I promised, so here it is, my opinion about the election.
I must first say how PROUD I am to be an NDPer today! My riding may not have won (or really, any riding in my province), but to be part of such an historic rise of power is thrilling! The NDP did not get in power, but they do form the official opposition with 102 seats. Last election, we had 37 seats. This is a huge victory! Jack Layton can get in there and do what he was meant to do - make so change in this country! Hell, in this world!
As for my riding, Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar, I must say, I am disappointed. Everyone thought that Nettie was going to have it in the bag. She fought an amazing battle! She was out there, meeting people, shaking hands with people! Even Jack Layton came to Saskatoon TWICE! SRB was listed as one of the "12 Ridings to Watch". And, boy, did we watch. Congrats to Kelly Block for winning her seat again. I wish it were Nettie joining all the orange in the House of Commons.
Oh, Liberals... You've been around since Confederation. Clearly, people don't want you anymore. Or, could it be just your leader that they don't want? Who knows... I think it would have been very humble of Michael Ignatieff to step down yesterday, admit defeat. Admit that Canada does not want him. Hell, there's speculation that the reason Ralph Goodale only won by a handful of votes is because no one trusts the leader of the party! Get rid of the guy! Hold on to your strongholds! Don't let one person completely demolish a party that has been here for the last 144 years.
The BQ... Well, that was upsetting last night. I admit, I didn't understand why this party even had national status. Apparently it's in the Constitution or something? Anyway, they went from 49 seats down to 4. Needless to say, the leader, Gilles Duceppe, was a humble man, accepted defeat, and resigned as leader (maybe take a hint, Ignatieff???). No one is quite sure what the significant loss means (most of the seats went to the NDP), but from what I understand, in order to have national status, you need 12 seats.
One party I would like to make particular mention of, as I have extreme pride to be a Canadian today, is the Green Party. They have proved that ANYTHING is possible! Elizabeth May had the first Green seat in the House. I'm not a Green supporter, however, I cried when the results came up.
And, lastly, we have the Conservatives. Bittersweet, I might say. They have finally formed their majority government, which means no more election for 4.5 years. But as a friend of mine put it: "'Contempt of Parliament' means Canada elected criminals to lead us, right?" Enough said. Way to go, Conservatives, for forcing another election in two years. At least we will save millions of dollars from that. 'Nuff said.
Anyway, I think that's about it for now. I'm just waiting to see how much of the population went to vote. When we went, it was busy! I've never had to wait in line to vote before, so I'm pretty impressed with the turnout.
UPDATE:
Michael Ignatieff has done something right and stepped down as leader of the Liberals. I think this is the best thing he's ever done for the party.
The whole contempt thing... it was the other parties overthrowing the conservative government to force an election. Can guarantee that if the conservatives had a majority in the last riding that they never would have been found in contempt. As for Bloc, they should probably just disappear! It seems strange to have a provincial based party in the ridings to run the country. Liberals, well, you chose the words correctly Shannon. I think their leader has a lot to do with their standings, if not everything to do with it. NDP - nice work. I really didn't think that they would turn around to that magnitude, but then again, in my opinion of course, this election was a running between making a conservative majority, or hoping that NDP will gather enough seats... possibly making another minority. So, it makes sense to me that NDP would rock it. As for Green Party, I only hope that they get higher status in the next 4.5 years until the next fed election. They are the only party that realizes exactly what it is we are doing to our environment. Hopefully with one seat in the house, they can press on the conservative government that a global crisis in coming faster than he expects, and change needs to be now.
ReplyDeleteThat is all I have to comment for now on you blogspot.
The government was found likely in contempt of Parliament by the speaker and the opposition parties agreed.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't matter wich party gets in, because they are all going to do and take what they want once they are in , and they don't call it criminal they call it politics.
ReplyDeleteP.S. The right one did win with a majority.