BREAKING: #CTVElection desk projects a Liberal win in #Elxn42. pic.twitter.com/C0UJlCkLwV
— CTV News (@CTVNews) October 20, 2015
I won’t pretend to understand Canadian politics, but it seems that you guys have done well. Here’s the Raw Story report:
Canada’s Liberal party led by Justin Trudeau, the son of a popular former prime minister, won the general election, television networks CBC and CTV projected — a victory that ends nine years of Conservative rule.
The 43-year-old Trudeau — the eldest son of Pierre Trudeau, considered the father of modern Canada — is expected to succeed the conservative Stephen Harper as prime minister.
Early results showed the Liberals swept all 32 seats in the country’s Atlantic provinces, doubling their popular support in the region, and scored well in key Ontario and Quebec provinces.
The Liberals came from behind late in the campaign, with Trudeau in a last stump speech promising “not just a change in government but a better government.”
Trudeau was elected Liberal leader only two years ago, coming after two past leaders failed to unseat Harper in 2008 and 2011 and subsequently resigned…
He pledged to raise taxes on the richest and lower rates for middle-income Canadians, while spending billions on new infrastructure in order to give the struggling economy a boost.
National Post liveblogging here:
The Liberal Party cut a dominating swath through the Atlantic region, then stormed into Ontario, Quebec and the Prairies as the first two waves of federal election results flooded in Monday, the beginning of the end of a historic, drawn-out campaign that saw political fortunes fluctuate dramatically.
Justin Trudeau’s Liberals won a majority government Monday, beating out Stephen Harper’s Conservatives and Thomas Mulcair’s NDP by a wide margin.
As up about 11:45 p.m. ET Monday, the Liberals were elected or leading in 189 ridings — up massively from the 36 seats they held at the start of the campaign. The Conservatives led or were elected in 105 ridings, down 54. The NDP was on track to win 36, which would be a 59-seat drop…
May your good example foreshadow similar progressive triumphs down here in 2016!
If results hold, Politico Magazine and The Atlantic will have more representation on Parliament Hill than the NDP. pic.twitter.com/qExbggyIcp
— Sasha Issenberg (@sissenberg) October 20, 2015
ruemara
I am quite surprised no one went for the obvious musical choice and didn’t post this ditty.
May we follow in the Great White North’s footsteps! Liberal Uber Alles! or something
srv
Liberals and their dynasties. At least someone is going to fight to stop another one:
Fair Economist
I’m kind of disappointed it was the Liberals, and with a majority rather than with a minority which might have encouraged a move to proportional representation. But I go recognize that the NDP promising a balanced budget was pretty much a deal killer, and thank god (if there is one) Harper is gone.
Villago Delenda Est
Yay Great White North!
Now, you dumbasses down here in Canada’s underwear need to pay attention.
Ruckus
I believe that Canada’s version of the Fair Doctrine law is still in effect. True?
And I see change in a lot of places, once people really get to see what conservative policies look like on the ground. Here we get such slanted news that people who don’t seek out reality have little knowledge of what is really happening politically. And many think that the younger generations will save the country but without the concept of what went before, their normal now can be on the conservative side and can easily be racist. That has to change for us to see the kind of change that Canada has seen today.
Debbie(aussie)
Wonderful. Would be great if we could follow also. After Abbott, our worst PM Eva and now Malcolm Turnbull, who is primarily lipstick on a pig. No change in policies but someone who can speak to us like we’re adults. But we need our Trudeau, sorry to say current opposition leader Bill Shorten is moSt definitely not. HELP
SoupCatcher
I skimmed the Biden thread, but didn’t see anything about this.
I just got off work, was skimming the Google news headlines, and saw the WaPo one about Biden announcing he was running for President (it’s the fourth one down the page, currently). The teaser looked suspiciously like there was a placeholder in the text.
Sure enough, you click the link and it says the article was inadvertently published.
But now the headline is out there.
gf120581
@srv: Okay, that’s some rather pitiful trolling.
I have no idea why Webb would do that, unless it’s some attempt to make sure he isn’t “ignored” like at the last debate.
A third party run from him is a completly empty threat, however. He is not a guy who has either the resources, nor the drive to launch a third party campaign. He actually looks like it hurts him to go out there and get votes. Hell, let’s not forget, he’s only run one campaign before and if it wasn’t for George Allen napalming himself with his own tongue, it’s hard to see how he could have won it.
gf120581
@SoupCatcher: It appears like that’s a story that they have on hold in case he does announce he’s in and somebody accidentally published it. You see that sometimes when they have obituaries for famous people in advance of their deaths and accidentally publish them when they’re still alive.
Either that, or Biden’s sources are in the porn industry. ;)
SoupCatcher
@gf120581: I wouldn’t put it past Onion Joe Biden. He’s got contacts everywhere!
Pete Downunder
I recall Justin’s father – the last exciting Canadian PM. As Debbie(aussie) correctly points out our leader of the opposition (the Australian Labor Party) is a disaster. There is a current inquiry into his dealings as a union honcho and it’s not pretty. There seems to be credible evidence that he sold his union members down the river in return for employer help (and payments) to boost union numbers which would boost his profile in his bid for power in the ALP. A real scumbag. Fortunately now the the loathsome Tony Abbott is gone the conservatives are not quite as rabid (and nowhere near the tea party crazies in the US). Sigh….
Splitting Image
@Fair Economist:
There are positives and negatives about majority governments. In this case, one of the reasons Harper pushed for a much longer than usual election season is that he was hoping to bankrupt the other two parties. If he had won a plurality of seats, he would have been able to use his cash advantage to ram through legislation while the other two were desperately trying to avoid triggering another election. He would still have been a real threat if Trudeau had won a minority but had trouble arranging a deal with Mulcair.
Trudeau winning like he did puts the Conservatives on ice for four years guaranteed and gives the Liberals a chance to minimize the Conservatives’ fundraising advantage. This will benefit the NDP too in the long run.
Peale
@SoupCatcher: or it could be that Jenna Jameson and Jeff Stryker have the inside view of the campaign.
srv
@efgoldman: I don’t think you see, just like Al Gore didn’t.
All he has to do is take Virginia and North Carolina from Hillary – Trump will take care of the rest.
Trump/Webb 2016
Mnemosyne (tablet)
My “Hamilton” obsession continues unabated. I re-listened to Act 1 in the car while driving around this weekend. I may start my re-listen of Act 2 when I go to pick G up at the airport, but I’ll have to be careful, because that’s the act that has the tearjerker moments in it.
NPR has a great review of the soundtrack, plus a link to the Spotify list where you can hear it:
http://www.npr.org/2015/09/21/440925873/first-listen-cast-recording-hamilton
My favorite line from the reviews echoes one of my thoughts: “I now know more about Alexander Hamilton’s sister-in-law than is strictly necessary for my job.”
some guy
@srv:
let me guess, Webb will be relying on UNLIMITED CORPORATE CASH to actually win delegates in these two states?
Mike in NC
Can we now petition Canada to take back David Frum, Ted Cruz, Charles Krauthammer, Justin Beiber, and any other scumbags they’ve inflicted on us? We don’t need any help in generating wingnut assholes down here, thank you very much.
Peale
@some guy: wrong troll. This one is all trumpmemtum. You’re confusing him with the paid shill who only shows up in election years.
Jymn
Interesting story on the National Post. It’s part of the Postmedia empire which blankets the country with its conservative agenda. Because the owners endorsed the Conservative party and Harper, the executive editor Andrew Coyne resigned. Combined with the Globe & Mail’s (was once considered the NY Times of Canada but sadly doddering in accelerated decrepitude) right wing philosophy and endorsement of Harper’s Conservative party, Canadians have little choice where it comes to national newspapers. Despite that, the Liberals strode confidently to victory. Underestimate Justin Trudeau at you own peril.
trollhattan
@srv:
Bringing a spirochete to a gunfight.
Brachiator
@Mnemosyne (tablet):
It’s funny. The historical Hamilton is one of my heroes, and I have a number of books on his era and his life and policies, but this musical about him was totally off my radar.
I guess I will have to look into it, even though musicals are really not my thing.
seaboogie
Most of my family lives in SW Ontario (I was in Canadia for 25 years before landing in NorCal), and they are staunch Conservatives; their riding (like a district here) voted according to their interests.
However I did have two wonderful ladies in my shop today who hailed from Atlantic Canada, and I know for a natural fact that they will be utterly ecstatic tonight. I shared a link to the John Oliver piece with them, and pretty sure that they are watching that, accompanied by some fine local Sonoma wine in celebration.
In many ways I like the Canadian parliamentary system better – it is more multi-party (3 real national ones, 1 local (Quebec, which has youuge influence, population-wise) and 5 if you count the Greens). Coalitions are formed as necessary – so the cray-cray is pretty much marginalized. And you don’t vote for a leader, you vote for a party (local representative) and get the leader that they have selected. They can rule for years (as the conservatives have done) or – depending on the current makeup in parliament – a vote of no confidence can be called to declare an election. More elegant and fluid than our finite terms and calls for impeachment.
Also, “question period” is awesome, as members need to be present, v some Congress-critter or Senator speaking to an empty room “on record”.
Amir Khalid
@srv:
Can Jim Webb do even that?
some guy
@Peale:
different trolls, similar delusions.
trollhattan
My sole Canadian political joke, lightbulb category:
How many leftist Saskatchewan farmers does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
Two–one to do it and the other to point out that if the NDP were in power, they wouldn’t have to.
Heard back when I lived close enough the CBC leaked across the border onto our Yankee radios.
Congratulations hosers, for sending Harper packing. You’ve rid both of us a scourge.
trollhattan
@Amir Khalid:
I would disengage and back, slowly, away. Not a lot occurring in that carapace (being generous).
Webb was, is, will be a nonfactor. Full stop.
some guy
current polling in Virginia has Clinton at 40, Sanders at 23, and Webb at 5. watch out Dems, Webb is clearly a threat
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@some guy: that’s before Webb starts not campaigning
mclaren
Wow. This is just so cool.
Let’s hope it’s an omen for how things will work out in America.
Ian
@srv:
Bad troll math. Still not enough electoral votes.
trollhattan
@Ian:
WRONG, hippie!
Five awesome votes trump (heh) 535 sissy liberal votes. QED bitchz.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@Brachiator:
You’re either going to love it or hate it. You’ll probably be surprised at how historically accurate it is if you can get past the contemporary language — Lin-Manuel Miranda worked closely with Ron Chernow while writing it. There are a few liberties taken with the history (Hamilton didn’t punch Princeton’s bursar, it was another official; Angelica was already married when they met and she introduced him to Eliza) but they’re mostly minor points. There’s an entire number that addresses the fact that Eliza burned all of her own letters but kept all of Alexander’s correspondence (and his legacy) intact. And, obviously, Miranda admires Hamilton’s accomplishments since he wrote a 2-1/2 hour show about him, but it’s pretty much warts and all.
Ian
@trollhattan:
Forgot math changes when it comes to repuklicans. Please forgive.
srv
@Amir Khalid: All Webb has to do is take 4X (Virginia) and 2X (NC) the votes that guy you never heard of got in 2012 – Gary Johnson.
Trump will take FL, PA and maybe Ohio on his own. The rest of the non-purple states will fall out as usual.
seaboogie
@trollhattan: Here is a second Canadian joke (which is also relevant here): How does a Canadian farmer double his income? Put up another mailbox. (Subsidies).
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@Brachiator:
Also, too, you can start with the “Hamilton Mixtape” performance Miranda did in 2009 when he was still thinking of making it a concept album. He takes a minute to explain why Hamilton:
http://youtu.be/WNFf7nMIGnE
The show is not all hip-hop — it’s a mix of that, pop, and some traditional Broadway — but it gives you a sense of the bigger themes at work.
trollhattan
@seaboogie:
Okay, that’s funny! One more thing we two countries share in common.
srv
The jokes, they write themselves:
ruemara
@Mnemosyne (tablet): I’ll bite since I’m curious. What is Hamilton?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
You do wonder if the Turd Blossom is waiting for the Family to match his price. He may be scummy, but I think he would have counseled against bringing Tora Bora back into the political conversation.
farthestnorth
I am so old I remember the Nixon era generation gap. Pierre Trudeau solved his by marrying a teenager. ok not technically She was in her 20s when they married But they started dating when she was 18 and he was 48. Which is apropos nothing I guess. But it is fun to watch Canadians complain about how long and tiring a 78 day campaign is
Amir Khalid
@farthestnorth:
I remember her ditching him to be a Rolling Stones groupie when they toured Canada in 1977.
srv
How many Brink’s Trucks does it take:
trollhattan
@Amir Khalid:
Margaret Trudeau, life was good [sigh].
Villago Delenda Est
@SoupCatcher: A meteor cannot hit the WaPo soon enough.
seaboogie
@some guy: Fo sho. As is my 20 year old, arthritic deaf cat who doesn’t always hit the pee-pads in our shared bed. But she yowls quite frequently, even if she can’t hear herself and isn’t sure what she wants.
Steeplejack (phone)
@ruemara:
It’s the current hot New York theater ticket: a hip musical about Alexander Hamilton.
scav
I thought the invisible to measurement electorate was going to support Bernie in a landslide. But now they’ve shifted to Webb, or have at least done so in critical locations? Golly, between this and the Schrödinger’s Cheshire Cat Campaign orchestrated by Biden, we are going to have such fun.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@ruemara:
Watch the YouTube link at #38 and Tony Award-winning composer Lin-Manuel Miranda will explain it all to you.
:-)
(Short version: he took the song he does in that video and turned it into a full-length Broadway show that’s breaking every box office record.)
Villago Delenda Est
@srv: NSC: “bin Laden determined to strike at US”.
Deserting coward: “Fine, you’ve covered your ass. Now watch this drive.”
trollhattan
@Villago Delenda Est:
And there it is. Nut, meet shell.
Fucker, and he’ll probably outlive me. “What, me worry?” I’d love to…uh…have Rhonda Rousey put a boot up Condi’s ass for good measure. She’s totally skated from her administration roles on a carpet of cash.
seaboogie
@trollhattan: @Amir Khalid: Canadians still more interesting and progressive than Americans will ever be – much more latitude in how they just be. As a nod to you, Amir – “that’s what she did, just around midnight”. Or maybe who, that’s who she did…. Young flower-child married to a much older and seriously canny Canadian intellectual and politician – and one of their progeny is now the new PM of Canada.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@Steeplejack (phone):
This must be one of those things that East Coasters already know, but apparently if you want to work on Broadway plays, you go to Wesleyan University. A huge number of their alumni are composers, directors, set designers, etc.
Steeplejack (phone)
@trollhattan:
That looks like Bianca Jagger to me.
ETA: Yep. Comes up at the top of the Google image search for “Mick kissing Bianca.”
sempronia
I am deeply envious of that 78-day-long campaign schedule.
farthestnorth
@Steeplejack (phone): yeah that’s Bianca I think. This is Margaret with Andy Warhol at Studio 54 I mostly remember her as being spectacularly beautiful and a free spirit. She has since become an advocate for mental health issues acknowledging she has been diagnosed as bipolar https://www.pinterest.com/pin/194006696421782101/
Amir Khalid
@seaboogie:
I remember that was the tour when the Mounties busted Keef for heroin, and he was looking at some serious jail time. And they had the PM’s wife travelling with them!
seaboogie
@Steeplejack (phone): Here is Margaret kicking up her heels, I think at Studio 54 in NYC:
http://margarettrudeau.tumblr.com/
I think that she met the Stones in T.O (The Silver Dollar) and then followed them to NYC.
The Rolling Stones really seem to like performing in smallish clubs in Toronto, and have done some pre-album release performances there.
seaboogie
@Amir Khalid: Like I said – Canadians more interesting! Americans have never shaken off the Puritan, punishment ethos. Speaking of which – how are you and your slave(s)? All good?
Katy
Maybe this is old news and everybody knows about John’s literary alter ego, but I just saw it … Barry Eisler’s book Fault Line has a number of blogger names in it – and “John Cole” is an early boyfriend of the female second lead, as is Josh Marshall. Hilzoy is the name of the coding genius who gets killed early on, Sullivan, Greenwald is Our Hero’s brother’s law firm … Atrios is a baddie. Anybody else read it? It’s kind of a guilty pleasure of mine.
Splitting Image
They’re not done counting votes yet, but it looks like voter turnout is way up over the last election.
The Conservatives have held on to almost all of the votes they won last time, and may even increase their vote total. The Bloc are down a bit and the Greens are up a bit. The NDP seems to have lost about a million votes from 2011, which may be evenly split between strategic voters moving to the Liberals and Quebeckers deserting the party because Mulcair supported the niqab.
The real factor in the election seems to be the four million new Liberal voters who just hove into view along with Justin “Not Ready” Trudeau. The Liberals garnered 2.8 million votes last time and at the moment they are up to 6.8 million (and counting).
The record for total votes cast in a Canadian election is 14.9 million in 2006. The CBC counter is up to 17.1 million at the moment. Turnout is everything.
seaboogie
@sempronia: Imagine how the folks in New Hampshire feel about that. I always empathize with them folks when I meet ’em.
Anne Laurie
@seaboogie: Forget the parasitic New Hampsters — their TV media market is based in Boston, so us Massholes get inundated by political ads that aren’t even targeted at this reliably-blue, late-primary state!
Pie Happens (opiejeanne)
@seaboogie: I just checked my Canadian cousin’s* Fb page and it has some nonsense about how awful Liberals are, liars, crooks, etc. He lives in Princeton, Ontario; I am guessing that his riding went Conservative. I blocked him a couple of years ago because of comments about Obama.
*We share a great great grandfather.
seaboogie
As a lib and former sort-of Canadian, I am happy with the election outcome. However, Justin Trudeau seems to be pretty wet behind the ears and rather dippy. He’s cute, for sure, but seems to have inherited more of Mom’s heart, and little of Dad’s brains. Maybe more like a “slightly” more self-aware Justin Bieber, and also a Canadian celeb from a tender age, and this new reality is all on the conservatives’ history and agenda.
Amir Khalid
This guy has already been discussed here, but it’s interesting to know that at least one Republican assumes Hillary is going to be president.
Mike J
@Anne Laurie: I would call the Boston TV stations who recieve the ad revenue aimed at NH the parasites, not the people that happen to live in a small state.
There are plenty of reasons to dislike a particular brand of NH glibertarian, but bringing extra revenue into the Commonwealth is a pretty stupid one.
seaboogie
@Pie Happens (opiejeanne): Princeton is one of those tiny SW Ontario places that is barely even on the map, and the almost sole remaining industry there is manufacturing chips to place on the shoulder in the singular SW Ontarian way. I’ve been around those parts plenty (my fam is pretty near to there), and had to look it up. They do, however, have a Tim Hortons, which is probably the other main business, thereabouts. Never underestimate the power of a Tims for community pride! Looks like they have to go all the way to Woodstock to find a hockey arena – so technically not even a real place.
Pie Happens (opiejeanne)
@Amir Khalid: I saw that earlier; I think it’s a preview of what her Presidency will be like if elected.
Pie Happens (opiejeanne)
@seaboogie: I’ve been invited for a visit, but I’m not sure I’ll ever go. The guy is a retired commercial pilot, helicopters I think. He sent all three of his kids to college in the US, at places like Harvard and Princeton and either Stanford or Yale.
I found him when I was trying to research our mutual gr gr grandfather (John the Immigrant), and he had some info on him. So I sent him a copy of the photo of the 12 sons of John as well as a letter from John the Immigrant and his wife to the three sons living in Chicago in 1863, a very chatty letter and fiery on the subject of the rebels, and I never heard back. He was initially upset when I told him what I knew about John the Immigrant, that he was born in Ireland and appeared in Ontario sometime between 1800 and 1832. This cousin became furious at the slander that Our Ancestor was Irish; John’s daughters-in-law had insisted to their children that the old guy was from Scotland. A few months later he must have forgiven me because he sent me a package of family information and had amended the birthplace of John.
I sometimes think my cousin may have Alzheimers or something really wrong mentally because of the way he would write to me later as if we’d never talked, and he’d ask me for information that he had sent me. I haven’t talked to him for several years now.
seaboogie
@Pie Happens (opiejeanne): Obama Derangement Syndrome evolving into Clinton Derangement Syndrome, Part Deux. And then we have Jebbie telling us that his brother kept us safe from 9/12/2001 – and just watch him standing on the pile of rubble where the WTC used to be, and got away with that until Trump keeps trolling him on it.
Sigh….
seaboogie
@Pie Happens (opiejeanne): Maybe Alzheimers, or maybe just constructing his own conservative reality in his own noggin – hard to tell sometimes.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Pie Happens (opiejeanne): My wife some uncles and their family that immigrated from Korea in the 60’s. I’ve met one of her cousins who is/was a flight attendant.
NotMax
@efgoldman
Wow, missed that taking place altogether.
Linky?
David Koch
Liberals sweep out Conservatives in Canada.
This is Great News for McCain!
The election results only prove Canada is a center-right country.
David Koch
The Chairwoman/President of the Canadian Liberal Party Anna Gainey is way fucking cute
Villago Delenda Est
@David Koch: You’ve been cribbing from Chuckles the Toddler’s notebook, haven’t you?
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Splitting Image:
Wow. That’s pretty hard-core. Nixon-level, even.
I’ve never liked anything I’ve read about Harper or his policies. Congratulations on getting rid of him. Fingers crossed that Trudeau succeeds and keeps Harper and his ilk far away from the levers of power for a long time.
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
Lurking Canadian
@Splitting Image: Trudeau ran surprisingly to the left, near the end. He was positioning himself to the left of the NDP in October. Basically it was “Hell yes, I’m running a deficit and I’m raising taxes on the 1% and how do you like that?” He might not do it, but that’s what he said.
It is possible that he attracted voters who liked the message. It’s also possible that the revulsion of the majority of the country for Harper(*) led people to vote in drives for any yellow dog with an (L) after his name.
* Fun fact: Harper’s late stage campaign commercials, paraphrased, were “Look, I know everybody hates me, but my policies are right for the country.”
Patricia Kayden
@mclaren: Yes. That would be nice if what happened in Canada last night is a preview of our elections next November. Hopefully, Republicans will continue to overreach so badly that they’ll lose the Senate and the White House handily.
Denali
@Ruemara,
Would love to be able to link “Blame Canada.”
Cervantes
@seaboogie:
Slapping my knee here!
Got any good ones about rape and incest? Abuse of mentally ill kids?
Sometimes, instead of tackling a problem, it is best just to laugh, to keep from crying.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@NotMax:
IIRC, it wasn’t that exciting. Posting rap lyrics and claiming that he couldn’t get banned for that since he was just quoting. Basically showing himself to have the maturity of a 12-year-old who keeps saying, “I’m not touching you. Look, I’m not touching you. You can’t get mad at me, because I’m not really touching you.”
kped
@Fair Economist: The balanced budget pledge was a deal killer for me. It’s so cynical to pretend that a 0.5% budget deficit matters, and that was where Muclair staked his party. “what if the economy continues to struggle?” “Don’t care, balanced budget”. “How will you pay for everything if revenue is lower” “Don’t care, balanced budget”. That was a deal breaker for me.
Callisto
@seaboogie:
I wonder how many slaves Amir is up to at this point.
Steve Finlay
You just saw how Canadians lay waste to an evil enemy — we VOTE, by God, and we do it with intent to harm. When Harper said at the end of the campaign, “This isn’t about me”, he just reminded all of us that yes, it WAS about him and not about anything else.
Seaboogie, I grew up in Woodstock — you’re quite right about that area of rural Ontario. They are programmed to be right-wing from a couple of generations before they were born. My father actually served Oxford county as a LIBERAL MP for 10 years, but only because the right wing vote was evenly split between two parties. The instant those parties merged, the county went back to its natural state.
I think that Fair Economist is correct about how badly Mulcair harmed himself with the balanced budget promise. Not only did it make very little sense, but it was also not believable to anyone.
Anniecat45
@Pete Downunder:
I remember when Justin Trudeau’s father announced he’d gotten married.
Jeez, I feel old all of a sudden.
shomi
QUICK LESSON ON CANADIAN POLITICS
The Liberal party in Canada doesn’t mean “Libruul” like in the US. Just like the Conservative party doesn’t mean freedom loving gun fondling patriots like in the US.
It just so happens that the current Liberal party leader and new Prime Minister is somewhat progressive and the outgoing Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative party was somewhat conservative.
Neither of those things are dirty words to the other side like they are in the US. All 3 major parties agree on 75% of things and are generally well left of US politics.. They all love the public healthcare system for example. Same with most gov’t programs. Only argument is how to make them better. So things like that. Not the polar opposite stuff.like in the US where one party refuses to even consider a public healthcare system. .