2025 Election Thread

[robkelk]

Starting with the one in Ontario. CBC News ticker

As of the first morning:

• Conservatives (who called the election 18 months early): "Protect Ontario", negotiate with the USA in a position of strength. No mention of health care.
  
• Liberals: They say the province didn't need an early election, it needs doctors. They also want to fight the perception that young people need to leave Ontario in order to succeed.
  
• NDP: “Time and time again, Doug Ford has shown he can’t negotiate his way out of a paper bag.” They're making health care a major platform plank.
  
• Greens: “We should be here at Queen’s Park working across party lines to show Donald Trump strength through unity. Instead Doug Ford has called an election, abandoning the people of Ontario when they need him the most” They're also campaigning on housing and health care.
  

[robkelk]

Well, that's happened.

The Conservatives -- the party that presented its platform last (and was the only one that didn't cost-out their platform) -- kept its majority. A big majority -- three seats away from a two-thirds majority -- but they actually lost a seat.

The Liberals took a half-dozen seats from the NDP and Conservatives, but despite placing second in the popular vote, ended up third in the Legislative Assembly.

Status quo for the Greens. Somebody got elected as an independent.

There are a few ridings that are legally required to recount because the margins are so close, but they won't affect the overall outcome.

So... no change, essentially.

[robkelk]

This one's a party leadership election that has ramifications for the entire continent... and more.

Congratulations to Mark Carney for being elected leader of the Liberal Party of Canada (with over 85% of the votes cast on the first ballot), and thus Prime-Minister-apparent of Canada.

[robkelk]

Congratulations to Mark Carney for becoming Prime Minister of Canada, as of the time this was posted.

Now to wait for the next Canadian election campaign. Smart money has the election being called at some time next week for the vote to be cast at some point before Canada Day.

[robkelk]

Chrystia Freeland, the deputy Prime Minister of Canada, was scheduled to present a financial update to the House at 4pm today.

She just resigned from the Cabinet.


Whatever the reason, this sends a signal to His Orangeness (Premier-elect of the 11th Province!</joke>) that his tactics are working...

When I first heard about this, I thought she was falling on her sword for the country, or at least for the party.

I've now read her resignation letter.

She didn't fall. She was pushed.

Oh, hey, look who's back in Cabinet... as Transport Minister, which is a demotion, but the "Deputy Prime Minister" position has been eliminated altogether. She also gets Internal Trade, which means shes going to be busy working with the provinces to dismantle our internal trade barriers.

Dominic LeBlanc gets International Trade. Technically a demotion from Finance, but the biggest word on The Hill nowadays is "tariffs"...

Oh, and "Employment" has been re-named to "Jobs and Families". Make of that what you will.

[robkelk]

Some decades ago, somebody in Canada misheard "draw up the writ" of election as "drop the writ"... and that's stuck.

The writ has been dropped. Canada goes to the polls on April 28.

So far, two of the five political leaders have announced the same platform plank: Canada will never be the 51st state of the USA.

[robkelk]

Pierre Poilievre's Donald Trump problem

Well, if you're going to echo His Orangeness' talking points and say nothing about an endorsement from Musk, you have to expect that sort of thing.

My take: Poilievre's not showing any ability to pivot in a quickly-changing political climate.

---

Cancelled debate steals the campaign show from taxes and housing

The private network wanted each of the party leaders to pay $75,000 to take part. Only three of the five political leaders agreed, so they cancelled the debate, blaming one of the two leaders who didn't.

My take: This is what happens with for-profit political coverage.

[hazard]

And now the private network has annoyed three of the five political leaders, as well as the one they're blaming.

[robkelk]

The most interesting thing in the campaign so far is that the Conservative and Liberal leaders are running for election in districts that share a border.

(Under the Westminster system, party leaders run for a seat in the House of Commons rather than running for the top job specifically. The Prime Minister needs to "command a majority of the votes in the House", which in practice means he or she needs to be able to vote in the House. Thus, the party leaders run for office in the same election as everybody else.)

Oh, and even the Conservative Party is admitting that Poilievre's not showing any ability to pivot quickly; he's still fighting battles that he's already won.

[robkelk]

The last of the leaders of the major parties has finally accepted in public that Canada's tradition of trade with the USA is over. Yes, that would be Poilievre.

The New Democratic Party is taking things even farther, offering to issue Victory Bonds. The Green Party are suggesting "Saving Canada Bonds" and bringing back the National Civil Defence Corps.

Yes, this means they know Canada is in an undeclared war with the USA.

[classicdrogn]

Perhaps that's what the "liberation" is about? Liberating Canada and Greenland like Russia liberated Crimea and the Donbass, or how China wants to liberate the poor unfortunates living under the rogue splinter government calling itself Taiwan? /sarcasm

[Labster]

Begun, the trade wars have.

[robkelk]

Poilievre and Carney's rally crowds are smaller than they claim. We counted

The most egregious claim was that a rally in a hotel banquet room packed in enough people to fill an arena. No, folks, we're Canadians and know what a crowd big enough to sell out an NHL game looks like.

[Bob Schroeck]

Poilievre and Carney's rally crowds are smaller than they claim. We counted

The most egregious claim was that a rally in a hotel banquet room packed in enough people to fill an arena. No, folks, we're Canadians and know what a crowd big enough to sell out an NHL game looks like.

Clearly they're following Trump's lead in counting the mitochondria in attendance, not the humans.

[robkelk]

Well, that's happened.

The Conservatives -- the party that presented its platform last (and was the only one that didn't cost-out their platform) -- kept its majority. A big majority -- three seats away from a two-thirds majority -- but they actually lost a seat.

The Liberals took a half-dozen seats from the NDP and Conservatives, but despite placing second in the popular vote, ended up third in the Legislative Assembly.

Status quo for the Greens. Somebody got elected as an independent.

There are a few ridings that are legally required to recount because the margins are so close, but they won't affect the overall outcome.

So... no change, essentially.

And they're just holding their first session today.The only item on the order paper is "elect a Speaker"... and it'll be one for the history books no matter what happens, because the only candidates are female and the legislature has never had a female Speaker before.

[robkelk]

Liberal operatives planted 'stop the steal' buttons at conservative conference

How did this come to light? Well, a journalist walked into a bar...

At the pub D'Arcy McGee's near Parliament Hill, a number of Liberal war room staffers met for drinks on the far side of the bar. This journalist joined one of them for a quick conversation, but heard another staffer, who had previously identified himself as being involved in opposition research, describing how he and a colleague planted the buttons.

The staffer knew he was sitting next to a journalist.

(Aside: D'Arcy McGee's has a pretty good beer list, and it's convenient to Parliament Hill. It's a natural place for both politicos and political journalists to relax after work.)



Poilievre eyes notwithstanding clause for consecutive murder sentences

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says he wants to use the notwithstanding clause — which has never been used by a federal government before — to override the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to allow judges to impose consecutive life sentences for murderers.

Well, all I can say is that I'm happy we have more than two political parties in Canada.

[nemonowan]

Honestly, the whole concept of "consecutive life sentences" is either grandstanding for the tough-on-crime crowd or a sign that the meaning of a "life sentence" has become severely devalued.

[Labster]

Consecutive life sentences? I guess there are more Indians in Canada than I thought.

Gonna be so wild to go into the maternity ward to reimprison the reincarnation of a murderer.

[classicdrogn]

Pretty sure murder is one of the things that gets you bumped down a few steps from human on your next turn around the WHeel of Samsara. They'd need to be checking with veterinarians and forest rangers.

[robkelk]

Only in Canada... There's some talk about rescheduling the only French-language leaders' debate because it conflicts with the Montreal Canadiens' final regular-season game.

[Dartz]

A 'Life-sentence' doesn't necessarily mean spending the rest of your life in prison. Parole is a thing.

Consecutive life-sentences just means the time before parole comes up stretches longer than a century, instead of 10-25 years or so.


Once you get much past 30 years behind bars, it's basically a slow death sentence anyway. Just letting nature be the executioner.

[robkelk]

Only in Canada... There's some talk about rescheduling the only French-language leaders' debate because it conflicts with the Montreal Canadiens' final regular-season game.

The debate has been pushed forward by two hours.

And whoever wins the hockey game (Montreal or Columbus) gets to go to the playoffs this year, so, yeah, there's a matter of patriotism on the line here.

[robkelk]

Well, Montreal's going to the playoffs... which is more interesting than anything that came out of the debate.

Other than a comment from the moderator about how nobody's released a costed platform yet.

[robkelk]

Federal leaders’ English debate in 6 minutes

So... did I mention that Montreal's going to the playoffs? No knockouts, no major gaffes (one minor one), no surprise announcements. No post-debate press conferences other than the one the NDP did on their own dime, either.

[robkelk]

Election campaigning is on hold today because of the mass killing at the Lapu Lapu festival.

Tomorrow is election day.