Politics Class is Hard!

[c9]

Conservatives: Very specific about being honest and incorruptible, but no actual government experience to prove this. Policies include repealing equal marriage, more tax cuts, less Kyoto support, more business-friendly decisions, and less social-welfare-friendly decisions. I disagree with the platform in numerous ways. Very likely to form government soon.

New Democrats: Very specific about being honest and incorruptible, but no actual government experience to prove this. Policies include abolishing the Senate, less tax cuts, more Kyoto support, less business-friendly decisions, and more social-welfare-friendly decisions. I agree with their platform in some ways, and disagree in some other ways. Not likely to form government any time soon.

Liberals: Demonstrably corrupt. Making bad decisions on the unity file. But generally speaking, their policy ideals are pretty reasonable. I agree with their platform in numerous ways. Very likely to form government soon. (The Liberal election machine can get out of any jam.)

It's very hard to support the government when their apparatus dearly requires a lesson. But it's also hard to support a party that I think has bad ideas, or a party that has only some bad ideas but will not actually get anywhere*.

In essence, this is the story of a large chunk of the Canadian populace, for those curious about how Canadian politics works.

* Full disclosure: I am a member of the NDP at the moment, but more as a way of trying to nudge federal policies to the left, not because I actually think they'd do well as (or should form) the next government.

Comments

[skeezix1000.livejournal.com]

Pure proportional representation would be a nightmare. And I don't think it would be more democratic, because it would place more power in the hands of the party leaderships (as MPs would be elected via party lists determined by the leaders).

I suspect, though, if it were implemented, that provinces would retain their #s of MPs. PEI would maintain its 4 (I believe) MPs, except that based on the popular vote, they might not all be Liberals for a change.

[c9.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't like the party lists part of PR. The dual option proposed in BC sounded interesting, as it created groups of people running in larger areas. But the complexity may be doomed in this MTV world.