Ignatieff resigns after Liberal defeat

[Newsjock]

Source: The Globe and Mail

Michael Ignatieff is resigning as leader of the Liberal Party after presiding over the most devastating defeat in his party’s history.

He made the announcement Tuesday morning in an emotional press conference – his team stood at the back of the room, some in tears – just hours after he watched the election returns, seeing his party go from 77 seats to 34 and losing official opposition party status to the NDP.

He noted that the “only thing Canadians like less than a loser is a sore loser” and he is “leaving politics with “my head held high.”

Mr. Ignatieff also lost his own seat in Etobicoke-Lakeshore – one he had represented since 2006 – to a rookie Conservative.

Read more: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ignatieff-resigns-after-liberal-defeat/article2008182/

[w4rma]

1. Good riddance to another neo-liberal. (nt)

[Deep13]

2. Jesus, they reelected the fucking Tories? nt

[JackRiddler]

4. "They" being the same 38 percent who voted Tory last time...

The disaster is that 60 percent are disenfranchised by a winner-take-all system.

[Freddie Stubbs]

5. If the Liberals and NPD had merged, this would likely not have happened

[JackRiddler]

6. If the Liberals had not been led by a milquetoast neocon wannabe, indeed.

Better yet, if Canada had a democratic proportional representation system, like Germany, this would not have happened.

[Freddie Stubbs]

7. I doubt that Harper's new government will change election laws to its disadvantage

[JackRiddler]

8. So?

[Ken Burch]

12. You're missing the pont, Freddie.

If the Liberals had announced that, if elected, they'd institute proportional representation, they'd have actually had a case for "strategic voting".

They refused to do that, and instead insisted on interpreting "strategic voting" as "Everybody HAS to vote Liberal, no matter what".

All they had to do was treat the other anti-Harper voters and parties with respect, and this could have been avoided.

[iandhr]

3. Ignatieff is a idiot

All the polls showed that is was likely that Harper would win. Canada has been much more stable the United States economically.

[Foolacious]

9. Canadian economic stability...

... is due in large part to regulations put in place and enforced by Liberal governments. Harper and the Conservatives pushed for a loosening of regulation along the lines of what the US financial industry did, but failed to make headway.

[sofa king]

10. So a mutual orgasm between us is out of the question, I guess.

[RedCloud]

11. Should we invade Canada to restore the freedom fighters?