Canadians Give Harper More Seats

Canadians went to the polls yesterday and gave Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives 16 more seats in the House of Commons. However, they denied him an outright majority. Turnout was low at just over 59%.

The Tories did well in Ontario and British Columbia to secure 143 seats with 37.6% of the vote, shy of the 155 needed for a majority. Yet their missteps of late in Quebec may have prevented them from gaining a majority. They held the their representation in La Belle Province at 10 seats, butt they lost Michael Fortier, the Conservative International Trade Minister whom Mr. Harper had appointed to cabinet to represent the Montreal area shortly after the last election.

The Liberal Party won 76 seats, a decline of almost 20 seats, with 26.2% of the vote. Stephane Dion blundered in supporting the Green Party's bid to join in the televised debates. That gave Green leader Elizabeth May a platform from which to argue her case. That bled off votes from the Liberals. Mr. Dion may lose his job as party leader as a result of the showing.

The New Democrats won 37 seats on 18.2% of the vote. Unlike Mr. Dion, he opposed Ms. May's participation in the debate, and he was accused of sexism ad political elitism for his efforts. Maybe it was a case of being damned either way. He also told Canadians that the exploitation of the oil sands of Alberta needed to be constrained. Needless to say, that didn't go over well in the prairie provinces.

The Bloc Quebecois is taking credit for preventing a Tory majority. With 50 seats on 10% of the vote, party leader Gilles Duceppe may be right in that claim. The result doesn't suggest that secession is back as a top issue as the Globe and Mail explained, “the Bloc openly courted left-wing federalist voters and argued that sovereignty will be decided only in a referendum.”

© Copyright 2008 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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