Posted on 06/28/2004 10:50:08 AM PDT by El Conservador
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadians are voting in a federal election which is likely to strip the ruling Liberals of their majority in Parliament and leave the country with its first minority government in 25 years.
Polls indicate the Liberals of Prime Minister Paul Martin (news - web sites), hit both by a patronage scandal and voter fatigue after a decade in power, will end up about level with the opposition Conservatives of Stephen Harper.
Neither party looks set to gain enough legislators to control the 308-seat Parliament and the balance of power will likely lie in the hands of the separatist Bloc Quebecois, which wants independence for the French-speaking province of Quebec.
The Bloc has little in common with either the Liberals or the Conservatives and many political observers predict the new government will be so unstable that another election within the year is almost inevitable.
The five-week election campaign was low-key and dominated by the spectacle of Martin and Harper insulting each other, with little real debate over the parties' policies.
The Liberals are promising balanced budgets and more spending on social programs while the Conservatives want to cut taxes while boosting defense and health care expenditure.
Martin says Harper is a right-wing extremist with a hidden agenda to ban abortion and reduce gay rights. Harper counters with the accusation that Martin is in charge of a corrupt and dishonest government which needs to be kicked out of office.
"The campaign was not very inspiring. It feels as though people will be voting for the party they dislike the least," said Ottawa computer salesman Mark Harrison as he waited to vote.
The first polls in the world's second largest country opened at 8:30 a.m. local time (1100 GMT) in the sparsely populated Atlantic province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
The initial results from eastern Canada will already be known before the final ballot boxes close at 7 p.m. (0200 Tuesday) in the Pacific province of British Columbia.
Martin came to power last December with high hopes of spending a decade in power but he never managed to assuage voter anger over a report in February which showed C$100 million ($75 million) in government funds had found its way to firms with close Liberal ties.
"Don't steal. The government doesn't like the competition," read the logo on a T-shirt in Montreal spotted by a reporter.
Polls indicate that half a dozen Liberal cabinet ministers are in serious danger of losing their seats, including Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan and Defense Minister David Pratt.
Martin spent the last day of the campaign on Sunday flying from one end of the country to the other in a last-ditch bid to rustle up support.
A relaxed Harper flashed the V-for-victory sign at his homecoming in the western city of Calgary on Sunday night.
"I've been all across the country and we've had a great reception, and I really do think that tomorrow night we're going...to have a new government that Canadians can trust and be proud of," he told cheering supporters.
Root for a Conservative minority.
Settle for a weak Liberal minority that could force an election in less than 2 years.
Gee, not Oil Food Food, huh?
Translation: Harper is decent, moral, and moderately conservative and Martin is a corrupt, lying socialist socialist pig. Only Reuters would consider the two sides equally culpable of bad electioneering.
The Liberals have run the most negative campaign in the history of North America. The polls put the parties tied, but they have 80% of people refusing to take the poll so I would not rule out a Conservative majority. Of those that do answer the questions of the polls, MANY are undecided.
From my own experience going door to door here in my area, most of the undecided have decided they will NOT vote for the Liberals, but they haven't decided if they will vote CP, NDP or Green.
I would not rule out a Conservative majority at this point.
I'd love to see a Conservative majority, but it won't happen. The Conservatives won't win any seats in Quebec, so they'd have to crush the Liberals in Ontario. The Liberals, however, have a firewall around Toronto that no party can breach.
I'm hoping we see some big signs of a blue wave in the Atlantic closings. I still think Harper will win a minority (at the least) but with such an undercurrent of disgust with the government, anything can happen. Down here in 2002, the hate-Bush element thought they had the Republicans cornered, but the grassroots got out and we nailed them just about everywhere in the country. If you've got a confident grassroots organization and one hell of a GOTV program, you'll win.
It alll depends on Ontario, as usual. ;^)
Or maybe Harper is expressing what the majority of Canadians agree with.
When will exit pollss or election results start becoming available?
Harper is a blue tory (HARDCORE conservative). I feel so sorry that he need to keep the status quo to get elected.
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