In case you haven’t noticed, and I really can’t blame you for not, up here in Canada we’re in the midst of a federal election. In a few days, the 14th of October to be precise, Canadians will be deciding on who will be running the country for the next little while. Watching the election from a somewhat aloof vantage point of come to a few conclusions but first let’s get some housekeeping out of the way. And by that I mean, let me introduce the Canadian political system. (at least what I can come up with)
Canada works on a parliamentary system, the leader of the party with the most seats is elected as the head of the country and his party then forms that sitting government. The party with the second highest seats forms, what is called the official opposition. Other parties with fewer seats also come under the category of opposition. ( if you wanted to get real technical I believe the full name of the official opposition is “Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition” but let’s not) So essentially you have one party forming the Government and one party bitching and moaning at them, with a slightly elevated bitching status then the rest of the parties elected to represent the public.
Second, Canada uses a first past the post system in which the person with the most votes in a riding is elected to represent it. Notice I did not say a majority of votes but merely the most votes. There is much whining and debate on this topic alone, for it’s possible to receive a minority of votes but still have the most votes cast in your favour and thus take the seat. (your head spinning yet? No? Really? Ok granted it’s not rocket science but still)
That leads us to the main parties, and no I don’t care to mention the multitude of parties that are actually out there. At any rate the last thing I’ll mention is that the current Government is made up of the Conservative with Stephan Harper at the helm. Across from him as opposition are the Liberals with Stephane Dion. (Sorry bud I’m not futzing around with the keyboard to properly spell your name, bonus points for anyone noticing that) Rounding out the last House were; Jack Layton of the NDP, Gilles Duceppe of the Bloc Quebecois and I’ll even mention Blair Wilson for the Greens (more factual since he was voted in as a Liberal).
The main leaders out there right now campaigning are Harper, Dion, Layton, Duceppe and May. Elizabeth May is the head of the Green Party. Those of you not familiar with the parties up here will now enjoy this brief and largely glib representation of the parties.
The Conservatives are well conservative, actually not really but that’s a whole other discussion. They are social conservative, in the bible thumping, gun toting way, fiscally conservative in the cut social spending way and well that about it.
The Liberals are best seen as mid spectrum party. They are largely socially progressive with a conservative fiscal policy. Generally favoured by Canadian when they aren’t robbing us blind, which is pretty much all the time.
NDP or the New Democratic Party, socially liberal in their policies and spending, pretty much the closest thing we have to a full on socialist party. Like big gov and lots of regulation which makes most Canadians vary wary of them getting into office and driving us into debt. Big sweet hearts of fringe groups though.
Bloc Quebecois, an entirely useless party whose mandate is supposed to be separating Quebec from the rest of Canada. Has a snowballs chance in hell of forming the government but has formed the opposition. Saddest thing is that they have one of the most upstanding leaders, who everyone seems to love except of the fact he wants to remove a portion of the country from our ranks.
Green Party, not exactly on par with other Greens (slightly different platforms), they are socially progressing, and fiscally conservative with a strong emphasis on the environment. The real wildcards in the election, having not formed any government in Canada.
So now the stage is set. Stay tuned for the next installment that will actually talk who’s winning, who’s losing and who should jump off a cliff.
