Posted on 01/24/2006 3:55:10 AM PST by saveliberty
The first consequences of Canada's major political realignment came within minutes of the polls giving their final numbers as the two major party leaders gave their valedictory speeches for the 2006 election. Stephen Harper, the triumphant Tory, called on Canada's political parties to unite for the good of the country, while outgoing Prime Minister Paul Martin quit his post as party leader, avoiding an almost certain dismissal by the losing Liberals:
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper, Canada's next prime minister, pledged to work with all parties in the next Parliament after Canadians elected a Tory minority government Monday, ending a 12-year reign of Liberal rule."Tonight friends, our great country has voted for change. And Canadians have asked our party to take the lead in delivering that change," Harper told his supporters in Calgary.
Harper acknowledged that Canadians have not given any one party a majority and have asked all parties to work together.
Martin won his riding in Quebec but saw ten others shift to the Conservatives, the first time in a generation that the right has carried any seats in the troubled province. Harper, commentators speculated, discovered the "secret code" for unlocking Qebecois support and not only took seats from the Liberals but racked up an impressive slice of the vote. BQ retained its seat total but wound up far below 50% of the popular vote, only outpollling the Tories by 42%-24%, an impressive result for Harper. Martin resigned as party leader after the national debacle:
Liberal Leader Paul Martin won't lead his party into another election, he said early Tuesday morning as he conceded that Stephen Harper's Conservatives had won Monday's general election."I will always be at the service of the party," he added in a speech to a crowd of emotional supporters in his Montreal riding of Lasalle-Émard. "The Canada we want is one very much worth fighting for."
He also said he will remain the Liberal MP in the riding, which he has represented for five terms.
"When I think about it, 17 years is a long time, and you have stood by me," Martin said.
The Liberals were fortunate to have retained over 100 seats in the new Commons and only trail the Tories 124-103. Conservatives made gains in almost every province except Prince Edward Island. They did especially well in rural ridings, but did not make much of a dent in the cities, as CBC noted late in its broadcast. In the cities, NDP did well, picking a few ridings off of the Liberals, but for the most part the Grits hung onto what they had in those contests.
Stephen Harper should be sworn into office within the next two weeks, and the new era of Tory leadership will begin. Canadian voters have given Harper a rather limited mandate, a test period where they expect the Conservatives to prove that they can lead from the center-right, maintaining the economic success of the last few years while cleaning up and streamlining the excesses of the Liberal government. If successful, the voters might reward Harper and his party with a majority government down the road -- but until then, Harper will have to keep his diplomatic skills trained on the Commons.
Watched the Canadian returns on CSPAN last night and was amazed that one can actually win a seat in Parliment there with 13,00-16,000 seats! There must be virtually no people in some of those ridings. And this pip-squeak of a "country" keeps poking us in the eye!
And in true Canadian style, they vote for a new PM, and then vote for most of the Liberal hacks and crooks, so that he can't succeed in changing anything. They are even more stupid and lack-luster than US voters.
Michael Moore doesn't have a sense of humor, nor a sense of politics for that matter.
Congratulations Canada.
I like Mary Matalin and I have to figure that she sees something in him.
One FReeper told the story in which Carville was driving and he and Mary were arguing. A policecar pulls them over and asks Carville why he was speeding. Mary piped up that he does that only when he's drunk.
LOL!
Well it's really 2 countries. The western provinces are a far cry from the eastern.
LOL!
He's still a vicious lying dirtbag, IMO.
With a sense of humor and Mary Matalin loves him. I don't have to welcome him in to understand that apart from politics he can be a different person.
"Well it's really 2 countries. The western provinces are a far cry from the eastern."
Just like here
you have the ninnies in the Northeast and west coast while the rest of the country is American
More so up there IMHO. But point taken.
;-)
Congrats you hosers.
LOL!
Note it is done the tasteful traditional way where the Conservatives are Blue, and the Communist Liberals are Red. Orange is the NDP Freaks. Baby Blue is the Bloc Quebecois. Gray is the Libertarian Independent.
http://www.elections.ca/enr/help/map_39ge.pdf
Conservative share of the popular vote.
British Columbia - 37.3% (plurality)
Alberta - 65.0% (majority)
Saskatchewan - 48.9% (plurality)
Manitoba - 42.8% (plurality)
Ontario - 35.1% (minority - 2nd to Liberals @ 39.1%)
Quebec - 24.6% (minority - 2nd to Bloc @ 42.1%)
New Brunswick - 35.8% (minority - 2nd to Liberals @ 39.9%)
Nova Scotia - 29.7% (minority - 2nd to Liberals @ 37.2%)
Prince Edward Island - 33.4% (minority - 2nd to Liberals @ 52.5%)
Newfoundland - 42.7% (minority - 2nd to Liberals @ 42.8%)
Yukon - 23.7% (minority - 3rd to Liberals @ 48.5%)
Northwest Territories - 19.8% (minority - 3rd to NDP @ 42.1%)
Nunavut - 29.6% (minority - 2nd to Liberals @ 39.1%)
What regions went Conservative?
British Columbia east of the Coast and Vancouver plus the Port Alberti region of Vancouver island, all Alberta, the southern populated areas of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, southeastern Ontario outside the major cities, Quebec north of Ottawa and southeast of Quebec City and near Sageunay, southern and western New Brunswick (non-French areas of the Province), central and the southern Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia, the St. John's region of Newfoundland island.
As far as any disappointment, there were some close ridings in British Columbia (4), Saskatchewan (1), Ontario (5), New Brunswick (2), Nova Scotia (1), and Newfoundland (2) which went Liberal or NDP but could've gone Conservative with just a few hundred more votes. They win those, they get 139 seats plus the Independent.
The last insult, of course, is the unfair districting of the country, which gives too great a weight to Liberal areas, and cheats Conservative ones.
Thank you for those details. Perhaps gerrymandering is not unique to the US
Once we frog march her over the Ambassador Bridge to Windsor she's Canada's problem: We're not taking her back. I would advise Mr Harper to ship her off to Venezuela or Cuba if he she's unwanted. :)
LOL
If I had to use US colors for them, they would be:
Red - the Conservatives + the Libertarian independent
Blue - the Liberals + the NDP in ridings where the Liberal was 2nd
Yellow (3rd party) - NDP where the Conservative was 2nd
Teal - Bloc Quebecois
Most of the left-leaning northern areas have a small population and high number of First Nations and unionists that skew them leftward. Nonetheless, I feel the remote northern areas are an untapped market for conservatism.
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