Disappointment for Stephen Harper; no majority.
Disappointment for Stephane Dion; lost seats and lost Fortress Ontario.
Disappointment for Jack Layton; still in 4th place.
Disappointment for Elizabeth May; lost her riding and no elected MPs.
Satisfaction for Gilles Duceppe; but he's a separatist.
Cost: $300 million.
Estimated voter turnout: less than 60%
HOORAY FOR CANADA!! I'm going to bed.
9 comments:
No Dion and Layton did themselves in by attacking each other. And they gained no votes from each other.
By doing so they quite simply handed Harper the victory.
You need to blame both parties for giving Harper a victory. The whole Liberal & NDP Parties need to realize that as divided opposition they failed.
The BQ did well because they simple stood by the priciples from beginning to end. That honest opposition won votes.
The Liberals need to show that they have priciples they stand by! The places where Harpers lies were exposed without back bitting Harper got the loss he deserved.
The Liberals and NDP both lost. They were both better than Harper, but back bit each other.
SA - Well, clearly the current political environment is a prescription for perpetual misery for progressives. Just as Chretien drew benefit from vote-splitting on the right, the Connies are taking advantage of a fractured progressive vote.
Harper will govern as though he has a majority, despite the fact that the CPC earned less than 40% of the popular vote.
Only a merger of progressive parties or a change from the first-past-the-post system can remedy the situation.
I have several thoughts along this line, but I'll save that for a later post. For now, I'm going to cry myself to sleep. ;)
These results are disastrous. The worst results for the Federal Liberals in history. It may not be totally fair, but Dion has to accept responsibility for this and step down.
If the Liberals present a strong government in waiting to the Canadian public, I believe we will win. There is some work to do to bring people that voted Green and NDP this time back into the fold, but after another year or two of Harper, Canadians should be receptive to new Liberal leadership and a new government.
By the way, that vid you posted of the McCain/Palin mob is eye-opening. And that's in Ohio, a Northern swing state! Good grief, what are they saying in places like Alabama and Texas? Forget I asked...
Disappointment for Gilles Duceppe too. Lost a seat and had the lowest popular vote for the BQ (ever?).
Bowler - I agree that Dion needs to accept responsibility for this, which saddens me, as I think he is an intelligent, honest and principled man.
But can the Libs financially and emotionally afford to go through another bitter leadership campaign? I'm not sure...
And yes, those Ohio bitters are despicably scary people.
Can he not resign like Martin did and they appoint an interim leader until such time they can get their act together?
Toujoursdan - True, but given what pre-election polls were indicating, the BQ had the distinct possibility of being decimated to the benefit of the Cons. Lucky for them, Quebecers seemed to sour on Harper late in the game.
Ruralsandi - I think resignation would be the most appropriate thing for him to do, rather than face a contentious leadership review.
I guess it would be possible to name an interim leader, but they would have to have some sort of leadership race before heading into another election.
Perhaps they could restrict the candidates to just a few (Rae, Iggy etc) and engineer some form of online voting system, rather than an expensive formal convention.
It seems no matter what, the path ahead is fraught with difficulty, especially given the uncertainty that comes with another minority gov't.
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