Justin Trudeau New Canadian Prime Minister!

Harper has been unseated! We are still waiting to see if the liberals will have a majority or minority government, bt still. Wooooohooo!

Who else is glad to see Harper go?

 

Well, it's officially a majority liberal government.

 

technically the news is calling it....polls aren't closed out west yet so it can't legally be official

but i voted liberal too

 

We voiced a want for change and now it is time for Trudeau to step up and put in place some of his campaign promises. I have a feeling he will uphold most of them.

Harper is stepping down. Interim will be in place. I am not surprised as he is not the type to work well with others and I could not see him stepping up as opposition with no power. Next will be a leadership convention, that could be interesting.

Mulcair is quiet so far on his plans, so we shall see. The NDP will never get further, even in 4 years with him as leader. Something they are going to have to consider.

Poor May....lord hard to stand alone.

Trudeau is on his way back to Ottawa today, I have a feeling he is jumping in feet first now he has access to some documents that he has not had before being in power.

Next four years are going to be interesting.

One result I am thrilled with is voter turn out, especially the younger demographic, Well done.

 

Sure hope we have the same results here in the U.S. next year....the cons have got to go! If not, I may be moving to Canada, because I'm not living in a right wing fascist country bent on WWIII.

 

Things that I am very excited for that the liberals promised to work on: Voters reform (that's like my personal crusade, every canadian should check out fairvote.ca) and the legalization of marijuana.

 

Haven't followed Canadian elections too closely. It seems like Harper came to power by creating a conservative coalition, and riding a wave of voter disgust with the liberal party after sponsorgate. Trudeau seemed to come to power based on family name, and riding a wave of voter disgust with conservative party rule.

In particular, the "change" theme seems to be borrowed from the Obama campaign. That is, implying that his leadership will be the remedy to all things about which voters were malcontent, while remaining as vague about the details as possible.

Not sure if this is simply an admission of defeat by Harper, or if believes that there is greater political advantage to staying out of the limelight for a while.

This is a reference to green party leader Elizabeth May? And her exclusion from debates?

 

No its a reference to Elizabeth May having the only green party seat in the house. No other green party candidates got elected.

Also the change that I see them referring to has nothing to do with obama. The US isn't the only bloody country that needs change and there are only so many synonyms that sound good. The liberal party has actually promised to change a great deal of things that Harper screwed up, like our environmental policies, as well as a lot of other issues. They have even promised the do away with first past the post voting. That means immense change in the future to me.

 

By that I don't mean that he is like Obama, but rather he is using the same campaign strategy. What he actually does in office is another question.

 

I know and I was replying the the fact that when someone uses the word change in a campaign they aren't automatically emulating obama.

 

Perhaps. The Obama campaign helped redefined the conventional wisdom about how a political campaign is run though, and many of the lessons apply across national borders.

 

Good luck, Canadians. Hopefully your taste of Harpers conservatism "cured" you up of trying that again. I traveled across Canada in 1970 and I found the Canadians to be good and friendly people. Stayed in youth hostels with food provided by ----THE GOVERNMENT! I should have stayed.

And of course--woe is us, with the shit-crop of assholes ---that SOMEBODY--well--a bunch of somebodies can see their way to voting for. Anyway---good on you!

 

In some ways the hope is that Trudeau will make those changes and in some cases reverse some of those made by the Conservatives due to them not reflecting the views of most Canadians. That was probably the reason that the conservatives were defeated is that most Canadians no longer agreed with the direction that was being taken by a majority party. It had become more of a dictatorship especially regarding changes to law that they did not want to acknowledge (supreme court of Canada), foreign policy, omnibus bill, C51 and the list goes on. Some of the mandates he was elected on are on those issues. Time will tell how that all comes out.

I think the Obama thing is standard for all change, in that all parties tend to wish to be viewed as the one who can make change. It is a phrase that has been used since who knows when and it more of a statement probably than a realistic statement that everything can be changed.

While it is common for defeated leaders to often resign from the position it is usually done as because as with this election it means that even conservative supporters no longer support the party because of the direction the leader has taken it in. Harper is not a team player and never has been. To be opposition in a minority position would not suit his temperament. By stepping down he allows the distance from the party to allow them to start to rebuild not only public opinion but also change policy.

I feel that May was not fairly treated and should have been present at all official debates, just like all the other parties. She also has the only green party seat, so it is rather difficult to be taken seriously as a party. Perhaps if she had of been included it would have given Canadians in general a better understanding of what the green party actually is all about rather than viewing them as not a viable party.

 

Hopefully also foreign policy, C51, and veteran affairs are at the top of his list as well.

 

Whos this Harper guy, what happened to Mulroney?

 

This whole elbowing thing is ridiculous!

 

Justin Trudeau is sexy, so that's a plus. Lucky Canadians.

 

yeah so lucky



"the budget will balance itself" he says....







meanwhile his first year reports a 9 billion dollar deficit

Ottawa posts deficit in October as fiscal year shortfall hits $9.3 billion