Canadopers: Political Party Leanings vs US Party Leanings.

Great Debates
21

It might be easier for our American friends to tell us where our parties fall with respect to the Republican/Democrat axis. So I’ve gone and summarized the Conservative Policy paper (pdf) from 2005. I’ll try to get around to the Liberal one (assuming I can find it), but after wading through a 50 odd page policy paper it may take me a moment to work up the needed enthusiasm

At the moment I’d put the Conservatives down as moderate democrats

Disclaimer : I have cut some bits out and collapsed others. Likely some of my biases will seep through, if so feel free to call me on them.

Conservative Policy Platform 2005

Governance
• Free votes on all but budget votes
• Supreme Court judges recommended by the Justice Committee must be approved by a parliamentary free vote
• Triple E Senate evolution and current vacancies to be filled by democratically elected senators should they be available for the seat.
• Placement of Property Rights in the constitution
• Federal reform to address Quebec’s exclusion from 1982 and western alienation

Taxation
• Balanced budget legislation with an override clause
• Debt to GDP ratio drive below 20% as soon as possible
• Reduce personal income tax
• Raise personal/spousal exemptions
• Reduce business tax
• Reduce Capital gains tax
• Reduce payroll tax
• Reduce difference between single and double income families

Economic
• Reduce for-profit business subsides
• Update the Investment Act to take into account supply security, technology transfer and anti-trust concerns
• Work with international trade organization to reduce trade barriers
• Relax foreign ownership limitations
• Privatize crown corporations that directly compete with existing for profit businesses

Infrastructure
• Reduce federal gas tax to allow the provinces to raise funds for provincial/territorial and municipal infrastructure
• Move to reduce inter provincial barrier to trade, labour and capital

Energy
• Establish a framework to address commitments and domestic supply requirements
• Reduce barriers to cross border (provincial/international) movement of energy products

Environment
• Review Kyoto and other environmental initiatives
• Adopt a new strategy internationally
• Tax credits for transportation/commercial solutions
• Cap on smog pollutants
• Promote alternative and transitional fuels
• Pursue offshore exploration

Health
• Maintain reasonable access to timely, qualifies care regardless of ability to pay
• Addition of 6th principle to Canada Health Act to enshrine stable funding
• Allow provinces to mix public and private solutions to care while maintaining public funding
• Set national standards
• Maintain 20 year patents on drugs
• Supports funding of catastrophic drug coverage for Canadians
• Speed drug approvals
• Implement a 3 year moratorium on embryonic stem cell research and focusing on post-natal methods
• No regulation of abortion

Social policy
• Family unit is paramount
• Parliament is the vehicle to define marriage and would do so in a free vote
• Marriage is 1 man and 1 woman
• Would allow religious organizations to determine their own practices with respect to marriage
• Parents are in eth best position to determine their children’s needs
• Women are entitles to equal pay for work of equal value
• Supports Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Old Age Security (OAS)
• Work with provinces on homeless issues
• Introduction of a Disability Act to ensure Canadians with disabilities can access medical care. Equipment, transportation and education

Aboriginal Affairs
• Divorce Northern development from Aboriginal affairs
• Replace the Indian Act with legislation to for full devolution of legal and democratic responsibilities to first nations
• Transparency of public expenditures at both band and federal levels
• Canadian constitution is paramount with respect to aboriginal rights
• Transference of reserve land titles from the crown to willing first nations

Justice
• A person is automatically considered a dangerous offender following 3 death/serious injury offenses
• Establishment of a sex offender registry
• Stricter treatment of criminals
• Revamped gun control program
• Revamped Young Offenders act
• Increased focus on organized crime
• Elimination of all defenses for child pornography
• Raise the age of consent from 14 to 16

Diversity
• Support a multicultural community
• Support the official bilingualism act

Agriculture
• Eliminate the Wheat Board
• Support supply management for industries that current require supply management protection
• Work with provinces to maintain/study fisheries
• Work with coastal provinces to increase provincial management over fisheries
• Unilaterally extend Canadian protection of fisheries to the Nose and Tail of the Grand Banks and the Flemish Cap

Foreign Affairs
• Focus on Canadian sovereignty and interests
• Promote democratic principles and human rights
• Integrate human rights with international relations and trade
• Link foreign aid to measurable accounting

National Defense
• The priority would be on Sovereignty protection, domestic defense, and finally shared North American defense
• Continue international peace and security mission
• Promote a multi-role, combat capable air, ground, and sea force
• Increase the number of front line troops. Forces move to 75000 personnel and increase the number of reserves
• Increase investment to match European NATO allies’ average % of GDP
• Increase training and recruitment
• Reduce rank overhead
• Participate in negotiations on NA Missile defense
• Support NORAD as the vehicle for NA defense
• Centralize intelligence through a National intelligence agency
• Increase CSIS’ foreign intelligence capabilities

22

They’d fit in well with the Conservative/Libertarian party sector of the Republican party, although not all the issues are identical.

That one would cause a lot of trouble in some regions. In the US, there is no official language, but a lot of people **do not ** like the use of Spanish in ppublic discourse, for a lot of reasons practical and political.

The ntoe on “supporting a multicultural community” could get construed the wrong way. Most Americans are fine eating Chinese food and so on, but they don’t want racial ghettoes like you see in Europe.

23

Really? I would’ve thought the public financing of health care would put them solidly outside a libertarian party.

“Multi-cultural” in the Canadian context you need think of it as a mosaic rather than a melting pot. The analogy isn’t quiet right but close. At this point the Canadian identity is that we’re a mix of cultures rather than a monolithic structure newcomers must adapt too. I will admit that’s not quite right either. :slight_smile:

As to the bilingualism, it’s currently a fact of life for a country formed by the at times uneasy interdependence of the original English and French colonies.

24

Whether or not the Conservatives (or any Canadian political party) really want either of those policies, they are both political neccessities in Canada. They are two of Pierre Trudeau’s most lasting and far reaching effects on Canada (I was going to say successes, but some no doubt, in the West, would take issue with that). Both these concepts were brought into fruition by him and have worked their way into the Canadian identity. It’d be kind of like coming out against baseball and a strong military in the States.

On a more practical level, any party that went against either of these two planks would instantly kiss-off Toronto and Quebec. Toronto is fully half immigrants (I might add, harmoniously so) and would likely see any kind of attack against multiculturalism as an attack on them. An English speaking party that went against official bilingualism would say goodbye to getting votes from Quebec (even though Quebec is itself not an officially bilingual province). That’s about 1/3 of Parliament right there.

25

Yes, but its still mostly a conservative/libertarian alliance party, like in the Republican party.

Canada does not, it seems, have an actual identity. They are defined more or less by what they are not rather than what they are: everything in North America not a part of Mexico or the US (leaving aside some small panhandle states). The “mosaic” identity you speak of is an extension of this. It is a “default” identity but not a positive one.
but those differences are a result of simply being Canadian, not US, and so don’t have a huge bearing on the issue.

26

True to a certain extent but decreasingly so in recent years. That was certainly the national navel-gazing question for a long time, being that we’re so close to the US and no one else, and there’s 10 times as many of you. There’s definitely a resurgence in something I call “beer-bottle patriotism”, sort of seizing on the differences and adopting that as an identity – healthcare, peacekeeping (though strangely, anti-military – we really have to figure that one out if we actually want to retain our influence), and a sort of general welcoming, forgiving nature. Polite arrogance, if you will. :slight_smile:

27

That’s true if you assume that a “National identity” must by definition be structured around culture.

Who says it has to be? Equating nationalism with culture isn’t necessarily the only way to look at national identity. In Canada’s case, a national identity primarily based along one’s civic relationship with others, rather than cultural commonality, is just as good an identity as any, isn’t it?

28

Then how does your country’s government manage to function at all? :wink:

Where is the “tyranny of the majority” in the European Union? It is a defining characteristic of multinational government that there is no “majority” except occasionally on specific issues.

29

Green Party looks like the far left of the Democrats or maybe closer to the faction that Nader appeals to.

Green Party Platform 2004

Social
• Raise parental leave benefits
• Tax incentives for businesses that provide flexible work schedules and on site child care
• Create a federal model for child care
• Enforce pay equity for women
• Raise education levels on diet/lifestyle choices
• Enhance pre-natal/early years support in all communities
• Support nation wide healthy snack/lunch programs for K-12

Health
• Reinforce publicly run, publicly funded universal health care
• Create opportunities for outdoor physical activity
• Work to have proven complimentary health care covered by Canada Health act (Chiropractor, herbal treatment)
• Provide incentives to companies to reduce stress and improve emotional health of employees
• Reduce obesity by 15
• Reduce breast, colon, lung and prostate cancer by 15%
• Encourage full cost pricing of tobacco and junk food
• Continue aboriginal and general population health initiatives
• Support community self help/advocacy groups
• Reexamine pharmaceutical treatments for mental health

Equality
• Implement a proportional system of voting to better enable women to reach 50% representation with elected officials
• Create tax incentives for companies to help meet gender and pay equity for women
• Loan forgiveness for working graduates of child care programs
• Increase funding for women’s shelters and programs
• Support UN initiatives to eliminate discrimination and violence against women

Cities
• Support the establishment of municipal charters
• Create new funding networks for local housing/child care/health programs
• Negotiate agreement to share federal tax revenues with cities

Education
• Increase early childhood education funds
• Free tuition for seniors attending college or university
• Reduce tuition in general
• Boost co-op/apprenticeship programs

Social Justice
• Ensure within 5 years hunger and malnutrition are eliminated
• Reform economic measures to include social progress

Industry
• Tax breaks for ISO9000/14000 companies
• Accelerate introduction of green technology
• Create incentives for employee ownership and open book management
• Legislate emissions trading to cap, trade and reduce CO[sub]2[/sub] and other gases
• Reduce carcinogens, mutagens, neurotoxins and endocrine disrupting chemicals introduction into the food chain
• Create jobs by taxing the raw materials more and the employees less

Agriculture
• Reform agriculture markets to ensure farmers get a fair share of consumer dollars
• Protect supply management
• Halt the spread of GM foods
• Encourage the transition to organic agriculture
• Tax pesticide use
• Shift federal funding of biotechnology to sustainable food production

Waste Management
• Require accurate reporting and set timeline for extended producer responsibility program,
• Promote technology that uses sewage as an energy source
• Public education on waste, recycling and conservation
• Dedicated funding for municipal waste water management and safe water supply

Governance
• Quarterly financial reports of agencies, programs and elected officials
• Immediate release of publicly funded poll results
• Mandatory ethic training for newly elected members
• Electronic notification for interested citizen regarding issues they care about
• Broadcast committee meetings and “town hall” style citizen meetings over the internet
• Involve citizens in the preparation of a national business plan, as well as a review of that plan every four years, to ensure that government programs deliver the best value for the money invested.
• Flatten hierarchies, empower front line civil servants and reduce the number of managers by 25% over a period of four years.
• Establish “whistleblower” protection for civil servants and commission ombudsmen who report their findings to the public.
• Make customer service improvements a priority for all agencies and departments.
• Change hiring, compensation and advancement policies to reinvigorate the civil service.
• Establishment of proportional representation
• Establishment of fixed election dates
• Establishment of mid-term referendums to better guide fiscal and social policy

Energy
• Reduce energy demands and create good jobs through conservation and efficiency measures.
• Develop renewable and alternative energy sources to phase out fossil fuel and nuclear power within fifty years.
• Focus on future energy and soft energy technologies.

Fiscal
• Increase gasoline and diesel taxes by ten cents per liter over three years.
• Phase in a tax of $10 per ton on coal consumption over three years.
• Remove tax breaks on pesticides. • Exclude ethanol blends and biodiesel from fuel tax increases.
• Use half the revenue from pollution taxes to decrease income taxes — one quarter for efficiency-increasing tax breaks and one quarter toward industry initiatives that reduce fuel consumption.

Environment
• Support Kyoto
• Expand R-2000 standard
• Provide support to home owners to upgrade homes to new standard
• Revive housing programs via credit/loan guarantees to non-profit organizations and co-operatives
• Work with provinces, First Nations and the logging industry to create national standards that ensure the sustainability of our forests.
• Reform tenure and stumpage fees to encourage selective logging.
• Ban clear-cutting and conserve remaining old growth in federally managed forests.
• Place a 100% export duty on raw logs and use the proceeds to invest in “value added” forestry.
• Promote alternatives to wood as sources of paper fibre — such as hemp and kenaf.
• Work with other nations to eliminate unsustainable fishing on the high seas, create a system of marine sanctuaries and claim sovereignty over all parts of Canada’s coastal shelves.
• Fundamentally alter the management of fisheries by introducing adaptive ecosystem- and community-based methods that support sustainable fisheries.
• Restore ecosystem health to degraded regions of Canada’s oceans by funding sewage treatment programs and river pollution reduction.
• Promote the life-cycle product stewardship of metals.
• Ensure that all mining operations are insured for environmental liabilities and have a pre-funded plan for remediation when the mine is closed.
• Rescind all uranium-mining permits and prohibit the export of fissionable nuclear material.
• Allow cities to license smaller, more efficient vehicles and exercise more control over local transportation policies.
• Work with Canada’s railway companies to improve our rail infrastructure and restore VIA rail service to all major cities.
• Provide fiscal stability for municipal light-rail and subway investments by inking a ten-year funding contract with our cities.
• Cancel federal subsidies for highways and traffic systems and implement a GST “feebate” program to promote fuel-efficient cars and trucks.
• Create a national “clean trucking” initiative, which will redirect fuel tax expenditures to the improvement of fleet efficiency and safety.
Justice and Human Rights
• Use restorative justice, rather than prison for first time non-violent offenders.
• Decriminalize non-compliance with the national firearms registry and eliminate registration fees.
• Legalize and tax the production and consumption of marijuana.
• Recommend that provinces create safe injection clinics, needle exchange programs and access for certified addicts to prescriptions for “safe doses.”
• Respect and uphold the decision of the British Columbia and Ontario Supreme Courts allowing gay marriage.
• Legislate a Disabilities Act for Canada.
First Nations
• Honour Canada’s fiduciary responsibility to Aboriginal peoples.
• Legislate primary or “first use” hunting, fishing, trapping and logging rights for Aboriginal and Métis peoples in traditional lands under federal jurisdiction, subject to mutually agreeable definitions of sustainable harvests.
• Support a process to address governance issues, legislative inconsistencies, policy inequities, reconciliation and the dismantling of the Department of Indian Affairs
• Make their culture and history a mandatory component of Canadian history.
• Support the development of education curricula that are language and culture specific.
• Deliver heath care, education and other services in a way that incorporates traditional practices, recognizing the role of extended families and elders.

Foreign Affairs
• Establish a rapid response force that will:
• Promote and support the United Nations’ international missions.
• Deliver humanitarian aid and assistance.
• Focus on preventing the outbreak of hostilities and the protection of civilians.
• Support the implementation of environmental protection measures.

• Commit only to those military actions that have been sanctioned by Canada’s Parliament and the United Nations.
• Work to increase the influence of the International Court of Justice.
• Declare Canada a military nuclear-free zone and abstain from participating in the development of space-based weapons.
• Advocate for the creation of viable and secure states for both Israelis and Palestinians.
• Support the provision of royalty-free medicine for Africa.
• Support self-governance for Tibetan and Kurdish peoples.
• Work to establish a standing international peacekeeping force under UN control.
• Propose a reform of the UN Security Council, eliminating permanent memberships and vetoes.
• Renegotiate our multilateral trade agreements to include “fair trade” tariffs that protect human rights and our ecosystems.
• Propose a reform of the WTO, the IMF and the World Bank, having them placed under the authority of the UN general assembly.

30

Ah, and the link. Green Party platform 2004 (not pdf)

31

How exactly do the Greens differ from the NDP?

32

Have you noticed that our contry has come to the verge of breaking up several times?

You have to be kidding. France and Germany run roughshod over the other European Union nations. They violated the debt guidelines they helped put in place, as soon as it suited their interests. The Constitution appears to be going down in flames, precisely because smaller countries are starting to get a whiff of the second-class status they’ll have, and because France is worried that the poorer nations in the EU will flood their country with cheap labor.

The Euro is also starting to be a problem because it makes it harder for nations to control their own fiscal policy. You know, a few decades ago we had a lot of countries pegging their dollar to the U.S. dollar in an attempt at a sort of ‘world currency’. Then a Canadian won the nobel prize in economics for pointing out that floating exchange rates are actually a very good thing, as is the ability of individual countries to control their money supply.

Look around the world at nations that have widely disparate populations, and you’ll see all kinds of problems. Canada has problems with Quebec and with the West. Russia has problems all over the place with its ethnically diverse population. China has problems with Tibet and Taiwan.

Now try and imagine a world government that has to balance the interests of sub-saharan Africa, China, the U.S., and India. Same minimum wages? Same health care? Who gets funds for which projects? How do you draft a constitution that enshrines western secularism - and sharia law?

Finally, those who want a world government seem to believe that it will be the kind of government they like. How would you like a world government - run by George Bush? Or Vladimir Putin? Still sound like a good idea?

33

Same but different. The NDP are putting a policy paper together and I’ll try to get around to summarizing it if I can. Perhaps matt_mcl can drop by and give you a better view.

So was I close when I placed them with the Nader supporters or was I too close to the centre? :slight_smile:

34

Yes, but I also notice you always manage to patch things up and keep going as a binational state. It’s clearly not an insurmountable problem.

Which is irrelevant. It’s news to me other Europeans regard the EU as a Franco-German empire in any sense – and even if that were true, it would not be an instance of the “tyranny of the majority,” because France and Germany together do not form a numerical majority of the EU’s population (and neither does any other country or block of countries); it would be an instance of the tyranny of money, based on France’s and Germany’s economic predominance.

Which only means the EU will continue under its existing treaties. Any member state could secede if it wished, but nobody wants to. Wonder why?

All that might be true, but according to The United States of Europe, by T.R. Reid (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1594200335/qid=1117770472/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/102-7975050-7768948?v=glance&s=books&n=507846), most Europeans seem to feel the advantages of the euro (in particular, being able to spend it anywhere in Europe without going through a currency exchange) outweigh the disadvantages. Furthermore, the euro has been gaining strength relative to the dollar ever since it was issued, and within the next decade it might well supplant the dollar as the world’s reserve currency of choice. IOW, apparently they’re doing something right!

I’m thinking of a world government modeled on the EU – introduced by gradual, experimental stages, with the member states ceding some of their sovereignty and retaining some. Remember, the EU started out as a simple coal-and-steel tarriff union. And some of its members still have official churches, and that does not appear to present any problem at the Union level. And the idea of the EU evolving into a centralized dictatorship like Putin’s Russia is laughable.

35

The country is still young. Ask us again in 50 years.

Either way, a world government is going to have factions, and they are going to control the show. How would you like to be on the outside of that power, with no options? Espeecially if the powerful hold values you abhor?

Because an EU structured as sovereign nations who share numerous treaties on cross-border travel, free trade, and the like makes a lot of sense. Trying to go futher and melt everyone into one mega-state is where the problems arise.

Sure, a common currency makes sense in some cases, when the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. That doesn’t mean a worldwide currency makes any sense. The U.S., for instance, would get all the drawbacks of being tied to other’s fiscal policy, with almost none fo the benefits since the population is geographically remote.

Which is meaningless. Any currency can be inflated or deflated to have some arbitrary value against the dollar. The Euro zone economy doesn’t look very good if you start looking at things that matter, like unemployment rates, economic growth, deficits, and structural imbalances in their economies (the U.S.'s problems with Medicare and Social Security are nothing compared to what Europe is facing).

Europe is in big economic trouble, for many reasons.

Or how about one modelled on the U.N., where the leaders are corrupt, tyrants chair the human rights commission, Blue Helmeted soldiers rape the populations they are supposed to protect, and which has utterly failed to stop aggression by anyone for decades?