AllTheCandidatesThatFit
WrittingOfTheDropVille
The long march of the longest federal election campaign ever thanks to the fixed election date of Oct 18, 2015.
Bernard von Schulman is paying attention:
For the first time we will have a Federal election on a fixed election date, October 18th 2015. What this means is that we will see the longest election campaign in Canadian history. With just under ten months to go there are already 531 candidates nominated for the 338 seats. I expect we will see about 1650 candidates in total for the election, so we are at about one third already nominated...
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Speaking of which....It really is true that, if you give a whack of money to a political party before Dec 31st, you will get most of it back at tax return time.
And, at the risk of raising the ire of various and assorted sundry (and very knowledgable) readers...Is it time to re-start the strategic voting discussion all over again?
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The International Criminal Court Ruling
1 hour ago
3 comments:
1st 400 300 back?
http://www.taxplanningguide.ca/tax-planning-guide/section-2-individuals/political-donations/
Our Westminster parliamentary system is designed for timely passage of legislation tested by the confidence of the House. Speaking of "strategic voting" we must remind of the semantic element of assessment despite subterfuge and contingent planning such as military generals ("strategos") do which, in the misappropriate fixed-election-date razzle, must always suffer to the extent any strategy can be converted into tactical advantage. Our parliamentary system is designed for seizing the moments of a fluid world that often arise without warning and require urgent response. Fixed-election-dates, conversely, turn led politicians into bureaucrats polishing policy for the "big day" instead of being ready to exploit the unforeseen; it's hard on Opposition leaders too, as Carole James found out when constituents of many of her MLAs (about a third of them spoke out) got mad because while Gordo was wallowing in his own deep mire, she was diligently crossing "T"s and dotting "I"s instead moving in for the easy kill. Stockwell Day also discovered that if you're not ready to assume the government upon which you wait, you're finished. Still, it's mighty hard to approach Opposition politics any other way than strategically when the totally Westminster-inappropriate fixed-election-date tends to foster secretive, duplicitous governments---unfair, too, that they abuse the tools of state by lining them up like a billiards trick-shot while Opposition must carefully husband its meagre powder, often by keeping it very, very dry, which in turn makes them look lazy. This is about as far from Westminster as it can get and therefore as far from what the people need. It's also a perfect match for neo-right ideology because it effectively weakens government for the one or two mandates required to cripple it for a long while. If it was fair, it'd cut equally well either way, but plainly it doesn't seem to, despite the fact that the Harpercons too have bobbled hot potatoes they didn't see coming cuz they're long-gaming the fixed-election-date. They got the power.
But that's not the worst of our troubles. Is it just me, or do I increasingly hear the facile notion that all governments are the same, "broken" or all devils of various familiarity? I guess if that was really true there might not be any real point in voting at all. Unfortunately the Harper gang's easily worse than anything we've seen before which, perversity intends, forces us to start that strategic voting discussion all over again. This might turn out to be the most sluggish slugfest of all as a result, as appealing as a pan of worms to many, but so important to all.
We British Columbians especially should know better.
One can make New Year’s resolutions, knowing most will be honoured in the breach. Here is one, nonetheless. Forget the polls.
This is an election year, and we will be saturated with polls. They will show parties going up, and parties going down. They will be invested with enormous and usually unjustified significance by those who take them and those who “report” on them.
They turn political reporting into horse-race journalism of interest, frankly, to only a small number of political junkies such as television yakkers and newspaper columnists who talk right past what interests citizens.
Think for yourself, do your research.
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