[spmarshall]

I'm happy enough. Martin's toast, the two Tonys (Ianno and Valeri) are gone, there's no right wing mandate, no matter the spin out of Front Street, Winnipeg or Calgary.

I'm really curious as to how long this will last. Should be fun.

 

[afransen TO]

Mystery White,

I'll vote Green whenever I'm confident of the Conservative in my riding losing. A vote for Green is not wasted. It provides them with resources they need to increase their profile and share of the vote. Frankly, the Green party had one of the best platforms in this election, and sustainable economics is something we all need to work towards if we want to avoid a cratering economy when oil supplies really start to tighten.

 

[Ed007Toronto]

Harper would be wise to note that he hasn't got a single MP from all the major cities.

And the Liberals would be wise to see where their base really comes from. Time to get friendly with the cities.

 

[EnviroTO]

Why would you waste your time voting Green? You know they have absolutely no chance of winning or changing anything.

Do you understand the point of voting? The point is not to simply pick the one you think is going to win. You read the policies of the parties and vote for the one that you support. In 50 years when pollution is at record levels, the oil based economy falls apart, society can no longer afford healthcare because the population is so sick, and the sprawl reaches London, Orillia, and Belleville ... I will blame the people who didn't vote to stop it, not the ones who did. I vote Green with a clear conscience and feel comfortable that if their policies where implemented Canada would be a better place in 50 years than if all Conservative platforms where implemented.

You might as well vote for a party that has a chance to win or not vote at all.

When you don't vote at all you are just as responsible for policies you don't want implemented being implemented as the person who votes for them.

Anything is better than the bloody Liberals.

You must live a sheltered life. Maybe you should go live in Africa or the Middle East.

The Conservatives have only lead this country for 9 of the last 60 years. It's high time we see a change.

The NDP hasn't led it at all. Is it automatically their turn? Why does change mean Conservative (i.e. no day care, tax cuts for rich, breaking the Kyoto promise, etc.)?

So I guess you're all content with all the screw ups the Liberals have made over the years, yet once Harper makes one mistake you'll be all over him? Why scapegoat him and not the previous Liberal leaders?

Who is content with screw ups? Voting Liberal doesn't say "content with screw ups" any more than a vote for Conservatives says "anit-abortion" because neither are mentioned in the party platforms... voting Conservative might say "anti-Kyoto" because it IS part of the Conservative platform. Don't you think the Liberal party has been made a scapegoat for the actions of only a few? A guy like Stephen Harper that paints the entire Liberal party as corrupt day in and day out until the public can't realize that there is no Liberal "pro-corruption" policy and that most Liberal cardholders are just as upset about the sponsorship scandal deserves it when a few Conservatives screw up and his whole party gets hammered for it. Notice how Liberal attack ads attacked Harper directly while the Conservative ads attacked Liberals... do you realize that means the Conservatives don't have any good dirt on Martin personally and that the few corrupt Liberals are being used to paint the whole party corrupt? I roll my eyes everytime I heard a Conservative say they ran a positive campaign... how can constantly painting all Liberals corrupt be a positive campaign?

 

[Brighter Hell]

my riding (peterborough) just elected a conservative car salesman. and it's not the first time.

*bangs head on desk*

 

[EnviroTO]

Glad to see that, if Mr Harper wants to accomplish anything, the NDP likely have him by the short-and-curlies. That could actually end up meaning good things for the urban agenda.

The NDP has more seats but is in a worse position politically because their vote plus the Conservative vote doesn't add up to a majority, not to mention that most deals the Conservatives would want to make would be more right-of-center and would be deals made with the Bloq or the Liberals anyways. The NDP has more seats but will be more marginalized. Libs + Bloq + QC Ind = power, Cons + Libs = power, Cons + Bloq = power. Cons + NDP + QC Ind = no power. The next election does not bode well for the NDP because unlike the last election where they were able to point at accomplishments, there will be less to point at in this session.

 

[TdotTrickyRicky]

The election is being framed as a "west is in" victory, but in the long term I think the most significant issue is the rural-urban split. I don't know anything about how the electoral seats can change over time, but what I do know is that strategically having a rural base is demographically a losing strategy over time.

 

[El Chico905]

Three Seats for the NDP from each of Toronto and Hamilton. Good showing for city issues.

However the amount of support the greens got worries me, every year I hope for a break through, and every year it doesn't come. Jim Harris should run in a riding with less opposion as he is their highest profile candidate.

 

[EnviroTO]

^ Their best candidate in my opinion is David Chernushenko. The Ottawa newspaper rated him the best candidate in his riding in both of the last two elections. He has been a great debater at various events. Its definitely an uphill battle for the Greens now that the Conservatives are back under a single banner though since we might get stuck with see-saw politics rather than policy based decisions. I think a multi-party system with fixed election dates and each party standing up for a specific agenda is better than this two main party system where two parties try to be all things to all people and the opposition party wins by default (not by earning it) when the government screws up. Too many people vote to "give a party a chance" or because of something negative and not enough people vote for something positive.

 

[bizorky]

I saw David Chernushenko at an all candidates thingy last election, and yes he is a good speaker. The interesting thing about Ottawa Centre is the fact that it a fairly well-to-do riding, and smack in the centre of Ottawa. It was Liberal for a long time, but went with the NDP with Broadbent. I think Dewar's win shows that was not necessarily a flash in the pan (although Dewar is the son of a former popular Ottawa mayor). At the same time, Mahoney was closely identified with Martin's inner circle (he's also kind of full of himself). Either way, this is a riding where urban issues play heavily.

I have big questions about the Green Party. I find that some of their policy suggestions a bit weird (sending the military to deal with environmental issues), and they make rather broad statements concerning environment and health that are not necessarily backed up by any science.

 

[EnviroTO]

sending the military to deal with environmental issues

That is weird but I definitely didn't read that anywhere in the Green's platform book.

they make rather broad statements concerning environment and health that are not necessarily backed up by any science

The scientific research completed to date might not prove the linkage between certain health problems and the environment but science proves trends that occurring in health and trends occuring in the environment and some connection seems likely seeing that people live in the environment and it would make sense that they are impacted by changes to it. Unless one is making the accepts that the human race is meant to degrade and become more sick over time then it seems obvious that the alternative idea is that what we are eating, drinking, breathing, and doing is what is causing trends towards a sicker population. The environment obviously plays into the eating, drinking, and breathing part of the equation and the Green policy to encourage greater emphasis on physical fitness plugs into the "doing" part of the equation. With studies now starting to show that water quality is causing fish to be almost dangerous to eat because of the toxins in their bodies and cows getting diseases caused by cows eating feed containing beef byproducts there is cause for concern. We shouldn't do what is unnatural to animals, our bodies, and the environment until science tells us there is something wrong... we should be taking the opposite approach by looking at what is most natural and only do otherwise if it is proven safe. We too often take the approach that until something is broken it doesn't need fixing rather than a more preventative approach. Why do cows need to develop health problems before we realize that maybe cows shouldn't be eating cow byproducts? It seems quite unnatural that cows would eat cows yet we take the "huh, I don't see the problem with it" route and wait for that decision to slap us in the face before doing any research.

 

[unimaginative2]

Anything is better than the bloody Liberals.

Yup, you're right. Anything's better than massive budget surpluses, the fastest-growing economy in the G7, keeping us out of the war in Iraq, record-low interest rates and inflation, and the first-ever direct federal funding of cities.

I'm certainly disappointed about this result, though it could certainly have been much worse. I'm heartened to see Conservative declines in B.C. and a total lack of support in the GTA. Can't wait to see what Ministers Stockwell Day, Jim Flaherty, Tony Clement, etc. will be up to.

 

[Observer Walt]

It can only be good for the Liberals to have a time out. It certainly can't hurt to see a real alternative develop. We will judge both of these parties, and the others for that matter, at the time of the next election. If the Conservatives haven't done anything, they will be shown the door, and rightly so. In the meantime, they only have a minority, which will help keep them honest.

We have desperately needed a real alternative for several years now, and I for one am glad to see it developing. My view seems to be a minority here, but overall, I actually find it hard to think of a better outcome than we had last night.

 

[mpolo2]

Walt you should observe less and speak more. I whole heartedly agree with you.

 

[spasongs]

I think this is a great result.
Now we truly have a watch dog system again. Love or hate the NDP, they are not at the level of Lib/Conserv.

If we had a decent conservative party across the floor over the last decade, we may have not had SDRC, Gun Registry bloat,Gomery etc etc etc.

This could be good for all sides to have someone to answer across the floor too.

Great news