Good morning Hubski
Canada is waking up to a new government. If you're an American, it would be as if John-John Kennedy were elected president instead of crashing and burning.
Most progressives in Canada just wanted to get rid of Stephen Harper. It is widely thought that defeated prime minister, Stephen Harper, muzzled science, encouraged discrimination, was the world's worst climate villain, and on and on.
Our new pretty boy!
Well, Harper is gone now. There was a third party that seemed to be running first at the beginning of the campaign, but they were defeated.
Not sure what else I can tell you. It will be an exciting time to be Canadian -- but every day is an exciting time to be Canadian.
Congratulations on new beginnings. We had a Canadian house guest (Canadians are wonderful house guests) a couple of weeks ago, and the impression I got from our friend from Montreal that it was expected that the Liberals would have to form a coalition with the NDP. Were you surprised by the outcome? Hopefully some of that liberal glow will shine on the US Congressional elections in 2016. We are in a funk for sure.
Everyone was surprised. We were pretty certain there would be a minority government. The Liberals have always thought of themselves as the "natural governing party of Canada." They fell apart from too much power, corruption, and excess, just as the Conservatives had before them. The former Progressive Conservative party wisely united the major right-wing parties into one Regressive Conservative party and swept away all the others for a long time. I and others were screaming "unite the left" - the two non-conservative parties, NDP and Libs -- but the two parties were unable and uninterested in talking to each other. Now the Libs are back to being the "natural ruling party" of Canada. So y'all Michiganers who are close to the border can still tune into CBC and see how big a party we're having and we can all shine on.Hopefully some of that liberal glow will shine on the US Congressional elections in 2016. We are in a funk for sure.
There was a pretty strong sentiment that the first thing to do was get rid of Harper and his poisonous policies, and that any other party would be preferable. People were also very conscious of the risks of splitting the non-Conservative vote. I suspect this led to a lot of strategic voting from people who might otherwise have voted NDP or Green and might have declared that as their intention in the polls.
Completely unexpected. I was thinking it would be a minority government, either conservative or liberal. I had absolutely no expectation that it would turn out the way it did. I was keeping an eye on some of the predictions, and last night's outcome was at the far end of probability. I don't know that anyone saw it coming.
Yes, hubski has a few of us. We are small in number but big in impact. The Lower Mainland is home to forwardslash who may or may not still be part of Team Hubski.
Spoiler: Stephan Harper doesn't care about black people. Double lol I rarely watch web videos that long but that was good. p.s. I did not realize how much Indigenous people were against Harper. Or that Sophie Gregoire has the missing women as a personal cause. And bulimia. TIL
My hometown has an MP after a year without any at all. That is when Harper's parliamentary secretary and Ethics Chief was found guilty of.... you guessed it, a breach of ethics (falsifying elections documents and over-spending) and sentenced to jail. Went Liberal with a young woman from Afghanistan, which is surprising considering how redneck the place is. I am shocked the NDP did so poorly. And the Green Party only getting one seat is fairly surprising but much less so.
this makes me even more stoked for the meetup. which day are we doing it on that weekend? 6,7,8? 8th is my bday.
Sp00ns, I want the meetup but I'm swamped right now. I'm in though. I can be in Toronto and me and someguyfromcanada can help out with houseguests. Can you post a call for interest using #meetup -- You choose how you will get down to Toronto and we'll work around your train/car times. Maybe elizabeth can join us. Another Torontonian offered to help... where is he? It was on a previous comment thread.
I think i'll have to skip this time :( Just moved out of my parent's house and planning a long trip to Asia: the monies are tighter than usual... BUT, now I have my own guest room so if any of you Hubskiers are ever in Montreal, shoot me a PM and you' are welcome to crash! Or we could go have a drink.
Yeah definitely do hit me up :) The plan is to go to south east asia for about 4 months with my boyfriend. It's not 100% planned out yet but Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore and Malasia are definitely on the list. Maybe Myanmar too, I heard it's very different. Hopefully, with this much time we can do a bit more and get a more genuine experience than the typical Ankor Bat and Moonparties (not that we won't do it or that it's bad, but I would like to see more than the typical tourist stuff). A couple of months of school to tought out first tho, can't wait :D
We'll propably won't be backpacking for the whole time there because after doing that in europe I realized repacking my bag every 2 days for almost 2 months is more than I can handle. I think it will be more of a "rent a place for 2 weeks" kind of trip. The fact that it is cheap is definitely a big reason why we chose to go there. I plan to spend about 500$/month as my cap (it could very possibly be less). That being said, I have lots of stuff to buy before I go. I don't have a decent backpack (going around europe with a suitcase was a pain) and my old laptop is on the verge of dying. Plus a bunch of little things I need to buy, but it adds up. The thing is that it's only in January and since I go to school and don't work, I have to be carefull not to spend all the money I saved up in the summer. I definitely go out less now. I'm not broke or anything and still enjoy stuff, but I hate being low on money so I'm being more careful.
How fast is the transition to then new government? As an American I'm used to about ten weeks of the outgoing administration still in office before then new president is inaugurated, replacing the predecessor. Is there a similar transition in Canadian federal government?Canada is waking up to a new government.
I heard on the CBC that Harper is still MP for 10 days and Justin will take over after. But, Harper stepped down yesterday and the conservatives will be looking for a new leader now. As a Montrealaer, I'm pretty glad the MP is from my hometown. Historically, it always meant more good things for the city. (Shawinigan would be even more of a shit whole if it wasn't for Jean Chrétien back in the day)
I'm not really sure. The first step is to choose a new cabinet. That announcement should come out shortly. He says it will be half the size of the previous cabinet and half of the members will be women. We'll see. It will take time to sweep out all the offices and paint them red.