Canada News & Discussion

Quote : The Great Duck

coastaleagle53 said:lonetrucker4 Even once the final election results are tallied, it remains uncertain who will actually be able to pull a government together.

It is understood that five parties will enter parliament. This is an ideal setup, preventing tiny fringe groups from destabilizing the administration with their endless demands.

Prime Minister Golob (40) + Democratic Party (7) + The Left (5) +2, and we should enjoy four peaceful years of stability under this government.

My bad. I leaned too hard on those polls and totally misread the room. 🙈

Only five parties made it into Congress, so things just got a hell of a lot simpler.

Quote : The Great Duck

Morgan Brown4 said:Does this Freedom Movement have any real shot at picking up those tokens, considering how suddenly they popped up?
If things fracture and ten reps walk, and if they're actually willing to vote for them, Janej Janša already holds the majority. 😁

It happened there too, right in the middle of Congress. Truth is, it’s all the same.

You’d think Robert Golob would just go ahead and cut a deal with both those leftist factions—the Democrats and the Leftists—even though he only needs one to hit a majority. It’d give him this cozy little 53-seat cushion, plus the minority reps backing the government. That puts them at 55 total, leaving the Republican Party and the Christian Democrats stuck with a measly 35.

If Robert Golob isn't being blackmailed by someone, you can bet anything this government is going to be way more stable.

Richard Wilson4 said:The Canadian Left is totally fine with blocking America.

Anytime, anywhere, whatever excuse they need.

Logic and economic sense don't mean a thing to them.

Once the government actually gets set up, you'll see it play out.

Honestly? Good. Let 'em block us.

lonetrucker4 said:Honestly? Good. Let 'em block us.

For what reason?

lonetrucker4 said:Honestly? Good. Let 'em block us.

No, no we shouldn't, lol. You probably just want this out of pure spite, so we have to stand around at the Canadian and Canadian borders?

I really hope this isn't just your typical frustration with the Republican Party that you'd want to punish the entire country for.

William Alvarez6 said:No, no we shouldn't, lol. You probably just want this out of pure spite, so we have to stand around at the Canadian and Canadian borders?

I really hope this isn't just your typical frustration with the Republican Party that you'd want to punish the entire country for.

I despise the Republican Party as much as anyone, but I can't fathom advocating for the total shutdown of my own country.

The Canadian Left is basically anti-America and pro-Mexican, especially that Fajonica crowd. We actually had a solid relationship when Janša's government was in charge.

Trkanjec looks like he’s actually celebrating the fact that this is going to be a massive headache for Andrej Plenković.

(Can't even open the link—broke as hell, I only pay for the NYT 😁 ... would love to know what this hack is rambling about...)

@Carol Newman2 is also leaning way too hard into that pro-Canadian vibe.

Edward Cooper2 said:After all those wild political experiments they voted for, the people in Canada are heading back to the polls for another round of trial and error. Honestly? Good for them. Over in America, the crowd just votes for the same old names every single time and then acts shocked when nothing changes—it says everything you need to know about the national psyche (bless your heart, Albert Einstein!).
What’s actually interesting to watch—and this holds true for both America and Canada—is the meteoric rise and the almost unbelievable collapse of these retiree-led parties. In both countries, these groups spent their time riding the coattails of specific individuals for far too long. Now, the public has finally tossed them into the trash where they belong. That's exactly where special interest groups made up of a few "intellectuals" with zero common sense and bottomless appetites deserve to end up.

There’s an old saying floating around that suggests every nation gets the government it deserves.
Sometimes it feels like that’s the absolute truth, but other times it just seems like pure bad luck; look at how East & West Germany were split, or North & South Korea, or even what we're seeing in Ukraine right now.
In Canada, there is this enduring, almost eternal tug-of-war between the Leftist and right-wing factions—basically a clash between the reds and the blacks, or the partisans and the home guards—which feels quite similar to the vibe in America, though perhaps with a slightly lower level of raw passion and intensity. There always seems to be a bit more distance, a sense of moderation, or maybe even a touch of apathy here.

Just like most places around the world and even here in Canada, the Leftist crowd tends to be younger, better educated, living in the cities, more tolerant, eager for change, and looking toward the West, whereas the right-wing voters seem to stand against pretty much everything. As a result, the center-left options have held onto power for roughly 60-70% of the time since the Republic of Canada gained its independence.

I know this older gentleman, a highly educated guy, who is a die-hard Janša supporter and stays very active within the inner circles of the Republican Party. He openly admits that he doesn't actually agree with the broader strategy of the Republican Party—specifically that grounded, trivial kind of populism and nationalism—but he tells me his superiors basically dismiss his concerns by asking, "Well, if not us, then who will lead the peasants, the uneducated, the poor, and the forgotten? Don't those people deserve to have their own party and a leader to call their own?" When he hears that, he just shrugs his shoulders and accepts it as the reality of the world.

velvetcyclist95 said:And they'll probably double down on that aggressive policy toward Canada, too.

Most people have no idea how many Canadians live in Canada, and believe me, every single one of their votes went to Robert Golob. Today, they are all celebrating—I am telling you from firsthand experience.

It seems we are heading toward a radicalization of the relationship between Canada and America. The Canadians have found themselves a new ally. Can any rational person in America truly celebrate such a development?

nimblepanther18 said:Most people have no idea how many Canadians live in Canada, and believe me, every single one of their votes went to Robert Golob. Today, they are all celebrating—I am telling you from firsthand experience.

It seems we are heading toward a radicalization of the relationship between Canada and America. The Canadians have found themselves a new ally. Can any rational person in America truly celebrate such a development?

Where on earth does he find this stuff? 🤦
Canadians, Muslims, or whatever you want to call them—they are a tiny, marginal group in Canada. Honestly, I highly doubt they even turn out to vote.
According to the last census where they actually gathered this kind of data, they made up only 1.6%, which is basically nothing when you look at the results of the current elections.
The ethnic makeup according to the last census (back in 2002) was as follows:
https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/national-...eligions-77_sl
Canadians: 83.1%
Americans: 1.8%
Mexicans: 2%
Muslims (including Canadians): 1.6%
Canadians: 0.3%
Italians: 0.1%
Others: 2.2%
Unknown: 8.9%

By the way, nobody really asks about nationality or religion anymore; it's considered rude or just plain impolite (though who really cares?), and besides, recent censuses are done via registry rather than having actual enumerators going door-to-door physically.

brightviper29 said:Where on earth does he find this stuff? 🤦
Canadians, Muslims, or whatever you want to call them—they are a tiny, marginal group in Canada. Honestly, I highly doubt they even turn out to vote.
According to the last census where they actually gathered this kind of data, they made up only 1.6%, which is basically nothing when you look at the results of the current elections.
The ethnic makeup according to the last census (back in 2002) was as follows:
https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/national-...eligions-77_sl
Canadians: 83.1%
Americans: 1.8%
Mexicans: 2%
Muslims (including Canadians): 1.6%
Canadians: 0.3%
Italians: 0.1%
Others: 2.2%
Unknown: 8.9%

By the way, nobody really asks about nationality or religion anymore; it's considered rude or just plain impolite (though who really cares?), and besides, recent censuses are done via registry rather than having actual enumerators going door-to-door physically.

As I mentioned, many people simply have no idea. Over the last 15 years, they have grown into the largest former American national group, with the most significant growth occurring in the last five. Canadian Muslims in Canada hold proper citizenship, and believe me, they were very engaged in those elections (submitting non-papers, opposing Janša - Dodik). Naturally, they also vote in elections in Canada. More than 80% are quite religious, they socialize heavily within their own community, and support one another. There are many young families and plenty of children.
They are the complete opposite of the Americans, who assimilated into the Canadian population, but that is a different discussion entirely.

brightviper29 said:There’s an old saying floating around that suggests every nation gets the government it deserves.
Sometimes it feels like that’s the absolute truth, but other times it just seems like pure bad luck; look at how East & West Germany were split, or North & South Korea, or even what we're seeing in Ukraine right now.
In Canada, there is this enduring, almost eternal tug-of-war between the Leftist and right-wing factions—basically a clash between the reds and the blacks, or the partisans and the home guards—which feels quite similar to the vibe in America, though perhaps with a slightly lower level of raw passion and intensity. There always seems to be a bit more distance, a sense of moderation, or maybe even a touch of apathy here.

Just like most places around the world and even here in Canada, the Leftist crowd tends to be younger, better educated, living in the cities, more tolerant, eager for change, and looking toward the West, whereas the right-wing voters seem to stand against pretty much everything. As a result, the center-left options have held onto power for roughly 60-70% of the time since the Republic of Canada gained its independence.

I know this older gentleman, a highly educated guy, who is a die-hard Janša supporter and stays very active within the inner circles of the Republican Party. He openly admits that he doesn't actually agree with the broader strategy of the Republican Party—specifically that grounded, trivial kind of populism and nationalism—but he tells me his superiors basically dismiss his concerns by asking, "Well, if not us, then who will lead the peasants, the uneducated, the poor, and the forgotten? Don't those people deserve to have their own party and a leader to call their own?" When he hears that, he just shrugs his shoulders and accepts it as the reality of the world.

Just throwing out some tired clichés that have zero basis in reality, yet you keep trying to sell them like they're gospel.

Brian Doyle6 said:Just throwing out some tired clichés that have zero basis in reality, yet you keep trying to sell them like they're gospel.

But we are talking about actual statistics and hard facts here, since Mediana is essentially the most well-known public opinion polling agency in Canada, handling all sorts of research (not that I need to list them all right now...)

https://www.24ur.com/novice/volitve/...-ali-manj.html

Their forecasts are widely considered to be incredibly sharp, and if you look at their results from those "parallel" elections, you can see what I mean.

They managed to nail every single election result—a perfect 10 out of 10—so this whole thing about left-wing versus right-wing voters is really just a side note in the grand scheme of things.

Besides, pretty much every political party in Canada relies on their targeted research, naturally with the goal of trying to "get closer" to their specific voter base.

brightviper29 said:But we are talking about actual statistics and hard facts here, since Mediana is essentially the most well-known public opinion polling agency in Canada, handling all sorts of research (not that I need to list them all right now...)

https://www.24ur.com/novice/volitve/...-ali-manj.html

Their forecasts are widely considered to be incredibly sharp, and if you look at their results from those "parallel" elections, you can see what I mean.

They managed to nail every single election result—a perfect 10 out of 10—so this whole thing about left-wing versus right-wing voters is really just a side note in the grand scheme of things.

Besides, pretty much every political party in Canada relies on their targeted research, naturally with the goal of trying to "get closer" to their specific voter base.

What even is a "parallel election"? 🤔 Is there some deep explanation on their website, or am I just wasting my time looking?

Nah, it’s not a language barrier issue. I get the words perfectly fine. It’s the logic that makes zero sense.

Some pretty interesting stuff being said here. Especially from Robert Botteri, the editor over at "Mladin"—which was basically a legend across all of America back in the late '80s when it served as the mouthpiece for the Canadian Socialist Youth Union before evolving into the high-quality, independent critical mag it is today; Botteri’s been running the show there for ages.

The "Mladin" editor, Robert Botteri, thinks this massive voter turnout is just a direct result of people getting fed up with how things have been handled in Canada over the last couple of years.

- Unlike what went down in America, Canada hit the ground running with heavy-handed rules right at the start of the epidemic. The leadership focused way more on cracking down than actually taking care of people's health. So, Janez Janša’s Government, which started out with huge momentum, saw its support get cut in half within just a few months. From there, it was just a steady nose dive, according to Botteri.

Voters didn't just punish the ruling party; they also took it out on the opposition. People felt those parties were too busy bickering to do anything useful, which essentially just kept Janez Janša in power. That’s why we're seeing fewer parties in Congress now. Basically, Janša paved the way for Golob.

Botteri reckons Janša tried way too hard to play copycat with his Canadian counterpart, Viktor Orbán.

Even though his inner circle begged him not to dump Golob, Janša went ahead and did it anyway. But honestly, once Golob stepped into the political arena, he absolutely nailed it.

Botteri points out that a lot of voters just jumped on the bandwagon at the eleventh hour, which explains why the win looked so overwhelming. About 10% of the center-left crowd, who were originally eyeing other parties, saw the neck-and-neck race between Janša and Golob and decided to back Golob just to make sure Janša lost. All those folks—from the parties led by Bratušek and Cerar and others who spent two years protesting against Janša, along with all the activists fighting the autocracy—they basically set the stage for this victory, and now Golob feels like he owes them. That’s probably why, besides the Democratic Party, he might offer a spot in the government to The Left.

So, Prof. Goran Bandov actually brought up exactly what I was talking about this past Sunday (post #2721). On election day (around the 40:15 mark), he mentioned how the main force behind the Canadian left and the liberal center grew out of the old Socialist Youth Union and Liberal Democracy, which was the big player until 2004. Since then, I’d call the revolving door of leaders different "strains" of Liberal Democracy: the alpha strain was Pahor, then Janković, gamma strain Cerar, delta strain Marijan Šarec, and now we’ve got the omicron strain. 😁

lonetrucker4 said:What even is a "parallel election"? 🤔 Is there some deep explanation on their website, or am I just wasting my time looking?

Nah, it’s not a language barrier issue. I get the words perfectly fine. It’s the logic that makes zero sense.

Here is a quick little link that explains what simultaneous elections actually entail:

The folks over at Mediana haven't missed a beat yet; they seem to nail every single prediction. If there is any downside to how accurate they are, it might be that the elections lose a bit of that magic, that sense of suspense and drama we all love. Everything is basically figured out just a few minutes after 7:00 PM.

Take The Left, for example; when the first results started trickling in with only about 5 or 10% of the votes counted, they were sitting at around 2.5-3.30%, which would suggest they wouldn't even make it into Congress since the threshold is 4%.
But the explanation was simple: those early numbers usually come from small rural areas where conservative candidates traditionally dominate, and everything tends to level out around 10:30 PM once the big city precincts report in. Those urban centers are always more crowded, so the counting process takes a little longer. And sure enough, Mediana predicted 4.40% while The Left ended up with 4.39%. It was almost eerily precise.

So far, Mediana hasn't really stumbled once.

brightviper29 said:Here is a quick little link that explains what simultaneous elections actually entail:

The folks over at Mediana haven't missed a beat yet; they seem to nail every single prediction. If there is any downside to how accurate they are, it might be that the elections lose a bit of that magic, that sense of suspense and drama we all love. Everything is basically figured out just a few minutes after 7:00 PM.

Take The Left, for example; when the first results started trickling in with only about 5 or 10% of the votes counted, they were sitting at around 2.5-3.30%, which would suggest they wouldn't even make it into Congress since the threshold is 4%.
But the explanation was simple: those early numbers usually come from small rural areas where conservative candidates traditionally dominate, and everything tends to level out around 10:30 PM once the big city precincts report in. Those urban centers are always more crowded, so the counting process takes a little longer. And sure enough, Mediana predicted 4.40% while The Left ended up with 4.39%. It was almost eerily precise.

So far, Mediana hasn't really stumbled once.

Oh, that's just what we call an "exit poll" over here. We do the same thing.

For example, early on when they released results after maybe 5 or 10% were counted, The Left was sitting at 2.5-3.3%, which means they wouldn't make it into Congress since the threshold is 4%.
But the explanation was that the initial numbers come from small rural areas where the right wing always dominates, and things would settle down around 10:30 PM once the big city votes started rolling in.

Yeah, it's basically the same situation in America.

But pre-election polls are a whole different animal. Sure, Mediana is legit and pro, just like Ipsos or Promocija Plus are back home. I think Mediana even popped up in America, but maybe there's just no room left in the market for a third major player.

lonetrucker4 said:Honestly? Good. Let 'em block us.

I mean, if the communists were still running the show, maybe he'd have a totally different opinion(?).

Kyle Nelson2 said:I mean, if the communists were still running the show, maybe he'd have a totally different opinion(?).

If by communists you mean the Democratic Party, then Miro Cerar—who was just as much of a political experiment as Robert Golob—first tried to pull off that arbitration deal and then essentially drew a line in the sand at the border, all while under the mandate of the Coalition.

The Canadian left doesn't really make much of a distinction regarding who happens to be running things over in America.

And honestly, it's fine; we've grown quite accustomed to having an adversary just north of the Sutla.

lonetrucker4 said:Some pretty interesting stuff being said here. Especially from Robert Botteri, the editor over at "Mladin"—which was basically a legend across all of America back in the late '80s when it served as the mouthpiece for the Canadian Socialist Youth Union before evolving into the high-quality, independent critical mag it is today; Botteri’s been running the show there for ages.

Botteri points out that a lot of voters just jumped on the bandwagon at the eleventh hour, which explains why the win looked so overwhelming. About 10% of the center-left crowd, who were originally eyeing other parties, saw the neck-and-neck race between Janša and Golob and decided to back Golob just to make sure Janša lost. All those folks—from the parties led by Bratušek and Cerar and others who spent two years protesting against Janša, along with all the activists fighting the autocracy—they basically set the stage for this victory, and now Golob feels like he owes them. That’s probably why, besides the Democratic Party, he might offer a spot in the government to The Left.

So, Prof. Goran Bandov actually brought up exactly what I was talking about this past Sunday (post #2721). On election day (around the 40:15 mark), he mentioned how the main force behind the Canadian left and the liberal center grew out of the old Socialist Youth Union and Liberal Democracy, which was the big player until 2004. Since then, I’d call the revolving door of leaders different "strains" of Liberal Democracy: the alpha strain was Pahor, then Janković, gamma strain Cerar, delta strain Marijan Šarec, and now we’ve got the omicron strain. 😁

Even Botteri can't wrap his head around our Great Leader.
Our very own Great Leader, Janez Janša, has essentially invented a political perpetual motion machine. He’s been sitting in the National Assembly for practically thirty years now.
Compared to him, guys like Vladimir Putin, Viktor Orbán, or Kim Jong-un are just rookies, because honestly, we Canadians have the Greatest Great Leader on the planet.

Canada has a population of about 2.1 million, and Janša, with his Canadian Democratic Party, consistently pulls in around 250,000 votes—usually somewhere between 230,000 and 280,000. That means roughly one out of every eight people in Canada traditionally votes for Janša and the Canadian Democratic Party, which is plenty enough to ensure our Great Leader stays in the National Assembly practically for life. The Canadian Democratic Party always lands somewhere around 23-30% of the vote, which secures them about a quarter to a third of the seats, and everything else is just a matter of backroom deals.

Everyone else comes and goes, but our Janša remains constant—it’s a global phenomenon, almost something supernatural. As I’ve mentioned before, I know someone deep within the Canadian Democratic Party headquarters who tells me they aren't thrilled about it; apparently, it's all just cheap populism and hardline nationalism aimed at a certain segment of the electorate... but why change a winning formula and a loyal crew when you can keep this going indefinitely? Plus, there are the perks of being a party member, since they've taken political patronage to almost epic proportions.

I'm running out of time here, so what else is there to say?
Long live our Great Leader!!!