We do things differently in the Great White North. 

Unlike the American Election campaigning which has been going on for months and will continue to generate OT posts well after it is over in November, the Canadian Federal Election was called back in Mid-May, and it will all be over on Monday, without attention on the list. (until now :-)

The two main parties in Canada are the Conservative and the Liberals. They are roughly analogous to the Republicans and Democrats, but as one Canadian expatriate once pointed out on the list, the Canadian parties would both register far to the left of their American counterparts. If this was the U.S. for example, there would probably be a Senate sub-committee asking people, "Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the Liberal Party?" (Mostly because one of our former Liberal Prime Ministers once Canoed to Cuba to have tea with his buddy Castro but maybe also because they introduced a Gun Registry recently which restricts our G_do given right to bear arms)

After the Liberals and Conservatives there is the NDP (New Democratic Party) which would probably be regarded as Communist in the U.S. They are followed by the Party Quebecois (PQ) which doesn't have an American equivalent since the days of the Confederates. Part of the PQ goal is to separate Quebec from the rest of Canada. They only run candidates in the province of Quebec and therefore can't win enough seats to form the government, but they tend to win most of the seats in Quebec and a few years ago they were actually the official opposition.

We also have the Green party,  the Official Communist party, and several others right on down to the Yogic Flyers who want to run Canada by Transcendental Meditation, but they don't hold any seats at the moment although there have been communists elected in the past, and the Green Party might pick up a seat or two in this election.

The latest polls indicate a virtual tie between the Liberals and the Conservatives (much like their American counterparts). In Canada this means that we will likely have a minority government with the Liberals and Conservatives holding a similar number of seats but neither holding a clear majority. Whoever forms the next government will probably do so by making an alliance with either the NDP or PQ, who would then end up holding the balance of power.

This is likely a scary thought to Americans that some leftist party holds the balance of power, but from past experience Canadians have learned that it doesn't seem to make a lot of difference who gets elected. The cynical amongst us might say that they are all liars. At least the minority government forces those with different opinions to work together.

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Bruce Collins                        <[log in to unmask]> 
Technical Specialist             Phone : (514) 273-0008 
Lee Merrick & Assoc.          Fax      : (514) 273-0199
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