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Post by anti-nonsense on May 9, 2011 1:37:14 GMT -5
I voted Liberal to keep the Conservatives out of my riding (the Liberal won, fortunately, though it was a bit of a nail-biter), but I'd rather have voted NDP.
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Post by katz on May 9, 2011 9:39:02 GMT -5
As for Elizabeth May, I lived in her original riding and she's pretty grating. She'd launch personal attacks on her opponents (once insulted his mother during a debate) and is personally pro-life, so... At least she's harmless. There you go, spoiling my view of a candidate I actually liked. Seriously, though, bringing someone's mother into a debate is hopelessly childish. Do you recall her exact remarks? It was a 2008 debate at the riding's university. Peter MacKay (Conservative and the Minister of Defense) has a mother who's active in some Grannies for Peace group and May interrupted his statement on a war-related question with "Well, your mother agrees with us! Either you're wrong or your mother's wrong!". Pretty much everyone in the room cringed. I think MacKay responded with something like "My mother isn't the one running for MP."
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Post by HarleyThomas1002 on May 9, 2011 13:38:25 GMT -5
Wow. That is in incredibly poor taste.
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Post by Mlle Antéchrist on May 9, 2011 23:51:44 GMT -5
It was a 2008 debate at the riding's university. Peter MacKay (Conservative and the Minister of Defense) has a mother who's active in some Grannies for Peace group and May interrupted his statement on a war-related question with "Well, your mother agrees with us! Either you're wrong or your mother's wrong!". Pretty much everyone in the room cringed. I think MacKay responded with something like "My mother isn't the one running for MP." Not quite as bad as I was expecting, but still a low blow. Bringing people's families into a debate is just plain childish. As a side note, I'm not sure why she thought she could go up against Peter MacKay in the 2008 election. I wasn't at all surprised that she didn't get a seat. Switching over to a riding in BC was a smart move on her part. Edit: Also, about the environmental issues you brought up earlier: It seems that a lot of people share your concerns in that area, even out here in oil-loving Alberta. Global Calgary ran a poll asking whether people felt the government needed to do more for the environment, with 64% responding with "yes".
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Post by katz on May 10, 2011 10:01:11 GMT -5
Honestly, in context of moderate-term effects, the oil sands are the least of our concerns. A chunk of that revenue is going into making the whole industry more efficient (because the best carbon tax is a profit margin) and as we've seen with the BP spill, there are more dangerous ways to get gas.
Canada's also pretty uppity in terms of renewable energy. Something like 30% of our power comes from hydro (which has an environmental impact, but at least is renewable). We've also been planting windmills like nobody's business. We need to make sure this continues, and we also need more of an international presence to help large developing countries (the real polluting giants) get this technology.
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Post by Mlle Antéchrist on May 10, 2011 14:51:08 GMT -5
The poll wasn't specifically referring to the oil sands, though I'm sure that those factored into a lot of the "yes" answers. My own feelings on the project are rather mixed.
I completely agree with regards to helping developing countries. As for our own energy needs, I'd like to see the country switch to nuclear power as our primary energy provider, in addition to maintaining hydro power in the east. It's safer, has less of an environmental impact than most other forms of energy, and the amount of power produced per plant is more than adequate to service a large volume of people. Unfortunately, that isn't going to happen any time soon -- people were already paranoid about nuclear power, and the recent Fukishima incident hasn't helped that.
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