Yes, and while I prefer the New Zealand system (MMP) I still cry about how much voter accuracy your two countries have ingrained into your elections. In Canada, the political incentives have encouraged apathy or opposition to pr.
Well, yeah, everything in Australia has teeth. Or mandibles. Or venom spurs, or something worse.
true dat…
We might see less apathy in Canada as Canadians by and large are a bit anti-US and that has blown up in spades.
I’m not anti-American and know more than half the country disagrees with bad policies.
Mandatory voting seems okay, but also if you do not want to bother getting informed I am okay if you also do not vote.
FPTP has advantages and drawbacks. If a minority government means rubber stamping everything, it is not much different from a majority government. Since the policies of all the mainstream Canadian parties are more similar than different (differing slightly in emphasis and degree), and since voters have often rejected alternatives, I’m not sure reform is a priority.
Well that makes sense. You’ll have to forgive me. I’m from Alberta, where we assume that everywhere else in Canada works the same way we do. 
Just checked my card: 7 to 7, but the early voting days, it’s 9 to 9.
I’m from Québec so I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to just expect you to do things the way they’re done here! Pourquoi pas?!?
I wasn’t intending to correct you, but I found the question interesting and had the card in front of me for easy reference.
Thing is, Canada is a HUGE country with a lot of different people and practices, so I just assumed everywhere had the same parameters. But it doesn’t, and your account is much appreciated by people like me. I’ve been to Quebec twice in my life now, once last summer, and it really is a lovely place.
Abacus Data crunches numbers to try to work out why Carney and the Liberals are currently leading.
Their conclusion:
The most consistent and powerful predictor of a Liberal vote is a sense that Mark Carney is the better choice to manage the economy and deal with Donald Trump. Among all the variables we tested—from education to gender to impressions of Pierre Poilievre—Carney’s perceived strength on economic management was the standout.
Wow. You guys are actually going to vote for the best-qualified candidate?
P.S. Or will most voters, at least consciously, vote for whomever they prefer to be their MP?
I think PM and party usually take probity over local MP, unless the local MP is a stand-out, one way or another.
This guy, for example, has been in the news nationally, even though he’s a candidate in Ontario:
https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.7505092
ETA: Sorry, CBC links no longer display properly. Here’s the headline:
Muslim group, constituents call for Andrew Lawton’s removal as Conservative candidate in southern Ontario
A guy with a BA in economics from Harvard, an MA and a PhD in economics from Oxford, governor of two different central banks.
versus:
a professional politician, whose entire resume is partisan political positions, first as a staffer and eventually an MP.
Who would you choose?
Our regular poll is about 80m away as the crow flies, but about 600m walking distance. Maybe I should just hop the fence…
For me, election day poll is about 15 minutes walk.
Advance poll is a drive, to a local community centre; about 15 minutes drive.
Local Returning Office, to vote now, is likely about a 25 minute drive.
In my experience, yes, this is it. We may vote for Joe Blow, but he’s a Liberal, and we all know that a vote for Blow is really a vote for Carney. Besides, Blow will end up being a backbencher (most times), maybe making a speech at some point, maybe asking a question in Question Period, but otherwise not making much of a difference.
But it does work the other way, as @Northern_Piper pointed out. When I was a child, Mitchell Sharp (Liberal) was our riding’s MP. He was also Minister of External Affairs, and very good in that position, and thus was always elected by our voters. Our riding always waffled between Liberals and Conservatives, and if the Liberals had replaced Sharp with the unknown Joe Blow, the Liberals might have lost. But regardless, Sharp running practically guaranteed the Liberals a win in our riding. Even local Conservatives had to agree that he was doing a good job as Minister of External Affairs.
Similar with
Paul Martin too
I think in today’s hyper-partisan environment, that wouldn’t likely happen with supporters from across the aisle.
versus:
An unread and unworldly property developer without experience in public office or governance, a profile singularly based around reality TV, a fraught relationship with emoluments with Reed Smoot and Willis C. Hawley as his principle economic advisors.
Who would you choose?
If Joe Flaherty was running in my riding he would definitely get my vote. Loved him in 3-D House of Pancakes.
