Campaign 2008: Canadian Version

[Red Baron 0]

And expect to see the Liberals kick out Dion within the year.

 

Good riddance.

 

Bob Rae or Michael Ignatief would have won Ontario easily and might have brought in a Liberal minority.

 

 

I still think Ken Dryden should just go around Canada with a hockey mask and say "I'm Ken Dryden"

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

And expect to see the Liberals kick out Dion within the year.

 

Good riddance.

 

Bob Rae or Michael Ignatief would have won Ontario easily and might have brought in a Liberal minority.

 

 

I still think Ken Dryden should just go around Canada with a hockey mask and say "I'm Ken Dryden"

 

I think people in Ontario would be apprehensive to vote for Rae if he was head of the Grits, as CC eluded to earlier in the thread. On the other hand, he did win his riding again. Do you really see Leaf fans voting for Dryden? (Yes, I realise he was in their front office for a few years).

 

I'm a little surprised the NDP didn't get as many seats, as their popular vote numbers seem to be up, but maybe I'm thinking wishfully.

 

 

 

Ultimately, I'm going to stay orange, but re: Dion....I'd always been midway between NDP and Liberal, and ultimately voted Liberal. AdScam swung me to the left. I'm pretty well over it, but the Grits might have a better chance of getting my vote if they had a leader that wasn't Stephane Dion. I get the feeling, to a degree, that I'm not alone there.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

What are the three 'others' at the bottom of the ticker? I assume they're independents, but I kind of want to see some silly party in Parliament.

[Red Baron 0]

Zero green, but three Indies. One from the 416 region, one from NS and I believe one from Quebec

[Red Baron 0]

Was it 04 or 06 that the Marxists-Lenin party was winning a riding in Toronto for two minutes.

[Red Baron 0]

That scumbag Nicholson won in Niagara Falls. Damn you Fort Erie for being a conservative area.

 

And NDP knocked out John Maloney in the Welland riding!

 

This whole post was directed at CG

[Jobber of the Week 0]

Ugh. For a minute Grits was winning Trinity-Spadina, but now Mrs. Layton is back up there again.

 

I'm not up on Canadian election law, but how the hell does this couple represents two different sides of Toronto? Am I supposed to buy that they live on opposite sides of the city?

[Red Baron 0]

Edit: Nevermind.

 

 

ANOTHER ELECTION WILL BE HELD SOON!!! MORE TAX MONEY WELL WASTED!!!

 

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

That scumbag Nicholson won in Niagara Falls. Damn you Fort Erie for being a conservative area.

 

And NDP knocked out John Maloney in the Welland riding!

 

This whole post was directed at CG

 

Apparently Nicholson's well-liked personally, it's not (exclusively) that every single person in Fort Erie is conservative.

 

I'm fairly dumbfounded about Maloney as well. Did Kormos win Welland again? My mother told me when I got home from work how surprised she was that the Liberals beat out the NDP in Welland. I asked about Maloney, and then we kind of went in circles; I think we may have been referring to the same seat.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

To the contrary, Maxine Bernier did the curb-stomping.

[Red Baron 0]

That scumbag Nicholson won in Niagara Falls. Damn you Fort Erie for being a conservative area.

 

And NDP knocked out John Maloney in the Welland riding!

 

This whole post was directed at CG

 

Apparently Nicholson's well-liked personally, it's not (exclusively) that every single person in Fort Erie is conservative.

 

I'm fairly dumbfounded about Maloney as well. Did Kormos win Welland again? My mother told me when I got home from work how surprised she was that the Liberals beat out the NDP in Welland. I asked about Maloney, and then we kind of went in circles; I think we may have been referring to the same seat.

 

Kormos is MPP.

 

Maloney is in the Welland riding, which includes Welland, Port Colborne, Thorold and South St. Catharines (pretty much up to Glendale). Maloney finished third behind the Conservatives and NDP.

 

Nicholson is a douche and someone should punch him in the face.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

haha Mercer: "This cost us $300 million and nobody accomplished their goals. The only leader with any job security is a separatist. It cost us $300 million to figure that out."

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Gerard Kennedy taking the Parkdale riding here in Toronto was a pretty big surprise to some, our area re-elected Joe Volpe (again) to no real surprise.

 

I used to live in the Mississauga-Streetsville riding and seeing Wajid Khan get booted after crossing the floor was suh-weet.

 

Also congrats to seriously fit MP Ruby Dhalla for holding the brown powerbase down in the Brampton riding.

[... 0]

The NDP has more of the popular vote than the Bloc, but less seats. The Greens have slightly less of the popular vote than the Bloc and have NO seats.

 

The Liberals shot themselves in the foot back in '06 when they passed on both Rae and Ignatieff and chose everyone's second choice.

 

Alberta is on the verge of electing a New Democrat. The Grits seems to be a dead brand here with the NDP and Greens splitting the second choice.

 

It's not strictly worst case scenario for Stephen Harper, but I think he's going to be watching his step. He gained seats, sure, but this was the Conservatives election to lose and they nearly screwed it up. Might be a little tension in Tory-town in the next Parliament.

[ZGangsta 0]

Ugh, 300 mil for nothing. Disgusting.

 

Harper will never get a mandate, fucker is too right wing for Canadians and doesn't stand a chance in Quebec no matter what (thus no majority, for once the xenophobia of Quebecois pays of). I can't express how much I hate this guy.

Dion is a pathetic coward and should have never been given this chance in the first place. I say bring on Ignatieff, but yeah the Liberals are pretty much biding time until Justin Trudeau is a viable candidate.

 

I voted NDP just cause I like our MP, but it was pretty tempting to not bother voting at all.

 

This sucked.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

Nobody could get a majority. It has nothing to do with being "too right wing for Canadians" (on the contrary, the party made inroads in places Liberals had been voted for pretty consistently.) Nobody is going to make a majority because Quebec is too entrenched with the Bloc to allow anybody to have one. The only story of the night is that BQ has enough life in it to ruin everyone's party when the thought was going to be that either one of the big two was going to drink their milkshake.

 

Harper will get his eventually, because the Canadian economy is going to take a hit soon despite his promises that the country is well insulated.

[ZGangsta 0]

Nobody could get a majority. It has nothing to do with being "too right wing for Canadians" (on the contrary, the party made inroads in places Liberals had been voted for pretty consistently.) Nobody is going to make a majority because Quebec is too entrenched with the Bloc to allow anybody to have one. The only story of the night is that BQ has enough life in it to ruin everyone's party when the thought was going to be that either one of the big two was going to drink their milkshake.

 

Harper will get his eventually, because the Canadian economy is going to take a hit soon despite his promises that the country is well insulated.

I disagree, Harper's "success" is completely due to the failings of the Liberal party since Chrétien (who managed majorities despite the Bloc) and the fragmentation of the left rather than any acceptance of conservatism as a social position in Canada.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

I disagree, Harper's "success" is completely due to the failings of the Liberal party since Chrétien (who managed majorities despite the Bloc) and the fragmentation of the left rather than any acceptance of conservatism as a social position in Canada.

Liberal was once a centrist party, now it's considered a left one.

 

What does social positions have to do about it? The issue on everyone's minds on the economy, and the pundit wisdom is that talking about a green shift at a moment when everyone is thinking about the health of banks is bad timing.

[MARTYEWR 0]

Nobody could get a majority. It has nothing to do with being "too right wing for Canadians" (on the contrary, the party made inroads in places Liberals had been voted for pretty consistently.) Nobody is going to make a majority because Quebec is too entrenched with the Bloc to allow anybody to have one. The only story of the night is that BQ has enough life in it to ruin everyone's party when the thought was going to be that either one of the big two was going to drink their milkshake.

 

Harper will get his eventually, because the Canadian economy is going to take a hit soon despite his promises that the country is well insulated.

 

Not to sound like a defender of the Bloc, but Quebec went back to them for a reason, IMO. Harper didn't blow a potential majority with anything to do with the economy (I haven't read enough of this thread to see if anyone holds that opinion) he blew it by announcing the arts cuts. It sounds like a minor political position, but it's one of those things that Quebec holds true and dear to its heart. It's things like this that gain votes for the Bloc; if they feel their culture is being shat on, they'll turn to them -- not necessarily to seperate, but to have a voice, if you will.

 

Too bad, because the Conservatives had that opportunity to take some major ground in Quebec, which has been a very interesting province politically as of late. They were, quite possibly, the loudest province versus the Liberals once the knowledge of adscam came about, and the conservative ADQ gained some major ground lately, gaining major ground in Quebec last year. Granted, they have suffered some set-backs, but Harper still had an opportunity to gain some ground in a battleground province. (For any Americans unsure about Canadian politics, Quebec right now is the equivalent of Florida and/or Ohio.) He made that mistake, and it cost him a majority. (Despite that, last night is still a victory for the Conservatives, as they wound up with a stronger minority that before.)

[CanadianChris 0]

So, how much longer until we're back at the polls? I give it two years, tops.

[dubq 0]

I'm not up on Canadian election law, but how the hell does this couple represents two different sides of Toronto? Am I supposed to buy that they live on opposite sides of the city?

 

 

Good point. I'd love to know the answer to that one.

[CanadianChris 0]

I'm not up on Canadian election law, but how the hell does this couple represents two different sides of Toronto? Am I supposed to buy that they live on opposite sides of the city?

 

 

Good point. I'd love to know the answer to that one.

You don't have to live in a riding to be able to represent it in Parliament. Happens all the time.

[MARTYEWR 0]

I'm not up on Canadian election law, but how the hell does this couple represents two different sides of Toronto? Am I supposed to buy that they live on opposite sides of the city?

 

 

Good point. I'd love to know the answer to that one.

You don't have to live in a riding to be able to represent it in Parliament. Happens all the time.

 

Yup!

 

http://www.elections.ca/content.asp?sectio...;textonly=false

 

Eligibility

Any Canadian citizen who is at least 18 years of age on election day – called "polling day" in the Act – may be a candidate, unless specifically disqualified under the Act. A candidate need not reside in or be registered on the list of electors for the electoral district in which he or she seeks election. A candidate can be a candidate in only one electoral district during any election.

[65]

 

It's why when Elizabeth May ran in Peter McKay's riding, it REALLY raised a lot of eyebrows. May has lived in Ottawa since 1985, but when she moved to Canada, she lived moreso in Inverness Nova Scotia and Cape Breton, and NOT in the Central Nova Scotia riding, which is McKay's riding. A case of her being over her head, much like all of the Green Party.

[CanadianChris 0]

They said during the coverage last night that May chose Central Nova due to her not wanting to run against a sitting Liberal or NDP member. Mackay's seat was the only Tory seat in that part of the province. Doesn't make it any wiser of a decision, but there you go.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

May's problem wasn't so much losing to Mackay but losing her party's chair.

 

 

Well, I'm sure everyone must be pleased as punch that the Bloc controls as many chairs as they do! Scoring something like 17% of the seats despite only getting 10% of the total vote, a significant chunk of Parliament will return to paying attention to Quebec instead of the interests of the country as a whole.

 

Makes you wonder what would happen if one of the anglophone parties came out hard for secession to try and split that vote. You can't just do mere lip service and culture and imaginary nations, because Harper tried that and it doesn't work. Although I'm not sure whether the Bloc is still about secession or not anymore, since a few editorials have suggested that they get voted in simply because they guarantee a huge amount of time in Parliament is going to be spent talking in French.

[MARTYEWR 0]

Although I'm not sure whether the Bloc is still about secession or not anymore, since a few editorials have suggested that they get voted in simply because they guarantee a huge amount of time in Parliament is going to be spent talking in French.

 

As someone who works in Quebec, I can say separation really is a non-issue. In the earlier part of the decade, there used to be a good number of separation-related protests every now and then. Not anymore.

[AnonymousBroccoli 0]

Conservative Ed Holder won the seat in my riding. Blah.

[cbacon 0]

Gerard Kennedy taking the Parkdale riding here in Toronto was a pretty big surprise to some, our area re-elected Joe Volpe (again) to no real surprise.

 

I used to live in the Mississauga-Streetsville riding and seeing Wajid Khan get booted after crossing the floor was suh-weet.

 

Also congrats to seriously fit MP Ruby Dhalla for holding the brown powerbase down in the Brampton riding.

 

Pretty upset seeing Peggy Nash ousted. Volunteered at her constituency office in June. Classy woman.

 

I think the Conservative winning in my riding was a fair trade off to see Wajid Khan given the boot.

 

And I was almost worried for Ruby earlier in the night. That race was a lot closer than anticipated.

[cbacon 0]

How the election would look if we had Proportional Representation:

 

Con - 117

Lib - 80

NDP - 55

Bloc - 31

Green - 22

IND - 2

[Red Baron 0]

15 Months tops until a new election.

 

Anyone noticed that early in the Alberta election the NDP led in Fort McMurray. Man oh man would that piss off the Conservative government.