Hooray for Democracy!

[pyat]

Well, that was probably the least interesting and most pointless federal election I've ever voted in. The Conservatives have a slightly larger minority government. Voter turnout was an all time low of just under 60%, meaning the Conservatives were handed the reins of government with just 26% of the population voting in their favour.

The Green Party received 6.8% of votes cast, up from the sub-1% abyss of a few years back, suggesting a growing awareness that the party is not entirely made up of extreme hippy-dippy folks. This is good.

Locally, the NDP incumbent was re-elected with a solid lead over the other candidates.

Comments

[momentrabbit.livejournal.com]

Yeah, no change here either - same Liberal rep in my riding, same Liberal rep in my parents' riding. Nothing changes for another seventeen months, and then we get to do it all over again. :P

I see Charlie Angus got reelected in Timmins. Thank ghod. Somebody who Gets It about copyright to keep hammering the Industry Wonk during Question Period.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

I heard there were 72 MPs elected who have been identified as copyright fighters, or whatever. Not sure how dedicated all of them are, though...

[lee-in-limbo.livejournal.com]

I'm disappointed. Not surprised, really. Just disappointed. As usual, Canadian politics seems to have smoothly handed over the reigns to the guy who sounded the most like... Dad.

Lee.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Not my dad!

[lee-in-limbo.livejournal.com]

Not much like mine, either (at least, what I remember of him. My parents were divorced when I was an infant, and I've only met him periodically since then). Just that sort of nebulous Father Figure we're all supposed to look up to. His hair is greying (so's mine), and he has calm answers for every problem, even though he's basically lying most of the time. He's reassuring, like Dad's supposed to be. I think a lot of Canadians go in for that. That and money. He looks like he has it. I think a lot of people who voted for him are hoping he'll increase their allowance.

Lee.

[nottheterritory.livejournal.com]

Actually I found the results strangely reassuring. The lesson I took away is that Canadians really don't want a Conservative majority. The Liberals tried as hard as they could to hand one to them - to the point of working on behalf of yet a third party to split the Anyone But Conservative vote and they still weren't able to give Harper his majority. Basically that tells me that if they run any halfway charismatic talking head in the next election, we should be back out of Conservative territory.

Also, as I noted over in robin_d_laws's LJ, the second quote that Toronto's local classical station (otherwise known as Wealthy_North_Toronto_Boomer_FM) used to summarize the election (after Harper) was Justin Trudeau - there's a party that would win with any half decent leader that looks and sounds good on air and a young man with the best possible pedigree for a Liberal leader... I'm just saying...

[anidada.livejournal.com]

Mmm. Justin Trudeau. *swoon*

[amarafox.livejournal.com]

I agree *swoon*

[thebitterguy]

Oh, yeah. He'll help them make that much needed breakthrough in the west.

[nottheterritory.livejournal.com]

*gallic shrug * He couldn't do worse than Dion did

[thebitterguy]

Dude, I think I couldn't do worse than Dion did.

[nottheterritory.livejournal.com]

*sizes you up * - OK then, how's your French?

[thebitterguy]

Better than his English.

Which, once again, is setting the bar nice and low.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Basically that tells me that if they run any halfway charismatic talking head in the next election, we should be back out of Conservative territory.

I agree that's a silver lining, but it doesn't help to make the election itself less pointless!

And, yeah, I think Justin Trudeau is being groomed for power in a secret bunker, somewhere. They're just waiting for his hair to turn silver.

[relee.livejournal.com]

Pat Davidson, the blue team candidate, was re-elected. I wonder if she's a good politician or an evil politician... She certainly got a lot of votes. As many as the Liberals and NDP combined. On the up side, the Green Party got way more votes than the Christian Heritage Party. YAY FOR RELEVANT!

And for a party with no seats, they sure got a hell of a lot of vote, didn't they? I was surprised, it turns out that our local Green Party candidate is the one responsible for all the gay weddings we keep having. He was the first one to minister a gay wedding in Sarnia, and continues to do all sorts of unorthodox marriages. I wonder if that hurt him in the polls? That and his crazy eyes, like staring into the arctic tundra...

WTG on the NDP! Our NDP was tied with our Liberals, only like five votes between them. I was really having a hard time deciding if I should vote for the NDP or the Green Party this year. I noticed, though, that lots of ridings the two of them had more votes than the winner. It's too bad they can't combine into the Super Robot Pumpkin Party and fight for the right of the working man to build wind turbines, or something...

I suppose the problem is that nobody is bad enough that "We have to get them out!" and nobody is good enough that "We have to get them in!" and there's nothing really exciting going on. I'm disappointed, but not mortified. The conservatives aren't THAT bad, they're just not me.

[anidada.livejournal.com]

(...) combine into the Super Robot Pumpkin Party and fight for the right of the working man to build wind turbines, or something...

Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

[relee.livejournal.com]

Well, you can friend my LiveJournal, that's close right?

[thebitterguy]

Hey, I got a new mp! That was hand picked by the PM! That means pork! Loads of wonderful pork!

[noondaypaisley.livejournal.com]

You know that you live in Ontario right?

[thebitterguy]

Shush. Let me have my delusions. Hey, light rail to Toronto, right?

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Hooray! You'll get a new six-rink minor hockey arena!

[mar2nee.livejournal.com]

I was disappointed, I was hoping something interesting would happen, like the Liberals and NDP having enough seats between them to form a coalition government.
Even a conservative majority would have been more interesting. At least there would have been a point to the huge amount of our money that was spent running the election.
And not a single Green. Serious bummer.

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Erin is thinking of running as a Green candidate!

[mar2nee.livejournal.com]

Seriously?
Woohoo!

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Partly seriously, at least. I think she has the mindset to be a politician.

I mean, in a good way. ;)

probably actually a note for Erin

[mar2nee.livejournal.com]

Well, if she wants to talk about it with any of us (Caroline, Daniel, and I each having been active with the local association in Dundas) she's welcome.

Also, my mom has been a candidate a few times out west - they might not agree on politics! But, on what being a politician is like, what running a campaign is like, etc, I know my mom would be happy to discuss that with Erin.
My mom's actually on LJ, but I haven't seen any posts from her yet...

Re: probably actually a note for Erin

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Cool. I'll point her towards this comment.

[dronon.livejournal.com]

http://somehedgehog.livejournal.com/245807.html