Declaring a Day of Mourning
So yesterday was voting day, which means time to put my right to vote to good use, and hope for positive change in the new government. As expected the Conservatives won, and that’s why I’m declaring a “Day of Mourning.”
Out of all the parties in the Canadian government, the Conservatives happen to be the most “republican like.” They supported the war on Iraq, and they were against the right for gays to marry. In fact much like what happened with the Republican party in the US, a lot of the Conservative votes came from the rural areas, whereas urbanites voted for Liberals.
The good news is that the Conservatives won a minority government, which means they have less than half of the seats, taking away the potential of passing any bill they liked. Also on the good side is the NDP gaining more seats. The NDP is on the left of the centrist Liberals, and they are in support of social spending, giving money back to the poor, and of course lowering tuition :)
I’m going to be paying close attention to the dynamic of the new government, focusing particularly on new alliances, and keeping tabs on the election promises.
Moving away from the results I want to comment on two issues:
The first is that Canadians are very boring when it comes to voting. They either vote Liberal or Conservative. If the Liberals do badly, then the heads turn to the Conservatives, as if they were the only party. Although the NDP got more seats this time around, I would have liked to see them grab at least 10 more.
The second point goes out to those who refuse to vote using the cunning argument “my vote won’t count anyway, plus if I vote I can’t complain.” That’s such an absurd statement. People are all over the world are dying to get a democratic process in their countries. I think these people think if there isn’t a 100% agreement between them and a certain party, then they shouldn’t vote. What these people have to understand, is that they should vote for the party that represents them the most.
Out of all the parties in the Canadian government, the Conservatives happen to be the most “republican like.” They supported the war on Iraq, and they were against the right for gays to marry. In fact much like what happened with the Republican party in the US, a lot of the Conservative votes came from the rural areas, whereas urbanites voted for Liberals.
The good news is that the Conservatives won a minority government, which means they have less than half of the seats, taking away the potential of passing any bill they liked. Also on the good side is the NDP gaining more seats. The NDP is on the left of the centrist Liberals, and they are in support of social spending, giving money back to the poor, and of course lowering tuition :)
I’m going to be paying close attention to the dynamic of the new government, focusing particularly on new alliances, and keeping tabs on the election promises.
Moving away from the results I want to comment on two issues:
The first is that Canadians are very boring when it comes to voting. They either vote Liberal or Conservative. If the Liberals do badly, then the heads turn to the Conservatives, as if they were the only party. Although the NDP got more seats this time around, I would have liked to see them grab at least 10 more.
The second point goes out to those who refuse to vote using the cunning argument “my vote won’t count anyway, plus if I vote I can’t complain.” That’s such an absurd statement. People are all over the world are dying to get a democratic process in their countries. I think these people think if there isn’t a 100% agreement between them and a certain party, then they shouldn’t vote. What these people have to understand, is that they should vote for the party that represents them the most.
Technorati Tags: vote, canadian elections, canada, elections, conservatives, liberals, ndp, voting, canadian government, current events
posted by x @ 10:52 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
At 1/25/2006 2:45 AM,
Anonymous said…
listening to my daily dose of right wing talk radio on the way back from school, i can tell you conservatives in the US are more than happy with the result. one host, mike reagan, attributed the conservatives' win in Canada to its "50% increase in crime rate" which he claims the former PM blamed on "Americans".
At 1/25/2006 6:14 PM,
Anonymous said…
Don't quote me on this, buuuuttt, I don't think this gov't will last very long either because instead of the liberal minority where they had 3 different opposing parties with different agendas hating the same person, now you have 3 different parties with more in common opposing the same person. Meaning that I believe the NDP and Liberals will form some sort of alliance, and since their seats add up to the majority of seats in Parliament, they'll be a good "opposition". The only reason the Bloc were somewhat friendly with the Tories last term was because of the Liberal-bashing and they were just riding the wave. But really, I think they'll end up supporting the Liberals-NDP, especially with social issues such as gay-rights. Anyhoo, sorry for the long comment, but I just wanted to add that I don't like how Parliament is set up either with the "opposition", cause it assumes there's a disagreement to begin with... :p
At 1/25/2006 8:13 PM,
x said…
jameed, I think the old PM blamed Americans for not having tighter borders, especially with 50% of illegal firearms being smuggled through the US-Canada border..
thanks for the analysis queenie, you have a point. I'm gonna keep a close ear on the gun violence issue that Harper claims to have the solution for... when is the GST going down?
At 2/01/2006 3:46 PM,
Anonymous said…
Sorry guys, the Liberals were deluged by corruption allegations. The election of HAMAS in the Occupied Territories and the election of a Conservative PM has something in common: Both were a result of the dominant party being crooked and incompetent.
The truth is that crime, especially in places like Toronto, has skyrocketed under the Liberals. They have been ineffectual in combating this problem.
I support the Conservatives.
Your day of mourning is my day of celebration!
At 2/01/2006 6:19 PM,
x said…
it is interesting to note that the conservatives didn't win a single seat from Toronto, and that's where the crime is highest.
How can you connect a political party with gang activity?
At 2/02/2006 8:06 PM,
Anonymous said…
Conservatives in the u.s. don't regularly win seats in Washington DC, Detroit or New Orleans either, even though these are among the most crime-infested cities in the u.s. That doesn't mean there isn't a valid perception of crime as being a problem elsewhere in the country. The same applies to Canada.
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