Tag: conservatives

Canada votes, nothing changes

Another Canadian election has come and gone, and nothing has changed. Despite just over a month and millions of dollars spent on the campaigns, we are once again left with a minority Conservative government. Does this mean we’ll be back at the polls again soon? So far analysis suggests it’ll be 2010.

Here’s the news from CBC:

As the final tally approached, the Conservatives were up less than one per cent in the overall popular vote, which translated into a 20-seat increase from the last federal election. The Liberals, in turn, were down 2.4 per cent, or 25 seats, according to the projections.

I didn’t feel a connection with any of the parties or their leaders. I ended up voting for the Green Party. In the past, I’ve voted Liberal, NDP, and Conservative. I studied the ballot for a long time today, but couldn’t find Barack Obama’s name. I really wish we had inspirational leaders like they do south of the border!

Speaking of which, with the Canadian election now finished, I can turn my full attention back to the American election. The third and final presidential debate takes place tomorrow night at 9 PM EST. Go Obama!

UPDATE: CBC says voter turnout was less than 60%. About ten million Canadians gave up their right to complain. Sad.

UPDATE (1:20 AM MT): Voter turnout hovers at around 59%, the worst turnout in Canadian history. NDP candidate Linda Duncan pulled off a major upset in Edmonton – Strathcona, defeating incumbent Rahim Jaffer by just 442 votes. The Conservatives otherwise swept Alberta.

Conservative Canada

By now you’re almost certainly aware that the Conservatives won a minority in last night’s federal election (just as I predicted). During his concession speech, Paul Martin announced he will not lead the Liberal party in the next election. There are three main things about the election I found interesting:

  1. The magic number of 155 is hard to find, which means things will be especially intriguing. All the parties realize we don’t want to vote again right away, so it makes it even more important that they try to work together.
  2. The Conservatives gained a fair number of seats in Quebec. One wonders what this means for the separatists!
  3. I didn’t expect a completely blue Alberta, but that’s what we ended up with.

I followed the results online last night, and watched some of the post-election commentary on CBC. I don’t have much to say really, except that I hope the minority government doesn’t collapse right away. Lots of other people have far more interesting things to say than me:

There’s lots more interesting commentary if you do a quick search on Technorati or IceRocket or one of those. Seems to me that many Americans are not happy with our new government!

Voted NDP

Post ImageI mentioned yesterday that I had my choice narrowed down to two. Didn’t want to vote for the Liberals again (need some change) and I don’t align closely enough with the Greens (not that I entirely like any of the parties). For me, it was either NDP or Conservatives (I know!). I ended up voting NDP, for a number of reasons:

  • I like the Conservatives as the provincial government for Alberta, and indeed I did vote for Ralph Klein in the last election. I don’t think a federal Conservative government quite fits the same way.
  • Truthfully, Harper is a little odd, and I don’t think he’d make a very good Prime Minister.
  • The NDP won’t win the election, but a larger number of seats for them in the house is good for all of us during these minority governments (I don’t think the Conservatives will win a majority).
  • Apparently, my NDP candidate has a good shot of being the only non-Tory Edmonton MP.

So now we wait to see the results. Hopefully lots of people voted today, especially with the bogus emails floating around. Polls have closed in the east already, so it won’t be long!