So here we are. I had a hunch things would end like this. In fact, that was the bet my wife and I made. I realize that many readers here will be angry when I write that we both voted Liberal. But we thought very carefully before we cast our ballots. We would have preferred to vote Green. But everything came down to the riding we live in.
The poet Al Purdy wrote that our neck of the woods has been "Conservative since the Stone Age." John A. Macdonald used to practise law in our town. This is very blue country. In the nearly thirty-five years that we've lived here, we've only elected Liberals four times -- twice under Jean Chretien, and twice -- including last night -- under Justin Trudeau.
Unfortunately, the Green Party was barely on the radar here. The NDP has a presence, but the party has always had far from the kind of support it needs to carry the riding.
Finally, as angry as I was about Trudeau's failure to deliver electoral reform, the stark fact was that we were voting under the same old rules.
We bet on a Liberal minority and that's what we got. On climate change, will last night's decision be enough, soon enough? Probably not. But we are being overtaken by events. That became clear to me this spring when I saw the flooding around the western and northern shores of Montreal -- places I know well.
And events have a way of forcing your hand. Perhaps the NDP and the people in the streets will force Justin's hand.
Who knows? All I know for sure is that you can't hold back the future. One last thought: Both Ralph Goodale and Lisa Raitt showed true graciousness last night. We desperately need more of that.
Image: Global News
12 comments:
All in all, Owen, I felt it was a good evening. The Liberals have been put in their place, and with the NDP now holding the balance of power, perhaps we are finally going to get some progressive legislation where it matters most: the environment, pharmacare, and more progressive taxation. My only real disappointment is that the Greens did not do better. I voted for them, not because our candidate had a chance of winning, but to add to what I hoped would be a significance percentage of the popular vote.
The next couple of years should be very interesting.
I really thought the Greens would do better, Lorne. Under proportional representation I suspect they would. A lot will depend on the ralationship between Trudeau and Singh. Let's hope things will go well.
Some bloggers are posting that if we had used MMP instead of FPTP that Scheer would be PM. Assuming that people votes the same under MMP (they likely would not - you are an example) a coalition would still need to be formed to govern. Trudeau would likely still be PM under such a system - this time, any way.
UU
.. this household split.. Animal Party and Green.. The Boss was tsken aback at the 'total attack and destruction' By Andrew Scheer, Hamish Marshall and CPC 'black ops' of Daisy Group / Kinsella. She has backdoor dark resources and info, feeds.. secret covens and cabals but still stunned.
Scheer is toast.. worse than toast if a formal investigation and subpoena's are lodged. Seizure of all emails, comminications, text, phones (burners one supposes) 'create arms length 3rd party entity with no connection to the client' 'avoid and evade any link to 3rd party Election Law violation' per Kinsella statement on his web blog (also paraphrased) ' this was completely legsl, we always planned to declare this to Elections Canada' ''this work was completed months ago'
Gee willikers.. 'attack and total destruction of Bernier's party and candidates via social media' .. seems it worked.. Bernier upset & defeated, zero candidates elected.. ZERO. Welcome to the 'democracy' of Andrew Scheer 'as a rule we do not comment on vendors we engage or do not engage with' .. Now there's a 'defense' or deflection or denial to write home about.. that was Harper level 'I knew nothing of these matters'
i would suggest Main Media examine closely, the ridings Scheer et al took in Quebec.. for signs that the PPC faltered and lost in.. split Conservative vote ? What split ? Bernier et al were null and void - utterly destroyed
I'll never understand Prairie voters. Was there something that Trudeau could have delivered but didn't? He delivered what Harper never could - a pipeline to the west coast. But did voters reward that? Not a chance. The Cons captured a record 70% of the popular vote in AB and 67% in SK. Even Goodale got the bums rush.
The Con tribalism in that part of the country is politically stupid. It means the Cons can take them for granted as Harper did and gives the Libs no incentive to help either. Say what you want about Quebecers, and Albertans do, but they know how to vote to their advantage!
Cap
It's really hard to translate yesterday's results into other voting paradigms, UU -- because there are several paradigms. And those paradigms will affect voting patterns. It's best to make decisions on the system we have, not on the system we would prefer to have.
Despite Scheer's smile, sal, the Conservative Party is still the Harper Party. The nastiness is just below the surface.
Albertans will never thank Trudeau for the pipeline, Cap. And some Quebecers will consider him a vendu. Any prime minister has a difficult job keeping the disparate parts of this country together.
One region parties who are looking out only for themselves within a province should not be allowed to run in a federal election, by definition.
The most egregious unfairness last night was that for the same number of votes across the entire country, the Greens got three seats, and the nihilistic BQ got 32 from a bunch of rural Quebeckers. To say it wasn't fair is an understatement, because a 10 to 1 advantage FPTP gave to a heckling group of malcontents is really an untenable result.
We need to change our voting system, or this country is going to fly apart. The slight voter plurality the Cons got, and which Scheer dwells on, fails to take into account the many ridings the Libs won against two other viable candidates, a situation that by definition reduced their national vote count. By contrast, a great many Con votes were wasted in doubling down in most Prairie ridings against almost zero viable opposition.
It's all nonsense from beginning to end, FPTP.
Of course we need a form of proportional representation - will the Cons agree? The BQ won't. And JT likely won't. So if we get a similar schemozzle in the next election, this country is liable to break up. That'll be Trudeau's legacy for being such a simple nit as to cancel the Commons committee on proportional representation.
BM
I agree, BM. We need proportional representation for the long term health of the country. Only rarely do politicians act in the long term interest of the country. LBJ passed the Civil Rights Act, knowing that the Democrats would lose the South for a generation. In fact, the South still is lost to them.
Who knows? It's all about depth and breadth of vision.
I too voted Green as a conscience vote and felt a little disappointed at the lack of votes captured but still no vote is wasted in this quagmire that we have been wallowing in. The elected Green in New Brunswick was an inspiring one and the Greens have three seats that can be heard. I feel satified that the people have spoken and the FPTP has truly revealed what a real dog and pony show it is. We deserve something better and I hope the Prime Minister is paying attention. What an Ass!
What we have is a situation that requires parties to cooperate, zoombats -- a kind of proportional representation. It's possible that -- seeing how it operates -- we may, perhaps, decide to make it offical.
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