A reminder to Canadians: Today is voting day! (1 Viewer)

[Francois Caron]

So get out there and vote!

This one should be interesting. It's truly becoming too close to call. Personally, I'm hoping for a tie for either the government or the official opposition just to see the chaos that follows!

 

[brentl]

I'll be out, and hoping for a close one.

Brent

 

[Scott McGillivray]

I will be voting.

Sad that it is yet another ho-hum election with no really interesting or exciting party leaders. It has been so long since we have had a leader with charisma or at least someone daring that is willing to take a bold stand. All I hear from all the leaders is the same monotonous stuff that we have listened to for decades.

Not looking for debate, just my opinion.

 

[Ruz-El]

I agree about the leaders being droll as ever, but this is the first Canadian election in a while were it seems that things are on the line. I guess it depends on whose side your on.

 

[Mort Corey]

If you have electronic voting machines as do many states here, it may be over already

Mort

 

[Francois Caron]

Nope! Federal election are run by Elections Canada. And the rule is paper ballots for the entire country.

The main advantage of paper ballots? Just about every vote is properly recorded and preserved. The disadvantage? We won't know who's in power until very early in the morning.

One important rule. It's illegal to spoil your ballot although there's very little chance you'll get caught -- unless someone sees you eating it!

 

[Mike Graham]

Whoever ends up in control of the minority, I sincerely hope there isn't another election for at least 2 years or more. Having elections every 18 months won't help anyone.

 

[Andrew Pratt]

IMO I have the feeling that as soon as the Liberals elect their new leader we'll be back at the polls doing this all over again.

 

[Richard Travale]

Yeah, I agree with Andrew.
I'm giving it a year to 18 months tops before we are back at the polls.

 

[Bob Turnbull]

I don't know guys...I think if the other parties try to bring down the Conservatives within the first 2 years, they really run the risk of a backlash that would result in a Conservative majority.

I think there would have to be a major scandal or an attempt at bringing in a very extremist policy for a non-confidence vote to occur.

 

[Chris Lockwood]

Do you usually have elections on Mondays, or does it vary?

I didn't know there was an election until Monday morning- you'd think it would get more mention in the USA. Even on Tuesday's news, the fact that Time magazine is refusing to run ads for the new Hooters Casino in Vegas is getting more coverage.

 

[Max Leung]

That's okay Chris - it's not like Canada is a superpower or anything. Who cares if there is an election?

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

I can't see another election any time soon. This one cost $400 million, which is a lot more than the sponsorship scandal cost Canadians. We are stuck with what we elected for the foreseeable future.

As for American coverage, I can't say I'm very surprised. There is no set day for elections, although some provinces have set dates for their elections.

 

[LarryDavenport]

SO, is Gary Trudeau still president of Canada?

 

[Rob Willey]

I did read that the turnout was around 65%. Puts Canada's neighbors to the south to shame.

Rob

 

[Kevin Hewell]

One of the things I learned in Poli-Sci was one of the reasons the US has lower voter turnout than other countries is the way our elections are set up. It showed two election ballots, one from the US and one from Canada. The US one was much, much more complicated (and longer) than the one from Canada.

 

[Malcolm R]

I wish we could vote every 18 months. :frowning:

An election in Canada? I thought that old tart from across the pond was in charge of Canada? She's all over the money.

 

[Francois Caron]

She is! The Queen of England is our head of state! She's represented in Canada by the Governor General, chosen by the prime minister. The governor general is also the commander-in-chief of the Canadian Forces.

The prime minister is actually the head of government. The job is given automatically to the leader of the party with the most seats in parliament. That means if a new leader is chosen by the party between elections, that person automatically becomes prime minister without even holding an election.

Now that we have a minority government in power (winning party has less than half the seats in parliament), that means it's possible to kick out the current government by asking for a vote of non-confidence, or by rejecting the yearly budget proposed by the government.

As far as the money is concerned, we'll keep her on it. Anyways, she's only on the 20 dollar bill and on all of our coins. All our other bills have different people on them.

Mr. Blue, Mr. Purple, Mr. Red, Mr. Brown... No Mr. Pink.

 

[Mark Paquette]

Coverage of anything going on in Canada must be different around the states. I live in Michigan, about 45 minutes from the closest border crossing with Canada and just about every local news program mentioned the election in Canada.

 

[Chris Lockwood]

I still don't get the Queen thing. Canada's supposedly an independent nation... so why is another nation's monarch on their money? Make up your minds- you're either a country or a colony.

The same thing goes for all the other countries outside the British Isles where that applies, like Australia.


> I wish we could vote every 18 months.

Elections take place every year.