Canada General Election - 2021 (Sign Up, Rules, and Backstory)

[DKrol]

Canada General Election - 2021

After two years of tenuously leading a minority Liberal government, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was faced with a vote of no confidence.

After earning an extended honeymoon due to the COVID-19 crisis, Trudeau pressed forward with what he considered to be an ambitious pharmacare plan. The Canadian Affordable Drugs Act of 2020 would have created a national formulary to reduce the costs of certain drugs as well as a cost assistance program, modeled after that in Manitoba, which would determine a deductible based on taxed income and would cover 100% of costs after the deductible had been reached.

The NDP attacked the plan as not going far enough, calling for a universal pharmacare plan with no deductible for low-income families, and the Conservatives attacked it as too expensive and unmanageable, especially given the financial straits caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The vote on the Canadian Affordable Drugs Act, taken on April 6 saw the government defeated. 156 Liberal MPs voted in favor, 122 Conservatives, 32 Bloc MPs, 24 NDP MPs, 3 Greens, and the 1 Independent MP voted against: 156-182.

Opposition Leader Peter MacKay called a motion of no confidence immediately, arguing that if the Prime Minister could not pass a critical piece of their electoral platform he did not command the confidence of the House. In a party-line vote, 182-156, the motion passed. Trudeau advised Governor General Julie Payette to dissolve the House of Commons. The writs were dropped on April 19 and the 44th Canadian General Election was set for June 7, 2021.

Players
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Liberals) - SO19
Opposition Leader Peter MacKay (Conservatives) - JacksonHitchcock
Yves Francois Blanchet (Bloc Quebecois) - KaiserDave
Jagmeet Singh (New Democratic Party) - GoTFan
Dimitri Lascaris (Greens)
Maxime Bernier (People's Party) - NYIndy

Rules

Time: This election campaign will take place from April 19 to June 7, a seven week campaign. Each turn will last at least 72 hours, covering one week of campaigning.

Campaigns: You're free to make your own schedules and speeches, with normal campaigning being free. Each party will be able to PM the Game Moderator and ask for internal polls, canvassers/volunteers (to boost your campaign), endorsements (newspapers/organizations/celebrities) and advertising. The quality of these features will depend on a) the quality of the ask, b) the quality of the campaign being run, and c) the infrastructure of the party making the ask. You can of course also hold events or "interviews" to attack each other or promote yourself.

Debates: There will be one debate, in turns 5. The winner of each debate will receive a bonus in polling and enthusiasm.

Platforms: At the end of the first turn each party must publish a platform. In order to make this easy and simple, you will be required to write a list with your five main pledges. For example, the Greens can write on their platform"- Pass a Green New Deal” and so on. Manifestos will have a relevant impact and may be used by other players to attack you.

Polls: Some polls will be released to you each turn. But those polls are not 100% reliable, so be mindful of possible bias!

Electoral System: As in real life, Trudeau and the Liberals backed away from their electoral reform pledge. Canada still elects all members in a first-past-the-post, single-member district system.

[DKrol]

May I take Jagmeet Singh and the NDP?

Of course. Glad to have you!

[DKrol]

May I play Bernier?

Sure. Glad to have you!

[DKrol]

I'll take the Liberals

Welcome aboard!

[DKrol]

I'll take the Bloc

Welcome!

[DKrol]

I'll take Peter MacKay and the Conservatives if that's cool. Hopefully, this goes better than my campaign as Sir Alistair Darling last year.

Welcome.

[DKrol]

Does this start when we find a player for the Greens?

I’m going to hold of until Monday to see if we get a player for the Greens. If we do, we’ll start with them. If we don’t, we’ll start with me simming the Greens with the hope a player will emerge along the way.

[DKrol]

I'll take the Greens I guess. I'd reccomend someone like Annemarie Paul or Glen Murray over Demetri Lascaris who barely got on the ballot.

Who is your preference for leader? I'm fine swapping him out.

[DKrol]

With the new chapter in the Encore of Europe game taking off, I'm putting this on hold until a later date to avoid spreading players too thin.

[DKrol]

I’ve been contacted and asked to re-start this game. Would there be interest? Obviously, we would start fresh with a new backstory more in-line with the RL campaign and have the new players select new roles.

[DKrol]

I'll take the Communist Party of Canada.

I doubt DKrol will allow you to take a party which fielded 27 and 30 candidates in 2021 and 2019 respectively and a party which got 4000 votes.

Unfortunately, the Communist Party is not an option.

I will likely post the corrected backstory tomorrow. I’d like us to have a player for the Bloc before we start, with The People’s Party and Maverick Party also available but not essential.

[DKrol]

Canada General Election - 2021

After two years of tenuously leading a minority Liberal government, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau saw a window to expand his party’s hold on Ottawa and reclaim a Majority Government.

After seeing his support surge thanks to the COVID-19 crisis, Trudeau been to lay the groundwork for a General Election. The Liberal Government announced a series of high-budget childcare programs with provincial governments and began to select slates of candidates in risings across the nation. On a same Sunday afternoon in August, Trudeau went to Rideau Hall, requested Parliament be dissolved, and the writs were dropped.

Despite holding a healthy lead in the polls, under the surface, things are not as bright as they may appear for the Liberals. While the vaccine rollout is leading the world, a strong, loud minority of vaccine opponents have emerged, at the same time as a fourth wave of infections has begun to bubble up across the country. On the same day Trudeau called the election, the Afghan capital of Kabul fell to the Taliban after a 20-year US-led war. The Government now faces questions over refugees and the political fallout over the Afghanistan crisis. Climate has become a more pressing issue, as serious wildfires have removed entire Canadian towns for the map in a matter of hours. And an even more simple question has emerged - why call an election now?

These are the issues that will define the Canadian General Election of 2021.

Players
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Liberals) - S019
Opposition Leader Erin O’Toole (Conservatives) - RGM2609
Yves Francois Blanchet (Bloc Quebecois) - CraneHusband
Jagmeet Singh (New Democratic Party) - KaiserDave
Annamie Paul (Greens) - Ishan
Maxime Bernier (People's Party) - NYIndy
Jay Hill (Maverick Party) -

Rules

Time: This election campaign will take place from August 16 to September 20, a five week campaign. Each turn will last at least 72 hours, covering one week of campaigning.

Campaigns: You're free to make your own schedules and speeches, with normal campaigning being free. Each party will be able to PM the Game Moderator and ask for internal polls, canvassers/volunteers (to boost your campaign), endorsements (newspapers/organizations/celebrities) and advertising. The quality of these features will depend on a) the quality of the ask, b) the quality of the campaign being run, and c) the infrastructure of the party making the ask. You can of course also hold events or "interviews" to attack each other or promote yourself.

Debates: There will be one debate, in turn 4. The winner of the debate will receive a bonus in polling and enthusiasm.

Platforms: At the end of the first turn each party must publish a platform. In order to make this easy and simple, you will be required to write a list with your five main pledges. For example, the Greens can write on their platform"- Pass a Green New Deal” and so on. Platforms will have a relevant impact and may be used by other players to attack you. More details in the platform, the greater impact it will have.

Polls: Some polls will be released to you each turn. But those polls are not 100% reliable, so be mindful of possible bias!

Electoral System: As in real life, Trudeau and the Liberals backed away from their electoral reform pledge. Canada still elects all members in a first-past-the-post, single-member district system.

I will create the game play thread momentarily and the first turn will last until 8:00 PM on Wednesday the 15th. If we receive players for the People’s Party or the Maverick Party, they can join the round in-progress.

[DKrol]

I can take the PPC

Welcome aboard!

[DKrol]

I was planning to have the turn end this evening, but there’s been very little activity so far. Do people need an extension?

[DKrol]

It's been just a day, so I would hope for more time

Sure, no problem. Let’s move the deadline to Friday night at 8:00 PM.

[DKrol]

I’ll extend the turn one more time, through the weekend, and then we’ll need to abandon the game for lack of interest.

[DKrol]

Unfortunately, it looks like the desire to bring this back was overstated and short lived. I’m putting this back on the shelf.