Actually Canada belongs to the commonwealth, so how does it affects the
politics? Is Elisabeth II still the head of the parliament? Does her majesty
do anything with politics over there?

Tamas


On 12/5/06, Rolf <learr@rogers.com> wrote:
>
> From the inside it feels as if Canadian politics are  _not_ as dirty as
> the US, but it is a relative comment. We still have ads oon TV that
> smear the other parties, we still have low comments passed by one
> candidate about the other. It is still dirty.
>
> Our political system is much simpler than the US. We vote for a member
> of parliament (MP) that represents our "riding" (region), then, the
> political party that has the most MP's elected gets to have that party's
> leader (who must also be elected as an MP first) become prime minister.
> What this means is that (in theory) we vote for an MP, not for a
> political party/president. The reality is that no-one really knows who
> their MP is, and each party has a candidate in each riding, thus, people
> usually vote for the MP that represents the party they want in power.
> This system sucks too. You end up voting for an individual, but the
> whole campaigning process is based around political parties. I am pretty
> sure that at least half the voters have no idea who their candidates
> are, and only vote for the candidate who represents their preferred party.
>
> In my particular case (in my riding), I had the option of:
> a) vote for a candidate who I believe lacks personal credibility, but
> represents the party I want to run the government.
> b) Vote for an OK candidate who represents a party I fundamentally
> disagree with.
> c) vote for a candidate who would probably be a good  MP, but would
> never get elected anyway because the party they represent just doesn't
> do well (always less than 3% of the vote).
>
> Anyways, that's just my personal gripe, even though it is a common sad
> story from our country.
>
> The details of Canadian campaigns varies from region to region. Many
> ridings are very quiet because the outcome for a riding is assumed to be
> a given (some ridings always vote overwhelmingly for one particular
> party, and that will never change ....). Those ridings where there is
> some doubt get a fair amount of local press coverage, and at a national
> level, there is a lot of rhetoric and gesticulating by the various party
> leaders that have dark and derogatory undertones...
>
> I am sure that politicians are similar around the world.... ( hope I
> haven't offended anyone on Piclist ....  ;-)
>
> Once the elections are done, and parties are in power,  the individual
> MPs have little to do except vote for legislature that, for the most
> part, the MP's have to vote the way their parties want them to.
>
> Rolf
>
> Tony Smith wrote:
> >> What amazes me, and this is not meant to be a snide comment at all....
> >> is that people expect the government (any government) to be
> >> open and honest (caveat: I live in Canada, not the US, but
> >> politics is fundamentally the same here).
> >>
> >> Why are people surprised that the real facts are different to
> >> what was presented as fact before? The whole campaigning,
> >> electing, lobbying, and other political processes are
> >> predominantly based on at the best times compromise, and at
> >> the worst times manipulation. The conduct required from a
> >> political candidate to get elected is the exact conduct that
> >> we don't want in elected politicians ... yet, it should come
> >> as no surprise that once elected, politicians don't change.
> >>
> >> In other words, political campaigns are based on spite,
> >> defamatory conduct, manipulation of information, lying,
> >> deception, making impossible promises, and general arrogance.
> >> Yet, we expect politicians to become honest, principled, and
> >> "open" once they are elected.
> >>
> >
> > Question: How are Canadian political campaigns run?
> >
> > Much is made of the fact that US campaigns are overwhelmingly negative,
> and
> > usually against the person.  In other words, the message isn't "Vote for
> me,
> > I'm a top bloke", it's "Vote for me because he's an arsehole".
> >
> > Australian campaigns tend to be negative too, but more towards the party
> or
> > the policy, but that's beginning to change.
> >
> > And Canada?
> >
> > Tony
> >
> >
>
>
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