Kudos to Fox News

[Goofball]

Never thought I'd say that. Yikes.

The reason? Canadians are at the polls today, choosing a parliament and prime minister.

Neither CNN nor MSNBC had anything about that on their websites that I could find.

Fox did.

Now, don't get me wrong. On the world stage, I realize that Canada is a relatively small nation. But we are also the U.S.'s closest neighbor and a very large trading partner. I found it surprising how little coverage this was getting. Especially given the fact that there is a possibility of the Conservatives winning a majority. I figured Fox would cover it out of glee, and the other two out of horror...

[PanzerJaeger]

Fox gets a lot of criticism, but is essentially no worse than the other two cable outfits - just in the other direction.

Well, no. Fox and CNN are equally biased in opposite directions. MSNBC is a completely different animal.

Will you be voting Conservative Goof? From what little I know the PM has done a fairly good job... from what little I know. ~;)

[Tribesman]

Neither CNN nor MSNBC had anything about that on their websites that I could find.

both do as does CBS , just go to the section that says "world" then go to the section that says "Americas" .

[Meneldil]

Will you be voting Conservative Goof? From what little I know the PM has done a fairly good job... from what little I know. ~;)

That's not what I understood after 2 months in Canada.
But then, most of my relations are political sciences or history students/professors, and those are not known as traditionally right-leaning guys.

[Not PC version] From what I've been told, Stephen Harper is an *** who basicaly screwed up everything he did.

[Big_John]

what is a "canada"?

[HoreTore]

I think it's some kind of polar bear.

[CountArach]

Well, no. Fox and CNN are equally biased in opposite directions. MSNBC is a completely different animal.
I would say that MSNBC and Fox are roughly comparable. Both do hatchet jobs on the 'other' candidate and are clearly biased. CNN is biased towards the Democrats, but it is nowhere near as obvious or as overt as MSNBC.

My 2 cents.

[Hosakawa Tito]

Looks like Harper did not get his majority, but the Liberals still lost seats.

[TinCow]

I would say that MSNBC and Fox are roughly comparable. Both do hatchet jobs on the 'other' candidate and are clearly biased. CNN is biased towards the Democrats, but it is nowhere near as obvious or as overt as MSNBC.

My 2 cents.

I actually switched to MSNBC for my morning news from CNN about a year ago due to CNN's bias and also their total lack of journalistic integrity. IMO, CNN has turned into a tabloid. MSNBC in general isn't much better (i.e. Olberman), but I only watch it in the morning when Morning Joe is on. I've got to say, I like that program. Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski play off well against each other, and I feel like that program achieves a respectable level of neutrality on the political scale. At least better than CNN and Fox. As noted, that's the only thing I watch on MSNBC though. What I have seen of the rest is extremely biased.

IMO, if you want neutral reporting, you can't do much better than the BBC. They do an admirable job of sticking to the facts and keeping opinion out of it.

[drone]

Of course Fox News will cover it. Once Obama is elected and Congress is securely in the hands of the Democrats, there will be a flood of conservatives migrating north. They need to be informed! ~D

Edit-> The WaPo is paying attention:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/14/AR2008101402954.html?hpid=sec-world
Looks like the Conservatives win more seats, but still don't get a majority.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

[Not PC version] From what I've been told, Stephen Harper is an *** who basicaly screwed up everything he did.

:inquisitive:

Alright then...

[Meneldil]

Funny night, we had some 'election party' (ie. watching the results on TV while drinking beers) at the university pub.

I was one of the few guys wearing a blue 'Conservative Party' T-shirt, in a sea of of Orange 'New Democratic Party' people, pretending to be some kind of European far-right-leaning-crazy-nutjob.

The Green Party almost got one seat, too bad for them.

And long live to non-proportional representation: the Bloc Quebecois getting like 50 seats with much less votes than the NDP (who got something like 36) is good stuff (or not).

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

I was one of the few guys wearing a blue 'Conservative Party' T-shirt, in a sea of of Orange 'New Democratic Party' people, pretending to be some kind of European far-right-leaning-crazy-nutjob.


Canada doesn't really have any far-right parties. ~;) From the situation you described, I'm guessing that you were at a university in either Ontario or Quebec, and probably in an urban centre. No wonder there was all of the "Conservative Party is evil" nonsense.

[Meneldil]

Canada doesn't really have any far-right parties. ~;) From the situation you described, I'm guessing that you were at a university in either Ontario or Quebec, and probably in an urban centre. No wonder there was all of the "Conservative Party is evil" nonsense.

They have Christian Heritage, which seems pretty far-righteous on my political radar (aswell as some weird people in the conservative party). Admitedly it's a really small party, but it does exist. And some Quebecer nationalists seem quite far-right leaning aswell.

And yeah, I'm in Ontario, but in a pretty redneck-ish area in Northern Ontario. That doesn't make the conservative party any less evil.
I think by now it's well know that right = evil anyway :clown:

[Koga No Goshi]

I can't pretend to even passingly follow most Canadian politics, but can someone explain to me the right-wing-ness of the Quebec area? I've heard about this for years, but what confuses me is that French is virtually synonymous with, by American standards, being super leftie, no?

::Confusion::

[CountArach]

I can't pretend to even passingly follow most Canadian politics, but can someone explain to me the right-wing-ness of the Quebec area? I've heard about this for years, but what confuses me is that French is virtually synonymous with, by American standards, being super leftie, no?

::Confusion::
The Parti Quebcois (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parti_Qu%C3%A9b%C3%A9cois) are Social Democrats. That's not right-wing at all.

[Meneldil]

Yeah, the Parti Quebecois is social democrat, and so is the Bloc Quebecois (though more conservative on some specific social issues).
But then, you have some crazy right-wing quebecer nationalists, who don't necessarily affiliate with a party (I could point you to the Herouxville (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herouxville) affair)

When I went to Northern Quebec at least, I met some people who did put way too much of an emphasis on frenchness and catholicism in my opinion.

[lars573]

The Parti Quebcois (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parti_Qu%C3%A9b%C3%A9cois) are Social Democrats. That's not right-wing at all.
Any of their Social Democrat tendancies come second to their "Vive Quebec libre" nationalism.

Also here are some charts showing the results.

This one (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/Canadian-Federal-2008.png) shows the names of the ridings who had won it last election, who had it when parliment was dissolved and who won it this time.

This (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0e/Canada2008.PNG) is anctual map of the ridings. And who vote for what party. The darker the party colour the stronger the vote for them. And looking at it you can see northern Ontario voted NDP. Another thing to note is that Newfoundland's premier (one Danny Williams) was running anactive campagin against the feberal conservative party (ABC or anyone but consevative program). This is note worthy as Harper and Williams are both convservatives.

EDIT: On a more personal note. The riding I live in is Sackville Eastern shore, the small orange speck above the text on the second map that says Dartmouth-Cole harbour. Where an NDP MP has been elected 5 times since 1997. I've voted for him.

EDIT2: Every riding is about 60,000 on average.

[Koga No Goshi]

So basically, the nefarious reputation of Quebecois for being some super nationalist right wing element, refers only to a small separatist party, and not Quebec overall? Is that correct?

[Goofball]

That's not what I understood after 2 months in Canada.
But then, most of my relations are political sciences or history students/professors, and those are not known as traditionally right-leaning guys.

[Not PC version] From what I've been told, Stephen Harper is an *** who basicaly screwed up everything he did.

I voted Conservative, as I have in every federal election since I have been old enough to vote.

Meneldil, I would suggest that you should form your own opinions rather than just listening to others for those opinions. The people you are talking about obviously have no idea what they are talking about.

Stephen Harper has not "screwed up" anything that he has tried to do. Even governing from a minority position, he has still managed to implement just about everything that he wanted to do. He is a very serious individual, even somewhat lacking in personality because of his single-minded intent to govern as he believes to be proper. A "screw-up" he definitely is not.

Now, it would certainly be fair to say that many believe his policies are wrong, but find me any politician where at leat 40% of the population wouldn't believe that to be true. But saying he has screwed up what he has tried to do is completely inaccurate.

[Louis VI the Fat]

I was one of the few guys wearing a blue 'Conservative Party' T-shirt, in a sea of of Orange 'New Democratic Party' people, pretending to be some kind of European far-right-leaning-crazy-nutjob.Hilarious. :beam: :2thumbsup:


I am soo jealous! Getting to spend two months in Northern Ontario! Shoving three meters of snow out of the way just to get to class, rednecks everywhere, possibly mosquitoes too. I wish I were there with you!
I mean, who'd go to study a few months in Buenos Aires, Australia or California when one can also go to Northern Ontario. :smash:

[lars573]

Stephen Harper has not "screwed up" anything that he has tried to do. Even governing from a minority position, he has still managed to implement just about everything that he wanted to do. He is a very serious individual, even somewhat lacking in personality because of his single-minded intent to govern as he believes to be proper. A "screw-up" he definitely is not.
Actually he has screwed up somethings. But only one was a policy issue, the fixed election date legislation that he was so hot for. You know the one he broke for political expendiancy. His other screw-ups were more PR than policy.

My own distrust of him is not based merely on him conservative (to me that's kinda stupid). It's the ultra right wing nut jobs his party habours.


So basically, the nefarious reputation of Quebecois for being some super nationalist right wing element, refers only to a small separatist party, and not Quebec overall? Is that correct?
Separatist party, yes. Small, that depends. While there are super nationalist elements, they aren't right wing. They are left wing.