Good luck with your next border crossing, Dan.

This is the glaring downside of the parliamentary system: The vast majority of Canadians have been voting for three other parties, but they've been stuck with Harperbot 3000 for a decade because the CONservatives received a plurality of the votes. Still better than the US, though.

It is a great source of sorrow that Canada is becoming more like the U.S..

According to the Toronto Star, you and John Oliver aren't in any danger. The law only covers 'inducement,' i.e. money.
http://www.thestar.com/news/federal-elec…

I don't understand the 5k-or-jail-time thing. If you're not a Canadian citizen? How does that work? Were the drafters of that legislation really high when they wrote it?

Okay, I thought about it a little more. They must have meant non-citizens inside Canada. But you'd think they could have bothered to include that in the legislation. Otherwise you leave yourself open to ridicule, viz. John Oliver.

Harper is no more of a Conservative than Obama or Clinton and Canada is in no danger of becoming like the US. We still have free speech in this country. Canada has "hate speech" codes as law like a giant college campus.

@4 - okay, that makes sense. But what if the definition of 'inducement' there actually was understood to include advocacy? How could that possibly work? Canada suddenly has the authority to monitor and control anyone's political speech in the entire world regarding its candidates for political office? I don't think so!

Not yelling at you, just amazed that anyone (me included) could have possibly been so unwilling to offend that I/they would have taken that idea seriously, even for a moment. How Canadian of us!

@7: It's such a shame that they violate the rights of people who advocate genocide or incite hatred against a demographic group. Here in America, you can call for homosexuals to be lined up and shot, and you're allowed to call for all those dirty Latinos to be deported for stealing our jerbs, and your God-given right to do so is protected by the judiciary!
In other words, I'm deeply sorry about your tiny benis.

@10 Calm down Bubie. You'd make a great fascist/communist as you obviously are wise enough to police all speech.

@11: No calling for the extermination or persecution of an group based on ethnicity, race, color, national origin, disability status, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or ideology.
Tell me one thing wrong with such a rule, schmuck face. And exactly whose grandmother do you think I am?

@7 - The Harper Government (TM) is FAR more conservative that Obama's is now or what Clinton's will be. If you doubt this, you should spend more time down here. Canada has indeed become much more like the US as evidenced by the Old Stock Canadian who would call a political opponent a "lying piece of shit".

http://www.salon.com/2010/03/22/canada_5…

@13 I just assumed you were a nutty, hysterical old Yenta. My mistake.

Canada's speech codes are nothing more than an attempt to save the feewings of trigger warning leftists by enshrining pc thought policing into law. You might hate Ann Coulter but I'd rather not live in a country where she's charged for her opinions.

This is good, but there are better reasons to cheer Harper's downfall than his negative charisma or poor musicianship - like his obstinate refusal to address global warming.

@7 is just trolling and probably doesn't even know how to find Canada on a map.

@15:

Oh, I think Coulter SHOULD be charged for her opinions - I think $10,000 per opinion would be a reasonable amount to charge her.

@15: Yeah man, when I was on my way back from seeing the dedication of the Illinois Holocaust Museum and there were a bunch of Neo-Nazis waving their damnable flags at us, I was just thinking "wow, it's great that we care so much about free speech that we even protect people's right to call for the extermination of my people, and this really makes the nation a better place". Actually, I was thinking something more along the lines of how much more pleasing they'd be to me if they had their throats torn out.
You say it's the PC police; I say it's stamping out Amalekite ideology. Potayto potahto. And if Ann Coulter wants to call for imprisonment, mass murder, and forced conversion of Muslims everywhere, I think that's a good reason to cool her heels a little while. There's a slight difference between expressing a political opinion and inciting the masses to violence and oppression.

For someone who frequently promotes afrophobic racism allegedly in defense of Jewish communities, you sure do like to argue in defense of Nazis. Sorry if I've asked you this before, but are you Jewish?

Ken Mehlman @20,

It's not complicated.

Hate speech:
"We all need to grab our guns and be prepared to kill ____ before they take over and destroy our way of life."

Not hate speech:
"X is not a good way of achieving goal Y, and goal Y is a good goal."

Go for a New Face, Canada. It is so nice to not have that mongrel Abbott as our PM in Australia. So, do it.
Shed the bastard.

@19 There's not enough in my blood to matter. Although you'll still hate my guts regardless I promise not to engage in cheap shots like "Yenta" ever again.

For the record I find those Nazis as offensive as you do. I wouldn't blame you for physical violence in that extreme circumstance but you're citing the most extreme example you can think of.

@19:

Just a little something to brighten your day...

Fuck you Dan. Harper is nothing like GWB. He doesn't trample women's or gay rights, he doesn't claim that God speaks through him, and he never started any wars. The fact is, our most conservative politicians don't even come near your "moderate" Republicans.

No worries. John and Dan can cross safely into Canada with their personal opinion intact. While there, please try Tim Horton's toujours frais cafe and timbits poutine.

http://www.thestar.com/news/federal-elec…

BTW, our friends up North are in absolute wonderment to know we Yanks care so much about their election right now. Though, after this, I get the feeling they rather just go back to be that blank white space again.

As a half-canuck, I've been looking for ward to seeing the back of Harper for some time now. Good luck, Great White North!

@23: My hatred of your guts has nothing to do with the Yiddish. It's about the fact that, to judge from your statements here, you're a racist swine. But hey, do you think calling for the genocide of a people should be protected as a free speech right?

@24: I knew what it was before I clicked. Thank you. :)

Going...going...gone!!!! Fuck yeah!!! See ya, Harper.

Hello, Justin. Nice hair.

@2 -- Yeah, that sucks, but at least he got a plurality. Bush was elected with a minority (the result of both vote splitting and a system that favors small states).

This year it appears like folks in Canada focused their anger at Harper -- choosing the Liberals. The NDP lost a lot of seats, but at least the Conservatives are gone.

He's gone. Whew. I was really worried.

Liberal coatails did well in the west by gaining seats too. It was an interesting election. My take is just as Bernie Sanders surprised many, Trudeau did and won in Canada, especially among the besieged middle class. He also spoke of investing in Canada's infrastructure. That resonated.

Something dems and deep pockets should think about. The few republican friends I have are so sick of the witless crazies. They want fiscal conservatives, strong individual rights and protection, without the social dogmas. They have no where to turn. I think they are the most frustrated voters out there. I don't know why this hasn't been picked up more by political analysts. It's all branding, SNL, and showmanship by both parties.

I'm actually bored or more accurately not stirred to passion by current national politics. More of all, I'm pretty scared how this country is being governed. Regardless of which party in power, I'm not sure we'll get the middle class dream back. That's what missing here. The specifics to make that happen.

Congratulations Canada!

Ya Ya! Politics Politics! This is Justin tattoo and all. You would NEVER get this in the US of A. ONLY in Canada.
http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/660/cpsprod…

I woke up the next day after the election and felt like I was back in the real Canada.