What do you think about Northern Ireland or Manitoba's politics? I went to the Manitoba Legislative Assembly the other month and I quite enjoyed the tour. The tour guide was raised Francophone, which is interesting. They had a provincial election last year and the NDP won, meaning the premier now has the somewhat confusing title of first First Nations premier (mainly a confusing title because you say "first" twice in a row), which is not to say first Indigenous premier—Manitoba's first premier was a Métis man—because there are three main Indigenous groups in Canada. Also, I think Nunavut has only had Indigenous premiers, but I think they're Inuit, so Kinew is the first First Nations premier.
As for Sinn Féin, I don't mind them and I would probably vote for them if I was Irish, but some of their politics in the Republic seems like they aren't accounting for practicalities.
I think the Northern Irish political system is very interesting and kind of Alaskan.
This stream of consiousness is dated 20 September 2024 19:23 UTC-5
Ah lad that's a lot of words
But a lot of interesting words.
I find the difference between MPs and MLAs really interesting. In ireland, we have councillors (very local level. No national imput. Tends to be the start of someone's political career), Teachta Dala's (hs a constituency and can also work on a national level. Has a seat in the lower, widely considered MAIN house if the irish parliament) and Senators (usually the later years of someone's political career, but not necessarily. Does not have constituents, and will be corrected if they try to work on a level of constituency rather than a national level. Also arguably less power than TD's)
It's interesting because I researched Canadian and northern Irish MLAs for a bit after reading this and I know it's bad to compare, but I find that MLAs seem to be a mix of TD's and Councillors, while MPs seem to be a mix of TD's and Senators, although I could be wrong. I also find it interesting that MLAs and MPs mostly only have soft/agenda setting power. Irish TD's are allowed to be quite active in their constituencies.
May I also ask what you think of the NDP? As when I hear anything with the word democratic my brain goes "ding ding ding!" And I tend to like that party, however in Ireland, the theoretical most democratically and socially positive parties don't always take the most practical action, so it's about finding a balance, and it would be interesting to hear about how they are and how they're doing.
Also excuse my lack of knowledge on Northern Irish and Canadian politics, but can I ask, do Legislative Assembly parties mirror to Parliamentary (?) Parties. Eg, if you have party A, let's call them Tusa, in a Legislative Assembly, do you also have Tusa MP's?
Thanknyouuuuuuuuuiyu
