Harper: Majority win turns page on 'uncertainty'

[Keith Bee]

Source: CBC.ca

Canadians can now "turn the page on the uncertainties and repeat elections of the past seven years," Stephen Harper said Monday night as voters delivered the Conservative leader his first majority government and brought a dramatic and unpredicted realignment to the country's political landscape.

The re-elected prime minister told the country that government affairs will begin "as early as tomorrow" with a plan for creating jobs and growth without increasing taxes, immediate help for families and seniors and eliminating the deficit while maintaining health-care transfers to provinces and territories.

<SNIP>

Meanwhile, NDP Leader Jack Layton will now become Official Opposition leader and replace Michael Ignatieff, who himself was defeated in his own Toronto riding. Ignatieff took reponsibility for the Liberals' historic electoral loss. Ignatieff's Liberals — often touted as Canada's "natural governing party" — placed a distant third behind Layton's party.

With 99 per cent of polls reporting, the Conservatives won 167 seats, followed by the NDP with 102, Liberals with 34 and the Bloc Québécois with four and the Green Party with one. A party needs to capture 155 seats to win a majority in the House of Commons.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadavotes2011/story/2011/05/02/cv-election-main.html

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Ain't it great when other countries emulate us, right down to the wingnuttery?

[icnorth]

1. The sheep have bleated. n/t

[w4rma]

2. The neo-liberals lost and the neo-cons took over. The NDP is a good opposition party, however. (nt)

[midnight]

3. This is sad... Liberals with 34 seats... Are they emulating our voting machines?

[Darth_Kitten]

4. It's embarrassing.

:(

[cstanleytech]

5. To be fair its possible he could

do that without creating taxes if he spends his money wisely and cuts out most if not all of the wasteful stuff like paying thousands of dollars for something that you and me could buy for 5 bucks at walmart.
Is it likely though that he can? not in my opinion but it is possible just like its possible an extraterrestrial invasion force will land on our planet at noon today.

[ananda]

6. I thought the Canadians had come to their senses.

Obviously I was wrong.

[tinwi]

7. What went wrong?

I was hoping to immigrate to Canada to escape Plutocracy if the pugs get all they want here. Oh well, maybe South America

[sinkingfeeling]

8. Split vote between Liberals & NDP caused the Conservatives to win.

[Bragi]

9. Partisanship trumps common sense

Again, 6 in 10 voters voted against Harper, but did so by splitting their votes between 4 parties.

As long as the leaders of the 4 parties refuse to cooperate or unite, the conservatives will reign.

And since the cons are about to shut down the money going to the other parties, the continued squabbling amongst the non-con parties means we are probably looking at another 5-10 years of conservative majority governments in Canada supported by 3 out of 10 voters.

It's sad, and a great loss, but that's what it is.

[No Elephants]

12. Maybe the system needs changing--If no one gets over 50%, have a runoff between the 2

that got the greatest number of votes.

[Bragi]

13. Why would Harper agree to that?

Harper benefits from the system as it stands, and the system cannot be changed without his agreement, so I'm not seeing that type of change occurring.

[DavidDvorkin]

11. Canada has a first-past-the-post system, doesn't it?

The UK will be having its referendum on switching to a more equitable system later this week. Let's hope the voters there approve the switch and that Canada will eventually do the same.

[Bragi]

14. Sadly, yes

I assume the UK referendum will fail. Even if it didn't, there is no chance that Harper would agree to a better system, as the old one serves him well since he reunited the right, and he's in charge of everything for the next 4-5 years at least.

[valerief]

10. Electronic voting machines? nt