They sloughed off their patriotism by drinking Molsons, bunch of traitorous brewmasters!

To be fair, Molsons is far more delicious than drinking "Canadian party leaders' debate", which is terrible beer.

Hardly shocking. The entertainment value alone is far greater in American politics.

The Palin factor alone is more entertaining than all 5 party leaders combined.

I just watched the Tivoed Canadian debate. An actual debate with much much less canned talking-point recitation. Some good stuff.

Elizabeth May is the anti-Sarah Palin. I wish I could vote Green.

Holy shiat, the guy Josh Stark is my friend, and he's a Farker. Woo.

The students cheered Joe Biden as he referred to John McCain's policies as a "bridge to nowhere," using a popular phrase from Sarah Palin's acceptance speech.

Ahem. I believe that was the Ultimate Bridge to Nowhere^TM.

I really tried to watch the Canadian Leadership Debate on TV last night. I finally decided the Canadian version was too boring, and I flipped over to the VP debate for good. I ended up watching the rest of the Canadian debate this morning on the CTV web feed instead.

Well seriously, who's going to watch Masterpiece Theater, when "Governors Gone Wild" is on?

I wish they sold Labatt 50 down here.

I found the roundtable format better than the "dodge the question" format of the American debate.

Also, people aren't declared the winner just by virtue of not collapsing like a house of cards.

If Sarah Palin was Canadian, they'd all refer to her as a "Newfie".

thefais: Also, people aren't declared the winner just by virtue of not collapsing like a house of cards.

By all means, inform us poor farmer folk how real men do things, but I beg of you to use small words.

I didn't see the debate.
Did Stéphane Dion mumble complicated ecological policy issues in broken Fringlish?

/For my American brotheren... Stéphane Dion is Al Gore on estrogen.

Funny story: I ran into Stephane Dion on Elgin St. last night where I was getting tanked with my buddy. We crashed the Liberal Party party, the NDP party and the Green Party...party. It was good times.

ElQue: To be fair, Molsons is far more delicious than drinking "Canadian party leaders' debate", which is terrible beer.

Yeah, if I had Molson during the debate it might have been tolerable (LaBattes is better).

Muta: I didn't see the debate.
Did Stéphane Dion mumble complicated ecological policy issues in broken Fringlish?

/For my American brotheren... Stéphane Dion is Al Gore on estrogen.

Does he have a chance?

Glenechocreek: If Sarah Palin was Canadian, they'd all refer to her as a "Newfie".

As a Newfie, I object to the idea that a 48 year old woman around here would ever look that good.

Well of course they did - the U.S. debate was far more relevant. They might drink Molson, but they're not stupid. Jeez, subby, way to condescend our friendly neighbors.

Sabyen91: Does he have a chance?

Sure, why not? We're talking about Canadian politics. Does it matter?
Dion could be Prime Minister and the Leafs could win the Stanley Cup.
All is good in Canadia.

Well, consider North American politics a three-ring circus.

Who's center ring?

If you don't know, ask Canada. Or if you speak french, Mexico.

/I know
//Mexicans speak English too

Muta: Sabyen91: Does he have a chance?

Sure, why not? We're talking about Canadian politics. Does it matter?
Dion could be Prime Minister and the Leafs could win the Stanley Cup.
All is good in Canadia.

Not sure it matters but I still like to see the left win in other countries (since we always lose here).

Makes sense to me.

Here in NZ there's an election right around the corner to which I am hardly paying any attention.

The circus in the US is considerably more interesting, both as a cynically comic commentary on power structures gone wrong and also because as the hangover term after eight years of hell, the result will potentially have massive consequences for international relations in general.

andynz81: Makes sense to me.

Here in NZ there's an election right around the corner to which I am hardly paying any attention.

The circus in the US is considerably more interesting, both as a cynically comic commentary on power structures gone wrong and also because as the hangover term after eight years of hell, the result will potentially have massive consequences for international relations in general.

Stop, we will get a big head!!!

I was flipping channels between the debates. And I gotta say the Canadian one was better. The American one was too much like a game show; at least the Canadian one resembled a real debate.

/didn't help decide who to vote for though.
//Molson's 'aint that bad.
///drinking home brew.

Would you rather watch a bunch of people trying to fix a train, or a train driving off a cliff?

You can get drunk pretty quickly if you make a drinking game out of it, and it can have only one rule if you want: Take a drink (or chug for the duration of the followup) every time Harper says "Let me be clear..."

A friend of mine ordered a Becks in a Toronto restaurant.

They brought him a Molson Export.

He sent it back and got his Becks, I assume with a little Canadian in it.

Which debate involved folks likely to directly influence their lives?

Hah!

Make mine a Labatt Blue, please.

haemaker: A friend of mine ordered a Becks in a Toronto restaurant.

They brought him a Molson Export.

He sent it back and got his Becks, I assume with a little Canadian in it.

Your friend isn't too bright. I like my beer without extra DNA.

FormlessOne: Which debate involved folks likely to directly influence their lives?

All of them? Or do you not get the economy?

Kinda' sad that I was born in Edmonton and had to look up how many provinces there were in Canada. You think they'd teach this shiat in school.

Proud to see an even number! Go Hockey Mans! Iceberg 12118s HockeyTeam_12118 ftw.

dasqoot: To be fair, it is Alberta.

Kendaric: dasqoot: To be fair, it is Alberta.

This happened in my dank shiathole of choice as well. Not that I really had a problem with it.

/In Ontario BTW
//Most people I know are already decided for the Canadian elections
///Slashies

gopher321: Hardly shocking. The entertainment value alone is far greater in American politics.

I'd've watched the Canadian VP debate, if there was such a thing.

Well, Palin does speak like a Canadian, donchaknow.

haemaker: Well, Palin does speak like a Canadian, donchaknow.

You shut your goddamn whore mouth!

"Americans are benignly ignorant of Canada. Canadians are maliciously well-informed about the United States".

Quoted in "Why I Hate Canadians". I forgot the author's name, but he was also the author of Canadian History for Dummies.

And how hard is it to memorize ten provinces, two territories and Nunavut?

Yamaneko2: "Americans are benignly ignorant of Canada. Canadians are maliciously well-informed about the United States".

Quoted in "Why I Hate Canadians". I forgot the author's name, but he was also the author of Canadian History for Dummies.

And how hard is it to memorize ten provinces, two territories and Nunavut none of it?

FTFY

Bill_Wick's_Friend: I just watched the Tivoed Canadian debate. An actual debate with much much less canned talking-point recitation. Some good stuff.

Elizabeth May is the anti-Sarah Palin. I wish I could vote Green.

I'm guessing that you're in a Riding that needs your help elsewhere to vote ABC. I'm in Calgary Centre, which is, of course, going all kinds of Conservative yet again even with a dipshiat backbench MP (Lee Richardson). Tell ya what- I'm voting green anyways to chuck some votes Liz's way. I'll armtwist a neighbour to send one on your behalf.

I like the way George Strombolopolis put it: "Watching the Canadian debate is like going to school. Watching the US debate is like going to the circus. Circuses have elephants. Who doesn't like elephants?"

They showed the VP debate at UBC as well (the Gallery). Very disappointing.

On the plus side, I'm in a riding that actually has a chance to elect a Green MP.

/not that we will
//still voting Green

unyon: I'm guessing that you're in a Riding that needs your help elsewhere to vote ABC. I'm in Calgary Centre, which is, of course, going all kinds of Conservative yet again even with a dipshiat backbench MP (Lee Richardson). Tell ya what- I'm voting green anyways to chuck some votes Liz's way. I'll armtwist a neighbour to send one on your behalf.

I'm Ottawa Centre. I met my first real Conservatives from the area tonight (it's really NPD/Liberal around here). I found that they didn't really know why they were voting Conservative, but they stated 'social issues' and Harper on Israel as their main reason. I was surprised and interested.

Turns out we agreed on most things in principal, but disagreed on stance and execution. Discussion revolved around voting strategies, class differences, and the Middle East (and lots of Keiths). I spent a bit urging them to read May's platform. In the end, they agreed they they were (like most Canadians) fiscally conservative, socially liberal, and federalist. And for most voters, I believe, that's enough.

To me, it boils down to a failure of the media and declining education. There is little engagement of our average Canadian on political/social issues. The apathy surrounding this election is striking.

The current format for the debates is broken. Several debates, both languages at the same time, more heavily moderated. Make the leaders defend their party's platform (farking Harper).

Electoral reform is becoming urgent - the Bloc is going to get 35 seats with less of the popular vote than May, who will get 1 seat. 'Mixed member proportional representation' is the better option on the table - it needs to be adopted in this country so that a fairer share of voices is being hear. I also believe that it would help remove the Bloc from the scene and allow Quebecers to feel like don't have to vote language first.

gopher321: Hardly shocking. The entertainment value alone is far greater in American politics.


Seconded! I don't care about the Canadian election because unfortunately the Conservatives will probably win, and I know who I'm voting for anyways.

I had popcorn ready and everything for the US VP debate. I wasn't going to miss that! :P

Make the leaders defend their party's platform (farking Harper).

He'd have to actually have a platform first.

Kendaric
Make the leaders defend their party's platform (farking Harper).

He'd have to actually have a platform first.

It's what, 10 days until the election, and they still havent released their platform?

Ridiculous.

unyon: I'm guessing that you're in a Riding that needs your help elsewhere to vote ABC.

No. I'm in the riding with the currently-sitting Green Party MP.

He's in the Green Party because the Liberals threw him out of their party after his financial shenanigains in the last election. May approached him and offered him a seat (win/win -- he gets a party's name on his sign, she gets legitimacy and a seat at the debates and election funding for having a seated MP) but he's still the same crooked guy he was before.

Can't and won't vote for him.

(and, yeah...I'm trying to vote so that the Conservative candidate doesn't win, so I'll probably vote Liberal)

Nobody can pass up the opportunity to witness a good old-fashioned train wreck.

How else will they come to Fark to incite flamewars in the Politics tab?

Why watch the local council meeting when the circus is in town?