Well, I am a little behind on commenting on the election results here in Canada. We went to the polls on May 2, and as expected on the weeks leading up to the election the Conservatives got their majority, the NDP got an unprecedented number of seats and the Liberals and the Bloc got hammered. Both Ignatieuf and Duceppe lost their seats in the election, which to me was a shock, because typically the leader of the party always gets their seat. Even May of the Green party got her seat, the only one that they got.
The day after the smear campaign with the liberal media started, by the pundits saying that the 60% of Canadians voted against them, and questioned how they would represent all Canadians. Then they started in on Jack Layton and how was he going to be able to hold the governing party to account when they had a solid majority of seats. Well, to this I say is that although the percentage of the popular vote was below 50% they had the largest percentage. How do you expect to get greater than 50% in a multi-party system? It is nearly impossible with so many regional differences to contend with. The people that think that the majority of the work is held in the House of Commons doesn't know how the system works. Jack will have his voice heard plenty as members of his party will be members of the committees that will help put together the legislation that is voted upon. That is where most of the work occurs at.
What most surprised me as that my parents voted NDP, which they have typically voted Conservative during my life. Well, my mother has been all over the spectrum and has abstained from voting a few times because she was mad at the goings on with the election. But my father was the one that truly surprised me with his declaration. I shouldn't be too surprised though as the last few years he has been making comments that would support a shift in ideology. One of the major reasons is that he works for a provincial Crown corporation and will get his pension from that. He has no other major retirement savings and he needs the Government to take care of him. He has mentioned in recent years that he would support a provincial PST, which for most Albertans is heresy, and if possible would get him extradited from the province. But the NDP do provide that social safety net for people that want to be nannied.
I was really impressed with their campaign. They had a solid platform that was socialist in its ideals. I don't agree with them, but I recognize them and congratulate the new leader of the opposition. Now onto four to five years of stability in the federal political landscape here in Canada.
