<strong>Written By:</strong> Anonymous
<strong>Date:</strong> 2004-06-11 14:28:00
<a href="/article/9505879-bloc-may-be-the-bulwark-against-the-conservatives">Article Link</a>

<p> * Ending Canada's involvement with the Kyoto Protocol on climate change; <p> * Any attempt to block gay marriages; <p> * Plans to weaken official languages protection; <p> * Moves to restrict a woman's right to an abortion. <p> The Bloc will not compromise on Kyoto, Duceppe said. <p> Amazing! Strangest Election I have ever seen.

   

Politics make for strange bed-fellows, eh!

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If I stand for my country today...will my country be here to stand for me tomorrow?

   

The dream I keep having is a Conservative Minority, Liberal opposition, and enough Bloc, NDP and Green who could back ethier the Conservatives or Liberals to be able to get some of their platform through, but still keep the government from ramming anything through.<p> The sky is actually red on my home planet.<p> <p>---<br>"History does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme" Mark Twain <br />
"The greatest price of not participating in politics is being governed by your inferiors." Plato

   

Ahh yes... the Conservatives are going to plummet if they get in. There's no way this coalition will pass anything. And with us getting proportional representation, we'll be set. I just hope the NDP gets a new name after the election. Then it'll be on track to win the following election!!!

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Kory Yamashita

"What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

   

Although the Bloc hold progressive social views, don't forget their raison d'etre: the dissolution of Canada. If they can extract extreme federalism reforms from the Cons, there is no telling how far they might compromise on other issues. If the Bloc knows that the Cons would be willing to offer radical devolution, they may give a little in the budget votes (like programme slashing and department killing-after all what would the bloc care about programme and federal cuts if Quebec gets more autonomy?). More devolution, of course, will means a weaker Canadian state. Don't think for a minute the Bloc will do what's best for Canada. The bloc will do what best for Quebec separtists. period.

   

Anon,

I too have many values in common with the BLOC. They have policies much like the NDP and the Greens. That is why I've found myself saying the unthinkable, "I'm moving to Quebec and joining the separatists". They also voted for labelling GMOs which I too am for. Over the last two years what with the crazy Liberals and the even crazier "who are we this week?" other party, they seemed like a voice of reason in Parliament.

I certainly don't want Canada to separate but won't it be ironic if we need to encourage the BLOC to help us and end up adopting Duceppe as our "go between" and we become joiners of the separatists until they are outnumbered by joiners and the separation between us vanishes?

That's such a great ending to your story 4Canada. Thanks.

   

Isn't it ironic how the Bloc may end up protecting
progressive rights and ideology in the next parliament.
But is it really ?
Trudeau himself admitted to exporting Québec's Quiet
Revolution to the rest of Canada in the 70's. From
Québec nationalism, Trudeau created Canadian
nationalism.
Maybe the Bloc will import separatism to the rest of
Canada, i.e. Canada separate from the US.
No matter how one looks at it, this election will have
tremendous impact on how we deal with our southern
neighbor in the next few years.
Canadian sovereignty is dangerously at risk with
Harper in the lead.
The NDP and the Bloc both have to come out strong in
parliament in order to stop any Canadian government
from cozying up to our fast growing fascist neighbor.

   

Good day

I almost missed this one. Well here we are asking the same question which I think we spoke about 5 Months ago. That being: Can we unite Nationalists and Progressives into one force?

Here we are 5 months later talking about the Bloc who as we know would like to separate from Canada if they had anything to do with it, possibly holding the balance of power.

Are people out their in vive land still interested in working towards the One Big party? The NDP want everyone to unite behind them but Canadians are just not willing to vote on mass to put them in government. In fact, God forbid, they are running towards that instant Progressive Conservative (Not) Stephen Harper. Now we see these same people running back to Martin afraid of Harper. We need to create an entity that will fight for the hearts and minds of Canadians in the Centre. Even Harper realizes this and has been trying to paint himself as a moderate (progressive) conservative.

So lets get on the band wagon after the election and try and get this unification moving. If we look at a number of the platforms by the so called third parties we are very close on a number of issues. For those issues that we are not moderation is the operative word. Then we have to get the constituency associations up and running so that we can get the word out to the masses.

   

Ok, so how's this ? The NDP have a name and people recognize it, therefore they always assume they are too left wing. The Green party is a recognized name around the world, and is strong in some countries.

Perhaps the time has come to form the One Big Party around the Green party name, work out all the details, hold a leadership convention, and go from there.

A name change alone for the NDP is not going to change anything.

I'm sure Mr. Harris would welcome the attention. I'm also sure Mr. Harris would never join the NDP under any name.





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"Arrogance in Politics is unacceptable"
Jim Callaghan
Minden, Ontario
705-286-1860
www.misterc.ca