Okay, to get you up to speed, in Canada we run on a Westminister system of parliamentary government.
Westminister system
which allows the queen's rep - in our case the Governor General - certain powers:
Lascelles Principles
Prorogation
An example of this was the so called
King-Bing Affair
A coalition government is allowed in this type of system and has actually been the case several times prior.
This isn't some arcane concept brought out by bitter parties but an actual part of the rules by which our country is governed.
Okay, now that we're on the same page, this is how it stands as I see it (granted, again, I am not the big Poly-Sci guy):
The Blue party became the government with a minority - choosing not to form a group with another party for a majority. They put through a budget that the other colors didn't like and in voting it down would normally force a new election. To prevent a new election, the other colors are forming a group which, having the majority, are recommending that they be the government instead of having to go through a new election (a side note - had they done this right after the election, they would have been the ruling party instead).
The Governor General, being the GM of parliament, will have to decide this on Monday.
It should be an interesting weekend.
2008 dispute wiki
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Vote Early, vote often
Election day up here.
I don't care who you vote for but get out there and vote for someone.
Be part of the process.
I don't care who you vote for but get out there and vote for someone.
Be part of the process.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Poly-sci guys
I’m not a big political science person and yet a lot of the people I am in contact with are poly-sci guys. Christine, JP, Paul, and Shannon are all big poly sci people.
I’ve always been more interested in the personalities rather than the policies. That said, Shan flipped over to the leader’s debates after Survivor and I was hooked for the full two hours. I only saw the English one so I’m going by that. I hadn’t really seen anything from them before so my impressions are solely based on the debate – and my own bias of course.
The clear winners were Elizabeth May of the Green party and Gilles Duceppe of the Bloc Quebecois. Both came across as solid and confident. Elizabeth had her facts down cold. Gilles was a pleasant surprise with a fairly good grasp of English – and a funny way of pronouncing development – and not at all wing-nutty as you would be led to expect from the Bloc.
Stephane Dion of the Liberal (Red) party came across very poorly. If you read his transcript, he was clear and focused but he had came across very weak and sounded like he was having a lot of trouble with English. I have trouble seeing him standing up to whoever wins the election down south.
Stephan Harper of the Conservative (Blue) party came across very indifferent. He has a squinty look that makes it seem like he isn’t listening to what you have to say and doesn’t care about your opinion. He also seemed to deny some easily checked facts.
Jack Layton of the NDP (Orange) came across as a bit of a bully. I’ve been told that his people had told him He also kept saying his name – like the comedians doing impressions of Bob Dole. A good drinking game would have been to take a shot ever time he said “Jack Layton”. In this format, either because of the camera angle or because he kept leaning forward, he also appeared very bald.
The Canadian edition?
I’ve always been more interested in the personalities rather than the policies. That said, Shan flipped over to the leader’s debates after Survivor and I was hooked for the full two hours. I only saw the English one so I’m going by that. I hadn’t really seen anything from them before so my impressions are solely based on the debate – and my own bias of course.
The clear winners were Elizabeth May of the Green party and Gilles Duceppe of the Bloc Quebecois. Both came across as solid and confident. Elizabeth had her facts down cold. Gilles was a pleasant surprise with a fairly good grasp of English – and a funny way of pronouncing development – and not at all wing-nutty as you would be led to expect from the Bloc.
Stephane Dion of the Liberal (Red) party came across very poorly. If you read his transcript, he was clear and focused but he had came across very weak and sounded like he was having a lot of trouble with English. I have trouble seeing him standing up to whoever wins the election down south.
Stephan Harper of the Conservative (Blue) party came across very indifferent. He has a squinty look that makes it seem like he isn’t listening to what you have to say and doesn’t care about your opinion. He also seemed to deny some easily checked facts.
Jack Layton of the NDP (Orange) came across as a bit of a bully. I’ve been told that his people had told him He also kept saying his name – like the comedians doing impressions of Bob Dole. A good drinking game would have been to take a shot ever time he said “Jack Layton”. In this format, either because of the camera angle or because he kept leaning forward, he also appeared very bald.
The Canadian edition?
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