Well, its all over but the crying

So, here are the results of the election. I've also put a plus or minus beside each parties numbers to compare how they did in the last election. The numbers tell some interesting stories.

Conservatives:  166   (+23)     
Since 155 seats is the magic number right now in Canada this gets Harper his majority government.

New Democrat Party: 103 (+67)
The NDP are the Official Opposition in parliament with a huge gain in seats.

Liberals: 34 (-43)
Michael Ignatieff didn't keep his seat and the Liberals have suffered a major electoral setback. The question now is this temporary, or the beginning of the end of the Liberal Party now that the NDP seems to have supplanted them on the left wing?

Bloc Quebecois: 4 (-44)
This is a catastrophe for the Bloc Quebecois and their long term survival is in serious doubt, especially if the NDP can deliver in its new Quebec ridings.

Green Party: 1 (+1)
Elizabeth May has a seat in parliament. Uh, now what? Any backbencher legislation she writes isn't going anywhere in a Conservative majority.


So am I happy with the results? No, not really. Stephen Harper campaigned on a lot of things that struck me as false priorities, and his penchant for vindictiveness to opponents and outright contempt for parliament make me concerned that a Conservative majority will see a lot of questionable decisions rammed through under the banner of electoral stability. This is a party that after all filled my mailbox time and time again with flyers screaming how only a Conservative majority will scrap the long gun registry, but never seemed to have anything about job creation, pension protection and alleviating our chronic primary health care crisis other than attack ads aimed at the Liberals and NDP. That doesn't inspire any confidence.

Don't get me wrong. Stephen Harper could prove to be a fair greater PM in a majority than he has been so far. Considering the challenges Canada faces I certainly hope so.

Well, its all over but the crying

So, here are the results of the election. I've also put a plus or minus beside each parties numbers to compare how they did in the last election. The numbers tell some interesting stories.

Conservatives:  166   (+23)     
Since 155 seats is the magic number right now in Canada this gets Harper his majority government.

New Democrat Party: 103 (+67)
The NDP are the Official Opposition in parliament with a huge gain in seats.

Liberals: 34 (-43)
Michael Ignatieff didn't keep his seat and the Liberals have suffered a major electoral setback. The question now is this temporary, or the beginning of the end of the Liberal Party now that the NDP seems to have supplanted them on the left wing?

Bloc Quebecois: 4 (-44)
This is a catastrophe for the Bloc Quebecois and their long term survival is in serious doubt, especially if the NDP can deliver in its new Quebec ridings.

Green Party: 1 (+1)
Elizabeth May has a seat in parliament. Uh, now what? Any backbencher legislation she writes isn't going anywhere in a Conservative majority.


So am I happy with the results? No, not really. Stephen Harper campaigned on a lot of things that struck me as false priorities, and his penchant for vindictiveness to opponents and outright contempt for parliament make me concerned that a Conservative majority will see a lot of questionable decisions rammed through under the banner of electoral stability. This is a party that after all filled my mailbox time and time again with flyers screaming how only a Conservative majority will scrap the long gun registry, but never seemed to have anything about job creation, pension protection and alleviating our chronic primary health care crisis other than attack ads aimed at the Liberals and NDP. That doesn't inspire any confidence.

Don't get me wrong. Stephen Harper could prove to be a fair greater PM in a majority than he has been so far. Considering the challenges Canada faces I certainly hope so.

Well, its all over but the crying

So, here are the results of the election. I've also put a plus or minus beside each parties numbers to compare how they did in the last election. The numbers tell some interesting stories.

Conservatives:  166   (+23)     
Since 155 seats is the magic number right now in Canada this gets Harper his majority government.

New Democrat Party: 103 (+67)
The NDP are the Official Opposition in parliament with a huge gain in seats.

Liberals: 34 (-43)
Michael Ignatieff didn't keep his seat and the Liberals have suffered a major electoral setback. The question now is this temporary, or the beginning of the end of the Liberal Party now that the NDP seems to have supplanted them on the left wing?

Bloc Quebecois: 4 (-44)
This is a catastrophe for the Bloc Quebecois and their long term survival is in serious doubt, especially if the NDP can deliver in its new Quebec ridings.

Green Party: 1 (+1)
Elizabeth May has a seat in parliament. Uh, now what? Any backbencher legislation she writes isn't going anywhere in a Conservative majority.


So am I happy with the results? No, not really. Stephen Harper campaigned on a lot of things that struck me as false priorities, and his penchant for vindictiveness to opponents and outright contempt for parliament make me concerned that a Conservative majority will see a lot of questionable decisions rammed through under the banner of electoral stability. This is a party that after all filled my mailbox time and time again with flyers screaming how only a Conservative majority will scrap the long gun registry, but never seemed to have anything about job creation, pension protection and alleviating our chronic primary health care crisis other than attack ads aimed at the Liberals and NDP. That doesn't inspire any confidence.

Don't get me wrong. Stephen Harper could prove to be a fair greater PM in a majority than he has been so far. Considering the challenges Canada faces I certainly hope so.

So this is what Canada looks like today.

Dark blue are the Conservatives, orange ridings are NDP, red ridings are Liberal, the two light blue ridings in Quebec are what remains of the Bloc Quebecois, and if you look really hard at the bottom of Vancouver Island you can see the sole Green Party riding marked out in green.



So, what are the trends?

Well lets look at the non-surprises, namely the fact Alberta, Saskatchewan, most of BC and almost all of Southern Manitoba went Conservative. This area is the ideological homeland of the Reform Party that emerged as the dominant form of Canadian political conservatism in the early/mid 1990s and is the location where the Conservatives base is located.  A showing this strong there is no surprise. However, Southern Ontario and New Brunswick jumped in this time which went a long way to the Conservative majority. Those are areas where Liberals historically have done very well in the past so that was a huge blow to them.

The NDP made huge gains this election at the direct expense of the Bloc Quebecois (who historically have owned Quebec and only had to worry about the Liberals as competition) and Liberals. Add in some other gains in BC and a smattering of ridings in almost every province (they took one of the three northern territories and were only shut out in Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland & Labrador) and the NDP's claim that Canada chose them to be responsible for Canada's opposition are valid.

So, long term winners and losers? Obviously the Conservatives. The Tories finally have their much sought after majority and can now govern as they wish, although the other winner, the NDP, will likely use its newfound clout to get some important work done on job creation, pensions and healthcare. Since that last point is always a political hot button in Canada I expect most of their successes to be there simply because the Conservatives can't ignore that.

The Bloc Quebecois may be done. The dream of separating from Canada is really just that, a dream. Once you factor in the economic costs of going alone most Quebecois realize that they are getting a much higher standard of living as Canadians than what they could get on their own. Still, since the dream will likely never die some new separatist party will emerge in its place. Whether its successful or not in gaining electoral office only time will tell.

As for the Liberals, they are in trouble. The Liberal Party likes to see itself as the natural governing party of Canada, and one that is naturally positioned in the centre. That's a fantastic theory but over the last half decade both the Conservatives and NDP have been very successful at co-opting much of their centrist positions for themselves. When you consider that the Liberals haven't had a leader as strong or as charismatic as either Harper or Layton since Jean Chretien its no wonder they appear to be in big trouble. Whether or not the Liberals come back as a party, or if they ultimately decide to "Unite the Left" in a mirror image of what the Reform and Progressive Conservative parties did to take on the Liberals during Chretien's governments will remain to be seen, and will be dependent on the skill and charisma of their next set of leaders.

Only time will tell.

So this is what Canada looks like today.

Dark blue are the Conservatives, orange ridings are NDP, red ridings are Liberal, the two light blue ridings in Quebec are what remains of the Bloc Quebecois, and if you look really hard at the bottom of Vancouver Island you can see the sole Green Party riding marked out in green.



So, what are the trends?

Well lets look at the non-surprises, namely the fact Alberta, Saskatchewan, most of BC and almost all of Southern Manitoba went Conservative. This area is the ideological homeland of the Reform Party that emerged as the dominant form of Canadian political conservatism in the early/mid 1990s and is the location where the Conservatives base is located.  A showing this strong there is no surprise. However, Southern Ontario and New Brunswick jumped in this time which went a long way to the Conservative majority. Those are areas where Liberals historically have done very well in the past so that was a huge blow to them.

The NDP made huge gains this election at the direct expense of the Bloc Quebecois (who historically have owned Quebec and only had to worry about the Liberals as competition) and Liberals. Add in some other gains in BC and a smattering of ridings in almost every province (they took one of the three northern territories and were only shut out in Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland & Labrador) and the NDP's claim that Canada chose them to be responsible for Canada's opposition are valid.

So, long term winners and losers? Obviously the Conservatives. The Tories finally have their much sought after majority and can now govern as they wish, although the other winner, the NDP, will likely use its newfound clout to get some important work done on job creation, pensions and healthcare. Since that last point is always a political hot button in Canada I expect most of their successes to be there simply because the Conservatives can't ignore that.

The Bloc Quebecois may be done. The dream of separating from Canada is really just that, a dream. Once you factor in the economic costs of going alone most Quebecois realize that they are getting a much higher standard of living as Canadians than what they could get on their own. Still, since the dream will likely never die some new separatist party will emerge in its place. Whether its successful or not in gaining electoral office only time will tell.

As for the Liberals, they are in trouble. The Liberal Party likes to see itself as the natural governing party of Canada, and one that is naturally positioned in the centre. That's a fantastic theory but over the last half decade both the Conservatives and NDP have been very successful at co-opting much of their centrist positions for themselves. When you consider that the Liberals haven't had a leader as strong or as charismatic as either Harper or Layton since Jean Chretien its no wonder they appear to be in big trouble. Whether or not the Liberals come back as a party, or if they ultimately decide to "Unite the Left" in a mirror image of what the Reform and Progressive Conservative parties did to take on the Liberals during Chretien's governments will remain to be seen, and will be dependent on the skill and charisma of their next set of leaders.

Only time will tell.

So this is what Canada looks like today.

Dark blue are the Conservatives, orange ridings are NDP, red ridings are Liberal, the two light blue ridings in Quebec are what remains of the Bloc Quebecois, and if you look really hard at the bottom of Vancouver Island you can see the sole Green Party riding marked out in green.



So, what are the trends?

Well lets look at the non-surprises, namely the fact Alberta, Saskatchewan, most of BC and almost all of Southern Manitoba went Conservative. This area is the ideological homeland of the Reform Party that emerged as the dominant form of Canadian political conservatism in the early/mid 1990s and is the location where the Conservatives base is located.  A showing this strong there is no surprise. However, Southern Ontario and New Brunswick jumped in this time which went a long way to the Conservative majority. Those are areas where Liberals historically have done very well in the past so that was a huge blow to them.

The NDP made huge gains this election at the direct expense of the Bloc Quebecois (who historically have owned Quebec and only had to worry about the Liberals as competition) and Liberals. Add in some other gains in BC and a smattering of ridings in almost every province (they took one of the three northern territories and were only shut out in Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland & Labrador) and the NDP's claim that Canada chose them to be responsible for Canada's opposition are valid.

So, long term winners and losers? Obviously the Conservatives. The Tories finally have their much sought after majority and can now govern as they wish, although the other winner, the NDP, will likely use its newfound clout to get some important work done on job creation, pensions and healthcare. Since that last point is always a political hot button in Canada I expect most of their successes to be there simply because the Conservatives can't ignore that.

The Bloc Quebecois may be done. The dream of separating from Canada is really just that, a dream. Once you factor in the economic costs of going alone most Quebecois realize that they are getting a much higher standard of living as Canadians than what they could get on their own. Still, since the dream will likely never die some new separatist party will emerge in its place. Whether its successful or not in gaining electoral office only time will tell.

As for the Liberals, they are in trouble. The Liberal Party likes to see itself as the natural governing party of Canada, and one that is naturally positioned in the centre. That's a fantastic theory but over the last half decade both the Conservatives and NDP have been very successful at co-opting much of their centrist positions for themselves. When you consider that the Liberals haven't had a leader as strong or as charismatic as either Harper or Layton since Jean Chretien its no wonder they appear to be in big trouble. Whether or not the Liberals come back as a party, or if they ultimately decide to "Unite the Left" in a mirror image of what the Reform and Progressive Conservative parties did to take on the Liberals during Chretien's governments will remain to be seen, and will be dependent on the skill and charisma of their next set of leaders.

Only time will tell.

A change of pace

Since the past couple of days have been all about elections, assassinations, terrorism and all sorts of other emotionally intense items here's a nice tune to just mellow out to.  I recommend just playing it the background while you relax.

A change of pace

Since the past couple of days have been all about elections, assassinations, terrorism and all sorts of other emotionally intense items here's a nice tune to just mellow out to.  I recommend just playing it the background while you relax.

A change of pace

Since the past couple of days have been all about elections, assassinations, terrorism and all sorts of other emotionally intense items here's a nice tune to just mellow out to.  I recommend just playing it the background while you relax.