I can’t begin to tell you how depressed I am.
At least one of them was Bill Casey in Nova Scotia. He was turfed from the Conservative party after refusing to toe the party line on some deals he felt were not good for his region. I think it was mostly due to offshore oil $$$.
I’d be a little suspicious of that without some further attribution. I saw May’s speech on CBC. That was not what I heard her say. She delivered a positive message, and one that I thought was delivered with sincerity.
Nova Scotia, Cumberland-Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley, Former Tory Bill Casey ran as an independent and has been elected with 70% of the vote. Casey was ejected from the Tory caucus after voting against the government on a budget vote in protest against Harper’s not upholding the so-called Atlantic Accord which gave Nova Scotia and Newfoundland a sweetheart deal on equalization.
Quebec, Portneuf-Jacques Cartier, Andre Arthur has again won (narrow victory over the BQ candidate) as an independent. He’s some sort of talk radio host, perhaps one of our Quebec Dopers can explain his appeal.
And the aforementioned James Ford in Edmonton-Sherwood Park who apparently lost a bitterly contested Conservative nomination contest. Ford is trailing by 240 votes at the moment, but it’s been back and forth several times over the past hour and only 125/227 polls have been counted.
(I’m REALLY liking the CBC interactive map)
One is in the Edmonton area, a nominal independent who is a Conservative who was not selected to run as the Conservative candidate. He apparently has said that he would be willing to cross the floor.
A huge shock, Alberta is… 100% conservative. 8.5% voted Green Party though. Green is just over 6% overall… apparently
I thought the required percentage was higher than that… did the Greens finally get federal funding?
For a couple of reasons.
What happened to that guy who crossed the floor to the Greens just before the election was called? I can’t remember his name.
Just thought I’d check up on how matt_mcl’s night is going. He’s campaign manager for NDP candidate Daniel Breton in Jeanne-Le Ber. The riding has been won by the BQ candidate with 36% of the vote to 31% for the Liberal. Breton is in third with 16%. 155/252 polls have reported.
In spite of finishing in third, I expect matt will be ecstatic upon his return to the Dope if the current situation in Outremont (two ridings over) holds up, where NDP Thomas Mulcair is currently leading by 500 votes over the Liberal candidate with 112/167 polls reporting. If I’m not mistaken, this would be the first ever NDP seat in Quebec.
Blair Wilson is his name. He won West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast as a Liberal. His Tory opponent from 2006 has won the seat. Wilson finished third with 13%.
Phil Edmonston, author of the Lemon-Aid series of automobile guides, won for the NDP in 1990 in a by-election.
So, how long before Dion steps down as leader?
Yup, me too.
Oui, moi aussi.
Has Stephen Harper claimed (minority) victory yet?
Not yet. Dion is about to make his concession speech (Duceppe went first, then Layton). Harper will be up shortly after Dion is finished (and make no mistake, Dion is finished!)
Ah yes…the protocol of defeat.
The only way the ‘left’ in Canada could become united would be for the Greens and NDP to move to the center and join the liberals. Then you’d have two parties - one slightly center-right and one slightly center-left, with people on the far right and far left unhappy, much like the Democrats vs the Republicans in the states.
But if uniting the left means pulling the Liberals to the left, all they’ll manage to do is to allow the Conservatives to occupy the center.
Canada used to be a center-left country. Maybe it still is, but not to the degree it was in the Trudeau years. The center of gravity in Canada has been slowly shifting to the west, while the Bloc has carved its own niche out of the east. Those forces, plus the forces of globalization which cause every country to bow to economic reality to some degree, push Canada as a whole slightly to the right. Elections are fought for the center. The reason the Conservatives have done as well as they have is precisely because they turned their backs on some of the Canadian right (especially the Reform wing) and moved into the center.
Me too - I don’t think I saw anyone under 50 at the polls when I voted. Sure they complain on facebook, but they sure don’t vote.
Well…this wasn’t how this night was supposed to go. I mean my worst-case scenario turned into a best-case scenario as the night wore on.
The sole bright spot that I see right now is that NDP is up by just over 300 votes in Edmonton. There’s also the fact that this isn’t a majority. A little more support in the 905 region or Quebec and 155 wouldn’t be too tough to get.
Early numbers indicate one of the lowest voter turnouts in decades and it couldn’t be any easier to vote. I don’t know what they could do to increase those numbers, it’s a disturbing trend.