Alternate Wikipedia Infoboxes IV (Do not post Current Politics Here)
- Thread starter Glide08
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The family has a long history of getting a bit dead when they get pretentious, so they overcompensate.
'steal,' 'run away with your lover in a delusional attempt to start your own kingdom with blackjack and hookers,' potato, potahto
Seed
From small things, big things grow.
On the day seven representatives of seven worlds shook hands, and agreed their people, with their shared past, had a shared future, no one could have known the enormity of that agreement; the effect it would have on the future, on the path of human history. It has been the speculation of numerous works, both academic and entertaining, on how the last 800 years of human history may have turned out if their had been dissent on that day, a voice or voices who stood separate. Would the universe be a better place? Or worse?
To detail the history of the Home Stars before the fateful day the Newhome starship Don't Know Where Where Going popped into existence above the planet Sol is well beyond the limited scope of this piece; instead we look at what happened afterwards: the formation of the Australasian Interstellar Community.
After first contact with Sol, Newhome wasted no time attempting (and succeeding) to contact the other colonies of the first fleet: for the colonists of the Crux sector, it was a heartening development. For hundreds of years, they had looked to the stars and wondered if they were the only ones, the last humans. To find so many of their distant brothers and sisters had not only made it, but thrived, filled the stars with celebration. Soon the small but growing fleet of FTL ships began to bring representatives to Newhome, so that they could learn about each other, the differences they had developed over the centuries, the similarities they still shared, the common roots they had. It was here the Community was born: a forum to share ideas and technology, to work together for the future.
The Community started simple, as an exchange of culture an ideas, but evolved as time went on, taking on new roles and responsibilities as technology advanced. As the planets of the Crux sector began to explore and colonise nearby stars, the Community helped coordinate; as FTL trade became essential to the planetary economies, the Community became a trade block. As improvements in communications technology made it easier for the planets to communicate, the Communities responsibilities grew, developing communications protocols, ruling on standards, and coordinating the development of the first quantum networks.
But it was first contact with the American Sector that sparked the biggest change in the Community.
The discover of of the other colonies sent shockwaves through the Crux sector: the apparent number of colonies and huge population (at the time estimated to be somewhere between twenty billion and two hundred billion) dwarfed the Crux colonies. It went beyond that though: now contact had been made, their was a “foreign” to the Crux colonies, rapidly becoming multiple “foreign” as the somewhat fractured nature of the American sector became apparent. The Home stars realised their was need to show united front, least the Crux sector be dominated: As such, Extrastellar affairs and dealings were united under the Community.
At the same time, the people of Home Stars began to engaged in a massive colonial expansion, spurred on in part by fear of the size of the American Sector. In a matter of decades, dozens of new star systems and planets were colonised. More and more it fell to Community authorities to organise and administer these new systems.
With more an more responsibility and authority resting in the hands of the Community, and integration between the Home Stars increasing, there were changes in how the Community was governed: from the original, professionally appointed committee of academics and diplomats, to the semi elected advisory council, and finally, the Interstellar Parliament, elected by the member planets of the Community. It was apparent, that full integration and federalisation was almost inevitable, and negotiations to achieve such began as early as 10210.
In the Final years of the Community, their was one more major development: the founding of the combined military force, ANZAC. ANZAC was formed in response to the growing issue of the border with the America Sector: the seemingly eternal conflicts burning across the sector had an unfortunate habit of spilling over into Crux space, and the ANZAC were intended to help stem the violence. What started as a security operation soon turned into a full blown conflict when ANZAC vessels investigating an incursion came under fire from from forces of one of the more aggressive American polities, the Great Cascade. Although the Cascade were beaten back, ANZAC high command identified the need to eliminate Cascade forces from the border stars; Unforeseeable at the time, this first military foray into the American sector was the beginning of a conflict that would define the next two centuries: the Subjugation of the American Sector.
On the 29th of Second-May, 10267 EE, as the sun rose over the planet Newhome, the flag of the Australasian Intergalactic Community was lowered for the last time, signifying the end of the 149 year old organisation. In its place, a new flag was risen, signifying the seven worlds of the Home Stars becoming a single nation. The Australasian Intergalactic Commonwealth was born.
Okay, this is all sorts of fascinating. I think I may have some quesitons about this, but I'd like to see more before I can fully articulate them.
Suffice to say, Allan Rock’s first two years as Prime Minister were fairly bumpy. Upon his election to the leadership of the Liberal Party he seemed poised to maintain the momentum began by Paul Martin. Quebec had rejected independence by a comfortable margin, the Liberal Party held a majority in the House of Commons, and his main opposition rival seemed more occupied over whether he would abandon Ottawa for Quebec City than the federal government’s performance. After years of constitutional referendums and political uncertainty, Rock appeared as a safe and stable statesman ready to move Canada to safer economic and political waters. Unfortunately for Rock, his honeymoon with the public would be short lived.
During his brief time as Paul Martin’s Justice Minister, Rock had implemented his leader’s agenda concerning gun control. Namely, The Firearms Act implemented a wide range of reforms that had left many Canadians, particularly those out west, feeling persecuted. Some accused the new law of being a direct attack against Canadian gun-owners. Others argued, particularly the governments of Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador, that it overstepped the federal government’s mandate, a view which was later rejected by the Supreme Court. It was worried that the law, that included new aspects like a firearms registry, would prove too expensive for the federal government to manage effectively. Within the three years since its implementation there had been numerous protests across Canada, including at Parliament Hill itself. The Prime Minister’s only salvation was that Charest, coming from a province deeply supportive of gun-control legislation, was forced to walk a fine line between the fact that a bulk of his party’s support came from Quebec, and the deep opposition coming from members in Ontario and western Canada.
Some members of the federal Liberal government had also found themselves at odds with their leader over the issue of same-sex marriage. A long-time supporter of marriage equality, Rock had controversially mentioned the possibility that the government would introduce a Bill with the intention of making it legal, much to the chagrin of the more conservative elements of the House of Commons, including some within his own party. Some backbench MPs, such as former leadership candidate Tom Wappel, publically denounced any such attempt to “unfairly attack” the institution of marriage. As Paul Martin had also been against same-sex marriage during his time in office, some more socially conservative Liberals believed it to be disrespectful to the late Prime Minister. Anger over the issue had become so pronounced within the Reform Party that a small cabal of the party’s more moderate and fiscally-interested members quit in protest over Preston Manning’s indifference to the homophobic remarks by some senior party members. Again, the leader of the Progressive Conservatives found himself avoiding to take a firm position on the issue. Charest’s only demand was that the matter, if it was put forth by the government, be put to a free vote in the House of Commons. With the likes of Elsie Wayne in the Tory party, anything remotely supportive of such a Bill would threaten to split the party, which would be disastrous considering the narrow seat advantage the Tories enjoyed over Reform. Much to the Liberal’s pleasure, polling showed that anti-Liberal voters were, though divided, more willing to vote for Preston Manning’s Reform Party than they were a Progressive Conservative Party led by Jean Charest. Sadly for the Prime Minister, the leader of the Opposition decided that leading the federalist forces in Quebec was a more appealing job than dealing with the turmoil of Ottawa.
In the ensuing leadership campaign, Tory members opted against selecting a leader from the more left-leaning Red Tory wing of the party, and instead settled on the budget-balancing Premier of Manitoba, Gary Filmon. Upon his election to the leadership Filmon had pledged not to work with or move towards a merger with the Reform Party as long as Preston Manning remained leader. At first the declaration seemed unnecessary. Polls had shown Reform ahead of the Tories for a year and many political pundits had begun joking that Manning had already begun picking out his drapes for Stornoway. But Filmon proved to be an affective opposition leader, focusing his attacks on he governments gun-legislation and the government’s “ineffective” approach to balance the federal budget. Filmon’s forceful accusations that the Liberals were out to diminish western Canada and its people garnered praise in newspapers like the Calgary Sun, the Calgary Journal, the Winnipeg Free Press, and the Edmonton Journal. Although far from a spellbinding speaker, Filmon’s performance as Leader of the Official Opposition made Preston Manning appear all the more diminished. Making matters worse for Manning, independent MPs Jan Brown, Chuck Strahl and Keith Martin announced in January 1998 that they would join the Tories, further adding to their advantage over Reform. The Tory leader was not without problems of his own, however. Many of the Tories thirty-three Quebec MPs felt uncomfortable with a more right-wing westerner as leader. Three of those MP’s feelings were strong enough to cause them to cross the floor; two to the Liberals and one to the Bloc Quebecois. In order to appease his party’s Quebec-wing, Pierre Blaise was named deputy leader and pledges were made to the affect that if he were to become Prime Minister, Filmon would leave all matters affecting Quebec to him. Despite these concessions, it was clear that without Jean Charest the Tories would suffer loses in Quebec.
The NDP meanwhile hoped that by replacing Audrey McLaughlin with veteran MP Lorne Nystrom, the party would be better able to compete out west against both Reform and the Progressive Conservatives. Having barley hung onto official party status following the last election, party stalwarts were eager to present voters with a reinvigorated party that could serve as an alternative to the Liberal Party. For the Bloc, Charest’s venture into provincial politics granted the party its best opportunity to emerge as the leading party from Quebec and potentially rejuvenate the sovereignty movement. If he failed to become leader of the opposition, Preston Manning’s already uneasy grasp on his party’s leadership would be in further jeopardy, giving the Tories to have the upper-hand during any potential merger negotiations.
Following his meeting with Governor General Edward Lumely, Prime Minister Rock followed the tradition set by his elected predecessors by using his first election press conference as his campaign kickoff. In keeping with this tradition, Rock presented himself, much as Charest and Mulroney had done, as the safe pair of hands more in tune with Canadian values than his opponents. The Liberal Party platform, entitled “Canada’s Bigger Picture” placed significant focus on gradually returning to a budget surplus and how that surplus would be spent on strengthening healthcare, the reduction of poverty, and job creation. Some pundits suggested that the Liberal Red Book had become the Liberal Beige Book, referencing the boring, expected, and somewhat vague policy proposals. Cartoonists satirized this perception by depicting the Prime Minister in beige-coloured suits. In one of the more memorable moments of the campaign, Rock appeared at a campaign event wearing a beige-coloured suit, embracing the persona of being a boring politician. While Rock certainly was not as charismatic as either Jean Chretien or Paul Martin, and indeed sought to make that aspect a strength, the campaign itself was not void of excitement. Leadership-runner up Brian Tobin caused headaches for the federal campaign when he refused to rule out whether or not he would ever try and become Liberal leader. The Newfoundland MP later clarified that there was a possibility he’d run “after a decade or so” of Allan Rock in charge.
The NDP campaign centred around reaching out to disgruntled voters who were either unwilling or unsure of supporting Reform or the Tories. In Atlantic Canada a large number of voters viewed the centre-right leaders with suspicion, with many worrying that either leader was more interested in cutting funding to the East in favour of their native West. Although Lorne Nystrom was himself a western-based Member of Parliament, his support of increasing transfer payments and federal funding to Atlantic Canada won him many fans. In Ontario however, the NDP brand was still heavily tainted as a result of the premiership of Bob Rae. With Mike Harris busy digging the province out of debt and curbing union powers, an NDP leader who won due in part to union and labour support was viewed as apart of the problem, not a potential solution. Yet it was out in the prairies that the NDP hoped to make their breakthrough. Unfortunately for Nystrom, aside from Gary Doer in Manitoba every western NDP leader seemed resigned to defeat in their next respective general election. Meanwhile the Bloc capitalized on the fact that only their leader hailed from Quebec, with they tried to rationalize to voters as reason enough to vote for the pro-sovereigntist party. After all, who best to represent Quebec than a Quebecer? Much like the NDP, the Bloc found their provincial allies more interested with their own matters than the federal campaign. Coming off the referendum defeat meant the PQ had to reorganize their agenda. Although the provincial election was scheduled to take place the same year as the federal election, to avoid confusion Premier Landry announced that it would be held the following year in 1999. Landry hoped the extra time would allow his government the time to build up an effective argument for voters not to elect Jean Charest. There was also the matter than many in the PQ who had supported or were allied with former Premier Jacques Parizeau viewed the Bloc leader with distrust for his actions during the referendum.
Jean Charest, and later Gary Filmon, had recruited various star candidates in the lead-up to the campaign. Retired general Lewis Mackenzie represented the Tories in the riding of Kings-Hants, which neighboured his home riding of Cumberland-Colchester, which was held by Bill Casey. In Ontario former provincial cabinet minister Dennis Timbrell sought to knock off cabinet minister Lyle Vanclief in Prince Edward-Hastings. Reform MP-turned-Independent-turned-Progressive Conservative Jan Brown hoped to retain her riding of Calgary Southeast against Reform challenger Jason Kenney. The Tory platform, entitled “Standing up for Canada” sought to portray the party as the champions of fiscal responsibility and government management. Having been outside of the Mulroney and Charest governments, Filmon instead campaign on his record as the Premier of Manitoba, which had been continuously re-elected and had delivered a balanced budget. Such a message was appealing in Canada’s rural regions, areas which had rejected the Tories as far back as 1988. In Manitoba the native son could count on the political machine of the provincial Tory party and his successor as Premier, Brian Pallister. In Saskatchewan the new Saskatchewan Party, formed from Liberals and Conservatives determined to defeat the NDP, was led by former Reform MP Elwin Hermanson. Despite his affiliation, Hermanson offered praise for Filmon’s record as Premier, telling reporters that he hoped to mimic his achievements in Saskatchewan. Alberta was another story. Despite having the public backing of Premier Ralph Klein, Reform had entrenched themselves in Canada’s cowboy capital. Preston Manning’s father Ernest had served as the long-serving Premier of the province decades before. Reform had virtually wiped the Tories out in the province in 1993 and kept them out again a year later in 1994. Populism was alive and well in oil-country. However, there were some lingering doubts about whether or not Manning actually had a chance at forming government. Reporters such as Chantel Herbert would later recall Alberta voters asking whether or not Manning’s French was strong enough to be Prime Minister, to which she replied it was not. Although far from perfectly bilingual, Gary Filmon’s French was strong enough to converse with French Canada. There was also the fact that the Reform Party had become somewhat disorganized under Manning’s leadership. Free-votes and free-speech created the aura of disunity, and candidates attacking gays and minorities, while applauded by some, offended many others. Were Albertans content enough voting for what the Tories labelled as the western equivalent of the Bloc Quebecois?
Throughout the campaign the usual attacks were implemented. Every leader accused the other of having the wrong agenda for the country or Quebec. Allan Rock sought to positon his party as the party whose only ideology was balancing the budget. Gary Filmon campaigned as the only electable western leader willing to do what was necessary to balance the budget. Essentially he campaigned using a version of the Liberal’s platform but with harsher rhetoric. Preston Manning poured his party’s resources into retaining what they already had. Their Ontario strategy was burned to fuel a campaign of keeping the west under their control. Lorne Nystrom campaigned out west and in the Atlantic and Michel Gauthier lived, breathed, and campaigned in Quebec. Polls showed that voters were generally indifferent to much of the campaign, that although the Liberals would likely win another majority, there was significant discontent with the direction of the country and the government’s agenda.
Yet Election Night proved to be an unpredictable event. By the rising of the sun Canadians learned that Allan Rock had indeed been elected in his own right, albeit with a minority rather than a majority government. Many Liberal insiders were greatly disappointed by the results. The Tories had made breakthroughs across the country, with many of their star candidates winning their seats, Lewis Mackenzie and Jan Brown chief among them. Quebec had indeed dealt the Tories a significant blow, but had turned to the Liberals rather than the Bloc Quebecois. Preston Manning meanwhile had also been dealt a blow, and with Gary Filmon’s refusal to work with a Reform Party headed by him, his leadership was looking shaky at best. After only four years of stable, majority rule, Canada re-entered the unpredictability presented by a minority government.
(Map Credit to @LeinadB93)
Prime Ministers of Canada:
Pierre Elliott Trudeau (Liberal) 1968-1979
Joe Clark (Progressive Conservative) 1979-1980
Pierre Elliott Trudeau (Liberal) 1980-1984
John Turner (Liberal) 1984
Brian Mulroney (Progressive Conservative) 1984-1993
Jean Charest (Progressive Conservative) 1993-1994
Paul Martin (Liberal) 1994-1995
Herb Gray (Liberal) 1995-1996
Allan Rock (Liberal) 1996-
Leaders of the Official Opposition:
Robert Stanfield (Progressive Conservative) 1967-1976
Joe Clark (Progressive Conservative) 1976-1979
Pierre Elliott Trudeau (Liberal) 1979-1980
Joe Clark (Progressive Conservative) 1980-1983
Erik Nielsen (Progressive Conservative) 1983
Brian Mulroney (Progressive Conservative) 1983-1984
John Turner (Liberal) 1984-1990
Herb Gray (Liberal) 1990
Jean Chretien (Liberal) 1990-1993
Lloyd Axworthy (Liberal) 1993-1994
Paul Martin (Liberal) 1994
Jean Charest (Progressive Conservative) 1994-1997
Gary Filmon (Progressive Conservative) 1997-
During his brief time as Paul Martin’s Justice Minister, Rock had implemented his leader’s agenda concerning gun control. Namely, The Firearms Act implemented a wide range of reforms that had left many Canadians, particularly those out west, feeling persecuted. Some accused the new law of being a direct attack against Canadian gun-owners. Others argued, particularly the governments of Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador, that it overstepped the federal government’s mandate, a view which was later rejected by the Supreme Court. It was worried that the law, that included new aspects like a firearms registry, would prove too expensive for the federal government to manage effectively. Within the three years since its implementation there had been numerous protests across Canada, including at Parliament Hill itself. The Prime Minister’s only salvation was that Charest, coming from a province deeply supportive of gun-control legislation, was forced to walk a fine line between the fact that a bulk of his party’s support came from Quebec, and the deep opposition coming from members in Ontario and western Canada.
Some members of the federal Liberal government had also found themselves at odds with their leader over the issue of same-sex marriage. A long-time supporter of marriage equality, Rock had controversially mentioned the possibility that the government would introduce a Bill with the intention of making it legal, much to the chagrin of the more conservative elements of the House of Commons, including some within his own party. Some backbench MPs, such as former leadership candidate Tom Wappel, publically denounced any such attempt to “unfairly attack” the institution of marriage. As Paul Martin had also been against same-sex marriage during his time in office, some more socially conservative Liberals believed it to be disrespectful to the late Prime Minister. Anger over the issue had become so pronounced within the Reform Party that a small cabal of the party’s more moderate and fiscally-interested members quit in protest over Preston Manning’s indifference to the homophobic remarks by some senior party members. Again, the leader of the Progressive Conservatives found himself avoiding to take a firm position on the issue. Charest’s only demand was that the matter, if it was put forth by the government, be put to a free vote in the House of Commons. With the likes of Elsie Wayne in the Tory party, anything remotely supportive of such a Bill would threaten to split the party, which would be disastrous considering the narrow seat advantage the Tories enjoyed over Reform. Much to the Liberal’s pleasure, polling showed that anti-Liberal voters were, though divided, more willing to vote for Preston Manning’s Reform Party than they were a Progressive Conservative Party led by Jean Charest. Sadly for the Prime Minister, the leader of the Opposition decided that leading the federalist forces in Quebec was a more appealing job than dealing with the turmoil of Ottawa.
In the ensuing leadership campaign, Tory members opted against selecting a leader from the more left-leaning Red Tory wing of the party, and instead settled on the budget-balancing Premier of Manitoba, Gary Filmon. Upon his election to the leadership Filmon had pledged not to work with or move towards a merger with the Reform Party as long as Preston Manning remained leader. At first the declaration seemed unnecessary. Polls had shown Reform ahead of the Tories for a year and many political pundits had begun joking that Manning had already begun picking out his drapes for Stornoway. But Filmon proved to be an affective opposition leader, focusing his attacks on he governments gun-legislation and the government’s “ineffective” approach to balance the federal budget. Filmon’s forceful accusations that the Liberals were out to diminish western Canada and its people garnered praise in newspapers like the Calgary Sun, the Calgary Journal, the Winnipeg Free Press, and the Edmonton Journal. Although far from a spellbinding speaker, Filmon’s performance as Leader of the Official Opposition made Preston Manning appear all the more diminished. Making matters worse for Manning, independent MPs Jan Brown, Chuck Strahl and Keith Martin announced in January 1998 that they would join the Tories, further adding to their advantage over Reform. The Tory leader was not without problems of his own, however. Many of the Tories thirty-three Quebec MPs felt uncomfortable with a more right-wing westerner as leader. Three of those MP’s feelings were strong enough to cause them to cross the floor; two to the Liberals and one to the Bloc Quebecois. In order to appease his party’s Quebec-wing, Pierre Blaise was named deputy leader and pledges were made to the affect that if he were to become Prime Minister, Filmon would leave all matters affecting Quebec to him. Despite these concessions, it was clear that without Jean Charest the Tories would suffer loses in Quebec.
The NDP meanwhile hoped that by replacing Audrey McLaughlin with veteran MP Lorne Nystrom, the party would be better able to compete out west against both Reform and the Progressive Conservatives. Having barley hung onto official party status following the last election, party stalwarts were eager to present voters with a reinvigorated party that could serve as an alternative to the Liberal Party. For the Bloc, Charest’s venture into provincial politics granted the party its best opportunity to emerge as the leading party from Quebec and potentially rejuvenate the sovereignty movement. If he failed to become leader of the opposition, Preston Manning’s already uneasy grasp on his party’s leadership would be in further jeopardy, giving the Tories to have the upper-hand during any potential merger negotiations.
Following his meeting with Governor General Edward Lumely, Prime Minister Rock followed the tradition set by his elected predecessors by using his first election press conference as his campaign kickoff. In keeping with this tradition, Rock presented himself, much as Charest and Mulroney had done, as the safe pair of hands more in tune with Canadian values than his opponents. The Liberal Party platform, entitled “Canada’s Bigger Picture” placed significant focus on gradually returning to a budget surplus and how that surplus would be spent on strengthening healthcare, the reduction of poverty, and job creation. Some pundits suggested that the Liberal Red Book had become the Liberal Beige Book, referencing the boring, expected, and somewhat vague policy proposals. Cartoonists satirized this perception by depicting the Prime Minister in beige-coloured suits. In one of the more memorable moments of the campaign, Rock appeared at a campaign event wearing a beige-coloured suit, embracing the persona of being a boring politician. While Rock certainly was not as charismatic as either Jean Chretien or Paul Martin, and indeed sought to make that aspect a strength, the campaign itself was not void of excitement. Leadership-runner up Brian Tobin caused headaches for the federal campaign when he refused to rule out whether or not he would ever try and become Liberal leader. The Newfoundland MP later clarified that there was a possibility he’d run “after a decade or so” of Allan Rock in charge.
The NDP campaign centred around reaching out to disgruntled voters who were either unwilling or unsure of supporting Reform or the Tories. In Atlantic Canada a large number of voters viewed the centre-right leaders with suspicion, with many worrying that either leader was more interested in cutting funding to the East in favour of their native West. Although Lorne Nystrom was himself a western-based Member of Parliament, his support of increasing transfer payments and federal funding to Atlantic Canada won him many fans. In Ontario however, the NDP brand was still heavily tainted as a result of the premiership of Bob Rae. With Mike Harris busy digging the province out of debt and curbing union powers, an NDP leader who won due in part to union and labour support was viewed as apart of the problem, not a potential solution. Yet it was out in the prairies that the NDP hoped to make their breakthrough. Unfortunately for Nystrom, aside from Gary Doer in Manitoba every western NDP leader seemed resigned to defeat in their next respective general election. Meanwhile the Bloc capitalized on the fact that only their leader hailed from Quebec, with they tried to rationalize to voters as reason enough to vote for the pro-sovereigntist party. After all, who best to represent Quebec than a Quebecer? Much like the NDP, the Bloc found their provincial allies more interested with their own matters than the federal campaign. Coming off the referendum defeat meant the PQ had to reorganize their agenda. Although the provincial election was scheduled to take place the same year as the federal election, to avoid confusion Premier Landry announced that it would be held the following year in 1999. Landry hoped the extra time would allow his government the time to build up an effective argument for voters not to elect Jean Charest. There was also the matter than many in the PQ who had supported or were allied with former Premier Jacques Parizeau viewed the Bloc leader with distrust for his actions during the referendum.
Jean Charest, and later Gary Filmon, had recruited various star candidates in the lead-up to the campaign. Retired general Lewis Mackenzie represented the Tories in the riding of Kings-Hants, which neighboured his home riding of Cumberland-Colchester, which was held by Bill Casey. In Ontario former provincial cabinet minister Dennis Timbrell sought to knock off cabinet minister Lyle Vanclief in Prince Edward-Hastings. Reform MP-turned-Independent-turned-Progressive Conservative Jan Brown hoped to retain her riding of Calgary Southeast against Reform challenger Jason Kenney. The Tory platform, entitled “Standing up for Canada” sought to portray the party as the champions of fiscal responsibility and government management. Having been outside of the Mulroney and Charest governments, Filmon instead campaign on his record as the Premier of Manitoba, which had been continuously re-elected and had delivered a balanced budget. Such a message was appealing in Canada’s rural regions, areas which had rejected the Tories as far back as 1988. In Manitoba the native son could count on the political machine of the provincial Tory party and his successor as Premier, Brian Pallister. In Saskatchewan the new Saskatchewan Party, formed from Liberals and Conservatives determined to defeat the NDP, was led by former Reform MP Elwin Hermanson. Despite his affiliation, Hermanson offered praise for Filmon’s record as Premier, telling reporters that he hoped to mimic his achievements in Saskatchewan. Alberta was another story. Despite having the public backing of Premier Ralph Klein, Reform had entrenched themselves in Canada’s cowboy capital. Preston Manning’s father Ernest had served as the long-serving Premier of the province decades before. Reform had virtually wiped the Tories out in the province in 1993 and kept them out again a year later in 1994. Populism was alive and well in oil-country. However, there were some lingering doubts about whether or not Manning actually had a chance at forming government. Reporters such as Chantel Herbert would later recall Alberta voters asking whether or not Manning’s French was strong enough to be Prime Minister, to which she replied it was not. Although far from perfectly bilingual, Gary Filmon’s French was strong enough to converse with French Canada. There was also the fact that the Reform Party had become somewhat disorganized under Manning’s leadership. Free-votes and free-speech created the aura of disunity, and candidates attacking gays and minorities, while applauded by some, offended many others. Were Albertans content enough voting for what the Tories labelled as the western equivalent of the Bloc Quebecois?
Throughout the campaign the usual attacks were implemented. Every leader accused the other of having the wrong agenda for the country or Quebec. Allan Rock sought to positon his party as the party whose only ideology was balancing the budget. Gary Filmon campaigned as the only electable western leader willing to do what was necessary to balance the budget. Essentially he campaigned using a version of the Liberal’s platform but with harsher rhetoric. Preston Manning poured his party’s resources into retaining what they already had. Their Ontario strategy was burned to fuel a campaign of keeping the west under their control. Lorne Nystrom campaigned out west and in the Atlantic and Michel Gauthier lived, breathed, and campaigned in Quebec. Polls showed that voters were generally indifferent to much of the campaign, that although the Liberals would likely win another majority, there was significant discontent with the direction of the country and the government’s agenda.
Yet Election Night proved to be an unpredictable event. By the rising of the sun Canadians learned that Allan Rock had indeed been elected in his own right, albeit with a minority rather than a majority government. Many Liberal insiders were greatly disappointed by the results. The Tories had made breakthroughs across the country, with many of their star candidates winning their seats, Lewis Mackenzie and Jan Brown chief among them. Quebec had indeed dealt the Tories a significant blow, but had turned to the Liberals rather than the Bloc Quebecois. Preston Manning meanwhile had also been dealt a blow, and with Gary Filmon’s refusal to work with a Reform Party headed by him, his leadership was looking shaky at best. After only four years of stable, majority rule, Canada re-entered the unpredictability presented by a minority government.
(Map Credit to @LeinadB93)
Prime Ministers of Canada:
Pierre Elliott Trudeau (Liberal) 1968-1979
Joe Clark (Progressive Conservative) 1979-1980
Pierre Elliott Trudeau (Liberal) 1980-1984
John Turner (Liberal) 1984
Brian Mulroney (Progressive Conservative) 1984-1993
Jean Charest (Progressive Conservative) 1993-1994
Paul Martin (Liberal) 1994-1995
Herb Gray (Liberal) 1995-1996
Allan Rock (Liberal) 1996-
Leaders of the Official Opposition:
Robert Stanfield (Progressive Conservative) 1967-1976
Joe Clark (Progressive Conservative) 1976-1979
Pierre Elliott Trudeau (Liberal) 1979-1980
Joe Clark (Progressive Conservative) 1980-1983
Erik Nielsen (Progressive Conservative) 1983
Brian Mulroney (Progressive Conservative) 1983-1984
John Turner (Liberal) 1984-1990
Herb Gray (Liberal) 1990
Jean Chretien (Liberal) 1990-1993
Lloyd Axworthy (Liberal) 1993-1994
Paul Martin (Liberal) 1994
Jean Charest (Progressive Conservative) 1994-1997
Gary Filmon (Progressive Conservative) 1997-
@CanadianTory – that picture of Manning is beautiful
He smells the liberalism an immorality of Canadian politics.
Names seem bland
Democrats should be Chloroformers, Republicans should be "Wide Awake"
That's deliberate. It's difficult enough to sell the public on the idea of political parties operating their own private armies without naming them anything other than bland, patriotic nothings.
The Democrats would totally call themselves the "Woke" though.
Damn it, thinking up all of the football team and paramilitary names was the hardest part of this damn infobox series and you lot are blowing me out of the water like it's nothing!
The Independence Bowl is a professional American Football league which holds 5 games over a span of 35 days annually, culminating in the July 4 Independence Bowl Championship. Uniquely for sports worldwide, each participating team is a wing of an American political party. The Independence Bowl was created via agreement of the Republican and Democratic parties in the 2012 Panem Accords. Their influence has been in large part responsible for the ascendancy of the Four New Parties into major governmental positions, as a party must hold at least one to put their team into play.
The teams are organized into two conferences based on ideological alignment, the Left Alliance, for left-of-center parties, and the Right Alliance, for right-of-center parties. Each year, two teams from each Alliance face off, with the previous year’s Alliance champion playing the winner. The two Alliance champion teams then face off in the Championship game. The current Independence Bowl Champions are the CPUSA Laborers.
Political violence between fans is common, and as such the paramilitaries of each party are always out in force at the games.
The current roster of teams is as follows:
Left Alliance:
Donkeys (Democratic Party)
Green Shamrocks (Green Party US)
CPUSA Laborers (Communist Party of the USA)
Right Alliance:
GOP Guardians (Republican Party)
Torchbearers (Libertarian Party)
Reform Realists (Reform Party)
The Republic Cannot Endure:
Left Alliance, Right Alliance, Independence Bowl
Republican and Democratic Parties
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