10 million Voters did not cast their ballot. It was the lowest turnout ....59.1%, worse than 2006, when 60.9%, turned out. More and more voters are tuning out, and this is troublesome. Uninspired leaders and candidates, broken promises, failure to strike a chord or to raise and deal with issues that resonate with the people, dirty campaigns and too many polls. This latter is drowning out the debate that should take place. It is insiduous and anti-democratic, and has drained the drama from elections.
$300 million spent for more of the same. Harper's broken promise of a fixed election date , calling an election when none was necessary, was based on polls that showed that he can win a majority. He believed the polls and failed in his objecyive. We are stuck with another Pizza Parliament and the "dysfunction ", of the last one will be even more pronounced.
The Ref/ Cons increased their seat count by 16. The Liberals dropped 19, the N.D.P. won 7 more and the Bloc won 3 more. Harper was shut out in Newfoundland and failed to improve in Quebec and more ominously, he failed again to win any seats in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.
The Liberals lost heavily in Ontario.........almost 800,000 less votes there. Dion failed to get his Green Shift going and his arrangement with the Greens flopped. This was the worse showing...26% of the popular vote, for the Liberals and Dion has to be held responsible. Let the leadership fight begin !!!.
The N.D.P. won 37 seats, the second largest ( 40 ) in their history. They expected much more, so there is much work to be done. The Bloc , while getting less popular support in this election, increased to 50. They expected to do better, They are obselete and redundant but do not tell that to the Quebecois/e.
So what is to be expected? More of the same...acrimony in Parliament, no new initiatives, the same old Harper agenda on the environment, on Afghanistan, on social issues.......jail sentences for the young, cut backs in the Arts and Culture etc., This will not be for long. Even though the Liberals will be in leadership limbo, this will not prevent gamemanships and positionings by all three opposition parties with an eye on the next election .
I did not expect the Liberals to do as badly as they did , especially in Ontario. As such I did not expect the Ref/ Cons to do as well they did. As well, I thought that the turnout would be far higher. I have to do a better job reading the tea leaves or maybe change to reading tarot.
4 Comments
Hannah Deegan
10/17/2008 01:09:26 am
I think one thing we overlooked in this party was the fact that the left is split between 3 parties: the liberal, the NDP, and the Green/Bloc. While the Tories have the market on right wing voters, the vote for left is divided. I think the liberals did so poorly because people who were uncomfortable with Dion and his green shift plan had the option to just vote more left. Harper was wrong when he said that most Canadians are conservative. Many are disenchanted with Dion but were not willing to swing right. Unfortunately the Liberals do need a new leader, Dion is not a good front man, but I can imagine he will be very valuable in creating policies that will enrich and secure this country. Now the Liberals just need someone who is slick enough sell them. I am honored that our country has politicians like Dion, who is such an honest, intelligent and honorable man, but as history goes to show, those qualities never win an election
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10/17/2008 03:41:51 am
Very astute comments Hannah. You are right about the 3 way split ( happened in 1988 Free Trade election, when the Liberals and N.D.P. split the vote and allowed the Conservatives to win many seats in Ontario ). You are right about Dion's aloofness and his failure to conhnect with voters, which made the Green Shift difficult to sell.He is a man of intellect and integrity, and it's too bad that these qualities are not more appreciated.
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Daniel
10/22/2008 04:06:41 pm
Hello Ishwar,
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10/24/2008 03:43:48 am
Danny,you are quite right about Harper's strategy, Dion's leadership and the failure to clearly sell the Green Shift.
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![]() "Ecce Homo" ("Behold the Man"), Antonio Ciseri's depiction of Pontius Pilate presenting a scourged Jesus to the people of Jerusalem. ![]() figure 1-a ![]() (Fig 2a) The Death of Innocents Author Ishwar R. Prashad recently retired from over 47 years of teaching. Archives
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