Analysis on Calgary West + the election

Aside from the fact I couldn't vote (see previous post), I had something to say about this riding...

If you have a looksee at the results,

The Greens were in third. Which to me, didn't seem convincing...What occured to me is that it seemed the Anti-Anders Conservatives and non parked their vote with the Green which explained a bit of why the NDP candidate---Teale Phelps-Bondaroff--- was out of the picture. I mean, there might've been some Green voters who thought "Hey, I like this party".

It's a wierd style of voting, parking your vote based on the lesser of the many evils and not on how their policies compare to the party you view as being "evil". Personally, I don't think it's the best way to vote but sadly, I think, it happens everywhere. Another style of voting that happens ALL THE TIME in elections, is voting for the sake of the party and not for the sake of the representative you're sending....which is probably why Anders won in Calgary West again. It's something that happens with all societies in elections. The person they're electing to represent them in Parliament is voted for not by their name, but by their colours.

I mean, this happened in alot of ridings, not just Calgary West.

Woah, mini sociology lesson.

Election reactions...

Pettigrew, McLellan, Gauthier and some Liberals out. Some traditional Bloc seats gone too...especially in Quebec City, which shocked me a bit.

Martin's leaving the Liberals. Hm. Well, it'll be emotional for him at the Convention. Who could be a new leader? Not Graham I don't think...Stronach? It'd be interesting...Perhaps even some of the Chretien-era MPs who were outed by Martin (In something that as I review the more it looked like...a coup? I don't know, that might be a harsh description) to return?

Personally, I'm not at all enthused about a Conservative Minority government. Maybe it hasn't sunk in. Maybe, I won't start to go "What the hell is wrong here" until Parliament begins and Harper digs into the pile of solved debates and pulls back out the gay marriage debate. Maybe I'll be like "Hey, he's got ideas, he's no legendary PM. He's basically the same as the last but with different ideals". Who knows. Right now, I feel Harper won based on the fact that he had kept a shut muzzle on his MPs and like I saw footage where the bodyguards kept the reporters (a fiesty one in this clip) away from this one Conservative who's known for his controversy.

Harper wouldn't have gotten here without having used the NDP and Bloc to bring down Martin's government. I dunno, I had a bit of a suspicion when this all began. *shrugs*

Coalition governments...?

I hope Duceppe is smart enough, like he usually is, and doesn't ally himself with the Conservatives.

Kind of seeing Liberal-NDP with perhaps the Bloc. A coalition of opposing ideals but the same goals?

The NDP doesn't want to trigger an election though...

Or, as my Math just awoke, a coalition would work with the Liberals-Bloc and the Independant (155 =O).

Will Harper's governemnt work?

Not efficiently. If he decides to change some social issues, he'll have a two-way or three-way opposition that'll be against it in some way. If they really can't change social issues, how can they function? If they'll have a three-way coalition against them, they can't pass jack (no pun.)....or maybe they can...who knows!

Will he implement his changes? Like the senate? Time will tell. Let's see if this guy can keep all of his promises for the West...

Quebec

So Val on CBC says that the Conservatives have broken into Quebec. In ALL the interviews I saw of Quebec Liberal or Bloc voters on the news, ALL of them said they were voting for the Conservatives because they didn't like the Liberal scandal or didn't see the Bloc as useful. (okay, that could partially justify the "broken into Quebec" comment) I don't think it's permanent. It could be, it could not. Quebecers can be easily convinced to vote Liberal again or Bloc rather than Conservative.

Alberta

What?
So uhm, Harper's got to satisfy the demands of his Alberta promises and BC ones.

Rest of Canada

Hm. I also think that the votes the Conservatives received, if not most, were "Martin and the Liberal Party Punishment" votes.

Results
Cons: 124 Liberals 103 Bloc 51 NDP 29 Independant 1

This is definately making the front page of the New York Times. (I mean something like "HEY LOOKIT GUYS! OUR NEIGHBORS ARE CONSERVATIVE MINORITY GOVERNMENT!" and then have in small letters "Explanation on what a 'Minority government' is on A5".) Apparently, C-SPAN---the US equivalent of CPAC one could say---was airing this election. Shocking, no? I just found this bit out from CBC.ca.

Wonder if CNN picked it up too (not the detailed results but the who won).

From the responses from the Americans, they're blissfully ignorant it's not even funny. One man from Florida was like "I hope you will have a controversy free governement" or something. I dunno. The two analysts were like "Has he not been paying attention to the campaign?".


Random
Teale got 5370 votes. Kudos! =D

Power couple?
Haha. Chow and Layton together in Parliament. Interesting.