Canadian Politics Mega-thread - Page 8

On June 10 2015 12:54 PhoenixVoid wrote:
Bill C-51 passed.

https://openmedia.ca/blog/bill-c-51-just-passed-where-do-we-go-here

Even less reason to vote Conservatives.

On June 10 2015 13:55 SK.Testie wrote:
I feel super well versed in American politics, not bad on foreign affairs, but know nothing about Canadian politics.
Why is C-51 bad? Is it just pretty much having the NSA in Canada or smth?

On June 12 2015 04:42 soul55555 wrote:
Wow big news from the Supreme Court of Canada they ruled Medical Marijuana legal in all forms.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/medical-marijuana-legal-in-all-forms-supreme-court-rules-1.3109148

Maybe Marijuana Legalization will become a big political issue.

On June 12 2015 04:48 killa_robot wrote:


Don't see how. It's pretty hard to be completely against marijuana, given most of the supposed negatives have been disproved time and time again. At most it should be a split between people going "I think it's a bad idea because it's not our main concern" and "I think we should do it (so young voters will vote for me)".

On June 10 2015 14:46 WolfintheSheep wrote:

Sort of, though technically we already have CSIS, which cover much of the same ground as the US NSA.

C-51 is basically an overreaching surveillance and data collection bill that will let government agencies invade citizen privacy all under extremely weak pretenses, all pushed through under the "anti-terrorism" scare tactics.

Or, I guess if you only know US politics, it's the kind of bill that allowed NSA to do all the data collection that everyone's just finding out about.

On June 15 2015 10:27 JimmyJRaynor wrote:
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/06/14/tories-keep-introducing-bills-that-have-no-chance-of-becoming-law.html

i guess when meeting with whatever specific group really wants a certain bill to eventually get passed.. the Conservatives can promise them they tried their best and they will re-introduce the bill and push it through if they get re-elected.

interesting strat

OTTAWA - Most of what is billed as the largest, one-time benefit payment in federal history is likely to hit suburban voters living in federal ridings where the Conservatives can be considered the party to beat, an analysis by The Canadian Press shows.

Number-crunching based on the last census reveals many of the ridings in line to get the biggest cheques from the newly increased Universal Child Care Benefit are in Alberta and around Toronto.

Of the top 20 destinations for the enriched UCCB payments landing Monday, 17 seats could be considered Conservative-leaning, home to the voters who could receive the biggest windfall when almost $3 billion in child care benefit payments are mailed on Monday.

...

Opposition parties have criticized the government for the increased benefit payment, backdated to the start of the year, as an election ploy.

But all three main parties have released platform planks to woo families who tend to concentrate in the key suburban ridings that could swing the federal election.

...

Employment Minister Pierre Poilievre, who oversees the expanded child benefit, offered a simple explanation.

“Families have supported the Conservative party because the Conservative government has supported families,” Poilievre said. “It’s no coincidence that many families live in ridings that have elected Conservative MPs.”

Toronto-area 905 ridings remain a key battleground: The Conservatives want to maintain their support, the Liberals are looking to regain votes they lost, and the NDP want to expand support in the suburbs beyond downtown Toronto

...

“We can be cynical about it, but on the other hand this is also democratic responsiveness,” she said.

What families wind up spending will bump consumption spending by about 1%, the central bank said. And the spending may not be on daycare alone.

“There are four million different families with four million different situations. So parents can spend it however they like,”

On June 30 2015 21:36 iMOOrtal wrote:

Thankfully we have the Charter, if politics was hockey, the Charter would be our goalie.
For the last 8 years, SAVE, SAVE, SAVE, SAVE... We just need to get some better players now..
God I miss Hockey..

New projections by the parliamentary budget officer suggest the federal government's budget won't be balanced this year, despite the Conservatives' promise to have no deficit in 2015.

The budget officer released the report Wednesday morning, following a July 16 request from the Liberals and July 18 request by the New Democrats. The parties made the requests based on a decline in real GDP in the first quarter of 2015, which results in lower corporate tax revenue and HST for the federal government.


The government had projected a slim, $1.4 billion surplus for 2015 in its budget, which was presented last April.

The PBO estimates a budget outlook updated with the lower GDP numbers alone would show a $1.5 billion deficit at the end of this year and a $0.1 billion, or $100 million, deficit in 2016-17. Canada would be back at a $1.5 billion surplus in 2017-18, according to the PBO projection.

But that's not the whole picture: weak GDP growth, the budget office says, would be partially offset by higher inflation and lower interest rates. Once those are taken into account, the projected deficit is $1 billion this year, with a small surplus of $0.6 billion, or $600 million, in 2016-17, and $2.2 billion in 2017-18.

Then again, "including a new set‐aside for contingencies would reduce the budgetary balance further."

The government currently has a $1 billion set-aside for contingencies.

The PBO projection came about an hour after Finance Canada said the federal government posted a $3.9 billion surplus for the first two months of the 2015-16 fiscal year. Those numbers include the estimated $3.4 billion of General Motors shares the government sold.