Sure, the Conservatives won, but as it turns out, its the weakest victory in Canadian history.
Pwned.
Suck on that Harper.
This is also interesting.
The NDP and Jack Layton have some interesting opportunities before them. They are poised to be the unofficial opposition in English Canada as the Liberals struggle to rebuild and pick a new leader. With 29 seats, they are visibly and substantively more powerful and should command more attention from the left-averse media.
They will need to look productive, which means trying to find something on which to cooperate with Harper. The possibility exists of extending the political reforms Harper has proposed by pressing the issue of proportional representation with more energy than they have so far. Two minority governments in a row should put this issue front and centre, especially for the NDP who would have garnered 54 seats in a mixed-member proportional system.
They can initially take the lead on a whole host of progressive policy issues in the Commons but will eventually face the dilemma of competing with the much larger Liberal caucus and a new, untainted leader for the centre-left vote in the country.
In the lead up to the Liberals’ leadership convention — which will be likely be held in the late fall — the NDP will try to dominate the progressive agenda, by exposing the Conservatives’ agenda, out-manoeuvring the Liberals and consolidating Layton’s image as the politician “ordinary” Canadians can trust. Look for a return to the attack on for-profit health care, an issue the Liberals can’t co-opt.
In the end, we have a Conservative government, not because Canadians want radical change, but because they could no longer stomach Paul Martin’s decaying Liberals. They supported the Conservatives only to the extent necessary to rid themselves of Martin — and no further. That is the message voters sent on Election Day.
Canadians, as confirmed in every in-depth values survey done in the past five years, are in their large majority, progressive and tolerant, support activist government, are appalled by the level of poverty in this country and repelled by what is going on south of the border. Any party that ignores this fundamental fact of Canadian political culture will ultimately fail.