Canada got the devil they know
June 29 - The election is over, and the Liberals have been re-elected but to a minority government.
I am deeply embarassed that Laurel and Hardy of the American left came up here to intervene - Ralph Nader urged voters not to regard voting NDP as vote splitting, and Michael Moore spoke out about how it is better to vote Liberal no matter how troubling that act may be.
No members of the American right pulled that stunt, but you can bet there would have been loud screaming had they done so.
Attack ads and fear-mongering work up here, as Toronto voters swallowed their outrage at the corruption of the Liberal Party and voted "for the devils they knew" who will likely form a minority government with the New Democratic Party -who are even further to the left of the Liberals (No looking back.)
Promises of federal funds for Toronto - the transit system, SARS relief, black-out relief, homelessness relief, you name it, it got promised relief - resulted in the ridings going completely to the Liberals and NDP and it looks as though much of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) went the same.
Damian did live blogging of the elections, which makes for interesting reading (even though I knew the results before I got home from work) and the comments have some interesting analysis, including some discussion as to whether the Liberal Party-NDP coalition will hold and, if not, whether another election could be called in two years (although I have my doubts that a Conservative Party-Bloc Quebecois coalition would have held much longer than that, too.)
Olivia Chow lost her bid for a federal seat, which is good and bad because it means Toronto is still stuck with her ...
The CBC has an election round-up and you can link to the individual ridings, but I'm trying to find a freaking map because I am very curious as to how the Conservative Party did outside of the GTA.
I've had a virus thingy and am still somewhat under the weather (that's an indirect way of saying I feel like hell but made it to work) but I found a crappy map thingy at CTV (scroll down to Provincial Breakdown) and it says Ontario went 44.7% to the Liberals for 75 seats and 31.5% to the Conservatives for 24 seats.
Posted by: Debbye at
08:03 AM
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1
Man, I'm depressed, this morning I'm scanning the NYC area papers for a mention of the election.
WSJ: NYT: The tabloids, nothing even below the fold. Finally, page 6 or 7 of the NYT when I borrow it mentions it along with a picture of Paul. I give the paper back.
It's a good thing it didn't lead the news, I think I would have gone back to bed.
Posted by: Fred at June 29, 2004 08:18 AM (SPn8I)
2
now can the NDP and the Liberals drop the missile defense,Canadian Iraq War maybe adventure,lost of culture thing and go on with life now?
Posted by: Dex at June 29, 2004 11:51 AM (Jn9sY)
3
My father came running in last night saying the NDP had won! Say what? So I turend on CPAN and relaized he mistook the minority government for Liberals and the NDP being in the catbird seat.
Posted by: Ith at June 29, 2004 12:40 PM (rf8kD)
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For all intents and purposes, the NDP did win. They'll be able to push the Grits around and we'll see more spending and taxes than we ever thought possible.
The best thing about this election is that it'll strengthen the chance of a Conservative majority after the vote of no-confidence. Hopefully this caucus won't last a year, and the Liberal support base will continue to erode after the next scandal hits. Most depressing is that the voter turnout was lower than any in the past century, but one thing's for sure - Canada has effectively turned themselves into a multiparty European-style social democracy. Congratulations, Mr. Cretien - you've finally managed to fracture and destroy your country.
Posted by: Nik at June 29, 2004 12:58 PM (GQg0N)
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It's not over yet the NDP are hoping a voter recount will help them form a coalition Liberal-NDP government ...All I have to say it's time that western Canada wakes up and pulls out of the confederation and goes US bound.....this country is too polarized and moving more and more to the Left!!!..
Posted by: glaplante at June 29, 2004 08:21 PM (Tzbpp)
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Welfare states are expensive, and tax rates must be high. This drives away investment and squelches innovation. But most people seem content as long as everyone is treated more or less the same.
This link discusses what happened in Iceland when tax rates were slashed in the 90s. Something similar happened in Ireland. Before that, it was New Zealand. And so on.
.
Posted by: Conrad at June 30, 2004 02:45 PM (CbySh)
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I didn't know Micheal Moore had family here.
But if you watched closely election night, you know Comrade Chenier caused the nation to hold its breath, briefly.
For one shining, revolutionary, proletarian, Sputnik moment, Chenier led in Mississauga East-Cooksville.
Mansbridge and Lloyd looked puzzled. Nervous? The CBC dug up a Marxist-Leninist symbol. The party was "elected or leading" in one (1).
from an article in the Sun by Mike Strobel.
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/TorontoSun/News/2004/06/30/519980.html
Posted by: Shane at June 30, 2004 11:24 PM (1Ka4t)
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What bothers me about high taxes is that they seem to lower the birth rate below the replacement level. It seems bizarre that the 'advanced' countries are slowly going extinct.
America has a fairly large welfare state too, and a big military. Canada could probably do pretty well for itself competing against the United States with lower taxes.
Posted by: John Doe at July 02, 2004 11:21 PM (mHM/G)
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