It seems that all that is ever talk about is American politics, and I am curious about those who do not live in the States, what is your government like and what kind of political stances does your country portray. Unfortunately I have to say I have little knowledge of other countries politics, and it is something I would like to remedy. Anyways I thought it would make an interesting thread.

Here in the nation of Seattle, you can still get in and out of Canada without a passport as long as you travel overland.

The problem is that once Forrest gets to Canada, he ends up getting stuck in traffic with no detours. As South Park has taught the world, we only have one road here.

I honestly don't know how to define the Canadian government anymore in terms of political policy. It's far less about issues and far more about how brown you can get your nose in order to get the required votes for a majority. Relative non-issues such as faith-based schooling end up getting pushed to the forefront and blown way out of proportion (as was the case in the last Ontario provincial election), while issues such as Canada's position as a world economic power (or lack thereof) get completely ignored.

If I were to describe Canada's political stance in general terms, I'd say "socialist"...we spend money, and we're not sure why we do it other than "spending money solves problems". Our present leader is a Conservative, which used to be the party that ran along the same lines as the US Republican party, but now has floated into the middle along with the other two "major" parties (NDP and Liberal). There really isn't any difference between the three anymore.

Oddly enough, the most right-wing party in Canada right now is the Green Party (better known as the environmentalists). They're the only party with any kind of clear economic agenda that doesn't involve a token 1% cut to a sales tax that should never have been implemented just to curry favor with the voting populace.

To state it simply...Canada's politicians are all about getting the vote by telling people what they want to hear as opposed to what actually needs to be done.

Originally Posted by ForrestCroce

Here in the nation of Seattle, you can still get in and out of Canada without a passport as long as you travel overland.

Do you smuggle a truckload of Canadians back into the U.S. with every trip?

I think Britain's politics are in some ways quite similar to the rest of the developed world - the major parties all seem to be fighting over the "centre" ground leaving people that stand clearly on the left or right with no party to represent them.

I was listening to Ralph Nader announcing that he would stand as an independent for the US elections a few days ago - he said that he felt many Americans were poorly represented because of the two party system in the USA. Thankfully, we don't have quite the same problem over here as there are 3 major parties, Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. However, the top 2 are Labour and the Conservatives who generally seem to run the show as the Lib Dems haven't ever been in power yet. Labour and the Conservatives used to represent the left and the right respectively but have both moved to the "centre ground" and are practically clones of each other. The Liberal Democrats thankfully remain reasonably left wing so do give liberals a voice.

We've got a few minor parties (well actually a lot), but the larger ones include the BNP (British National Party), a bunch of overly patriotic/fascism scum who want to throw out immigrants; the Greens (a left wing environmental group) who never really get many votes even though they have fairly high profile campaigns; UKIP (United Kingdom Independence Party) who want us to split from the European Union entirely and finally a number of independence parties in Wales and Scotland who want to break away from the England and regain complete sovereignty.

For the past 10 years, Tony Blair led Britain under "New" Labour after a landslide victory in 1997. He's now stepped down as Prime Minister and Gordon Brown (former Chancellor of the Exchequer) has taken his place (although we weren't given a general election so there's been a lot of complaints because of this. David Cameron is the leader of the Conservatives - he's basically copied what Tony Blair did to Labour before 1997 and "modernized" the party - he seems to care more about how he says things rather than what he actually says and his whole political history is a bit fishy. The next general election will probably be very close between Gordon Brown and him - definitely not something good for the country but a sad reality.

I think I've probably now just given you an essay on the politics of the last 10 years of our country - I don't want to bore you any more!

Interesting stuff, I wish this thread would grow where we would have several different countries being represented. I like hearing about these kinds of things from people who actually live there.

Originally Posted by ADAM Web Design

Oddly enough, the most right-wing party in Canada right now is the Green Party (better known as the environmentalists). They're the only party with any kind of clear economic agenda that doesn't involve a token 1% cut to a sales tax that should never have been implemented just to curry favor with the voting populace.

That is weird. So are all the other stances about the same side from that one issue?

Originally Posted by whym

We've got a few minor parties (well actually a lot), but the larger ones include the BNP (British National Party), a bunch of overly patriotic/fascism scum who want to throw out immigrants; the Greens (a left wing environmental group) who never really get many votes even though they have fairly high profile campaigns; UKIP (United Kingdom Independence Party) who want us to split from the European Union entirely and finally a number of independence parties in Wales and Scotland who want to break away from the England and regain complete sovereignty.

I have always wondered what the feelings are between Scotland and England, Do you think they will one day break away?

Sounds like the E.U. may soon have a president, and that President may be Tony Blair.... I have to say, a broke a smile on that news.

That is weird. So are all the other stances about the same side from that one issue?

Not just that issue, but a number of other key issues. That's why I learned a long time ago to ignore the issues being brought to the forefront, because the ones political parties around here tend to keep to their word on are issues 6-10 and afterward.

Originally Posted by Cheshire_cat

I have always wondered what the feelings are between Scotland and England, Do you think they will one day break away?

Sadly, I do think they will eventually break away. It'll be a sad day for the Union when that happens - it's over 300 years old now but the both sides are beginning to get very frustrated with each other. Scotland pays the same taxes as the rest of the UK right now (excluding council tax which varies from county to county), yet they on average, the government spends over £1000 per head per year more in Scotland than it does in the rest of the UK. This does anger me a bit, but I wouldn't mind so much if the Scottish appreciated what we were doing for them. However, they simply don't seem to - they've voted in a pro-devolution government in Scotland now and they continue to believe that they'll be better off on their own. This is unrealistic. As a Union, Britain is able to make a difference on the world stage and retain significant power for such a small country. Scotland, with a population of about 6 million couldn't possibly have much impact on the world stage on it's own! I have no idea what they would do financially if they did break away since several things they've done recently are dependent on English funding (i.e. reduced university costs) - they simply seem to want it all yet still have independence

I think the countries in the United Kingdom should all have enough power to run the day to day things but I strongly believe in the Union and I don't want to see this ruined due to Welsh, Northern Irish, Scottish or even English pride and patriotism. I feel our country will be stronger united, not divided.

Originally Posted by cbwm

Sounds like the E.U. may soon have a president, and that President may be Tony Blair.... I have to say, a broke a smile on that news.

I sure wouldn't mind an ally of Bill Clinton's as EU president. He already got fired from his new job in the Middle East, tho?

I'm encouraged by the events in Kenya over the past few days.

Well, until he is sitting as President of the E.U. its all speculation, and that is a bit off. Tony Blair is good peps, even if he slums with the likes of Slick Willy.

Sadly, I do think they will eventually break away. It'll be a sad day for the Union when that happens - it's over 300 years old now but the both sides are beginning to get very frustrated with each other. Scotland pays the same taxes as the rest of the UK right now (excluding council tax which varies from county to county), yet they on average, the government spends over £1000 per head per year more in Scotland than it does in the rest of the UK. This does anger me a bit, but I wouldn't mind so much if the Scottish appreciated what we were doing for them. However, they simply don't seem to - they've voted in a pro-devolution government in Scotland now and they continue to believe that they'll be better off on their own. This is unrealistic. As a Union, Britain is able to make a difference on the world stage and retain significant power for such a small country. Scotland, with a population of about 6 million couldn't possibly have much impact on the world stage on it's own! I have no idea what they would do financially if they did break away since several things they've done recently are dependent on English funding (i.e. reduced university costs) - they simply seem to want it all yet still have independence

Wow, does that sound familiar!

I always hated the idea of a referendum vote. If a country/province/state gets to vote on whether or not they should leave, why doesn't the rest of the affected region get to vote on whether or not they should be allowed to stay?