Sad news from Canada

[altivo]

In what looks very much like a backlash against social progress, Canadians have apparently given their Conservative party a plurality in Parliament. This is nothing like the stranglehold the right wing presently has on US politics, but I think it's a bad sign. I hope the Liberals and the NDP will join forces and cooperate to keep the Tories in

Comments

[anonymous]

Unfortunately, people vote sooner for one of their interests, than they vote against one of their dis-interests.

An example: "Ooh, cake every Sunday! Right, let's ignore the lack of court warrants for phone taps, then ..."

[calydor]

Umm, that anonymous comment above was mine ... dunno why I wasn't logged in. *goes to check cookie settings now*

[duncandahusky]

It wasn't your cookie settings. LiveJournal reset everyone's cookies last night due to some changes in cookie security they have been working on.

[dogteam]

Conservative attitudes towards the issues you mention above certainly cause concern, yes. But few people are willing to be governed by thieves, especially thieves that are caught red-handed and refuse to acknowledge their guilt. The alternatives are the NDP, too small to form a goverment (and who would spend us into bankrupcy within six months), and the Conservatives. It's a minority government, and hopefully that check will prevent wholesale reversal of positive social measures.

[altivo]

I hope so too. Canada has made great forward strides in human rights and social policy in the last 50 years. I've seen a lot of rhetoric from people who want to reverse that.

As for people unwilling to be governed by thieves, I'm not so sure. In the US at least, people seem to vote for thieves and the unprincipled as long as they offer lip service to the right hot button issue (such as abortion ban, or no gay marriages, or jingoistic patriotism.)

[duncandahusky]

As near as I can tell from listening to the CBC, the parallels can be drawn between the US and Canada this way:
NDP - Left wing of the Democratic Party
Liberals - Moderate wing of the Democratic Party
Tories - Moderate wing of the Republican Party

I don't think there really is an analogous group to the right wing of the Republican Party, at least not among the major Canadian parties. (Oh, I might throw in that Bloc Quebecois is sort of like the Dixiecrats, but I suspect that's a real stretch).

From these analogies, I'd say that while things will definitely be taking a rightward swing, it's not nearly as bad as it might look at first, especially since the Tories have a minority government.

[altivo]

Yes, I hope the other parties will keep the Tories in check. While in theory Canada's Conservatives are not like the US Republicans, if you read much of the election rhetoric that was put forth, particularly in the western provinces, you will see attitudes that sound pretty familiar. "Defend the sanctity of traditional marriage" and all that stuff. In the present state of the US, I have felt more and more that Canada was the only reasonable refuge if things tilt any farther right here. Now I'm in doubt about even that.

[altivo]

For commentary from a Canadian whose opinions align with my own, have a look here.

[deffox]

Overall the Conservative party is a lot more moderate than US Republicans, but there are still exceptions. They did a good job of keeping the nuts from saying stupid things in front of camera.

But it doesn't change that one of the platforms they ran under was to reverse gay marriage. As someone who is considering emigrating, I take exception to that.

The NDP shouldn't have called elections now.

[hgryphon]

Hold your horses, 'Tivo, don't you think you're jumping the gun? You call this "sad news," but is it just because they're conservatives? Or do you really know that they're about to do something evil to Canada? And how does this relate to intolerance? I think I'm going to need some explanation before I understand a single word of this post...

[altivo]

The Conservatives ran with a specific party plank to repeal the gay marriage changes in Canada. To me that is very sad news. Some of their candidates have also been explicit about other intentions, such as dismantling the National Health system. Since I'm not a Canadian myself, perhaps I shouldn't be so interested, but I have really respected Canada's steps forward in social policy and I seriously hate to see them destroyed by a political backlash.

[ducktapeddonkey]

Don't forget the abortion issue.

...there's also that little "war" thing too.

[dakhun]

When the election campaign was only a few hours old, the Conservatives' leader promised that he would hold another vote in parliament on gay marriage. Getting rid of it may or may not be the top priority of the Conservative platform, but it is obvious that it is a very high personal priority for the prime minister-designate. And many of the newly elected Conservative members of parliament seem to have been intentionally kept out of the public eye, purportedly for having views too socially regressive for the general public to readily accept. So if not a sad day, then certainly a very nervous day.

[pioneer11]

GO CONSERVATIVES!!!

*ducks*

^_^

[altivo]

*being a "liberal clown" according to US attitudes, pulls out his seltzer bottle and squirts you thoroughly*

[pioneer11]

*acks and holds up his hands*

Bad hoss! Bad!

XD