Canadians Will There Be an Election AGAIN?!?!

[SuperFlyChad]

By again I mean we were already close to having one, and now again. Argh! I still think if they launch another election the Liberals will win. What's up with all these bloody scandals man! Not to mention I DO NOT want the Conservatives in power, much rather have the Liberals, but they need to get their act together. FAST!

[ericlizafan]

It's sure looking like there will be an election, likely in January. I say it's time to get the Liberals out of there, they've been in power for too long...unless they really, really clean up their act.

[darraholic]

Liberals will win again. I vote for the NDP but I can't stand Jack Layton. I hate the Conservatives and The Liberal Party is an absoulte mess.

[Toups]

Yes, the Liberals are a mess, but I'd rather have them in power than the Conservatives.

I hope the Liberals will win and fix their problems.

[Hartless]

The Liberals may be a mess, but the Conservatives are pushing it. If they call an early election I bet they'll lose it. It's in their best interest not to get it.

I hate Harper, I hate the conservatives. So yeah I'll pick the Liberals. We need Martin GONE.

Maybe this year I'll just pick the Green party lol.

[BingCherry]

Anyone but the Conservative party. Over the last couple of years, I've stopped hating the NDP, but thankfully I live right on the crater (more Michigan than Canada), so I can't vote! lol

[BadZoe]

Last thing we need is those tax and spend conservatives getting in again. We're still recovering from the Mulroney years. At least the Librals seem concerned about the future debt that will be left to the young people entering the workforce. Every day I go to work I wonder if I'd be better off getting knocked up and going on welfare. Why go to work so you can pay taxes to support a debt that someone else created?

What do you want to be that if Harper got in the first thing he'd do is send our troups to IRAQ to kiss GW's ass??

[Mitchapalooza]

I say NO to another election, we will just end up with the same exact results as last time.

The Liberals will win again, not majority, but they will win. And if the Conservatives get in, well we will basically be electing a PM who is a lap dog of George Bush.

Choosing between the NDP, Liberals and Conservatives is choosing between 3 evisl, IMO, The Liberals is the lesser evil, followed by the NDP and then the Conservatives.

If I had to vote today I would be voting for The Liberals because I think the other parties with their leaders would do worse.

[Ally]

I'm voting for myself if there is one.

[Drew]

I voted NDP last time. This time I'll probably end up voting Libral because I do not want the Conservatives in power ... ever.

[SuperFlyChad]

ELECTION!

[Mitchapalooza]

Parliament voted and Paul Martin and the Liberals have lost confidence. The Prime Minister will be asking the Gov Gen for dissolution of parliament, resulting in a late-January national election.

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OTTAWA - Prime Minister Paul Martin’s minority government was defeated Monday, setting the stage for a Jan. 23 election and a brutish winter campaign despite the opinions of many Canadians who have said they do not want to see politicians at their doors at Christmastime.

The prime minister will meet Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean this morning to tell her he has lost the confidence of the House of Commons and ask her to dissolve Parliament, sending Canadians to the polls for the second time in 17 months.

Campaign buses and planes, painted with party logos, are ready to roll this afternoon with the four political leaders fanning out across the country to begin their 56-day campaign to woo voters - the longest campaign in 21 years.

The non-confidence motion, introduced by Conservative Leader Stephen Harper and seconded by NDP Leader Jack Layton, passed by a 171-133 margin and ended weeks of bitter political manoeuvring by all parties.

It’s the first time a government has fallen on a straight motion of non-confidence in Parliament. Other minority governments have been forced into elections after losing budget votes or censure motions interpreted as loss of confidence. The Martin Liberals had survived an earlier challenge last spring when a Tory motion lost by one vote after Belinda Stronach, one of the Conservatives’ star MPs bolted the party to join the Grit cabinet.

Party standings in the House of Commons at dissolution were Liberals 133 seats, Conservatives 98, Bloc 53, NDP 18, Independents four and two vacancies.

Martin told his caucus meeting after the vote that Canadians had benefited from the "result of the hard work and the good management of a Liberal government."

He blasted Harper and the other opposition leaders saying they are pessimists and Harper, in particular, sees no positive role for government.

"We will fight for Canada where no one is left behind. They have nothing good to say - nothing to build on."

Martin told his troops to go out and spread the message of the many successful initiatives the Liberal minority government accomplished in the past 17 months.

Layton said the upcoming election will be "wide open," because his party will provide a positive alternative to "Liberal broken promises and corruption."

He wouldn’t say how many seats he expects to land, however.

"Our goal is to increase the number of members of Parliament from the New Democratic Party in the House," he said. "It’s up to Canadians to decide how many and what the shape of that House of Commons is going to be.

"I think it’s very clear that the Liberals have not earned peoples’ votes," added Layton, whose decision to join the other two opposition parties guaranteed the Liberals’ defeat. "It’s the new democrats who, with a small caucus, have shown what can be done."

In an address to his caucus following Monday’s non-confidence vote, Harper delivered an upbeat address.

He warned them the coming weeks would not be easy, and put them on notice that he expects the Liberals to launch a negative campaign attacking Conservative policies, but that should not deter them.

"Opposition is not enough for you," Harper said. "We will offer them (public) a positive vision ... Canadians are counting on you to give them a clean, honest government.

"This is not just the end of a tired, directionless, scandal-plagued government. It’s the start of bright new future for this great country."

Speaking to reporters after the vote, Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe said the Liberals have broken the fundamental rules of democracy and don't deserve to govern.

"This is a historic moment. Tonight we are judging the Liberal party, a corrupt Liberal party. They use our own money to try to buy our own votes in Quebec. They didn't learn anything from what they did with Adscam because they have done the same thing over the last two weeks using taxpayers money to try to buy votes all around - not only in Quebec but in the rest of Canada."

A new poll released by Reuters on Monday indicated the Liberal minority government will likely retain power, but the Conservatives have narrowed the gap in public support. According to the Pollara survey, the Liberals are at 36 per cent, the Tories at 31 and the NDP 16. In Quebec, the Bloc Quebecois has an imposing lead of 60 per cent to the Liberals’ 29.

Layton has called for all parties to agree to a break from campaigning over the Christmas holiday period, although he said no formal negotiations on the matter have taken place. He blamed the prime minister for the pre-Christmas election call, saying he failed to "compromise" and accept a NDP proposal that would have held off the campaign until the New Year.

The prime minister refused to negotiate on the timing of the election saying he had already promised voters he would call an election 30 days after Justice John Gomery issues his final report on the sponsorship scandal Feb. 1, 2006.

It was a sad day for many MPs in the House of Commons as they bid goodbye to federal politics. Liberal MP Don Boudria, who served as Liberal House leader in Jean Chretien’s government, retired after more than 20 years in the Commons. He started on Parliament Hill as a bus boy at 17.

Toronto MP Jean Augustine, one of the few black women to win a federal seat, announced she was also retiring to make way for Liberal star candidate Michael Ignatieff. The 58-year-old Harvard academic and human rights expert was acclaimed in Augustine’s riding of Etobicoke-Lakeshore, a constituency with a large Ukrainian contingent. But angry members of the riding association are accusing the party of parachuting him in. They are also accuse him of making anti-Ukrainian comments in his book Blood and Belonging.

Conservative MP and campaign chair John Reynolds blasted the media saying if a Tory had made such disparaging comments about a particular ethnic group, journalists would be all over them with criticisms.

Reynolds, who is not seeking re-election, was bullish Monday about his party’s chances heading into the campaign.

"The leader of our party will be prime minister after the election," he said. "We are ready for this election, we’re quite happy about the way things are going. The airplanes are ready, the buses are ready and, even more importantly our troops on the ground are ready and that’s where this election’s going to be won."

Reynolds said he is bracing for a "negative" Liberal campaign with a repeat of allegations that the Conservative party harbours a hidden agenda, but other Tories say the Grits’ record over 12 years will be the main topic of debate in the coming weeks.

Layton proudly ballyhooed the decision by his wife, Olivia Chow, to take another run at Tony Ianno, the minister of state for families and caregivers, in the Trinity-Spadina riding in downtown Toronto. She ran unsuccessfully in the riding in 1997 and lost again in 2004 by only 805 votes.

The two were a formidable left-wing force on Toronto city council for many years and, if elected, would form the second husband-and-wife team in the Commons (Nina and Gurmant Grewal are the other).

Martin will hold a rally with party supporters later this afternoon in deputy House leader Mauril Belanger’s riding for all candidates in the Ottawa-Gatineau region and then head to Quebec.

Harper will hold a rally in the Nepean Carleton riding of star candidate John Baird, the former minister of energy under Mike Harris, and then head to Quebec City for an all-candidates riding.

Layton will hold a press conference in Ottawa and then fly to Toronto later this afternoon.

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In my opinion, this is extremly annoying and a waste of a HUGE amount of money, because we are going to end up ONCE again with the Liberals winning. I may not love the Liberals, but NO WAY IN HELL am I going to EVER vote for The Conservatives under the leadership of Stephen "George Bush" Harper.

I think that the Liberals will lose a few seats, and the Conservatives will gain a few, but not enough to beat the Liberals.

Anyone else sorta pissed about this? I mean in BC alone, this will be the 4th provincial wide election in less than 1 1/2 years. GMAFB!

[Drew]

exactly. I will do what I have to do to avoid a conservative. If that means chucking my NDP vote in the way of the Librals because it will go to better use? So be it.

[Adam]

It's time for an election... I want a Conservative minority certainly not a majority but give someone else a chance to [!@#$%^&*] up The Liberals have had 12 years and they consider their 12 year record something to run on..... yeah right. Liberals suck.

[SuperFlyChad]

^^Every vote counts, vote Liberals y'all!