Morning Brew: September 5th, 2008

Given that today's poll will be mostly voted on by Torontonians, I'd be shocked not to find either Dion or Layton winning. Odds are that Harper will place 3rd.

RE: Parkdale parking

Rolling my eyes at Matt Blackett. The chaos of CNE time, including parking on the lawns, is a Parkdale tradition. It's rather inexplicable that the City allows it, but hey, odd little things like that make the city interesting.

The trees are doing just fine, too.

PLEASE don't vote for Dion if there's an election. I mean really, there aren't any very good options, but could you really see the face of Canada belonging to that whiney little turd? Gimme a break. Let him be defeated so the Liberals can reorganize with a proper leader, for the love of God.

I don't vote unless there's someone worth voting for... I don't really care how the election plays out and I'm sure we'll need another one shortly. Oh, Canada (sigh)

Re the federal election:

A minority government is exactly what Canadians want. It limits the damage that a partisan, self-important PM can cause. If Harper isn't happy with fulfilling the mandate we gave him, then he needs to step down, rather than break his word and force us into an election just to put him down. I'm voting NDP, not because I want the fools in power but because I don't want a Conservative or Liberal majority.

Re CNE parking in Parkdale: It's a non-issue. The same thing x 100 happens in Calgary every Stampede.

Unfortunately, voting NDP is more likely to cause a Conservative majority...

Personally, I'd rather see Dion win at least a minority. I can't stand Harper and his neo-con cronies, nor can I tolerate Layton... *sigh* If only there were small c fiscal conservatives and social liberals...

I also agree that there isn't one candidate worth voting for.

Harper is going to win (current polls suggest he will) because Dion is a whiny little bitch that seems to be afraid to speak up and nobody will vote the NDP in with Layton behind the helm.

Dave, I guess you're right -- extra votes for the NDP would mean fewer votes for the Liberals, not for the Conservatives.

Crap. Do I HAVE to vote for Dion just to keep Harper in check? I really hate this.

Diane, It really depends what riding you're in. There are very few places (I'm thinking Oshawa as one of the few) where votes split so closely that not voting strategically could boost the Conservative numbers.

It seemed to me that in the last parliament the NDP was the defacto opposition because of how frequently the Liberals sat on their hands. I'm probably going to end up rewarding the NDP for that with my vote. But I'm in Toronto and if Dion is going to have any chance at taking back the government from Harper he'll have to win back a bunch of Quebec ridings and a few in the prairies. So I guess I don't feel a moral obligation to vote out Harper rather than voting for the party I think will do the best job.

Responses in the "other" category so far:

- CBC
- Skeletor
- Flying Spaghetti Monster.... None of these jerks are worth voting for.
- Somebody who can take our orders

@Ugh - In defence of the Liberals, they had no choice but to sit on their hands. Harper made every issue a confidence motion. If they voted against anything in Parliament they would have triggered an election before they were ready - cementing the likelihood of a conservative victory. You shouldn't punish the party for being responsible by preventing an unnecessary election, keeping the conservatives away from the likelihood of a majority, and attempting to organize themselves.

Flying spaghetti monster was me again. I wish that we all experience the benevolent rule of His Noodliness... Makes a lot more sense than voting for Layton.

I hope and pray that Gerrard Kennedy loses his seat. Is High Park even a close race? It's the one riding in the country where I hope the NDP prevails. He should be held to account for engineering Dion's win at the liberal convention, over two far superior candidates, at a time when the party needed a strong leader. Do we know what kind of deal he made? Why aren't people talking about this?

Anyway, I'm hoping for a reduced Harper minority: the Conservatives will know their support is tentative and the message will be sent that Dion needs to be replaced immediately.

Also, in Traitor (the new Don Cheadle movie), some high level terrorists plan an attack on the US in a lebanese restaurant in Toronto. A long branch streetcar goes by it.

correction, not loses his seat, just doesnt get elected/nominated anywhere

I'd have to agree with Dave again that the Conservatives have been rampaging for an excuse to call an election and make it look like the Liberals' fault. Failing that, they are going to break their promise and force one on us anyway.

We already knew Parliament is dysfunctional. We already knew it's the Conservatives that make it that way. But now it seems obvious that this was the Conservatives plan all along.

Dave: I don't give a rats ass about whether the LPC is "ready," that just sounds like a petty excuse from the backrooms. I elected them to go and be my voice in parliament. Even if I don't always agree with what they do, if they aren't going to represent me at all then what's the point? If all they do in opposition is wait until they're ready to fight another election, they aren't doing the job they were hired to do.

I also find it offensive when they don't vote because it allows the Liberals to say things without being accountable to a voting record. And when getting a politician (of any party) to talk straight is like nailing Jello to a wall, that voting record is damn important to me in deciding whether that individual has acted in a way I can support.

Some more esponses in the "other" category:

- Justin Trudeau
- Bob Rae

To answer you question about parking n lawns being bad: yes it is. Bad for the neighbourhood, bad for the trees, bad for the air quality of Parkdale.

The first commenter says it's a traidtion to park on lawns. That doesn't mean its right; when my dad went to U of T in the 50s it was tradition to chase the gay man cruising and beat them up. Times change and we can always correct our mistakes. the CNE parking fiasco is one of them.

Not to mention the fact that a Dion win would take us to 1985 here. There would be an automatic vote of non-confidence in the House if Dion won a minority.

Unless something earth shattering happens, Harper wins a bigger minority, Dion's out, we'll be back at this some point in 2011. (Those who remember the last couple of elections federally will know it's not impossible for that to happen)

Corina: Sigh indeed. And I bet you wonder why politicians don't listen to you.