http://time.com/4077687/canada-elections-2015/
[In item 2 below, it is not just the Federal Court of Appeal which has
ruled against the Harper government on this issue. They are the 3rd
court to rule against the Harper government on the niqab. However,
after 3 strikes, Harper has pledged to use taxpayer money to appeal this
decision again to the Supreme Court of Canada, and if that doesn't work,
he will legislate Islamophobia into law, using the notwithstanding
clause in the Constitution to overrule the right to freedom of religion.
In item 3 below, it isn't some people calling it a recession, it is a
recession by the Harper government's own legal definition - 2
consecutive calendar quarters (not just any 6 consecutive months) of
shrinking GDP. We hit that measure with a uniquely made-in-Canada
recession from January to June 2015, while virtually all other OECD
countries were experiencing solid economic growth.
If Canada weathered the 2008 recession better than other OECD nations,
it is not because of Harper's policies, but because of those of his
predecessors which he inherited in 2006 - notably higher reserve ratio
requirements for Canadian chartered banks and stiffer house mortgage
requirements than in many other countries.
In item 4 below, the CPC staffer was not just charged, he was tried,
convicted and sent to prison. The presiding judge stated he could not
have acted alone, but no charges have been brought against anyone else.
video and links in on-line article]
Four Things to Know About the Canadian Elections
Joanna Plucinska
2:42 AM ET
At stake are issues from the environment to immigration
Canadians will go to the polls on Monday, Oct.19, to elect a new
government and, this time around, the race boils down to one question:
Will the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC), under the tutelage of
controversial Prime Minister Stephen Harper, win a fourth term in power?
Current polls place the Liberal Party in the lead, closely followed by
the CPC, then the New Democratic Party (NDP), who were the original
front-runners. Canadians are expected to vote in droves — there was
already a 71% bump in voter turnout in advance polls last week compared
with 2011. Although the race, for many, is still too close to call, here
are the issues that have been at the forefront.
1. Strategic voting
Since 2006, the CPC has swept each federal election in Canada, and
currently holds a majority in the House of Commons, the lower house of
the national legislature. But, as most polls currently sit, more
Canadians are leaning toward progressive parties than conservative ones.
That doesn’t mean that the right is slated to lose, however. While the
CPC remains the only viable party that Canadian conservatives can vote
for, progressives are split between three leading parties: the Liberals,
the NDP and the ever-trailing Green Party.
That has led some voters to push for an election where “anyone but
Harper” wins. With the help of websites like strategicvoting.ca,
progressives are trying to prevent split votes by identifying the
leading non-Conservative candidate in a given riding — as Canada’s
electoral districts are known — encouraging voters to abandon party
loyalties and, instead, vote for the progressive candidate most likely
to win.
2. Immigration
Harper maintains that he will continue pushing to ban the niqab — a veil
worn by some Muslim women that partially covers the face — at
citizenship ceremonies and for public servants. His government attempted
to ban the veil in 2011 at the former, but Canada’s Federal Court of
Appeal recently ruled that the ban was illegal. Harper insists that he
will bring the ban back if he wins re-election, despite the court’s
decision, and while some polls suggest that many Canadians, especially
in the French-speaking province of Quebec, are on board with Harper’s
proposal, the issue has ignited debate throughout the course of
campaigning. Both the Liberals and the NDP have come out against the
policy, accusing Harper of using identity politics to bolster votes.
Some Canadians are also irked by Harper’s reluctance to accept more
refugees given the crisis currently facing Europe. This is especially so
in the wake of the news that an immigration visa to Canada had been
denied to drowned Syrian refugee toddler Aylan Kurdi — whose little,
lifeless body was the subject of a heartbreaking photo that went viral
and dramatized the crisis for many around the world.
While NDP leader Thomas Mulcair insists Canada should accept 10,000
Syrian refugees by the end of the year, and Liberal leader Justin
Trudeau has pushed that number up to 25,000, Harper has promised to only
accept 10,000 refugees over the course of four years if he wins
re-election, according to the Globe and Mail. He also says that further
military action is needed in Iraq and Syria to curb the flow of refugees.
3. The economy and the environment
It’s what Harper always promised to protect, but now some voters are
questioning whether they can trust their incumbent PM with the economy.
His party pushed tax cuts and corporate incentives to bolster the
country’s oil sands in the West. But Canada is currently facing an
economic slump — some even call it a recession — owing in part to a drop
in oil prices, and many are pointing the finger at the CPC. Harper still
claims that Canada weathered the 2008 global recession better than most
thanks to his policies, but some Canadians aren’t convinced that this is
reason enough to re-elect him.
Now that the government’s willingness to economic benefits ahead of
environmental protection has backfired, and calls for further
investments into the Keystone XL pipeline have also faltered, Canadians
seem to think that the government should invest in more postcarbon
alternatives. Canada has been chided by its international partners for
its weak environmental record compared to many G-7 nations. According to
a recent poll, around 80% of Canadians feel the government should do
more to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. Harper’s new platform does call
for emissions cuts, but not at the expense of additional controls on oil
or new pipeline projects. The Liberal Party, which supported Keystone
XL, has pledged to start a “green bonds” program to incentivize the
renewable-energy economy, while the NDP has suggested a cap-and-trade
program and the creation of more oversight for pipeline projects.
4. Accountability
The CPC was rattled by a major accountability scandal in recent years
involving some high-profile Senators and allegedly misreported expenses,
according to CTV News. There was also a “robocalling” fiasco, where one
CPC staffer was eventually charged with sending fake automated calls to
non-Conservatives around the country, telling them to go to nonexistent
or far-flung polling booths in a bid to impede their ability or
willingness to vote.
Voters have their trust issues with the Liberals and the NDP too. Some
Canadians perceive Liberal leader Trudeau, the son of former Prime
Minister Pierre Trudeau, as too young and inexperienced to take the
reins and question his judgment, especially after he led his party in
supporting a controversial antiterrorism bill championed by the
Conservatives expanding domestic surveillance. As for Mulcair, although
the NDP was the official opposition to the last government — and the
party celebrated a major provincial election win in one of Canada’s most
notoriously conservative province, Alberta, earlier this year — the
left-leaning party has never led the federal government. They appear to
be on the losing end of progressive vote-splitting and perhaps the
elections.
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