The Canadian Rant

WHAT WILL THE SPEECH FROM THE THRONE MEAN FOR CANADA? On Oct. 16th the fall session of Parliament will begin with the reading of the Speech from the Throne by the Governor General, Michaelle Jean. This speech is created by the Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party that will outline what it intends to do in the upcoming session. This includes budgets and acts that it will try to pass in Parliament. Liberal leader Stephane Dion and Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe have both announced a list of requirements that the Throne Speech must include if the Conservatives want their support. NDP leader Jack Layton says he will wait to see the Speech before he makes the decision on whether or not he will support it. The Conservatives just need one of the three parties to support the speech in order for it to pass. However, PM Stephen Harper has said that if a party supports the speech then it better be ready to support all of the acts that come from it when they are up for passing in Parlia...

WELCOME TO ELECTION SEASON '07 October 2007 is a month that has been marked on calendars as one to watch for political junkies across the country. There are two provinces and a territory holding general elections this month as well as the reconvening of the federal government. It is being predicted that when the new fall session begins on the 16th with the Speech from the Throne that there is a big possibility of an election being called. And all of this adds up to a very interesting month around the country to see what kind of trends develop and what people are thinking. First, we will start off with the election in the Northwest Territories that was held at the beginning of the month. NWT is unique is the way the government and its elections run. There are no parties and all candidates run as independents. After the election is held there is a leadership conference where the premier and cabinet are decided upon. The election has been held and the conference will take place on Fri...

QUEBEC VOTES 2007: LIBERAL MINORITY GOVERNMENT Liberal Party 48 seats 33.08% Action Democratique du Quebec 41 seats 30.80% Parti Quebecois 36 seats 28.32% Green Party of Quebec 0 seats 3.89% Quebec Solidaire 0 seats 3.65% other 0 seats 0.26% The Quebec provincial election is now over and the Liberals, led by Jean Charest, are now faced with the first minority government situation in almost 130 years. This fact is probably the only prediction that held true from what experts were saying was going to happen last night. They predicted a Liberal minority government, but they left out the whole part about where the Parti Quebecois would be reduced to third party status and the Action Democratique du Quebe...

ELECTION DAY IN QUEBEC Today is election day in the province of Quebec and the polls have just opened. Current Premier Jean Charest has held his title since defeating the Parti Quebecois in 2003 and is looking to extend his reign after today. His opposition, the Parti Quebecois (PQ), led by Andre Boisclair is looking to take back the province of Quebec into the hands of the separatist party. Also on the horizon is Mario Dumont and the Action Democratique du Quebec (ADQ). There are other parties in the hunt as well such as Quebec Solidaire and the Green Party of Quebec but none of them are a threat to become government. When the election was called about a month ago the Liberals under Charest were fairing very well in the polls and it seemed like an excellent time to go to the polls. But now, on election day, many experts are predicting that Quebec is looking at a minority government either with the Liberals or the PQ. If this happens it will be the first minority government for Quebec ...

THE UPCOMING AMERICAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: A PREDICTION Let us focus our attention to the south for a few minutes. This place is dedicated to the following of Canadian federal and provincial politics, but for today, we will be taking a look at the upcoming American presidential election to take place in November of next year. I will be the first to admit that whatever happens in the US usually has a deep impact up here in Canada so I believe that occasionally some attention does need to be paid to just that fact. Let me get started by saying that American and Canadian politics are very different in a lot of ways: structure, style, format, procedure, etc. The election is not until November of 2008 but right now we have people announcing their candidacy for president. American presidents can only sit a maximum of two terms so therefore Bush cannot be a candidate for president this time around much to my relief. Each of the two parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, have to put for...

FEDERAL BUDGET 2007: NOT AS BAD AS THE LIBERALS THINK On Monday, the federal budget for 2007 was released under much speculation as to what it would consist of, who gets what, and who is left out. For those of you who don't know the federal budget lays down the spending plans for the government in the upcoming year. After its release the budget was immediately rejected by both the Liberals and the NDP. The fact that the Liberals oppose this budget is not surprising, but the fact that the decided to reject it before they even knew what was in it is surprising. It's safe to say that they weren't going to like what was in it but to reject without even knowing what it was all about is irresponsible in my mind. The Bloc Quebecois are saying that they will support the budget which is all the support that the Conservatives are going to need to pass it. The BQ are supporting it because all of the money that is being given to Quebec, something like $3.2B which is close to the $3.9B...

GREEN PARTY LEADER TO TAKE ON PETER MACKAY IN NEXT ELECTION The federal budget will be coming out today for 2007 and we are all anxious to see what it has in store for us. Many view this as an election budget because many see us heading to the polls again very soon. But enough about that for now. I will have more on this later. Right now I just wanted to comment on federal Green Party leader Elizabeth May's intentions in the next election. She was just involved in a byelection in Ontario where she came in second after the Liberal candidate and garnered about 25% of the vote. Needless to say this is pretty impressive and eludes to the fact the in the next federal election there is a great possibility that the Green Party could win their first seat in the House of Commons and have a great increase in the popular vote. So what does Elizabeth May do after finishing second in the byelection, she announces that in the next federal election she will be running in the Nova Scotia riding o...

ARE YOU A CANADIAN OR A NOVA SCOTIA? I was in a lecture last night and it was on provincial political culture. In discussing ways of measuring participation among people my professor said that a way of measuring is to determine if people in Canada see themselves as Canadians first or as a citizen of the province, in my case Nova Scotia. He then went on to say that a healthy federation is one that has an equilibrium between the two. A federation for those of you wondering is a nation made up of two different, but equal, levels of government. In Canada, that is the federal government and the provincial governments and in the States the federal government and the state governments. So what do you see yourself as? Do you see yourself as a Canadian above all or as a citizen of your province? We also talked about which provinces have the most people that see themselves as Canadians first and which provinces that see themselves as citizens of that province. Among those that see themselves a...

WELCOME TO 2007 I know that it is a little late but I just wanted to wish everyone all the best in 2007. Arriving with the new year are some interesting changes in the Canadian political landscape. Coming up on the one year anniversary of the current Conservative minority government Harper has made a few changes with his Cabinet. Also, there is a new face in the Conservative party and one less for the Liberals. With this, the NDP now holds the balance of power in the House of Commons. Harper made seven changes to his Cabinet, the most notable one is the replacement of Rona Ambrose with John Baird in the environment minister. Ambrose now holds the portfolio of Intergovernmental Affairs along with minister of western economic diversification and president of the Privy Council. Other changes include Rob Nicholson replacing Vic Toews as Justice Minister, Toews becoming President of the Treasury Board, Monte Solberg to Minister of Human Resources and Social Development, and Peter Van Loan t...

FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT GERALD FORD HAS DIED The 38th President of the United States has died on Boxing Day. Gerald Ford besides renewing hope to the White House following the Watergate Scandal has a few unique records to his name. Ford was the longest living president in American history as well as being the only U.S. president not to have ever been elected. He died on Dec. 26 at the age of 93.