# The "Longest Election Campaign in Modern Canada" Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [August 2, 2015, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longest-election-campaign-in-modern-canada-thread/726807 "2015-08-02T15:45:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 29
**Author:** ![Andiethewestie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Andiethewestie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andiethewestie)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longest-election-campaign-in-modern-canada-thread/726807/561 "2015-10-15T01:50:45Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Well if he had pulled her, there wouldn’t even be an NDP candidate to vote for. I think one or two numbskull MPs is a fair price to pay for an intelligent seasoned politician as PM rather than some silly legacy candidate. Sorry but hell no. I want my candidate to be above numbskull. The liberals have put a reasonable candidate forward. It wasn’t a difficult choice. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longest-election-campaign-in-modern-canada-thread/726807/562 "2015-10-15T01:54:50Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > I wonder when the [Harper Gallery of Photos of Himself](http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=9c6b53f6-f0a2-4eca-93bb-559023144731) will be taken down. > > The reporting on this may be one reason why Harper hates Elizabeth May with the passion of a thousand burning suns… The way I interpret this is that the pictures are displayed in the Conservative Lobby room. Who else should the Conservatives be displaying in the Conservative Lobby Room? You think Trudeau or Mulcair should be on the wall of the Conservative Lobby Room? ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longest-election-campaign-in-modern-canada-thread/726807/563 "2015-10-15T02:02:43Z")
> [@Andiethewestie](#): > > Sorry but hell no. I want my candidate to be above numbskull. The liberals have put a reasonable candidate forward. It wasn’t a difficult choice. Well enjoy your reasonable yet meaningless MP and his talking head boss. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longest-election-campaign-in-modern-canada-thread/726807/564 "2015-10-15T02:16:33Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Well enjoy your reasonable yet meaningless MP and his talking head boss. You know who else had a picture of himself in his conservative HQ. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longest-election-campaign-in-modern-canada-thread/726807/565 "2015-10-15T02:23:23Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > The way I interpret this is that the pictures are displayed in the Conservative Lobby room. Who else should the Conservatives be displaying in the Conservative Lobby Room? You think Trudeau or Mulcair should be on the wall of the Conservative Lobby Room? How about past Conservative prime ministers/leaders? How about present and past Conservative members of the Cabinet? That’s the point - it’s “Harper, Party of One”. It’s “All Harper, All the Time”. But hey, we’ve just now learned that he properly followed protocol when he [hid in a closet,](http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/stephen-harper-exactly-followed-protocol-during-parliament-hill-attack-rcmp-chief) leaving MP’s behind to cover his escape. Not sure why the RCMP chose THIS WEEK to bring this up, but hey - it’s nice knowing that Harper was just following orders to hide in a closet and abandon his colleagues when danger occured. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longest-election-campaign-in-modern-canada-thread/726807/566 "2015-10-15T02:25:39Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Trudeau’s autocratic all the way. Justin Trudeau is a lot more like Stephen Harper than he is like Tom Mulcair. Under Mulcair enforces party discipline to a far higher degree than Layton did. Mulcair is autorcratic. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longest-election-campaign-in-modern-canada-thread/726807/567 "2015-10-15T02:33:01Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > How about past Conservative prime ministers/leaders? How about present and past Conservative members of the Cabinet? > > That’s the point - it’s “Harper, Party of One”. It’s “All Harper, All the Time”. > > But hey, we’ve just now learned that he properly followed protocol when he [hid in a closet,](http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/stephen-harper-exactly-followed-protocol-during-parliament-hill-attack-rcmp-chief) leaving MP’s behind to cover his escape. > > Not sure why the RCMP chose THIS WEEK to bring this up, but hey - it’s nice knowing that Harper was just following orders to hide in a closet and abandon his colleagues when danger occured. I have no idea why you would be offended by the leader of a country protecting himself, as protocol stipulates, during a terrorist attack. What is the problem with this exactly? ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longest-election-campaign-in-modern-canada-thread/726807/568 "2015-10-15T03:52:40Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > … we’ve just now learned that he properly followed protocol when he [hid in a closet,](http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/stephen-harper-exactly-followed-protocol-during-parliament-hill-attack-rcmp-chief) leaving MP’s behind to cover his escape. There’s a host of things you can complain about w.r.t. Harper’s approach to governing, his election campaign and his party’s platforms and polcies. Following the instructions of his security detail in the middle of a unknown crisis is not one of them. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longest-election-campaign-in-modern-canada-thread/726807/569 "2015-10-15T05:31:38Z")
> [@Grey](#): > > There’s a host of things you can complain about w.r.t. Harper’s approach to governing, his election campaign and his party’s platforms and polcies. > > Following the instructions of his security detail in the middle of a unknown crisis is not one of them. I agree. So why the heck is RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson making a huge deal of it NOW, 5 days before an election? Why now, when he has not mentioned anything about it before? A few people may have giggled about this months ago, but pretty much everyone assumed Harper was following some kind of security protocol. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longest-election-campaign-in-modern-canada-thread/726807/570 "2015-10-15T06:29:20Z")
It’s all a plot, of course. Harper has the RCMP in his pocket, and they are following his instructions as the Dictator’s secret police just before the pending election. :rolleyes: Seriously. Harper has many faults, but investigations take time, and police take their time on investigations, and if this incident had happened in June 2011, we’d be seeing the same thing in about August 2012. I’m undecided still, but I’m not liking how shrill the Chicken Littles are when they glom onto every little thing to show that Harper is the Devil Incarnate. “Beelzebub has a Devil put aside for me,” if I don’t vote Tory? Not likely. Honestly, people, grow up. The sky will not fall, no matter who is elected. As I have said before, the idea of Canada as a free and democratic nation, under a Constitution and Charter, is bigger than whoever rules for four years. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longest-election-campaign-in-modern-canada-thread/726807/571 "2015-10-15T07:10:43Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > Certainly there is some truth to what you say. > > But I can’t see him branding our government as “The Trudeau Government”, nor can I see him demanding that all federal employees sign a loyalty oath to him personally as a term of continued employment. > > Seriously - it’s not likely that Trudeau would have someone fired for singing a satirical song about him on his own time. Harper swung into Kim Jong Il territory with that one. Agreed. The little Hitler 'stache was all that was missing. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longest-election-campaign-in-modern-canada-thread/726807/572 "2015-10-15T07:14:32Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Personally I think it’s pretty sad so much of the “not Harper” vote has scurried to the Liberal party. Mulcair would be a far better PM than Trudeau. Despite our national pride being so tied up in not being American we seem to want a nice tidy 2 party system. It was Mulcair’s campaign to lose. They were ranked first at the beginning. Personally, I lost faith in the man when he started talking about abolishing the Senate, which will never happen anyway. There’s nothing wrong with the Senate as a legislative body; the PM just needs to appoint better people. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longest-election-campaign-in-modern-canada-thread/726807/573 "2015-10-15T08:26:02Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Honestly, people, grow up. The sky will not fall, no matter who is elected. As I have said before, the idea of Canada as a free and democratic nation, under a Constitution and Charter, is bigger than whoever rules for four years. You know, I think of a friend of mine. For ten years now (_ten years!_), he’s been screaming, shouting, about how Harper is going to put us into a Christian theocracy, about how Harper is going to lock him up for life for growing two pot plants on his kitchen windowsill, about how Harper has him in his sights, and how Harper is just waiting until he steps out of line so Buddy can be put in a re-education camp. And yet, there are no re-education camps. Nobody has been busted for growing two scrawny pot plants. Nobody is proposing a fundamentalist Christian theocracy. The other night, I caught Buddy advising acquaintances that Harper is the Anti-Christ,the Devil in disguise, except he cannot really be, because he is a fundamentalist Christian. Regardless, as Buddy sees things, Harper is evil, disgusting, a kicker of kittens, a strangler of puppies, who won’t hesitate to lock up and torture Grandma because she disagrees with him. So, he says, don’t vote Tory. Yeah, too much vitriol, and too uninformed. I may vote Tory, just to negate Buddy’s vote. Chicken Littles, the sky will not fall, and Buddies–we will still play golf next summer, and you will still bitch about the government, no matter who wins on Monday. Buddy is not a bad golfer, after all. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longest-election-campaign-in-modern-canada-thread/726807/574 "2015-10-15T09:38:39Z")
Plus ça change . . . > [@](#): > > [Liberal campaign co-chair resigns, faces possible lobbying investigation.](http://ipolitics.ca/2015/10/14/liberal-campaign-co-chair-resigns-faces-possible-lobbying-investigation/) ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longest-election-campaign-in-modern-canada-thread/726807/575 "2015-10-15T12:17:08Z")
> [@Biffster](#): > > It was Mulcair’s campaign to lose. They were ranked first at the beginning. Personally, I lost faith in the man when he started talking about abolishing the Senate, which will never happen anyway. There’s nothing wrong with the Senate as a legislative body; the PM just needs to appoint better people. Sorry I don’t buy it. Abolishing the Senate has been in the party’s platform since forever. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longest-election-campaign-in-modern-canada-thread/726807/576 "2015-10-15T13:44:24Z")
You know you’re in trouble when even the rats are abandoning ship. > **[Lynton Crosby abandons Harper - ThinkPol](https://thinkpol.ca/2015/10/15/lynton-crosby-abandons-harper/)** > > The Australian dirty tricks strategist brought in last month to salvage Stephen Harper’s re-election campaign has abandoned the Conservatives, according to the spin doctor’s partner. Lynton Crosby, who successfully revived David Cameron’s flagging... ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longest-election-campaign-in-modern-canada-thread/726807/577 "2015-10-15T13:55:34Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Honestly, people, grow up. The sky will not fall, no matter who is elected. As I have said before, the idea of Canada as a free and democratic nation, under a Constitution and Charter, is bigger than whoever rules for four years. Although I do not presently plan on voting Tory, I’ve tried making this point to people and they simply don’t listen - indeed, will become incredibly hostile to the gentle reminder that life will go on more or less as it always has. Honestly, you would think we lived in Syria or North Korea to hear how terrible it is here and how much worse it will get if the wrong party wins. ---
**Author:** ![Andiethewestie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Andiethewestie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andiethewestie)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longest-election-campaign-in-modern-canada-thread/726807/578 "2015-10-15T16:14:15Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > Well enjoy your reasonable yet meaningless MP and his talking head boss. I’ll take my chances with a lawyer who became a chaplain over a social worker who became a cable tv cement head. But that’s me. ---
**Author:** ![Andiethewestie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba9def/32.png) [@Andiethewestie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andiethewestie)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longest-election-campaign-in-modern-canada-thread/726807/579 "2015-10-15T16:15:57Z")
> [@Biffster](#): > > You know you’re in trouble when even the rats are abandoning ship. > > [Lynton Crosby abandons Harper - ThinkPol](http://thinkpol.ca/2015/10/15/lynton-crosby-abandons-harper/) There’s hope for voters yet. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longest-election-campaign-in-modern-canada-thread/726807/580 "2015-10-15T16:18:00Z")
> [@Andiethewestie](#): > > I’ll take my chances with a lawyer who became a chaplain over a social worker who became a cable tv cement head. But that’s me. I don’t get your meaning. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longest-election-campaign-in-modern-canada-thread/726807.md?page=28) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-longest-election-campaign-in-modern-canada-thread/726807.md?page=30)