Election Time

Hello Canadians,

Looks like we're heading for an election. We already know who I'll be voting for, though this time more for lack of better options than actual support for some of the stuff the government has been up to lately.  This post is a plea to those of you who are undecided or have already decided to vote Liberal.

Let me ask you one question, how can you honestly vote for a party who decided to vote against the budget BEFORE the budget was even announced? That's like voting for a 3 year old who doesn't like what you have to say so sticks her fingers in her ears and sings "nah, nah I can't hear you."  At least the NDP took the time to listen to what the government wanted to spend our hard earned tax dollars on before dismissing it.

You hear that people I just supported Jack Layton. Yup rather than being partisan even I have to support those who actually want to provide a government for Canada that actually does something for Canadians, when they can. Kudos to the NDP!

Are we heading to another election?

Didn't we just have one of these? See, this is why the Canadian electoral system is kind of screwed up. For those of us who went and did our civic duty last fall, we told our MPs exactly what we wanted. Essentially we said "hey look go back there and act like adults." Clearly they aren't.

Although it sounds like the NDP isn't going to go along with the Liberal plan. Which is good because instead of spending money on an election the government should just cut a check to every adult in the country.

The fight for power

Anyone remember that election we had in Mid-October? Perhaps you were still in a turkey coma and didn't notice it happened. But it was before the American election. Clearly the Liberals, NDP and Bloc missed it because they're trying to form a government.

I've taken some Canadian history so I know that technically the Governor General can ask the official opposition to form government if the sitting government is defeated. I also know that the opposition parties didn't like that the Conservatives weren't spending like there's no tomorrow to stave of recession. I also took some economics in my time at university so I know that Keynesian economics says that it's okay to go into deficit in hard times in order to "prime the pump" as it were. As long as that debt is paid back in good times. And yet I see that we still have a national debt so someone must have missed the pay it back part of the lesson.

I have to say that I find what the Liberals and NDP are trying to do just a little bit offensive to the voters of Canada. Less that 2 months ago we went out and told you that we didn't want them governing and yet here they are trying to govern. I realize that elections cost people money. But if they wanted to form a coalition government perhaps they should have run in the election as a coalition. They certainly won't be running in the next one together.

What gets me the most is the absolute glee in the voices and faces of the people I work with. I generally accept that we have political differences. But this is despicable. I also believe that if it were my party doing this sort of thing I would be appalled. I get that the Conservative Party of Canada was formed by a coalition but it ran as a coalition and it won as a coalition. And even though I could have cared less at the time I'm kind of proud of that fact now.

Election Day - Part I can't count that high

I've decided to take a stab and semi-live blogging the election. By semi Live-blogging I mean posting updates during commercials as I don't have wire-less internet or a TV in the room with my internet. I didn't blog for the Canadian election because I wasn't home that night.For previous posts click here:
Part 1:http://janalee19.blogspot.com/2008/11/election-day-part-1.html
Part 2: http://janalee19.blogspot.com/2008/11/election-day-part-2.html
Part 3: http://janalee19.blogspot.com/2008/11/election-day-part-3.html
Part 4: http://janalee19.blogspot.com/2008/11/election-day-part-4.html
Part 5:http://janalee19.blogspot.com/2008/11/election-day-part-5.html

I don’t know if I’m missing any important election news as I got a little distracted by other non-election blog posts. Well it was kind of election related but funnier.

Okay I’m back. I heard there was a big projection coming up. I’m quitting once they announce a projection for president. I’m tired and I suspect that we could have called it about an hour ago. Hooray for battleground states.

I’m still floored that McCain is under-performing Bush. Is it really more the popularity of Obama than the unpopularity of McCain? It must be. That’s the only explanation I can come up with.

Ohio called for Obama, that leaves us 194-69. Fox has bigger numbers for Obama they’re up to 200, but they’ve also got McCain’s numbers up a bit too. Not looking very conservative there Fox.

Franken is leading in Minnesota. That’s not good. What the hell is wrong with people in Minnesota. Hmm… scratch the grad school plans? Still haven’t heard from Indiana. Unless I just missed it.

Holy crap Hank Williams Junior is playing at the Republican thing. That’s pretty cool.

So CNN just went through the likelys, the maybes, and the extreme long shots for McCain and they couldn’t get to 270. Which means they SHOULD BE CALLING THIS THING. But they won’t. But looking a the map it was kind of funny. Easily 70% of the map was one shade of red or another and yet there was no way to get McCain to win. Gotta love those rural states. Even the cities in those states aren’t very big. Take North Dakota, Fargo and Grand Forks are extremely small cities.

New Mexico for Obama, Louisiana to McCain. Sadly I probably know more about the history of Louisiana than most Americans. Anyway we’re up to 199-78.

Wow that popular vote number is crazy close but not in the elector college. Funny we just talked about this at work today about how it’s not the popular vote that counts.

Oh I get why CNN won’t call it. 6 more hours of coverage. But I'm ready to call it. Let's welcome President Obama.

Election Day - Part 5

I've decided to take a stab and semi-live blogging the election. By semi Live-blogging I mean posting updates during commercials as I don't have wire-less internet or a TV in the room with my internet. I didn't blog for the Canadian election because I wasn't home that night.For previous posts click here:
Part 1:http://janalee19.blogspot.com/2008/11/election-day-part-1.html
Part 2: http://janalee19.blogspot.com/2008/11/election-day-part-2.html
Part 3: http://janalee19.blogspot.com/2008/11/election-day-part-3.html
Part 4: http://janalee19.blogspot.com/2008/11/election-day-part-4.html


81 to 34 now. Sorry I missed the projection so I don’t know where those came from. Pennsylvania is Obama So now it’s 102 to 34. Can we call it now?

Okay now I actually am calling bias on CNN. They’ve got at least 2 and probably more reporters in Chicago to report on the Obama campaign. That doesn’t seem odd to anyone else? Oh I’m just paranoid, okay.

Okay it looks like the Republicans have thrown in the towel. Not that they’ve announced it yet but from the report it seems pretty clear that they know it’s over.

102-43, looks like Alabama is the one they called for that. More projections to come in 1 minute. I kind of hope this is quick. I’m almost election-ed out. And just I do like to make my own verbs why do you ask?

More projections just made. 174-49, I don’t know if Minnesota to the Democrats is a surprise or not. North Dakota went McCain though which I find kind of interesting because it‘s close to Canada. I’m still waiting for results from Indiana.

Here’s why exit polls are crap. 20% of people said race was important but 55% voted for Obama when race was important. I don’t for a second believe that. I think it was important to more than 20%. Oh and now they’re discussing the whole race issue. If Obama wins does that mean that the race card goes away?

And the Democrats have a majority in the Senate, interesting. I wonder if that means that the Democrats will take a lot of heat in the next election or if they’ll just keep blaming it on Bush (or Canada).

One of the Republicans called Al Franken a lunatic. I am kind of interesting in the Minnesota senatorial race. Mostly because all of my American network television comes out of Minnesota so I’ve seen a TONNE of attack ads.

Georgia just called for McCain, bring it to 174-64. Did Obama pick up all of New England? I don’t know if everything is in there yet but everything that I’ve seen has gone Democrat.

Election Day- Part 4

I've decided to take a stab and semi-live blogging the election. By semi Live-blogging I mean posting updates during commercials as I don't have wire-less internet or a TV in the room with my internet. I didn't blog for the Canadian election because I wasn't home that night.For previous posts click here:
Part 1:http://janalee19.blogspot.com/2008/11/election-day-part-1.html
Part 2: http://janalee19.blogspot.com/2008/11/election-day-part-2.html
Part 3: http://janalee19.blogspot.com/2008/11/election-day-part-3.html

South Carolina was just projected for McCain. So we’re at 16-3. That won’t last long. See 2 minutes later we get, 77 to 34 for Obama now. That’s cool, Maine and Nebraska can split up their electoral votes. I like that, it’s more reflective of the popular vote in the State.

Yeah those interactive maps are freaking awesome. I think we’ve already established that I’m a giant dork.

I don’t understand how everyone hates G.W. Bush but McCain is not even doing as well as Bush did in the last election. Don’t get it. Okay change in demographics explain some of it. Indiana is looking kind of red map-wise but it’s kind of population centered too.
Ohio and West Virginia and New Hampshire are largely Obama. Georgia is Republican.

It’s it odd that I’m live-ish blogging election coverage but watching Greek during commercials?

I temporarily switched to Fox. So funny. It’s all about understanding the bias and then adjusting the information to suit. Seriously, I do the same thing with the CBC. I don’t know if I’ve expressed my dislike of the CBC but it’s like the Canadian equivalent to Fox except on the opposite end of the political spectrum.

What’s with the creepy choir boys at the Republican camp? I’ve noticed that CNN is showing a lot of shots of the Obama party but only one or two of the McCain camp. Maybe they just think the Obama thing is more impressive and I don’t want to call bias on CNN but it I do feel that it’s worth mentioning.

Election Day - Part 3

I've decided to take a stab and semi-live blogging the election. By semi Live-blogging I mean posting updates during commercials as I don't have wire-less internet or a TV in the room with my internet. I didn't blog for the Canadian election because I wasn't home that night.For previous posts click here:
Part 1:http://janalee19.blogspot.com/2008/11/election-day-part-1.html

Part 2: http://janalee19.blogspot.com/2008/11/election-day-part-2.html

Oh hologram reporter, that’s some Star Trek shit right there. Awesome.

Here’s the thing about this election. If Obama happens to lose, which isn’t very likely but IF he does, I can already see a Michael Moore documentary about how McCain/Palin “stole” the election. God I hate Michael Moore. Actually I don’t hate because hating requires energy and well hating him would be a waste of energy. Sorry that was a bit of a detour.

Holy crap why does Florida account for 27 votes? Is the population a whole lot higher than in other states? Oh I like that CNN’s Florida polls are way off. As in they don’t add up to 100%. That’s kind of scary given the 27 votes.

Oh recession talk. Scary stuff. Recessions are that rainy day that people tell you, you should be saving for. I’m not actually all that worried at the moment about a recession. I guess if I lost my job I’d be a little more worried. But I’ve saved a bit and I don’t NEED to go to Scotland next summer. I want to but it’s all about tightening the belt. Sorry, that was some more tangent for you.

Oooo… Obama leading in N.C and Florida. Florida by 57%, that’s huge. Okay popular vote is 51% for Obama. But clearly the popular vote doesn’t necessarily give you a winner.

Alright this one Republican strategist is making me angry. I don’t know who he actually is, but he’s continuing to stress that “it’s early, it’s early”. Yeah we get it, you’re not willing to admit that your guy might not win.

Election Day - Part 2

I've decided to take a stab and semi-live blogging the election. By semi Live-blogging I mean posting updates during commercials as I don't have wire-less internet or a TV in the room with my internet. I didn't blog for the Canadian election because I wasn't home that night.
For part one click here:
http://janalee19.blogspot.com/2008/11/election-day-part-1.html

Okay, okay so it’s still early. And now the pundits are talking strategy. You know, what worked and what didn’t. I like how the Republican strategist are wearing red ties and the Democratic strategists are wearing blue. I guess things really are black and white in the U.S. Or Blue and Red if you will.

I really don’t get the American system. I suspect the Americans say the same thing about all of the Parliamentary Democracies out there too. But whole electoral college thing confuses the crap out of me. And how the entire state popular vote determines how ALL of their votes will go.

I also don’t understand how both candidates promised tax cuts. Anyone seen that 10 trillion dollar national debt they’re running? Seriously if you can budget tax cuts you might want to try budgeting debt reduction instead. It makes me angry.
I’m kind of surprised that Obama had more money than McCain to run this campaign. Aren’t the Republicans supposed to be the party of the rich?

Oh they’re making projections for Vermont and Kentucky. One for each. They are usually pretty accurate because they don’t announce until they know for sure. But Kentucky is worth 8 points while Vermont is only worth 3 so that means McCain is ahead… for now. Wait they’re showing 0% for each and zero votes reported in 0% of the polling points in Vermont but they’ve declared Obama. Make sense of that one for me?

I can’t help but wonder how splitting demographics by things like race and sex don’t promote racism and sexism. I guess that’s one of the downsides of statistics. You can break things down so much that they don’t really mean much.

Election Day - Part 1

I've decided to take a stab and semi-live blogging the election. By semi Live-blogging I mean posting updates during commericals as I don't have wire-less internet or a TV in the room with my internet. I didn't blog for the Canadian election because I wasn't home that night.

Okay well it’s not MY election day. We already did that a couple of weeks ago and everything that I wanted to happen there happened. Tonight is US election day.

I’m not going to pretend to be impartial and feel free to hate me if you want but I’m much more Republican than Democrat. To be honest I didn’t really watch much of the pre-election coverage it didn’t matter much to me and it’s not like I was voting anyway. But I know that they’ve been predicting an Obama win for a long time. But I think it’s going to be a lot closer than people think. That’s the joys of secret ballot, you can vote for whoever you want for whatever reason you want and not have to answer to social opinion.

I know that sounds terrible but it’s true. For example, if you want to vote for lower taxes because it’s going to benefit you, you don’t have to justify why it’s okay for children to live below the poverty line because you have lower taxes.

Holy crap it’s 49% to 50% for Obama in Indiana right now, can’t get much closer than that.

I just want to say that I probably would have been one of the apparently few people who stayed home for this election. I heard voter turnout is going to be huge. Well good on Americans. But I wouldn’t vote for either of these people for president. Actually that’s not entirely true, I wouldn’t vote McCain because his running mate would make a mockery of the U.S. internationally. It’s kind of the same reason that I wouldn’t vote for Stephane Dion in the Canadian election. I wouldn’t vote Obama because I don’t like the Democrats policies.


CNN has some really awesome stuff. They’re all about crazy exit poll stats. For example, the percentage of white evangelical voters that voted for each candidate and broken down by state. That’s some ridiculous stat crunching. And ya’ll know how I love stats.

OH MY GOD!

I promised myself I wouldn't write anything political today BUT this needs to be seen by people who don't watch the news or follow politics at all.

Some of you are still considering who you're going to vote for take a second to watch this before you cast your ballot. Some of you have already voted, you can't go back on it now but you should still watch the video.



And this man could be leading our country just five days from now. I hope anyone that was considering voting Liberal will at least throw thier support behind Jack Layton after this.

Why October 14 will determine my life path

First a little public service announcement. As most of you are now aware there is a Federal election going on. If you haven't gone to vote in the advanced polls make sure you get out on Tuesday. Same goes for Americans though you still have some time to decide.

Okay on with the show. Has anyone noticed this "global economic crisis" that's going on? Can you name me one place that it has yet to really hit hard? If you guessed Canada well that *ding,ding,ding,ding*.

This is likely to change if the Liberals are able to implement their Green Shift plan. In a time where there are very few world economies that are still managing to hold their own Canada has. There is one sector in particular which is showing growth, the oil industry. Taxing oil companies (which are the big target of the Green Shift) is one sure fire way to limit future growth, tax them too much and they might leave all together.

If we were in a booming economy and not heading toward an imminent recession I would say vote however the hell you want, seriously vote communist if you want. But if you vote Liberal to stop a Conservative majority (which quite obviously not going to happen at this point anyway) you're being dumb. If the Liberals win this election it will prove to me that the Canadian public is full of dumb people. Now I believe in democracy so if more Liberals are elected to government than Conservative that's the will of the people. But I don't want to live in a country full of stupid people.

A couple of notes before I end here:
1) I was probably always going to leave Canada, I just never really thought it would be this soon
2) If someone is willing to take my bet I'm willing to bet $10 that the Green Shift will not be implemented in it's entirety (or likely at all) before the next election.

Why I don't feel the Need for Charitable Giving

Damn election, it's making me think about things. Also it's time for my company's annual charity campaign where they try to entice us to sign up for payroll deductions to give to charity. There is one guy at work that we tease about his scrooge-like attitude when it comes to stuff like this, but this election has got me coming around a bit to his way of thinking.

See I already give charitable donations through payroll deductions, although you might call it income tax. Now I've taken a public finance course so I understand that somethings are just better off being public goods. Fine, great agreed. But really 1/3 of my annual income (which is not the greatest sum in the first place) goes back to the government to spend as they please. And spend they do. Funny though how if you take away that 1/3 of my income I suddenly have as much disposable income as those considered low income who receive payments from the government to top up their incomes (not to mention live in subsidies housing).

I'm not sure that I'm all for a progressive tax system but even if I was, this clearly is NOT it. Don't get me wrong I definitely donate to charity when I could afford it, but I prefer to choose which ones I donate too. Not be told by the government that my money will be going to support their causes.

Warning: Political Content Ahead

I'm amused. I love elections because they provide a reason for people to talk about the way that they view the world. It doesn't really matter which side of the political spectrum you're on, your opinions are important. Informed opinions are even better.

I just checked out the Liberal Green Shift calculator . It's kind of fun. Seems strange to me though that I would get an extra $150 for living in a rural area, when that really means that I'm going to have drive EVERYWHERE and there isn't a hope in hell of reducing carbon emissions by say taking public transit for example (which I do in the city). As it turns out the GreenShift would give me an extra $362 per year. Or less than $1 per day. Wait a second isn't that what it costs to feed a starving child in Africa? My favorite part is under the "how much will it cost me" tab. It will increase "some" energy costs. Right so I'm paying more for gas, hydro, and heating, but I shouldn't worry because $362 should be enough to cover it. HA!

I also can't help but enjoy this little bit of geeki-ness. Sure I hate math, but I enjoy mathematical theory, which may just be why I studied economics in the first place.

Here's some more food for thought, if the Conservatives lose this election (which based on the most recent polls isn't a complete impossibility), Stephen Harper will likely (read: definitely) be turfed as Conservative leader and then who will the Liberals and NDP accuse of eating babies? I wasn't a party member during the last leadership convention (nor am I one now for that matter), so I can't remember who was up against Harper but if they chose someone with a slightly more moderate image, likely from the PC side of the party it might not be long before we see another Conservative government. One that's likely to keep things interesting for a long time.

Why I may not vote

I'm all about election stuff. I love elections. I realize that they cost a ton to administer but at the same time I feel that it's the one time when all of the politicians have to actually prove that they're doing something worthwhile in Ottawa. I am also deeply opinionated about many issues which allows me to lean strongly towards one party or another based on their policies.

However, I may not be voting in the upcoming election. Despite having voted in 2 federal elections in 2 different ridings I'm not on the voters list. I called my local returning officer's office on Thursday and they told me that they could mail me a form to fill out. I received a call today telling me that I would have to come down to the office (which is completely out of my way) in order to fill out the forms. Seriously for all the discussion about why voter turnout is so low no one has thought that perhaps this might be the reason? Not only do I have to go to register to vote but then I have to actually go out and vote.

Maybe I should just be grateful that I live in a democracy that allows me the right to vote at all, but at the same time I can't remember it being this difficult to vote in the previous two elections. This election also marks the first time that I'm actually have to seriously evaluate who I intend to vote for, for the first time I'm divided on the issues.

Incidentally I now live in one of those "swing ridings" where the incumbent may not win back their seat. Which probably makes it all the more important to vote given that I could make an actual difference in the outcome. For the record my old riding was won by 111 votes in the last election.

Election Sign Count

Okay I lost count. But I DID see my first two NDP signs in my riding. I guess there is hope yet. I just found out that it's going to be quite the process to register to vote for this election. And the returning officers office is in the stupidest place. It's in like the far corner of the riding. If I weren't so election geeky I probably wouldn't bother voting.

Election Sign Count - September 15th

For those of you who are not so football-ly inclined here is another election sign count post

Liberal - 8
Conservative -4
Green Party - 1

These are not exact numbers as they are the cumulative from the past week and well sometimes it hard to remember which signs you've already counted but I'm going to say they're pretty close. There is also the issue of the 41% poll that came out last Friday. That's majority territory for those of you who don't know and it was in favor of the Conservatives. But it might just be enough to scare some voters back to the left to prevent the majority. Let's just hope it's not too far in the other direction (ie: Liberal Majority). I've fine with a minority either way but a majority is a scary prospect at this moment.

Election Sign Count

So the writ had been dropped and Canadians are going to be voting too. As you should be aware by now I love elections. They are usually exciting. During the last Federal election my city riding was won by 111 votes. My country riding was a freaking landslide. I've also moved since the last election so I will be voting in a different riding for different candidates on different issues. So many things in my life have changed since the last election that it may be difficult to decide which party to vote for.

But this isn't about me it's about how my neighbours will be voting come October 14th. The current neighbourhood sign count (based on my very scientific method of counting signs as I walk to and from work) is 2 Conservative, 1 Liberal.

Talking politics... kind of

Now I'm not a big follower of American politics but I always helps to stay informed of the direction of our Southern neighbour and largest trading partner. I find American politics confusing as hell, what with the primaries and delegates, super delegates, electoral college, I really have no idea who's winning or losing.

One thing I have noticed though it talking to both Americans and Canadians my age is that there is a definite Anti-Republican sentiment. Actually to put it slightly more accurately it is an Anti-Bush sentiment. I'm not surprised that my Canadian peers would support the Democrats because as one of my college friends said once the Democrats are more right wing than our most right wing party. I'm more surprised by people who support them blindly. I talked to someone the other day about Obama's speech at the convention (which I didn't watch because quite frankly I don't care enough), her favorite parts were the Bush-bashing. Which makes me wonder, do people even know WHY they don't like Bush?

I am a little surprised by the choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as the Republican Vice Presidential candidate. I also think it's kind of cool. Yeah I realize that's not the most descriptive of words but nothing that I've read so far about her makes me dislike her, which is more than I can say about most politicians. I'm also amused by other people's reaction to it. For example, I was talking to a young woman the other day about the selection and her reaction was "that was an interesting choice... what if she becomes pregnant, would she just take a mat leave?" In reality I'm less amused and more appalled by that statement, less because someone said it but more that it was someone who is well educated and career focused. But I guess it does make you think that if someone here is thinking that it's a safe bet that Americans are thinking the same thing.

As we get closer to an actual election and I start paying a little bit more attention I'll probably have more to say on the topic.

I feel so dirty...

So after hours of deliberation I decided to cast my provincial election ballot in favor of the NDP. I'd first and foremost like to apologize to Harley. But under no circumstances could I vote for a party that promised to bring back the Jets. Up until that point I was all over the PC platform, but you just can't put that into your "Big 5" and expect people to take you seriously. I also wasn't particularly thrilled by our PC candidate.

Not that my vote counted. The NDP won our riding by 2,000 votes. We've got another NDP majority government, but I suspect 4 years from now McFayden will have figured out what he did wrong and we'll be looking at a PC government.

Holy Crap, I forgot the election!

It's provincial election day and I forgot to blog about it. In short my feeling on elections is this: I don't care who you vote for, as long as you go out and do it. Of course I have my political leanings but in Canada that doesn't mean a whole hell of a lot. Also I'm more inclined to get involved in Federal politics because well I just don't really care very much about provincial politics.

Oddly enough I still haven't decided who I'm going to vote for. I've been looking at websites and pulling up platforms for the last couple of weeks. I've also been talking to some people who are deeply moved by provincial politics. It's weird because I just moved so I don't really know what the issues are in my area, so I have to rely on my own issues and given that I'm really starting a new chapter in my life I don't even know what those are. So I'm going to go with Homer Simpson on this one and list one good thing and one bad thing from each party's platform (or at least the 3 major ones), these are not necessarily the major issues by any means but they are campaign promises. In no particular order:

Liberal

• Good: Improved community Mental Health funding. As someone who has spent a lot of time on health care waiting lists I can only see this as helpful to mental health patients.
• Bad: Extending "aging out" of children under the Child welfare system from 18 to 21. Uh-huh so we're going to have to pay for cigarettes and booze for these kids for another 3 years. GREAT!

Progressive Conservative

• Good: 1% PST reduction. I like buying stuff and I don't like taxes. Enough said.
• Bad: Promise to bring back the Jets. Don't get me wrong I'd love to have an NHL team in Winnipeg, but this is just ridiculous. Seriously if you're going to make campaign promises at least try to make ones you could pretend to keep.

New Democratic Party

• Good: 60% tuition rebate for new grads. As a new grad I think this is pretty smart. At the same time we don't pay that much in tuition as it is and it's not after graduation when we need the money (unless you've got an Arts degree) it's when you're in school.
• Bad: Dedicated MRI for children. While a nice thought the wait times for MRI's in Manitoba are huge right now. Why not just promise new MRI's, period? It seems silly to limit it to one group of the population. You could always just have children's MRI's as a priority. Just a thought.

So in conclusion politicians are dumb and I'm still no closer to determining who to vote for.