To the polls!

Rodney MacDonald’s Tory government will ask the LG to send Nova Scotia back to the polls, possibly on June 9th. This comes after the NDP and Liberals said “no way” to a proposed amendment to our budget laws where, in order to balance the provincial budget, the Conservatives actually wanted to miss two years of debt repayment. They couldn’t write a balanced budget, so they wanted to rewrite the laws so what they had planned, counts. This is like rewriting the rules of marbles after taking your shot, boys. No takebacks, no do-overs.

I’d love to vote NDP and flip our government if the local community would go for it (assuming all other districts remained the same), however our local area is pretty solidly behind Brison, the Liberal candidate, and frankly, he’s doing a pretty decent job of representing our area thus far. Hopefully enough people will be upset by this stunt that one seat will flip NDP (or even Liberal, or Independent) to change our house makeup — it’s 21 Conservative, 20 NDP, 7 Liberal, and 1 independent (and by independent, we mean ex conservative shunned by the party after he was convicted of leaving the scene of an accident).

On a related note, our area is more sickeningly religious than I’d thought. In the past week I have seen two distinct SUVs trolling around, one with two bumper stickers, “CSI: Christ Saves Individuals”, and “in case of rapture this vehicle will be unmanned”; and another whose license plate reads “RU4GIVIN” — either RU4GIVEN was taken, or they’re asking if we’re pro-gifting. Let’s not even mention the various signs on various churches asking such retardery as, “Do you think you’re worth dying for? Christ did!” I’ve noticed (and I’m sure I’m not the only one to notice this) that there’s a disturbing correlation between religiosity, scientific antipathy, and affiliation with the Conservative Party. I’m not saying you have to be religious to be Conservative, or Conservative to be religious, but it seems to go hand in hand around here. Uncanny, no?

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To the polls!
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17 thoughts on “To the polls!

  1. 1

    FYI Scott Brison is FEDERAL we’re heading to the polls provincially and the candidate is David Morse.

    As for a NDP government – their social programs spell BANKRUPTCY – just ask Alberta.

  2. 2

    Didn’t realize, but the fact that Brison’s openly gay and the locals still voted for him suggests that voting is more liberal than it is conservative.  I definitely won’t cast a vote for Morse though.  Just… not a fan.  Various reasons.

    And isn’t NDP the OPPOSITION party in Alberta?

  3. 3

    I really don’t think the sexual orientation is an issue here – he was not ‘out’ when first elected. He has been a good member and historically around here change doesn’t happen regularly. Once someone is elected they tend to stay elected until the retire, die or really screw up.

    Also remember he was a Tory when first elected – he came out of the closet about the same time as he crossed the floor.

  4. 4

    I actually don’t remember this at all, being that I’m from NB originally, and only really awoke politically roughly two years ago.  The power of incumbency is indeed a difficult one to overcome, though, I agree.  That he wasn’t drummed out of office by the god-botherers around here is heartening.  And I’m not sure how he could have been classified as a Tory unless his financial, environmental and social views were significantly different back then.  Probably why he flipped.  What else can you tell me about the local politics around here?  I’m obviously lacking in that department.  (Hence the “lousy” part of my blog title…)

  5. 5

    Differing views be damned, the only difference between  a TORY and a GRIT as far as I’m concerned is the colour of their tie.  Scott crossed the floor during that wonderful era that saw Reform and Tory merger.  As for my political alignment – is there a political equivalent to being an  atheist?

    I don’t think any of them can do that good a job. I’ll read the news and listen to the debates, read the propaganda and then vote for the INDIVIDUAL that I feel will do me the most good. The only thing I subscribe to is to use your enfranchisement. Too many people claim they’ll send a message and not cast their ballot.

    NEWS FLASH:

    Not voting is not sending a message,  its abdicating your right to have any say. (as little as that may be worth)

  6. 6

    As for my political alignment – is there a political equivalent to being an  atheist?

    I can picture the bus ad campaign now: “There are no (good) politicians, so stop voting and enjoy your life.”

    Seriously, you’ve described yourself as a disillusioned independent.  And that’s an extremely rational viewpoint.  That you wouldn’t throw a vote to someone to affect things on a bigger scale than your local, though, seems sort of short-sighted to me.  Principled, but short-sighted.

    And I agree that anyone who doesn’t vote is giving up the one single solitary right that their social contract, taxes, adherence to the law, etc., grants, that actually empowers you to have a say in this country.  And that’s a bloody shame.

  7. 7

    Which brings up another dilemma:

    Is voting a right or a privilege or a responsibility?

    I grew up in a very political household. My father was campaign manager for a series of candidates both federally and provincially. My mother was also a party worker and has been the president of the local riding association. I worked for the party doing leg work as long as I could remember and once I turned 16 I was a campaign driver. Chauffeuring candidates and dignitaries around at election time.

    Over the years I guess I’ve become either :

    a) a realist
    b) disillusioned or
    c) a sadist (oh wait that was for another blog comment)

    Over the past 50 years that I have been totally immersed in politics I haven’t seen one real bit of change when a government flips. The names and faces and tie colours change but the programs stay the same.

    Interesting aside, although like MacNamarra’s Band, “Whenever an elections called we’ll play for either side,” it only been the ‘other guys’ that have paid for my services.

    Go figure…

  8. 8

    I think this is the first provincial election that I’ve ever really been interested in, mostly because I never used to care much (nor did my family talk about politics.. at all). So I have to say I’m really looking forward to sitting down and researching each candidate, what they have to say, their plans, and their party’s plans and deciding which sounds best.

    I just hope that they don’t pull any negative campaigning propaganda crap like Harper did during the federal election. I don’t think everyone received that stuff in their mail though, Sara said she didn’t, which is odd, I wish I hadn’t lol

  9. 9

    The Conservatives have apparently already launched an ad campaign proclaiming the NDP to be risky and themselves “proven” in “these tough economic times”.  Given the last election cycle in the States, and given how predictive that is to our general electorate’s sympathies, is positioning yourself as “safe” as opposed to the NDP’s “hope”, the greatest choice?  I know they paint it as “proven” vs “reckless”, but the electorate doesn’t tend to see that framing in quite the same way — check out those polling results as of two months ago.

    Which brings up another dilemma:
    Is voting a right or a privilege or a responsibility?

    Isn’t that a trilemma?  🙂
    Frankly, I’d (probably) support legislation to make voting mandatory, modelled after the laws in Australia, plus maybe force literature from all parties to be delivered with the voting registration package (so as to get each party’s plank out, and possibly pre-vetted to keep from getting the hit and run propaganda so prominent this past federal election).  I realize this would flood the polls with “values voters” and uninformed folks that vote for who looks the most pleasant, but I suspect it wouldn’t affect the margins all that much, and it would drive the disillusioned youth to the polls.  And once they’re actually voting, then we can work on educating them.
    I’m curious how you reconcile this:

    Over the past 50 years that I have been totally immersed in politics I haven’t seen one real bit of change when a government flips. The names and faces and tie colours change but the programs stay the same.

    …with this:

    As for a NDP government – their social programs spell BANKRUPTCY – just ask Alberta.

    So, which is it, are the NDP just another set of politicians with different ties and the same programs, or are they financial nightmares that will break us?  I’d postulate neither, personally.
    I’m planning on blogging this election, by the way. If for no other reason than to educate myself, and take you all along for the ride.

  10. 10

    I’ll add 3 things:

    1) There is a sign in front of a church where I’m from that says, “Prepare to meet thy maker.”
    2) “Isn’t that a trilemma?” – Only if having 2 choices is a bilemma
    3) The biggest reason Mike Harris was so unpopular in Ontario was he had to spend his time fixing the colossal mess that Bob Rae’s NDP made. I like the NDP, but this mysterious Mark person is right about their book keeping abilities.

  11. 11

    First apologies about getting so into the discussion to forget to supply my name and email a few comments back.

    ‘So, which is it, are the NDP just another set of politicians with different ties and the same programs, or are they financial nightmares that will break us?  I’d postulate neither, personally.

    Jason – yes you are right about just a different colour tie BUT from what I’ve seen historically the socially responsible ties are a lot more expensive to pay for than the red and blue ones.

    Having said that ‘prepare ye  the way of the negative campaign’ cause frankly I’d be damned surprised if any of them have an original ideal to present so lets instead focus on the broken instead of offering fixes.

    Kind of like when you clean the house and your partner’s only comment is:

    “You didn’t change the towels in the bathroom.”

  12. 12

    No prob Mark, I edited the comment to have your proper attribution.  I can do that, see, coz I’m, like, some kinda hacker.

    As for ideas, there’s nothing new under the sun.  Except maybe the ideas that got shoved under the rug the last time they saw daylight — you know, all the less than popular ideas like “tax the rich” or “legalize it”.

  13. 13

    Wikipedia sounds pretty accurate, it would seem. In any event, Harris balanced the budget after a record deficit. Welfare people hated it because welfare was cut and changed around, but it took a ton of people off welfare and back into the workforce.

  14. 15

    Interesting.  I didn’t know much about Bob Rae, but Wikipedia had some insights.  How accurate is this?

    Bob Rae became Premier of Ontario during the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. In government, the NDP disappointed supporters by abandoning much of its ambitious program, including the promise to institute a public auto insurance system. As the recession worsened, the NDP implemented what it called the Social Contract — which represented a shift to the right that anticipated that of Tony Blair‘s Labour Party in the United Kingdom. This was a package of austerity measures that:

    reopened the collective bargaining agreements of public sector unions;
    implemented a wage freeze for public servants; and
    imposed Rae Days, which were a schedule of days in which government workers were given days off without pay.

    The Social Contract resulted in a major breach in the NDP’s alliance with the labour movement as several unions turned against the party. Rae’s government passed employment equity legislation and amended the province’s labour law to ban the use of replacement workers during strikes, but this did not win back union support.[1]

    Doesn’t sound terribly much like an alternative to the Conservatives to me, regardless of the non-neutral-point-of-view of the writing in this snippet.  I can see why Harris would need to clean up.  The idea that Harris was disliked because of having to clean up after all this mess, is sort of contradicted by Obama’s present favorables despite spending his past 100+ days doing nothing but cleaning up after Bush.  If someone cleans up after a bad politician, and does it well, then they’re going to be viewed favorably, logically.

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