Canadian Stunner

Source:  CBC.com


Well, the returns are in and Canada is waking up to the biggest political upheaval in twenty years, which has redrawn the political map of our neighbor to the north.  There's a big story about each of the five national parties represented in Parliament, which I'll summarize briefly here, with links to Canadian news sources for anyone who wants to learn more.

First, the Green Party has won its first-ever elected seat in North America, with leader Elizabeth May handily winning her Saanich-Gulf Islands riding, making her the first and only Green MP in Ottawa.

The Bloc Quebecois, for the last two decades something of a spoiler party dedicated to achieving the separation of Quebec from Canada and not much else, went down in flames to a near-total wipeout under the barrage of surging NDP support in that province.  Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe lost his own seat in Parliament, and has already announced his resignation as party leader in this historic switch that brings Quebec back to the national stage as a full player in federal politics.

The other historic loss was suffered by the Liberal Party, long known as "the natural governing party of Canada," which ever since Confederation in 1867 has always been either the ruling party or the Offical Opposition.  But voters definitively put the Grits in a distant third place last night, with Michael Ignatieff losing his own riding to a Conservative challenger.  In his concession speech, Ignatieff said he would stay on as party leader as long as the party wants him to.  [Update, 9:30 a.m. Tuesday:  Ignatieff has announced he will resign and return to his academic career as soon as the party can settle on a successor.]

Smilin' Jack Layton triumphantly surfed the unexpected wave of support for the New Democratic Party in this election to become the leader of the Official Opposition, his party capturing 102 of the 308 seats in the House of Commons, including seats in 8 out of 10 provinces and almost all of the Quebec ridings, which will extend NDP influence and perspective from its former position as the perennial third-place "conscience of Canada."  Some pundits are already saying Jack should enjoy the election-night celebrations because the NDP has hit its zenith and will never reach such a high-water mark in a national election again; but that, of course, remains to be seen, depending on what Layton and Co. do with their newfound popularity and power.

But the story with the biggest and most immediate effect on Canadians is that after years of minority governments, they finally elected an unbeatable majority to power.  Conservative leader Stephen Harper was swept back to Ottawa with a resounding 167-seat majority by Canadian voters, so that his party now not only has more than a majority (155 votes) but outnumbers all other parties combined - which, in a Westminster-style parliament, means that his Government is now unstoppable in practical terms:  They can win any vote, so they can exert their will howsoever they please for the next four years, until constitutionally required to hold another election.  In his victory speech to the party faithful, Harper spoke graciously of his defeated opponents and pledged to govern on behalf of all Canadians, even those who did not vote Conservative.

Which was a nice thing to say, since his Government was brought down five weeks ago in a vote of no-confidence following its being the first and only Government ever found in Contempt of Parliament in any Commonwealth country.  Some Canadian observers have characterized Harper as being petty, vindictive, secretive, ruthless, and thoroughly undemocratic in the way he has rammed through whatever legislation he wanted, or even called upon the Governor-General to simply dissolve Parliament not once, but twice - in order to avoid critical votes.  A great trick, better than a filibuster, even.

Of course, I've never been to Canada - all I know is what I read in the papers.  But your Head Trucker notes that critics of the Harper regime have said that what the Prime Minister wants for kinder, gentler Canada is to become more like the United States, with Big Business given free rein, low taxes on corporations and the wealthy, fewer and smaller social programs, big, big spending on military equipment, and the introduction of socially conservative Bible-Belt policies on issues like abortion, gay rights, minorities, immigration, and women's issues.   In the last five years, his Conservatives have blown a budget surplus accumulated by the previous Liberal Government, and racked up an enormous multi-billion-dollar deficit - which somehow reminds me of another political party south of the border.  I'm just sayin'.

But as someone wiser than me observed long ago, people generally get the government they deserve.  So it will be very interesting to see what happens now with an unbridled majority Conservative Government tromping on the accelerator and the soft-shoe socialist New Democrats trying to apply the brakes from the Opposition benches.  Whatever happens, with Quebec back at the family dinner table, so to speak, and the centrist Liberals stuck way to hell out in the political wilderness, it's sure to be a fascinating new page in Canadian history, if I'm understanding all the news correctly.


Read all about it:

CTV

CBC

The Globe and Mail