Tag Archives: Prime Minister

News

Poll finds 68% of Canadians positive on Canadian economy

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Map of Canada
Map of Canada

From the leftist Globe and Mail.

Excerpt:

A new international survey shows Canadians are in a very positive mood about the state of the economy, suggesting the opposition parties face an uphill battle pushing for change on the eve of a possible federal election.

Describing Canada as a “superstar,” an Ipsos online survey of citizens in 24 countries finds 68 per cent of Canadians are feeling good about the economy. Those January numbers are up six points from a month earlier.

[…]The contrast between Canada’s positive mood and some other G8 countries is particularly striking. Only 20 per cent of Americans said their economy was good and even more pessimism was reported for Britain, France, Italy and Japan.

Canada’s results place it sixth of the 24 countries surveyed, behind Sweden (82 per cent); Saudi Arabia (80 per cent); Australia (78 per cent); India (76 per cent) and China (74 per cent).

Ipsos senior vice-president John Wright, who is based in Toronto and is responsible for the international survey, says the numbers are good news for the Conservatives because other surveys show Canadians give Prime Minister Stephen Harper high marks for managing the economy.

“It plays to [the Conservatives’] strong hand and more importantly it contrasts with an opposition party which doesn’t seem to be on that track,” he said in an interview. “The opposition – whether it be the NDP or the Liberals – are talking about things that are below the national concerns.”

Mr. Wright said the Conservatives “own” the issue of the economy, placing them on very solid ground heading in to a possible federal election.

“It’s usually governments are thrown out, they’re not voted in,” he said. The flurry of Conservative ads criticizing Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff have also proven to be “very, very effective,” he said.

The latest federal election poll has the capitalist Stephen Harper and his Conservative party on the boundary of a Parliamentary majority. They currently have 143 seats, with 155 needed for a majority.

Canada Election Poll 2011
Canada Election Poll 2011

Harper has a BA and MA in Economics, and is cutting the corporate tax rate to HALF of the US corporate tax rate. It’s about JOBS. If you love corporations and businesses with low taxes and less regulations, you get the jobs. He also supports free trade, so that Canadians can sell their goods to foreign markets, and buy good from abroad for a cheaper price, either for consumption of manufacturing. More jobs. It’s all about the jobs for the capitalists. They just want more and more jobs. That’s why they keep making conditions better for employers.

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Round-up of news stories from around the world

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I read Neil Simpson’s latest round-up. He linked to an article on the new DISCLOSE bill passed by the Democrats, which outlaws free speech for some people. Not unions, of course. Basically, if you’re a Democrat, you still have free speech. Other people – not so much.

Well, I liked his round-up a lot, so here’s mine. I hope it’s as good.

Germany

From Business Week. (H/T Health Care BS via ECM)

Government-run doctors are striking for 5% raises during a worldwide recession.

Excerpt:

Some 15,000 doctors across Germany are staging a walkout to press for higher pay and better working conditions, a union said on Monday.

Doctors at about 200 public clinics in most German states were on strike and 4,000 gathered for a protest in Munich, the Marburger Bund union said in a statement.

The walkout is scheduled to last all week, but the union stressed it could continue indefinitely if the towns and cities running the clinics don’t make a better offer.

[…]The 700 clinics run by towns and cities represent about one-third of all German hospitals and employ 55,000 doctors.

Gee, I wonder what would happen if private and church-run companies went on strike? Oh wait. That would never happen since they would be out of business in a moment. Maybe we shouldn’t have government-run health care… it’s bad for consumers.

Canada

From the Calgary Herald.

New political party in Alberta has dynamite policies!

Excerpt:

Wildrose Alliance party members approved some controversial resolutions Saturday at their party convention, including allowing workers to opt out of unions and examining a provincial police force, but they left other hot button issues on the table.

Resolutions giving Albertans the unequivocal right to own firearms and support the development of nuclear power were both defeated.

And more policies:

  • Whistleblower protection and better funding for the auditor general
  • Supporting school choice legislation that would let students attend school wherever they want and could open the door to more funding of private schools
  • More privately delivered health care

Wow, too bad they had to throw out the guaranteed right to own firearms, but at least their hearts are in the right place. I wonder what Alberta is like? Do any of you live in Alberta? Can you leave me a comment?

Australia

From Investors Business Daily.

Australian Labor Party throws out crazy socialist leader.

Excerpt:

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s surprise ouster by his own party Tuesday came with a teary farewell hailing his role in Australia’s economy. Maybe it wasn’t such a bright idea to imagine it was his golden goose.

Seven months ago, nobody would have thought the well-liked socialist prime minister with less than three years in office would meet such an ignominious end, blubbering after he was thrown out by members of his own Labor Party Tuesday.

[…]It was a bad fall for the man dubbed Australia’s Barack Obama.

Like the latter, the youthful Rudd initiated costly health care, home weatherization, entitlement, and global warming pork barrel projects. In the process, he blew out the Australian budget.

When the time came to pay the bill, he effectively committed political suicide by calling for a 40% tax on Aussie mining companies.

[…]When news of Rudd’s tax hikes suggested a bid to expropriate companies’ profits, the stock market took a beating.

Ooops. That’s why it’s a bad idea to let socialists run your government. I mean – it’s a bad idea if you like having a job and being able to find a new job if you don’t like the one you have or you get laid off.

United States

From the radically leftist Los Angeles Times. (H/T Newsbusters)

Welfare recipients using state-issued debit cards to withdraw money at casino ATMs.

Excerpt:

The casinos are listed on a Department of Social Services website that allows welfare recipients to search for addresses of ATMs where they can withdraw cash provided under the Temporary Aid for Needy Families program. The monthly grant ranges up to $694; most of the ATMs impose a withdrawal limit of about $300 per day.

[…]The cash portion of California’s welfare benefits comes from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. Each year, California gets $3.7 billion from the federal government for the program, while state and local governments kick in an additional $2.9 billion.

Maybe it isn’t a good idea for the state to transfer money away from people who create jobs to people who think that gambling is the equivalent of a job. And since federal money is being used to provide this welfare, I’m paying for it. Oh well. I didn’t really need the money anyway. I’m sure that the people who voted for Obama got their warm fuzzy feeling for “helping the poor” – using my money.

That last article about the poor reminds me of something I read on The Bumbling Genius about how liberal elites view the poor. The solution is never bad character. The solution is always to give them more money.

News

Prime Minister Stephen Harper polling in majority territory in Canada

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It’s a Parliamentary system, and Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s currently has a minority government.

But check out the latest poll results from Dr. Roy:

w-fed-vote-graph-cbc

(Click to see enlarged image from CBC)

About the Ekos poll, courtesy of the National Post:

The polling firm this morning reported that the Tories have 40.7% support among Canadians, pushing the party past the symbolic 40% mark and into majority government territory if an election was held now (which it won’t be). The Liberals trail with 25.5% support, with the NDP a distant third at 14.3%. Ekos says the Conservatives are “comprehensively ahead.”

The results put the Conservatives up a full percentage point over the polling firm’s results last week, while the Liberals, NDP and Bloc are slightly down. (Interestingly, the Greens are slightly up, with 10.5% support; they were at 9.7% last week.)

“The Liberals are under siege everywhere they turn,” Frank Graves, president of EKOS, said in a statement. “Even new Canadians, under- 25 Canadians, and the university-educated appear to be turning against them. Most stunning of all, the Conservatives now have a lead among women of almost 11 percentage points.”

The telephone survey was conducted between Oct. 7 and Oct. 13, 2009, for CBC. It included 2,729 Canadians and is considered accurate within 1.9 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

The PDF of the poll is here.

There are a total of 308 seats, and Harper needs 155 to have a majority. The projection from this poll that the Conservatives would get more than 155 seats, and get their majority, if the election were held today. Anything better than 40% usually means a majority.

To compare, here are the results from the last federal election, held on October 14, 2008:

  • The Grown-Ups (Conservatives) got 37.7%
  • The Socialists (Liberals) got 26.3%
  • The English Communists (New Democrats) got 18.8%
  • The Green Communists (Greens) got 6.8%
  • The French Communists (Bloc Quebecois) got 10.0%

Here’s a map that show who voted for whom:

706px-Canada_2008_Federal_Election.svg

A “minority” government means that you need the support from another party to get over the 155 barrier so that you can pass a piece of legislation.