Posted on 01/23/2006 6:03:23 AM PST by fanfan
After the 2004 election, so many American liberals came down with depression that medical professionals coined a new phrase for their unhinged condition: post-election selection trauma (or PEST).
One wonders what malady Canadian liberals will contract after they lose at the polls in today's election. Meddling Michael Moore is already in the throes of despair.
Reuters reports:
A Canadian electorate that appears to have tired of more than a decade of Liberal rule was heading to the polls on Monday, seemingly ready to hand a limited mandate to the Conservatives.
It was a rematch of the 2004 election, a neck-and-neck race that ended up giving Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin a minority government, but this time Conservative leader Stephen Harper has built a much more substantial lead of six to 12 percentage points.
Martin's government was toppled in November over kickbacks from government contracts but rather than spending most of his time on that issue, Harper methodically laid out a policy a day during a campaign that ended up dispelling some of the doubts voters had about him in 2004.
"I felt almost from Day One that we were doing what we wanted to do, getting our message out, and the surprise for me from early on was that the Liberals didn't seem to be doing that," Harper told reporters on his plane on Sunday, the final day of the campaign, as he flew to British Columbia.
And the Ottawa Sun adds:
Liberal volunteers, organizers and even MPs are admitting certain defeat tomorrow night at the hands of Stephen Harper's Conservatives barring an 11th hour change of heart by Canadian voters.
As Grit troops fan across Canada in a last-ditch effort to turn the tide, they're weighed down by the latest polls that show the Conservatives remain in the lead and have gained substantial ground in Quebec.
Most Grits publicly insist there's still a chance their leader Paul Martin will "pull a rabbit out of the hat" and bring home a second Liberal minority government, but privately they admit that they've lost faith.
"I wish we were going to win but we are going to lose," said a long-time Liberal organizer working in Toronto who has booked a vacation to a sun destination next week to boost his spirits.
"I wish we could pick up just enough seats to pull it off."
When asked when he threw in the towel, the veteran Grit said "when we had no time left to rebound in the polls."
John Tabin predicts:
It's possible, though not likely, that the Conservatives will win an outright majority in Parliament. But even if they don't, and need to form a coalition government, they will have more of a chance to move an agenda than one would expect. As a political consultant explained to me in Washington a few months ago before heading north to work for the Conservatives, the leaders of the Tories' prospective coalition partner, the separatist Bloc Quebecois, are willing to give Harper several years of rule (but expect lots of Tory reforms to exempt Quebec). The Conservative victory will be a real one, and not just for Harper and his party but for Canada, for North America, and for the world.
As Tabin points out, the revolution is taking place with thanks to American blogger Ed Morrissey of Captain's Quarters, who single-handedly helped blow the lid off the Canadian liberals' culture of corruption.
All eyes will be on the Canadian blogosphere today as election events unfold.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
Reuters is right. In a parliamentary system, the "winning" party cannot create a government on its own unless it wins an outright majority of the seats in government. Since this is not likely to happen in Canada (but it could), the Conservatives would have to create a governing coalition by joining one of the other three major parties (Liberal, NDP, and Bloc Quebecois). Since these three parties represent varying degrees of big-government Marxism (and in the case of Bloc Quebecois, big-government Marxism in a world in which Canada as it is currently constituted doesn't even exist), you can be sure that a Conservative "victory" today is likely to be pretty subdued in the long term.
Did Fox News Channel in Canada have anything to do with it?
Ping.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
They can still go to France...
I hate to rain on everyones parade, but never underestimate the power of vote fraud. The liberals in Canada are in a lot of places in government where serious harm can be done. I'm hoping for the best, but expecting the worse.
That's exactly my point. Layton's New Democratic Party is the most radically Marxist of the three major liberal parties, so you can be sure that whatever comes out of that coalition is likely to be either largely inconsequential or highly schizophrenic in nature.
When George W. Bush "opened the door" to Ted Kennedy we got the No Child Left Behind Act. Are you suggesting that Canada would do well to imitate this kind of sh!t?
I was wondering where you were.
I had worries that you had been kidnapped by Liberals with ties to the radical, extremist, ultra-left wing US Democratic party. ;~)
Yes...indeed you are correct and I do understand the basics of a parliamentary system, Yank though I am. However, my point was that if the situation was reversed, and the lefties were coming in as the conservatives are now, Reuters would--in all likelihood--have left off the adjectival "limited" from the subject "government."
This is big news for the USA and yet (even fox) the media is giving it only passing mention.
Fox attempted to say Canada is independent minded. It was as if they were doing damage control.
Fox did a pitiful passing story. Pathetic at best. (as if juan williams or mccuddy reported the story)
This conservative victory is getting all the attention of a marriage amendment vote. (in other words NONE)
"If this happens, now where will whiny American libs threaten to go when elections don't go their way?"
lol... I just sent an email to my liberal sister (who jumped on the band wagon of leftists who said they were going to move to Canada), asking her the same question.
You can get a live audio feed on http://www.cfrb.com, a Toronto talk radio station. Same feed is on shortwave CFRX 6070 kHz. Results will start at 9:30pm EST. Also, there should be regular updates posted at canoe.ca, ctv.ca and canada.com.
We started the election 5 to 8 point behind and all history and the media running against us....
IT IS A TREMENDOUS VICTORY TO BEAT THE GOD DARN GRITS EVEN IF IT IS BY MINORITY.
THE LIBERALS GOT A MINORITY LAST TIME AND THAT WAS A CERTAINLY A DEFEAT FOR US WAS IT NOT?
Perhaps the biggest difference between the two is that the Liberal Party could get 35% of the popular vote and gain a clear majority in parliament, while the Tories would have a difficult time getting a clear majority even with 45% of the populat vote. This is because the Tories tend to win their seats by a wide margin -- but they win fewer of them . . . while Liberals win their seats by narrow margins -- but they win more of them.
Me too.
Any one have any extra Valium?
"Amazing Liz Thompson story in today's Gazette (registration required). Killer quote: "Ghislain Maltais, a former Quebec Liberal MNA who is working for Tory Lawrence Cannon in the Outaouais riding of Pontiac, estimates hundreds of Liberal organizers are working for the Conservatives in Quebec..."
"Was on CFRA this morning, and I got asked – as I have been too many times in this election – about SES. My advice to Steve Madely: read Ipsos. Here's the Ipsos release headline from last night, in case you don't want to read it all: "Conservatives On Cusp of Majority…Liberals and Bloc Battle it out for Offical Opposition As NDP Makes Impressive Gains." Here’s their seat model: "Conservatives -148-152; Liberals - 62-66; NDP - 34-38; and Bloc - 56-60." Here’s their poll percentages: "Conservatives 38%; Liberals 27%; NDP 19%; Bloc 12%; Green 4%." HERE’S THEIR SAMPLE SIZE: 10,500, Margin of Error +/- 1%. Got that? A SAMPLE SIZE OF MORE THAN 10,000 CANADIANS WHO ARE COMMITTED VOTERS. A M.O.E. OF ONE PER CENT. PLEASE, PLEASE, LET’S STOP TALKING ABOUT SES. THEY’RE GREAT PEOPLE AND ALL THAT. BUT STOP. STOP, I BEG YOU."
http://www.warrenkinsella.com/musings.htm
A Grit is a a Liberal.
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