, and for the next four years. We tried hard, but he won, and we will suffer the consequences for decades. I hope that you can forgive us.

Sincerely,
Lyze

 

[kiarj]

With the NDP as the opposition, we're starting to get out of the dichotomic party system. It's a small victory, but it's a victory still, damn it!

Just wait for all those old people to die.

 

[Oyipggy]

The Canada of ten years ago, that was viewed with respect around the world...

O, Canada.

 

[ealabor]

The Canada of ten years ago, that was viewed with respect around the world, eroded slowly over the past six by Harper's rule, is now gone, lost to the Sands of Time.

Think you are overplaying this one just a tad bit mate.

I, and i'm sure most other people still view Canada today as we have for 10, 20, or even 50 years ago... we forget it exists 

 

[Sushiman70]

Canada lost it's charm when it left the Empire.

 

[Evilknightz]

United States>Canada>Communist everywhere else. We are learning to accept them.

 

[Lyze]

With the NDP as the opposition, we're starting to get out of the dichotomic party system. It's a small victory, but it's a victory still, damn it!

Just wait for all those old people to die.

I disagree, actually. I think we're coming to a more polarised, two party system like we see in the States. We've seen how that works out.

Oyipggy and ealabor, you Americans laugh and joke, but when you travel abroad, you sew Canadian flags on your backpacks and clothes, because you'll be treated better. We were respected. We were reasonable, fair, and a moderating presence. With Harper, this is no longer the case. Damage has been done, and he can do even more now with a majority government, so I apologise for the next four years, on behalf of all the other Canadians who did not vote him in. Because of Harper's efforts, we were threatened with ejection from the Commonwealth. Only apartheid South Africa has that dubious dishonour, and it is because of Harper. So forgive me if our reputation from ten years ago, which was solid and trustworthy, seems like something good to be desired, in comparison to our current one.

 

[kiarj]

Jesus Christ, boy, keep your panties out of a twist. It's just democracy.

 

[rejenorst]

隐藏

 

[Lyze]

Vilhjalmr, we have a First-Past-The-Post election system. There are multiple parties on the centre or centre-of-left sections of the political spectrum, and the Harper Conservatives are far right and far bottom, much like the post Reagan Republican party. As such, the party with the most votes wins the Seat of Parliament for candidate riding. Thus, while the majority of the voters within a riding may not vote for a Conservative candidate, he or she can be elected due to vote splitting between the centre or centre-of-left parties. There have been proposals for reform to address this concern, as nationally, the numbers are about roughly 60% that do this, but none of them have gone forward.

Kiarj, I can't. I'm sorry, but with what Harper has done with a minority government, I am frankly terrified of what he can do with a majority government. We, and our potential children, will have to live with the consequences of his rule.

 

[Taimat396]

Even CameronxClegg are scrapping the FPtP system (hopefully)


Google tells me the guy is a bit of a bastard.

 

[rejenorst]

Kiarj, I can't. I'm sorry, but with what Harper has done with a minority government, I am frankly terrified of what he can do with a majority government. We, and our potential children, will have to live with the consequences of his rule.

That's the kind of attitude I like to see among young people today.

People's political apathy pisses me off because everyone is happy to assume that whatever decisions will be made by political parties will fall down the line of democracy. Democracy is inconvenient to policy making. Respect it, preserve it and ******** fight for it if you can. Sadly I haven't practiced what I am preaching here so i am as guilty of it as anyone.

 

[Dryvus]

What exactly caused my country to become a bunch of idiots over the last decade?

 

[Dryvus]

Electing Bush for two terms outweighs Harper for three, I'm afraid. I can't accept any contribution from you people.

 

[Swadius 2.0]

Ah well, better luck next time.

[drunk]

 

[Sir Prince]

Canada lost it's charm when it left the Empire.

We still have the Queen as our head of state.

Anyway, my riding was ****ing close and I'm surprised it wasn't mentioned on CBC's list of ridings to watch. It kept switching back and forth between the NDP and Conservatives with as little as a 20 vote difference sometimes. Sadly it ended up with the CPC candidate being reelected by 1800 votes. I'd blame vote splitting on the left but the NDP had over 24,000 votes while the Liberals and Greens only had 3000 each so it wasn't bad.

Toronto suffered a lot from vote splitting between the Libs and NDP, I'd love to replace the first past the post system. Good news though is that Elizabeth May, the leader of the Green Party, won her seat in Saanich-Gulf Islands by several thousand votes and is the first Green Party member to be elected to the Federal Government

Problem, Canada?

 

[Lyze]

Dryvus, I know!

And yeah, Vil, we really should. :S

I've been talking with my family during the election, and my mother made quite a sharp observation: Canadians will most likely need four years of abuse under a Harper majority before they wake up and realise what Harper and his Reform-Christian-Alliance Conservative party have done to this country. I say Reform-Christian-Alliance because those two parties merged, and then merged with the Conservative party. Many older Canadians vote ideologically, but the party they vote for hasn't existed for over ten years.

I'm hoping that Elizabeth May can do some positive good in Parliament. She's definitely a new type of politician. Her honest demeanour and open policies are so impressive that she actually convinced a Reform party activist who had been working for her Conservative opponent's campaign to help her campaign. She did this by impressing him at a local town hall meeting. If she can impress a right-wing political worker to the point of working for the leader of a left-wing party, she can do many positive things. As Sir Prince said, she is the first Green Party candidate to be elected. They are reminiscent of the progressive European Green Parties.

 

[Taimat396]

The problem is, your poiticians don't hate each other enough.

Back in our election, Labour was encouraging people to vote for the Lib dems at one point just so Cameron didn't get in. Didn't work, but you need that. Or a rifle.

 

[Sir Prince]

The only problem I have with the Green party is they would support alternate medicines like homeopathy (which isn't, well, anything other than water), and are extremely anti-nuclear power (although that is fine in BC since we are in a major quake zone and have plenty of hydro power). Other than that I am quite interested in what she brings to the table and hope there will be future success for the Green Party.

I'm sticking with the NDP in my riding for the foreseeable future, although I don't believe in being loyal to any one party.

 

[Sushiman70]

The problem is, your poiticians don't hate each other enough.

Back in our election, Labour was encouraging people to vote for the Lib dems at one point just so Cameron didn't get in. Didn't work, but you need that. Or a subway train packed with explosivees to run under the HP.