or whatever...

it's pretty crazy. although, i did see an ad in which the conservative party attacked Martin (former head of the liberal party and pm until now!) for using private health care. only in canada would you have the conservative party standing up for universal health care!

the one concern i have it the conservative parties stance on KYOTO. canada was seen as the classic counter-weight to the US in terms of Kyoto.

remember, the conservatives aren't a majority party in canada, so they'll have to build a coalition. coalition governments usually only last 18 months in canada (just like martin's), so a better read of the canadian political climate will come in about 18 months.

(in other news, i'm a canadian nerd)

NERD.

The recently ousted liberal government was pretty much an in-the-closet right wing government with only a few progressive tendencies remaining. They oversaw a significant redistribution of wealth away from the working class and into the hands of the wealthiest Canadians and corporations in addition to getting mixed up in a massive tax spending scandal that did absolutely nothing to garner any votes.

So, you end up with the working class being poorer then ever, plus a ‘liberal’ government that has lost all trust with the people. Add to the mix a corporate-owned media, who although made out well under the 12 years of liberal government, could make out even better under a neo-con government.

As we’ve seen in the US… if you own the media, you’re already more then half way through the door to complete control. This is why the working class ignored the bit about neo-cons hacking away at even more of their dwindling wealth (as they did in the US during the last two presidential elections and will likely do in the 3rd as well)

This is another wake up call (not that I feel another one is really needed) to invest heavily in framing issues for the media and for “middle” America.

rob, you're a bigger canadian nerd than i am...

i've been schooled canadian style... eh

(can you provide a link if possible to this info.. i'd love to read it)

Here you go Grant...my bad, should've included some links in addition to spouting off!

I just found this...a non-partisan site trying to promote canadaian political literacy (or something):
http://www.mapleleafweb.com/election/bio/martin.html

Skip down to the bit about when Martin was finance minister to read about some of the social spending cuts, as well as cuts in aid to the providences. In his defence, while these were cutting social programs he did at least bring Canada's budget into the green (unlike our buddy George W, which cuts and spends even more).

That article also touches upon some of the more recent scandals... but you can find lots about that on the various news sites:
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&ie=UTF-8&q=canadian+liberal+corruption+scandal&btnG=Search+News

cheers

I recommend this link to all of you pondering the recent Torrie Conservative victory in Canada.

http://www.northamericanpatriot.com/

She is by far one of the best political blogs coming out of the Great White North.

I find in funny to read here that after all of the liberal tax and spend policies of the Liberals in Canada that one of the writers here tries to blame it on conservatives??

"The recently ousted liberal government was pretty much an in-the-closet right wing government with only a few progressive tendencies remaining." (Rob)

This is an incredlous stretch. I agree that a lot of middle class folks in Canada find themselves less well off after 12 years of Liberal dominance. High taxes to support a massive welfare state coupled with massive anti business legislation has turned Canada in to a no growth, no job creation country just like Germany and France.

I also have to ask why anyone working for the Government in BC must speak French while the province has very few Franophones? I am very sad for the plight of regualr Canadians who live outside of the major cites who recieve less and less in the way of services while paying more and more in Taxes.