THe Vote Compass from the CBC

[grish]

Go to this website:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/cana...1/votecompass/

Answer their questions. If you feel like it, vote the party to which you got matched.

Note, you can decrease certain issues in importance just to make it a better fit.

[grish]

I got matched up with the Green party even though I gave their leader the lowest scores on leadership qualities. Although, the NDP and the Libs are so closely lumped together and next to the greens that I can imagine really having a choice that will come down to my local candidate.

[whynow99]

Keep spinning those lies Stephen Harper, after all, we know from Tom Flanagan that your credo is "it doesn't have to be true, it just has to sound plausible". Too bad your plausibility factor is reaching zero……..say NO, HARPER HAS TO GO.

[Hilman]

^ What does this have to do with this thread, you have copy and pasted that numerous times already, we get it.......

[Hilman]

Not a surprise, I was closest to the Conservatives and furthest away from the NDP.

[nobleea]

If people had an open mind, I think they'd be surprised at what party they line up with most. But stereotypes and history being what they are, that is not the case.

For me, Liberal is what I lined up with most.
I would like to vote conservative, as at least half of their policies are things I strongly agree on, while their stance on the other half are things I strongly disagree on. Plus I did not rate Harper very high.

If the conservatives split and broke in to PC and reform the way it used to be, there'd be a PC majority.

[moahunter]

Surprising, came out as strongly conservative for me, and furthest from the Greens. I would never have guessed

[Glenco]

If you were to draw a line between the cons and libs and bisect it that is where I ended up.

[grish]

lol @NDP so far... I am actually surprized by this.

[jmart81]

I was more in that "libertarian conservative" side sort of in between the Liberals and the Tories. Seems to be very few political parties in the industrialized word in that section. Probably why I am not too excited about most of the parties this time around.

[amelanchier]

I got Liberal, which is reasonable for me, although when I decreased the importance of a few issues I ended up as a Bloc-head, which seems a flaw in the system. Seeing as it asked what province I was in at the beginning, I think it ought to eliminate parties I can't vote for.

What I really liked was that I could click on the party names on the graph and see where their answers differed from mine and how. That allowed me to make a further fine-tuning of my own because if a party's position differed dramatically from my answer, I could evaluate the importance of that particular question to me.

Very interesting exercise, but I'm still voting NDP.

[Sasquatch]

Originally Posted by grish

lol @NDP so far... I am actually surprized by this.

...not me.

[Mla]

Originally Posted by Hilman

Not a surprise, I was closest to the Conservatives and furthest away from the NDP.

Me too

[Sasquatch]

Originally Posted by nobleea

If the conservatives split and broke in to PC and reform the way it used to be, there'd be a PC majority.

But than Stevie would have to go cause he's, what you a call a, Refffooooorrrrrrrrmmm Party kind of guy.

[JasonR]

I got Liberal, but will vote Conservative. I didn't agree with the CBC's assessments of the parties' positions on issues.

[grish]

Not CBC. that was developed by UofT.

[whynow99]

"I knew it.
Mr. Harper is going to try and weasel his way out of a debate with Michael Ignatieff.
Mr. Harper did not want to go on George Strombo. I wonder why?
Is he afraid that he may face some tough questions?
I think Mr. Harper pooped his pants when he learned that a debate with Michael Ignatieff would be more than welcomed.

Lets get this debate live on television for all to see what the real Mr. Harper is all about."........perhaps wait till after this one one one debate then take this vote meter?

[etownboarder]

Originally Posted by grish

Not CBC. that was developed by UofT.

And each party had input on the questions and their positions.

[Mla]

I am voting Conservative because of their tough on crime policies and no other parties share a similar view on Canada's Criminal Welfare System. Sorry I meant Legal System....

[Hilman]

Originally Posted by whynow99

"I knew it.
Mr. Harper is going to try and weasel his way out of a debate with Michael Ignatieff.
Mr. Harper did not want to go on George Strombo. I wonder why?
Is he afraid that he may face some tough questions?
I think Mr. Harper pooped his pants when he learned that a debate with Michael Ignatieff would be more than welcomed.

Lets get this debate live on television for all to see what the real Mr. Harper is all about."........perhaps wait till after this one one one debate then take this vote meter?

Yes Harper pooped his pants because he has never debated anyone as amazing as Iggy before

[Turtle]

I'm Ukainian I can not vote for that RACIST Ignatieff.

[Drumbones]

I landed right on the centre line, but on the conservative side, so I guess I'm a red tory.

[Sasquatch]

Originally Posted by Turtle

I'm Ukainian I can not vote for that RACIST Ignatieff.

You wanna add some substance to that please turtle.

[jmart81]

Ignatieff wrote a book in 1993 called Blood and Belonging, in which he wrote a few questionable things about Ukrainians. After he got into politics he said it was taken out of context and try to make peace with Ukrainian communities across the country. I copied and pasted a few quotes from the book that are on some sites and blogs you can find just googling.

"My difficulty in taking Ukraine seriously goes deeper than just my cosmopolitan suspicion of nationalists everywhere. Somewhere inside I'm also what Ukrainians would call a great Russian and there is just a trace of old Russian disdain for these little Russians. "

"From my childhood, I remember expatriate Ukrainians nationalists demonstrating in the snow outside performances by the Bolshoi Ballet in Tronto. 'Free the captive nations!' they chanted.In 1960, they seemed strange and pathetic, chanting in the snow, haranguing people who just wanted to see ballet and to hell with poltiics. They seemed fanatical, too, unreasonable. Hadn't they looked at the map? How did they think that Ukraine could ever be free?"

In an interview Mr. Ignatieff describes Ukrainian culture as "embroidered peasant shirts, the nasal whine of ethnic instruments, phony Cossacks in cloaks and boots."

[Drumbones]

Thanks for that info jmart. His roots deeply are Russian high blood lines, must have something to do with that. A lot of Ukrainian blood in E-town and western Canada. Now i don't like him as much. lol

[Drumbones]

George Ignatieff, Michaels father, was born in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire, the youngest of five sons, to a distinguished Russian family. His mother was Princess Natalia Nikolayevna Meshcherskaya and his father was Count Paul Ignatieff, a close advisor to Tsar Nicholas II serving as his last Minister of Education. In 1918, the year after the Russian Revolution, Count Ignatieff was imprisoned, but his release was negotiated by sympathetic supporters. The family fled to France, and later moved to Canada. ( So I guess he is basically russian royal blood )

[kcantor]

Originally Posted by Drumbones

Thanks for that info jmart. His roots deeply are Russian high blood lines, must have something to do with that...

it's true enough that they seem to surface when perhaps they shouldn't:

http://www2.canada.com/edmontonjourn...6e40dd5355&p=1

on the other hand there's sometimes not much loyalty to those roots when they don't suit:

http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/03/29/m...ion-to-canada/

[DiscoBandit]

Originally Posted by Mla

I am voting Conservative because of their tough on crime policies and no other parties share a similar view on Canada's Criminal Welfare System. Sorry I meant Legal System....

Their plans have failed elsewhere when they've been implemented, and are being imported here. It honestly scares me that people can see this failure but still think that a political party pushing it knows better than they do about it. Besides, when I hear "tough on crime" all I'm really hearing is "I want more institutionalized vengeance" rather than acknowledging the prison and legal systems are supposed to be reformatory rather than warehouses or a way to ruin the lives of those who commit minor crimes like marijuana possession.

"Tough on crime" just doesn't work, and there are other options. That's why I'm pushing for other parties.

[Hilman]

CBC vote quiz creator worked for Ignatieff
By BRIAN LILLEY, PARLIAMENTARY BUREAU
Last Updated: March 31, 2011

OTTAWA - The CBC keeps things in the family.

The state broadcaster built an online voting tool that's under fire for having a Liberal bias.

And it turns out one of the key people behind CBC's Vote Compass worked as a policy advisor on Michael Ignatieff's Liberal leadership campaign in 2006.

Peter Loewen, assistant professor of political science at the University of Toronto, is also the director of analytics for the CBC's online vote selection tool. Vote Compass, a 30 question online tool, is supposed to give voters an idea of what party they are most closely aligned. Critics say it's biased towards the Liberals.

"I volunteered in 2006," Loewen says of his work for Ignatieff's first failed bid for the Liberal leadership. "The nature of that work was that I wrote a couple of policy papers on equalization."

Loewen denies that his work then has any bearing on the outcome of the Vote Compass now or that the vote picking tool leans to the party he once worked with. Critics from the left and the right have claimed the Vote Compass is flawed.

Full story: http://www.edmontonsun.com/news/deci.../17829961.html

[Hilman]

I guess we know why 49% of us got a Liberal result lol.

[etownboarder]

Wow... you mean a political scientist actually worked for a politician? Say it isn't so.

[DiscoBandit]

Originally Posted by Hilman

I guess we know why 49% of us got a Liberal result lol.

The vote compass is readily available, could you prove that there is a bias?

[Hilman]

Did you read the article I just posted?

Peter Loewen, assistant professor of political science at the University of Toronto, is also the director of analytics for the CBC's online vote selection tool. Vote Compass, a 30 question online tool, is supposed to give voters an idea of what party they are most closely aligned. Critics say it's biased towards the Liberals.

Professor Kathy Brock of Queen's University told QMI Agency on Tuesday that the CBC's web program gives users a default position of Liberal. NDP critics have said it points their voters to the Liberals or Greens.

One student who said she thought of herself as more Conservative came up as a Liberal, another who thought he was more of an NDP supporter also came out Liberal.

[etownboarder]

I could counter that by saying perhaps since the majority of politicians are full of crap and have done a terrible job explaining to voters what they stand for or telling the average voter what they plan to do once in power in a manner that your every day person can actually understand, many Canadians have just given up on politics altogether. Low voter turnout anyone?

Again, each party had input on the questions and their positions on the spectrums. This just translates the data and puts it into plain English because most people don't have the time to dissect the truth from the lies anymore. This is a fantastic tool that uses real science to tell people what they need to know if they're going to make an informed decision when they vote.

Sorry if the truth hurts, but if you listen to Harper long enough, you'll be so terrified of all the "horrible" and "devious" and "evil" things that the other parties and leaders will do once in power, that you almost feel like you have no choice but to vote Conservative. Unfortunately, if you really look at the big picture and dissect the truth from the fiction, you'll realize where you really stand on the real issues.

There are certainly many people who find their political views are more in line with what Stephen Harper has planned for Canadas future too.

[edmonton daily photo]

Originally Posted by Hilman

I guess we know why 49% of us got a Liberal result lol.

Yes because, broadly speaking, canadian society is largely a center or slightly left of center country....

Maybe thats why the conservatives have a MINORITY gov't...

COME ON!

[edmonton daily photo]

Originally Posted by Hilman

Did you read the article I just posted?

Perception and reality some times don't jive.... Just because you think your morels and values align in a certain way doesn't mean that they actually do.. If you look at the provincial party the PC's are FULL of people who actually have very center views. It's one of the reasons why you have suc internal strife within the PC's right now.

I took the quiz.. i ended up very center when i always though i was fairly left of center. should i start screaming, based on my own lack of understanding, that the quiz is bias to the conservatives. as for the NDP speaking out about it.. DUH they want to form a gov't when its clear only a small portion of canadians share their views.... its no wonder that they don't like something that simply further illustrates that.

i wonder if a tin foil hat will protect me from the big bad CBC and it's evil liberal agenda?!

[Hilman]

Originally Posted by edmonton daily photo

Yes because, broadly speaking, canadian society is largely a center or slightly left of center country....

Maybe thats why the conservatives have a MINORITY gov't...

COME ON!

Wouldn't that mean we should have a minority or majority Liberal government?

If this guy had previously worked for Harper, the Liberals would be screaming murder lol.

[edmonton daily photo]

^ Um...The Left leaning parties do have the majority of the house... I'm not looking at party specifics because we often make choices at the ballot box such as strategic voting.. or maybe we like our local candidate even though we may not entirely agree with the party...


The reality is... the parties left of center have the majority of the house and receive the majority of votes within the system.

Our social values are left of center with centric fiscal trends. Even the conservatives aren't reallt conservative. There social platform may be Right of center but their fiscal planing is ANYTHING but conservative.

We need some party merging on the left is what we need or for a national reform/wild rose/tea party movement to start.... If you really want to get the conservatives out of power start up the Canadian tea party and suck the fiscal conservative base away.

[Dialog]

Worst Past the Post

[Chmilz]

I want more national parties, not less, lest we become the same as the US.

[Shane Bergdahl]

I feel so violated. The Poll said Liberal even though I rated the party and leader VERY poorly. Go figure.

Now I need to go wash my hands and keyboard!

[sundance]

Actually I did the poll to my views (fiscal conservative, socially liberal) which would put me somewhere of a libertarian, and it did put me about where I figured it would.

[whynow99]

"STEPHEN HARPER shows CONTEMPT for the "Press" and "Free Speech" ... and, what does the "Press" do?

Keep 'kissin' his @SS.".

[edmonton90]

I got liberal.

After the results I decided to look at all my positions individually between the liberals and NDP and compare them. So for every place on the spectrum that I was closer to one party or the other I would give the closer party a point.

So say I choose disagree and the Libs had "neutral" and the NDP "strongly agree" it would be +2 for the libs. You get the gist.

After I tallied it all up, the libs were only 1 point higher then the NDP. But on the compass it put me significantly closer to the liberals then the NDP.

Obviously it calculates things differently but I don't think it does a very good job at it. The political compass is better in my opinion but the questions are more broad rather than issue specific.

[Marcel Petrin]

All these compass things are fairly useless, they can be skewed in any number of directions by whoever wrote them. But they can be fun to play around with.

I ended up dead center both horizontally and vertically. Makes sense to me, I'm pretty centrist generally. Fiscally conservative, socially very progressive. According to the CBC, that makes me a Liberal. And I suppose I do long for the days of Landslide Annie, when we had an MP that was actually worth a damn.

Funny though, when asked who I thought was most fit to be PM I rated them all 4 or below. And when asked which leader I liked the most, I had to admit that I've always like Duceppe, especially when he's joking/playing around and even though I despise sovereigntists. Harper's proven he has no principle he won't sell down the river to keep power, Ignatieff has proven to be a massive failure, May may well be crazy, and Layton would happily destroy our economy so long as he felt it was destroyed "fairly."

[alex69]

I wound up dead on where they place the conservatives. And I am not going to vote that way.

Because to be a conservative today, you must first and foremost be a liar.

[edmonton daily photo]

^ thanks for that stunning piece of brilliant commentary.... really added to the topic!

[sundance]

One thing that has been identified as a flaw in the Vote Compass is voting strongly against adopting a carbon tax puts you in either the Conservative (okay fine) or Liberal (Huh WTF?!?!?) categories.

[whynow99]

.....................................CARSON....... .................................................. .................................................. CARSON........HARPER.........CARSON............... .................................................. ..........................................CARSON.. .................................................. .....................................
Now who is the disbarred lawyer, convicted fraudster.................take two guesses!!!!!
Harpocrite knows better but refuses to do the right thing......................harper would not know honesty if he tripped over it.

[Jimbo]

Originally Posted by alex69

I wound up dead on where they place the conservatives. And I am not going to vote that way.

Because to be a conservative today, you must first and foremost be a liar.

Dumb. Adds nothing to the discussion, and makes you look like a dolt.

You just referred to many of my best friends and associates, including some of the finest, most upstanding people you'd ever meet, as "liars".

[Jimbo]

Originally Posted by edmonton daily photo

^ Um...The Left leaning parties do have the majority of the house... I'm not looking at party specifics because we often make choices at the ballot box such as strategic voting.. or maybe we like our local candidate even though we may not entirely agree with the party...


The reality is... the parties left of center have the majority of the house and receive the majority of votes within the system.

Our social values are left of center with centric fiscal trends. Even the conservatives aren't reallt conservative. There social platform may be Right of center but their fiscal planing is ANYTHING but conservative.

We need some party merging on the left is what we need or for a national reform/wild rose/tea party movement to start.... If you really want to get the conservatives out of power start up the Canadian tea party and suck the fiscal conservative base away.

The Liberals, at least historically, aren't "Left". Voting Liberal is not akin to voting NDP. Take a look at the platform, and, again, the history of governance. It's actually closer to voting Conservative, despite protestations to the contrary.

So, I think it may be closer to the truth to say most Canadians vote centrist.

On the topic, it's hard to miss the irony when the CBC asks me to take a poll so they can tell me who I'm supporting. If they want to know, maybe they should just ask.

[grish]

^ I think you misunderstood the intention of the compass. I think their point is to potentially highlight a discrepancy between the voting intention and the party policy. It has more of an educational value then telling you how to vote.

[Jimbo]

Gotcha. I probably did. Thanks

[Dialog]

To me this is exemplified by the marijuana question. In other threads we have seen people of many political stripes advocate for legalization. Well, that's not Harper's stance, he's for toughening, more sentencing, decidedly against legalization.

[edmonton daily photo]

Originally Posted by Jimbo

The Liberals, at least historically, aren't "Left". Voting Liberal is not akin to voting NDP. Take a look at the platform, and, again, the history of governance. It's actually closer to voting Conservative, despite protestations to the contrary.

So, I think it may be closer to the truth to say most Canadians vote centrist.

On the topic, it's hard to miss the irony when the CBC asks me to take a poll so they can tell me who I'm supporting. If they want to know, maybe they should just ask.

Our history has been that of a social left party with a fiscal policy that tends to favor just right of center.