Canada Votes 2008
15 October 2008, early morning
Some will say yesterday night was a big waste of an election. They are probably right, but it wasn’t all bad. Yes, our government is basically the same as how it was the night before, but there is now a tiny little orange dot in a sea of blue in Alberta: the NDP took a piece of Alberta back from the Tories. That’s got to count for something. The NDP actually made some big gains, and they are probably the only party that can be happy with the election results. (Sadly Peggy Nash lost her seat.) Another plus is that minority government number three for Harper may mean he gets the boot. (The Anyone but Harper Liberal, NDP, and Bloc coalition I was hoping for never materialized.) The Tories can’t be happy with this result at all, regardless of how Harper tries to spin things. They had a huge lead in the polls going into the election, which they managed to lose completely through horrible campaigning. If you can’t beat Dion — whose party barely supports him — who can you beat? In two more years maybe we’ll be doing this again. Go Canada!
On the other hand, Tories won big seats in Ontario – not in Toronto. But Andrew Telegdi lost by 73 votes in Waterloo! And apparently a few other Liberal ridings have converted in Oakville and other 905 region.
I agree with you on the NDP. but I’m really surprised that the Greens still can’t elect at least one member.
by tiff on October 15 2008, 1:03 pm #
Elizabeth May decided to run against McKay and got her ass handed to her. She could have chosen any riding out there, and that’s the one she picked? She doesn’t get any sympathy from me. That said, this comment from Fair Vote Canada is pretty sad:
Oakville is probably full of rich people that don’t want to pay taxes. I’m not surprised it went to the right. And I think a lot of small town Ontario is probably socially conservative.
by ramanan on October 15 2008, 1:32 pm #
“Elizabeth May decided to run against McKay and got her ass handed to her.”
I don’t get it either. Has she ever explained why she ran in that riding?
by martha on October 15 2008, 5:01 pm #
She’s from Nova Scotia. I’m not sure that’s a good reason though. I think as party leader your first goal should be to get into office. She’s even said she’d run their again.
by ramanan on October 16 2008, 9:37 am #