The price of a vote in Canada - $1.95
A 1 year political party donation - $1,100
One MP's annual salary - $165,000
An election for nothing - $300 Million
One unelected Quebec bagman thrown out - Priceless

What can I say? Garth gone, Thibeault gone, Ujjy losing, Quebec wondering why they will have so few cabmins, Newfoundland shoots their own foot off, does it get any better than this?

I'm afraid to look at Craig Oliver. Has his head exploded yet?

Congratulations to Stephen Harper and the Conservatives.

Even with the msm against him and hoping that Dion would be the next Prime Minister, the Conservatives pulled it off.

Vit

I think you were close. Final Ve?

Syncroo

As of 9:33pm MST my prediction is only off by one seat. :)

CTV was just highlighting an interesting exchange with Bob Rae and Michael Ignatieff.

Bob Rae stated that although Harper had 145 seats more or less, he was "still going to have to face parliament" and hinted broadly that the Liberals, (under Rae's leadership) would find common cause with the NDP and Bloc against the Conservatives, i.e. a coalition.

Ignatieff was on the split scree from his campaign headquarters, and the whole time Rae is speaking, rolling his eyes and looking like he smelled a rotten egg. He replied, (and now Rae was rolling his eyes) that such speculation was "Political Science Fiction" and that the Liberals had been elected as official oppostion and now needed to oppose the Conservatives "from the centre".
Rae, it seems, would have little trouble signing on to an NDP agenda - so long as it makes him Prime Minister.

As I recall, Rae was a tory and only went to the NDP because the other parties wouldn't let him run as a candidate. Then he moves to the libs. He'd move to the communist party if he thought it would give him a spot in the limelight.Rae may be smart, and a great speaker but it will always be "all about Bob". If anything Bob ever did was beneficial to the electorate it would only be because of unintended coincidence.

Yes I saw parts of the Liberal featurette courtesy of CTV. It lasted far too long.Those two just love the limelight don't they?
Prentiss was too nice to Oliver.CPAC coverage was more intelligent.

Hate to say it, but I hope PMSH has learned there is no pleasing a spoiled child...they just take and never say thank you.

Garth who?

BWAHAHAHAHA!

did anyone just catch Dion just snapping on CTV saying that CTV will be the last network he speaks with??!!!

I could do this again next week .

I love elections.

Thanks Vitruvius for your election predictor. Pretty darn close!

Andrew Coyne has again stated that the economic power of this country has moved West and the Liberal and Quebec elite, who have run this country for too long (my words), are fighting tooth and nail to maintain their control.
I hope I live to see the political power move too.

skuleman: I don't think Rae was ever a conservative (and WIki agrees) - first a left-wing liberal then ND and now left-wing liberal again.

I light a candle every night in the hope that he becomes the party's next leader as it will guarantee a tory majority next time around as the fiscally conservative side of the LP defects en masse to the CP.

Garth Turner: all class...
http://www.burlingtonpost.com/news/article/212617
[3rd class, that is.]

It would be interesting to find out what effect, if any, "strategic" voting had on this election. Seems to me it failed quite miserably.

Strategic voting may have worked in Edmonton Strathcona. Just supports my opinion that university students should NEVER be allowed to vote (I speak as a university student, 99 out of 100 are dumber than bricks, and I count myself in that 99 most days)

CLEARLY-

Mr. Harper wasted my time and money by not winning a majority government and not losing to Dion.

What was the point of this?????

Clearly, we need a new leader for the blue team, you can bet the red team has been looking for a new leader for some time. Hopefully the yellow and green teams don't change leaders, I like them just the way they are.

I must admit though. I was tempted to mark an X for The Canadian Action Party. Have you seen these people (this guy)?? He's straight out of the X-Files.

What a waste of time and money this was.
DOWN WITH HARPER !!!!!

UP WITH THE NEW BLUE LEADER.... KATE??

sL

Don't be silly, Levin. Ten bucks it cost you for an election, an election that increased the Conservative's mandate. That's the cost of two beers in a pub. What, you're a cheap-skate, already? Or, perhaps, is democracy not worth ten bucks to you?

Biggest loosers of Election 08 ? -- David Suzuki and gang.

Kyoto is dead, Canada can now move on.

David who?

Congratulations Vit, great job.

For those of you who are questioning why we had to have another election... Blame Steffi. He was the one telling the CBC (or was it the CBC telling us) that "Canadians" wanted the Green Shaft.

Harper said, "Wanna bet?" and off to the polls we went to tell Steffi that we don't.

Now, he can go back to the back bench.

I would like to see all of the Blogging Tories post an ad on their page to the MEDIA telling them they can go drown in their own tears. The bastards on CTV couldn't contain their whining and criticizing of Harper on his win. Not a good word from any of them. They make me sick. Bastards all of them.
After Harpers speech when he was walking off the stage with his daughter and the fireworks or whatever they are went off it took Harper by surprise. Mansbridge and his ilk started laughing at Harper for being startled. I hate that Bastard Mansbridge.
We won and did better. F**k em all.
Congratulations Mr. Harper and all Conservatives.

Strategic voting worked in Vancouver Quadra, many NDP votes going to the Liberal as did the green vote

Vit:
You do good work. I enjoy your website too, it's informative and entertaining.

As much as Craig Oliver grates me, he is brutally honest with his opinion and pulls no punches. He said Harper didn't get his majority that he wanted and Dion turned in what was probably the worst performence by a Liberal leader.

BUURRNNN!

As much as Craig Oliver grates me, he is brutally honest with his opinion and pulls no punches. He said Harper didn't get his majority that he wanted and Dion turned in what was probably the worst performence by a Liberal leader.

BUURRNNN!

Yea it is pretty sad Rick to see the childish way that our Canadian media treats Mr. Harper. This is a good man, a family man and a man that is out for the good of all Canadians. These CTV and CBC bastards are all self loathers, they have accomplished nothing in their sorry little lives so they try to knnock down good, didn't quite work tonight though did it Craig and Tom and Loyd and Peter, ssuck it up Toronto pansies.

Garth Turner lost his seat. Yahoooooooooo!!!!

Agreed - the CTV, CBC, Global - all of them, their sneers and put-downs of Harper all night were quite something. I had to go on 'mute' for much of the time.

Their praise of Dion as 'a good, a noble, a man of integrity'..such garbage. All I've heard from Dion is his constant accusations of 'liar, liar' against Harper. What lies?
And they have nothing - not a word - good to say about Harper. Quite remarkable how steadfast the Canadian MSM - all Liberals - are against Harper. Not one good word. Just sneers that he 'didnt get what he wanted; he must be unhappy'.

But Harper DID get what he wanted; a strong minority. Almost a majority. And since we have that undemocratic Bloc in our system, it's almost impossible to get a majority now in Canada.

And, Harper won this election for the Conservatives. Not as a reaction of the electorate to the Liberal corrupt Sponsorship (2006) but FOR the Conservatives and their policies and FOR Harper. That's quite something. No-one in the MSM mentioned that, of course.

Harper's victory speech was excellent and I've rarely seen him so happy.

And what a loss for the Liberals.

As for Quebec, which has its own private default party - my suggestion is - forget Quebec. Stop pandering to it; stop trying to get Quebecers to move from their Natural Governing Party, which we allowed them to have..They won't. Quebecers don't see themselves as part of Canada, which they see as a foreign country. Stop pandering to Quebec. Ignore them, and focus on the West and Ontario.

Thanks for your daily updates, vitruvius.

And lots of tv head honchos lost their senate seats. How can one be a loser when they gain several seats and losing 20 seats is ok. And did you catch a ctv guy blaming dion's fall from grace on the attack ads etc. Never mentioned the attacks the media did on Harper.
And, the first question to Donna Cadman was about the so called bribe and how could she run as a conservative and not an independant. Answer, no comment it is before the courts, I have faith in Stephen Harper.

Kate, It's gonna be close but if I win the seat projection forget the Ezra donation. I don't visit enough to realize that you had your own legal fund, send the money here :D

M. Dion is about to discover that he has no freinds, particularly in the media that did their best to prop him up for the last 3 years.

He is about to discover just how sharp the medias knives can be when Lib HQ gives the order to dump him.

Hopefully he digs in as hard as Paul Martin did.

I suspect that strategic voting was sold by the Liberals as a trade but they only took from the NDP and Green, they didn't give back -- the usual Liberal duplicity even in this scheme.

Figures!

Dion can expect to find the locks to his offices changed, and they are off to their next leadership convention -- it has to be Ignatieff, Rae maxed out last time and he's still a dipper, Justin needs ten years of experience by which time the antidote should be perfected, and who else is there? (besides the usual seven guaranteed losers).

Harper has about two years to broaden his appeal, he is the mother of all incrementalists but is there another increment around the next bend?

Never mind, Obama's universal reign of peace and love will be into its critical stages by then.

A comment and a question:

What most pundits failed to fully appreciate is that until the Bloc Quebecois is removed or diminished, it's almost impossible for a political party to win a majority in this country. Instead, I kept hearing about the "collective wisdom" of the Canadian voters. What a huge pile of rubbish. It's amazing to me how some people invent wildly preposterous theories to explain something when the truth is sitting right in front of them. Such is almost always the case with the liberal mind!

Now a question: If Stephen Harper just chooses to run his gov't like a majority, bringing strict law & order bills, etc. in front of Parliament, will the Liberals have the balls to defeat these bills, knowing that it'll immediately force another election?

I think not but would love to have someone provide a counterpoint.

I've got some good news and some bad news.First the bad news.
Trudeau is in and
Dion is gone!
go figure

Jason Cherniak says he is going to quit blogging, apparently it is bad for his career. Garth has gone on hiatus. Liberals sure are poor losers.

Congratulations to Bob Dechert, newly elected CPC MP in Mississauga-Erindale. The third time was a charm. Really too bad he didn't beat Carolyn Parrish in 2004, but better late than never.

Posted on Sunday Oct.5th,2008 (actual results in brackets)

Atlantic Canada-9(10)/31 seats. 1(0)NL, 2(3)NS, 5(6)NB, 1 PEI
NWT, Yukon, Nunavit(1)- 1/3 seats
QUE- 14(10)/75 seats
ON- 51(51)/105 seats
Prairies- 48(49)/56 seats
BC- 23(22)/36 seats
Majority 155/308

CPC- 146/308 38% (37.6)
LPC- 64/308 28% (26.2)
NDP- 48/308 19% (18.2)
Bloc- 49/309 9% (10)
Ind- 1/308 0.1% (.6)
Green- 0/308 6% (6.8)

My final was this (I didn't get to post the entry for the contest):

142 CPC
70 LPC
46 NDP
48 BLOC
2 Independent (Bill Casey NS, Arthur Andre QUE)
0 Greens

Anyways I had the CPC @ 158 seats on the day writ was dropped and as high as 161 seats during the first week. The rest is history.

Thanks for playing along.

Sorry I screwd that up.

143 CPC
76 LPC
37 NDP
50 Bloc
2 IND (Casey & Andre)

anyone have the video of dion telling roger smith off?

It's too late, the numbers above are the official standings of the parties and should have been in brackets in my first post.

So was the site busy last night Kate? LOL

They're still showing Conservatives and bloc going back and forth one seat on cpac.
I missed by a kilo meter anyway.

Listening to Gilles Duceppe bragging about "winning a majority", you'd think he was the prime minister or winner somewhere?
This clown should be in a rubber room with a plastic frog to keep him company.
The court jester went out and got a job as a politician.

The story to me tonight was how loudly the West spoke. The popular vote for the Libs in every one of the four western provinces was in the teens. In seat count, the Libs lost 71 to 7 to the Cons. Wow!!!

Consider, that even if we were to flip tonight's results in Ontario in favour of the Libs, the Cons still win the election by 40 seats.

Hip! Hip! Hooray for the West. From someone trapped in the 416 Lib/NDP la la land, thank you!!!!!!

EVERYONE has got to watch this.

Starting at 3:24 and going about 15 seconds, see Dion being an arrogant sore-loser.

What a disappointed child.

Hooray for the west too but what if "stupid" as I call him and have in a letter when he was LOO had actually campaigned in Ontario instead of wasting his and our time in Quebec? "Stupid" as I called him and still do, would likely have a majority instead of looking like another Joe Clarke with a little muscle on his biceps?
Their opposition was pathetic at very best if you include Gilles Duceppe and should been flattened.

You cannot please Quebec and English Canada at the same time. English Canada likes law and order, Quebec seems to prefer their province be run by biker gangs,killing the CBC would go well in English Canada but try an kill Radio Canada and you would have a revolt. So it would be hard for a party to get a majority these days.

currently the reality is that in order to win a majority a party has to win at least fifteen ormore seats in Quebec. So a waste of time campaigning there it is not.

However within a generation - the next three election cycles- that will not be the case. By the next election up to ten new seats will be added in ontario Alberta and BC almost all of them in safe blue areas.

Once que. Reaches true irrelevancy on the national political scene the final "put up or shut up" moment will happen to the separatists.

The truly great achievement of Stephen harper thusfar (he has a lot more to add yet) is that he has made the new Canada - the Canada west of Ontario - a conservative fortress - the biggest political powerbase in the land.

Robert W.:

"Now a question: If Stephen Harper just chooses to run his gov't like a majority, bringing strict law & order bills, etc. in front of Parliament, will the Liberals have the balls to defeat these bills, knowing that it'll immediately force another election?

I think not but would love to have someone provide a counterpoint."

Well, that's it exactly. Harper's back with a minority but he knows that the opposition won't dare risk forcing another election anytime soon.

No doubt the Conservatives would have preferred a majority (any party worth its salt would). But an improved minority - with an opposition scared to death about risking the ire of Canadians by toppling the government and forcing yet another election on us - will do just fine.

That Harper guy. I tell you. Smooth.

blanks;

Good points but I see the glass as more full than empty. In the big picture, I don't see any electoral math that ends up with a Lib government any time soon. They're simply nowhere in 2 of the 3 largest areas in the country and they'll never win as long as that's true.

If I remember correctly, the Libs haven't won the majority of seats in Quebec since Trudeau in 1980. Its been more than a while. In the West, they're virtually toxic. Their rehabilitation period in both those places would seem to be lengthy.

With Conservative vote splitting over, Ontario can't deliver the Libs to power on their own anymore. Even a solid Liberal win here wouldn't have overcome the western block.

So yeah. While I'd have preferred a majority too, I'm pretty happy with where we are. We won solidly in Ontario and by a crushing margin in the West. That's a good recipe for the long term, be it a majority or a minority that governs for most of the time as if it had a defacto majority. Varying shades of good to my mind.

Epitaph for Citoyen Dion in the PET Cemetery.

"I love my country more than ever,"
(ctv)

Fin.

The worst thing that happened in yesterday's election was that little shit Justine Turdeau winning a seat in the riding of Papineau!

Here's my initial musings the morning after...

http://thecanadiansentinel.blogspot.com/2008/10/conservatives-build-muscle-in-election.html

The discussion on both networks about Dion's future involving long sharp pointy things, the list of possible successors were mention.

I noticed that, in the one case I watched, the second coming wasn't officially started by mentioning Justin.

Some time today Kyoto the dog will be taken out back and shot.

His owner . . . figuratively so in the coming days.

There's more credence to the term "Goofy Newfies",they really did a job on themselves at the behest of the their dear Leader, Danny Boy Williams.
They shot off both feet.
Quebec has sent us a message they really aren't serious about Canada.

The low point throughout the campaign for Liberals was the constant slagging of Harper by "Mr. nice guy", Steffi, who called Mr. Harper a liar incessantly. Looks like the smarter people of Canada didn't agree.

Now Craig Oliver and company can fawn over The Trudeau spawn who's wet behind the ears in politics.

Soon the US will have the left most leadership of any major Western democracy.

Tories "win" in Parkdale-High Park. Dion's No. 1 disciple is elected and has a high enough profile that he'll be a front bench guy... CPC can always point to him for humor in QP. As well, I'm actually glad Goodale won. What would the LPC be without it's most identifable blowhard? Also, Garth losing is great! Ditto for the Liberals in Vancouver-Kingsway. So much anger for Emerson from Liberal voters (82% voted Liberal in 2006) for switching to the CPC that they elected an NDP candidate... Liberal candidate just 28%. Losing both party-crossing seats is just so sweet.

liberals are sad today But not all that bad for them, as Now they can turf Dion without losing face. Top ranking libs that wanted Dion out from the getgo wish though that the conservatives had won a majority as this would have bought them the time they need to rebuild their party.
On another note comments made by Rae last nite in his joyfull interview on ctv shows that he is just itching to overthrow the conservatives with a coalition of the left(much like he did in 79), My bet after the leadership conv. march 09.
Did anyone notice the smiles on ctv when interviewing the top ranking liberal winners. Another prediction after watching Rae/Iggy the radical left will now be able to take over the liberals & i would predict also that we are going to see a defection of the more center libs.

Message to Taliban Jack Layton(NDP):

Flypaper is working.
Get 'em. More, and faster.
...-

"18 Taliban militants killed in clash with Afghan troops"
http://tinyurl.com/4dhmr2 (thaindian)
...-

"The More Iraq Calms Down, The More Warriors Show Up in Afghanistan, The More Violence Increases, The More People Die"

"Most of the non-Afghan warriors are Pakistanis, Arabs, and from some other Muslim countries, U.S. commanders said. They recorded that some radical groups support fighters to go to Afghanistan, not to Iraq in order to increase the number of insurgents in the region."
http://www.turkishweekly.net/news.php?id=60194

Bryanr, the Libs won't get rid of Dion too easily, he said in an interview he would not quit, saying "I am not a quitter". I say stay on Steffi, we love ya baby.

To Quebec voters who voted to continue to play Canada like a fiddle, I say burn, baby burn. Canada has played that game far too long and to top it off, that resource rich "province" is on the dole through equalization. Shameful.
Since Separation is off their agenda what's their purpose beyond playing dirty political pool in their selfish little Fiefdom.

"I'm afraid to look at Craig Oliver. Has his head exploded yet?" Posted by: Marcia

Almost. He has slipped into every conversation numerous times so far, what have the Cons gained, it's all right back where we were, we got back to back minority governments, for what?.

Well Ollie, here it is: Harper destroyed the Liberals. In case you didn't notice, Harper gained back to back Liberal losses. That's the news here.

just some information for the MSM , who continue to push Borat Dions contribution to the clarity act ( seems like a misnomer now after the CTV interview) the clarity act started on the other side of the house

The Clarity Act was created in response to the 1995 Quebec referendum and ongoing independence movement in that province. In 1996, Reform MP
Stephen Harper introduced a loosely similar private member's bill, the Quebec Contingency Act (working title Bill C-341).[2] The content of the Clarity Act was based on the 1998 secession reference to the Supreme Court of Canada made by the federal government under Jean Chrétien. First introduced in the Canadian House of Commons on December 13, 1999, it was subsequently passed by the Commons on March 15, 2000, and by the Senate on June 29, 2000.

Yahooooooo

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081015/wl_canada_nm/canada_us_election_concession_1

Liz J...I agree wholeheartedly.Enough!
We know PMSH is a smart man.Quebec played the same game with Libs...the Libs didn't know when to quit and it balooned in to Adscam.
I believe PMSH knows when to say enough.

Watch for Ujjal Dosanjh to team with Bob Rae for the leadership of the Liberals. Listening to the bitterness of Dosanjh as he talked about what the Liberals would do in this coming parliament showed that this is a vitriolic and dangerous man.

Great programme, Vitruvius. The combination of humour and music is very powerful. Which brings up the obvious question: any chance of another appearance by Victor Borge on SDA LNR?

I think this was an extremely important election. It's not about getting a majority; it's about structural shifts.

The MSM, who showed us clearly last night, that they are all Liberal supporters, kept talking about a 'Harper minority', grudgingly admitting that it was a 'slightly larger' minority. They also put all the blame for the Liberal losses on Dion. I suggest they are Playing the Liberal Game, which means, to firmly stick your head in a deep sandpile and blow dust.

Only Coyne mentioned that the Liberals have to do some thinking - that they are reduced to the cities of Toronto and Montreal and have no representation west of that.

I'm suggesting that this election was not about only showing, but also solidifying, a structural shift in Canada's economic and social structure. The Liberals refuse to see this and blaming Dion is an error.

Yes, Dion is trapped in an academic bubble, locked in the secure non-pragmatic rhetoric of the seminar room where his word is Truth. Yes, he hasn't a clue about the real world; he's urban, he's cocooned in supermarkets and city services. Yes, he can't speak English. Yes, he's manipulative (his ten percent is really 1.5 percent). But, the real problem is the Liberal viewi of What is Canada.

Liberals see Canada, still, in the post WWII structure of centralism, where authority and power are based around Quebec and Ontario and the West is irrelevant. They have no interest in or knowledge of anything outside this centralist zone of Ottawa-Montreal.

Liberals also see Canada, from this centralist standpoint, as necessarily ruled by a central Big Govt that takes your taxes and does everything from one type of daycare to one type of healthcare to... You follow their word.

The Harper mode, and it is his view and not simply a Conservative idea, is decentralization, where more decision-making and fiscal power moves to the local people. Ottawa moves out of these areas and focuses only on a smaller set of duties. This view acknowledges all areas of Canada as economically unique. It requires and operates within a citizenry that is involved in their own affairs. The centralist mode works only with a passive citizenship.

The West will be getting new seats in the House in a few years, to acknowledge its increase in population (more than that of Quebec). This will further shift the structural make-up of Canada.

Immigration? The Liberal idea is to 'bring them in', support them with subsidies and taxes, isolate them, freeze them as non-integrative people, and make them dependent on this money..and get their votes.

The Conservative idea is to bring in only those who can economically exist in Canada, don't isolate them, don't make them dependent on welfare and subsidies. And they vote as they want.

The other problem that our MSM pundits are not dealing with, besides this tectonic shift in demographics and economy, is Quebec. The Bloc.

The insanity of giving one province its own political party, a federal party, and insert a criterion to be allowed to vote for that party, has set up a dysfunctional situation in our parliament. The criterion to be allowed to vote for the Bloc is not the old ones which we've since rejected in favour of universal suffrage. It's not land ownership, gender, ethnicity, race. It's geographic. To vote for the Bloc, you must live in Quebec. Yet, this Bloc makes decisions about all of us. Yet, as a party, it is not accountable to all of us.

The Bloc is NOT about separation. It's the default party in Quebec. It's the 'Natural Governing Party' in Quebec. It's about and only about Quebec. Naturally, most people will vote for it. Why not? Quebecers aren't interested in governing the ROC. Why not? Because the ROC, to Quebecers, is a foreign country. They have no interest in Canada at all. They only see themselves as trapped within it, and they use it for what they can get. They have nothing to offer Canada because it is a foreign country. Any alliances they have with other foreign countries are only with francophone countries.

Yet we have a situation here in Canada where the Bloc regularly takes at least 50 and more seats from the House for itself, thus rendering any other party without a majority. Why do we put up with this?

Suggestion to Harper? Ignore Quebec. Stop pandering to them. We can't get rid of the Bloc by pandering and bribing Quebecers. So, stop pandering to them. Ignore them - focus on Ontario and the West. Focus on the strength of Canada and not its weak area, ie, Quebec. Maybe Quebec will wake up and decide to join the world, and Canada.

As for the Liberal Party, they can blame Dion. But he's not their problem. They'll probably blame him, put in a 'charismatic' leader such as Rae. Or even, of all things, Justin Trudeau. Both choices show a deep contempt for Canadians, defining the electorate as merely susceptible to 'bread and circuses'. We'll see.

So Mr. "As Influential as the Main Stream Media" and all round clairvoyant has fired himself I see.

Good election for the Tories, but nothing's going to change. They don't have a majority, and they are up against 3 left of center parties. Will they be able to do anything radical, or even ambitious? Probably not. More of the same for another 4 years.

Harper should emerge from this a seasoned centrist.

I couldn't vote for any of the main party's
I voted for the Christian Heritage party for two main reasons.
1)Henry Morgentaler received the order of Canada
This butchers only claim to fame is murdering babies. I don't care what your view on abortion is, I think all of us can agree there are far more deserving Canadians out there.
2)24 billion just handed over to the banks. The same banks the have gouged us for years, making obscene profits year after year, with the prime minister smugly saying, "its just pocket change." 1 8th of the overall budget $718 dollars lumped on the backs of every single Canadian is not pocket change.
Peter

good job on the index Vitruvius !!

looked to be within the margerine of error as they would say on the rigs.

(Via Melanie Phillips) Stanley Kurtz, Wright 101

It looks like Jeremiah Wright was just the tip of the iceberg. Not only did Barack Obama savor Wright’s sermons, Obama gave legitimacy — and a whole lot of money — to education programs built around the same extremist anti-American ideology preached by Reverend Wright. And guess what? Bill Ayers is still palling around with the same bitterly anti-American Afrocentric ideologues that he and Obama were promoting a decade ago. All this is revealed by a bit of digging, combined with a careful study of documents from the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, the education foundation Obama and Ayers jointly led in the late 1990s...

Gordon Campbell, were you paying close attention to the voters in BC?

Keith Martin squeezed through, but he is the voice for change in what goes on with HRCs.

So, he may have to get his game on to push harder on this issue. Can he work with the government to get it done?

Welcome back to John Duncan, CPC, from Vancouver Island, who defeated the NDP one-timer.

Dona Cadman...going to have her work cut out for her, on any number of levels.

Comments about what the election "cost" us are tiresome and irrelevant. Clearly Liberals were looking at taking down the government after the U.S. elections. So, if Harper did not call for an election when he did, we would be "paying for one" a couple of months down the line. Minority governments will last about two years (or less). If Canadians are concerned about elections happening too frequently, there is an obvious solution.

Well Ollie, here it is: Harper destroyed the Liberals. In case you didn't notice, Harper gained back to back Liberal losses. That's the news here.

Wrong sounder the news is it was the lowest level of liberal support since 1867.

I think that is THE story.

Suffused with the usual MSM anti-religious bigotry and urban elitism, but still worth reading:

(Via Comment Central) Mark Jacobson, Sarah Palin's Heaven

Wasilla—moose, malls, and snow machines in the most beautiful landscape on earth—is paradise for a certain kind of person. So why would a real Alaskan go anywhere else?

Agree - a major story of this election is the Harper took out the Liberals.

Remember, that's been his agenda, which he has openly stated, to take out the Liberals 'from the bottom up' by gradually, incrementally, destroying their financial reserves.

The fact that the Liberals have a dysfunctional view of Canada that is centralist and operates via Big Govt is the Liberal's fault. But, removing their ability to manipulate the public - has been Harper's task. The Liberals don't work by intellect and debate; they work by emotion. That requires a charismatic style leader who appeals to the emotions.

The Liberal financial coffers are empty. Their old reliance on money from big corporations was ended by Chretien, who assured himself that without him, the Liberal Party was toast. Harper further reduced funding to about 1,000 per individual donor. Liberal party members don't donate to their party; they expect their taxes to deal with everything.

But another MAJOR point of this campaign was that Harper won it for himself and the Conservatives. The 2006 election is in large part a reaction by the electorate to the Liberal Sponsorship scandal. This election wasn't a reaction but an action. In favour of Harper.

The Liberals are going to try to blame it on Dion, but it isn't all his fault. The Liberals are trapped in a totally out-of-date view of Canada; and their disdain for the West (leftists call all Conservatives rednecks), for the non-urban lifestyle shows - the Liberals won seats only in the big cities and the socialist areas that are dependent on Big Govt.

It was a strategic election, and Harper achieved his goals. A majority would have, as others have noted, given the Liberals time to regroup. But Harper can govern as a majority because none of the other parties can afford an election.

As for costs of an election, with Dion and Layton both threatening to bring the govt down, it would have come this year anyway.

It's a fine morning for freedom and hence free thinkers. I worked the election yesterday and of 222 voters in our poll 156 voted Harper, 21 each for Lib, NDP and Green. That was impressive even by the standards of a poll that has overwhelmingly voted Conservative since the election of '85, that would be 1885. My only question would be "Where the hell did the 21 Greens come from?".

Using those numbers as a guide I can see why the carbon tax went up in smoke last night. Nice work by Liberal strategists to preface the Green Shift with an endorsement from Suzuki. What can you expect from a leader who names his dog after a Mo Strong initiative. Get over it people, AGW is as D-E-A-D as Dion's career in politics.

Elizabeth May is bragging about her outstanding victory. I'd recommend she spent some late night reading time studying Custer's strategy at the Little Big Horn. She is an American after all despite her ersatz Cape Breton "roots".

On the brighter side the Liberals managed to elect another winner in the form of Justin Trudeau. He carries his fathers surname and his mother's political acumen, neither of which will be big sellers for that party.

Returning to the subject of AGW, Garth went down in flames last night. Garth.ca is on hiatus until the end of the month out of respect for more of the politically dead. Too bad since I really enjoyed the anti Harper froth and foam from his dozen or so regulars. I guess they will have to move on to one of those boutique sites like Canadian Cynic or Desmogblog. They offer safe haven for all political loons.

Remember when Scott Reid said "Alberta Can Blow Me"...well i guess HE will have to blow Alberta if he ever hopes to get back in!

Wow - alot of excitement in here for another minority government.

$300 million for a meaningless election that broke the election law Harper put in place. A strategic play, done with other people's money (easy to spend that, no?). And it didn't pay off.

The Libranos, with an accident for a leader, a massive piece of social engineering and tax in the Green Shift, still managed to pull 75+ seats out of the air, running a crappy campaign with a non-photogenic geek.

All for the same position previous.

Since the Conervative fetish-ist partisans in here are all randy - let's see as these Cons continue to move eastward in their policies - how long y'all can rationalize it.

Let's start with the $25 billion dollar slap and tickle to the banks, which bought up assets with taxpayer money - that were not critical to their functioning. Let's see, how much is $25 billion btw?

On the upshot, the wisdom of crowds saw that unelected bagman from Quebec tossed on his derriere. Fortier will have his hand back out again - lets see who can guess which 6 figure Crown corp job he'll get dropped into....anyone?

Would the Libranos do any different?

No. They wouldn't.

Hardboiled:

Thats ok, Harper will now govern as if he had a majority and do exactly what will be good for the country wheather YOU like it or not...suck it up!

"Another long-time Liberal said on Tuesday night:
"It will be tough for him to have the … authority to lead.
We are the natural governing party.""
...-

"Dion's future questioned after renewed Tory minority

"party ended the night with 76 seats – down from 95 when the election was called – and just 26.2 per cent of popular support, a historic low that surpasses the 28 per cent the John Turner-led Liberals garnered in 1984."
(g-m)

Yep. He could have done that before. Now he gets to do it again. 3 elections in 4 years. On the taxpayers dime.

Woo! You go girl!

A meaningless election gerrymandered for the ruling party's own benefit, that effectively changed nothing, except for the size of the payments now going to the Green Party annually.

Yah! Alright! Yeah! Take THAT Dion! Boo-Yeah!

"Thats ok, Harper will now govern as if he had a majority and do exactly what will be good for the country wheather YOU like it or not...suck it up!"

Hahaha. Do you really believe that?

It's a stalemate. The Liberals in a minority government can occassionally appeal to parties further to the left to get things done. Who is Harper going to turn to? Dion? Layton?

Harper can TRY to rule it like a majority, but you can bet on more of the same. I expect Harper will turn into a Chretien style centrist within the next two years. Its the only way he will get anything done. Theres no allies on the right to help him out - he is the right. And everyone else is on the other side of the center.

Big victory, no doubt. Will it change anything? Probably not.

I love the fiberals short memory or is that selective memory, cripes I recall that cretian guy called one every other year for a decade it seemed.
Suck it up losers!

Heh heh!
:)

THE GREENS ARE TOAST and that's worth it to me!
Bonus is libs losing seats,

the dart is the ndp - unions right?

So they support the Canadian postal union leader stating that he hasn't decided whether to ban mail from Israel or not YET...hmn?

I love the fiberals short memory or is that selective memory, cripes I recall that cretian guy called one every other year for a decade it seemed.
Suck it up losers!Heh heh! :)

Heh indeed. Especially that you are talking to Conservatives. And reminding them that their guy is channelling Cretin.

And the Greens didn't get rubbed bozo. They have increased the cheques they get from the government by $500,000 per year.

A $300 million dollar election for nothing. A 'fixed date' election law that exists only when convienient. Despite promises to the contrary.

Useful idiots indeed.

No, Harper can govern like a majority because none of the other parties, who are all leftists, can afford an election. Either financially or politically.

Harper's strategy was to destroy the Liberal structure from the bottom-up, ie, internally rather than externally. An external win relies on a key crisis situation and/or a charismatic leader; that is, it's an emotional rather than rational win. Chretien and Trudeau carried out external win campaigns. And of course, Chretien relied on the multiple splits in the opposition into both right and left parties.

Harper's 2006 win was an 'external win'. It was based on voter disgust with the Liberal Sponsorship corruption, with the clear, simple five-point pragmatic realism of the Conservatives.

This win was an internal win - and it's far more damaging to the Liberals than is obvious in an external win. It further broke the Liberals financially and, it moved the Conservative base into stronger and stronger positions throughout the country.

You can see this incremental increase in Ontario, the former Liberal stronghold - and in Toronto, where Liberals have retained their seats by drastically reduced margins, with the Conservatives gaining in votes.

The Liberals have been isolated to the cities, particularly Toronto and Montreal, and as I said, their base is weakening here. They have nothing in the West; they have nothing to speak of in Quebec, which has been handed over to an anomaly of a party, the Bloc. My suggestion is to totally ignore Quebec from now on. Stop pandering to it.

The suggestions that 'this was an unnecessary election and costly' ignore that Dion and Layton were both itching to take down the govt. But now, they won't dare.

I also suspect that Dion won't step down; he'll stay on for a while until the Liberals try to steal some more money. The Liberals can't afford an election.

They can't put a 'charismatic leader' into the House who will have to sit on his hands because he can't call an election. That's not good for his charismatic image, which only operates in crisis modes.

So, I suspect they'll keep Dion until they can get some money.

I would like to express my compliments to our friends in Ontario for voting in so much blue last night.

Many times in the past I would turn on the TV at 8:00 only to find that the Liberals had already been declared in a majority after getting 100 seats in Ontario.

Looks like there could be two new women named to the cabinet(Gail Shea,PEI and Lisa Raitt,Ont) and that can't hurt the Tories in Ontario so I think the seeds have been planted for future success there when the next election comes around.

There were even some major dents knocked into the Liberal armor in the GTA which will also bode well for the future.

Danny Williams could rue the day he started the ABC campaign but then again, who cares?

Congratulations to the Right Honourable Mr. Stephen Harper and the CPC on the election results.

widkerman -- "Who is Harper going to turn to? Dion? Layton?" Actually, I believe he did appeal to each and all of these parties in turn in the last minority government. Otherwise he would not have lasted so long, nor accomplished so much. You are also exaggerating how much to the "right" Harper is. His government has pretty much ruled from the centre -- a necessity in this country. (Gasps about anything even slightly to the right have been grossly overblown by the media.) You need to get past your "left wing" blinders, which really fail to see reality.

(Via SWJ) Mark Magnier, China land reform disappears from radar

A funny thing happened on the way to the Third Plenary Session of the 17th Central Committee, where China's Communist Party leaders were expected to finally enact a bold land reform program allowing farmers eventually to buy, sell or lease their fields.

Coverage of reform issues had been stepped up in the official press. And President Hu Jintao made a high-profile trip to rural Anhui province, where state media said he told farmers that they would be able to transfer their land rights.

Yet by the time the closed-door meeting wrapped up Sunday, the issue had all but disappeared from public view. It wasn't even mentioned in the final communique from the 368-member decision-making body...

Frederick W. Kagan, The Fog

Discerning Barack Obama's foreign policy in any detail is far from easy. The great majority of his statements on the subject consist of criticism of the Bush administration... The constant lamentation over Bush's mistakes, justified though it may be, leaves obscure what Obama thinks we should do now. A close examination of his pronouncements on foreign affairs nevertheless suggests the general outlines of his likely foreign policy. Like the Clinton administration, an Obama administration would set out determined to rely on diplomacy, backed where necessary by economic sanctions and, in some cases, limited and precise military strikes--the sole exception being Afghanistan, where Obama proposes an open-ended commitment of American troops to win on what he regards as the central front in the war on terror...

Once again, an ethnic nationalist party has prevented a majority. Go Quebec, keep on being modern & inclusive.

Alaskan glaciers grew last year.

"On the Juneau Icefield, there was still 20 feet of new snow on the surface of the Taku Glacier in late July."

"It's been a long time on most glaciers where they've actually had positive mass balance," Molnia said.

"That's the way a scientist says the glaciers got thicker in the middle."

http://www.adn.com/news/environment/story/555283.html

(Via SWJ) Usama Redha, Shiite cults seek to wreak havoc in Iraq

The Shiite faithful believe that in the world's darkest hour, Imam Mahdi will return and bring justice and calm. But where mainstream Shiite believers wait patiently for that day, groups such as the one that tried to enlist Iman are convinced that they can hasten his reappearance by spreading chaos.

Devout Sunnis also believe in the Mahdi's coming, but do not think it involves the Shiite imam...

Hardboiled:

For someone who appears to think you know more than the PM, the Conservative Party and the just re-elected government, I have a newsflash for you. You're wrong.

Your political naivete drowns out any points you may make, and your constant, strident pronounciations of superiority are tiresome.

Your spelling is quite good .

Julia Belluz, Earliest case of TB found in 9,000-year-old Neolithic skeleton

The earliest known cases of human tuberculosis have been found in millennia-old bones that were buried off the coast of Haifa, Israel...

Professor Israel Hershkovitz of Tel Aviv University noticed lesions that are a sign of TB in the bones of skeletons discovered at Alit-Yam, a 9,000 year-old pre-pottery Neolithic village...

TB is believed to infect about two billion people, or a third of humanity, though it is ten per cent of those infected that fall ill...

A nasty little commenter on Trusty Tory's blog: Jasmin Cormier says "God damn our troops"

Nice little feller, hey?

Booing their own national anthem.
Thanks France, for making an example of yourselves.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of the French far-right National Front, said the jeering was proof of the failure of multiculturalism,"

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=081015123919.5457lveo&show_article=1

From the sounds of the lefties ranting on here they spent the night sucking tail pipes.Not a reasonable thought in the lot of them.Gas fumes will do that to ya.

Rae, it seems, would have little trouble signing on to an NDP agenda - so long as it makes him Prime Minister.
==================
And I think we should humor him.

"We ran an exuberant and joyful campaign. If kids five years and up could have voted, I would have won by a landslide," she (Elizabeth May)said.

The Province, October 15th 2008.

“Whenever I climb I am followed by a dog called 'Ego'.”

Friedrich Nietzsche

heh - duceppe says that Harper (ie Canada) must 'bend to Quebec'. Heh. He, and Quebec, are completely out of touch. It's over. They've so isolated themselves from participation in a federation that they've failed to realize that the demographics and economic infrastructure of Canada have changed. It's moved WEST. It's over for the 'Quebec era', and no govt in future is going to have to rely on, or care, about those seats in Quebec.

I've never seen Harper so happy and 'light' as last night's victory speech; he was delighted. And he's right to feel that way.

This was a completely different victory from the 2006 External Win, which was largely fueled by the emotionalism of voter rejection of Liberal corruption.

This was an Internal Win, far more important, because it is structural, for it was fueled on voter acceptance and support for Conservative policies and management. You could see this not only in the increase in CPC seats and the devastating drop in Liberal seats - but in the increased Conservative support in Liberal-held seats.
You could also see this in the increase in NDP seats, where voters who aren't ready for CPC are moving to the 'other left' party, the NDP rather than the Liberal.

Williams of Nfld is going to realize that he'll have to interact with Harper and his crisis style mode of emotional hysteria won't get him anywhere.

Duceppe is going to be left out in the cold. He's going to realize he's made Quebec irrelevant.

I don't believe that Quebecers are that fragile and emotional that a suggestion that funding for their 'arts and culture' be dropped - would move them to hysteric heights or alarm. Certainly, the MSM claimed that, but remember, our MSM are married to, work with, all those 'arts and culture' types. It's all One Family Living Off the Taxpayer.

I think that Quebec has simply calcified into an isolate region; I've no idea what will 'warm them up'. But they feel no filiation with Canada. Therefore, I suggest isolation. Maybe they'll eventually mature and understand the nature of a political federation.

As for our govt, Harper has been handed the power to do a lot. The other parties won't dare call an election; they'll have to start to cooperate. Remember, before this election was called, Harper called each leader in and asked them if they would cooperate for the next year to get things done. They all refused. All of them. They opted to carry on the stonewalling, refusal to vote, mudslinging, and committee harassment. Harper was right to refuse to accept such irresponsible behaviour.

So, congratulations to him. And to Canadians for voting in a good government, and quite possibly, one of the best PM's we've ever had.

LindaL,

I agree completely.

"Otherwise he would not have lasted so long, nor accomplished so much."

What exactly did he achieve? The country's stability during the economic crisis had more to do with the system he inherited than the one he created. Cutting the GST? What difference has it really made? Has Canada changed in the last 2 years. Hardly. Its still the same.

"You are also exaggerating how much to the "right" Harper is."

I didn't intend to. I know he's a centrist. If you read my earlier post, you will note that I said "Harper will emerge from this a seasoned centrist". He is not going to do anything radical vis-a-vis the CBC or Quebec. Or well, anything.

What I am pointing out is that he does not have any 'natural' or 'ideological' allies- he is up against parties who have more in common with each other than they do with the conservatives.

"You need to get past your "left wing" blinders, which really fail to see reality."

The gratuitous potshot. What is a board without these. Ironically enough, I agree with you for the most part (Harper will operate from the center), so I can only encourage to remove your stoo.

Amir Taheri, The O Jesse Knows: Jackson on Obama's America

EVIAN, FRANCE

PREPARE for a new America: That's the message that the Rev. Jesse Jackson conveyed to participants in the first World Policy Forum, held at this French lakeside resort last week.

He promised "fundamental changes" in US foreign policy - saying America must "heal wounds" it has caused to other nations, revive its alliances and apologize for the "arrogance of the Bush administration."

The most important change would occur in the Middle East, where "decades of putting Israel's interests first" would end...

Posted by: bud at October 15, 2008 2:07 PM

Hey dude - I don't believe in the superiority of anyone. Canadians are equal, to me.

Naive or not, at the least - I hold to principle.

Which is a whole lot more than the faux-cons crawling around in here and in Parliament.

Hey bud - how much exactly did those mortgages coming off of the books of Canadian banks cost? You know, the banks that took $19 billion in profits out of the economy last year, presumeably in exchange for risk?

How about the $20 billion per year spent on corporate welfare ? No change under the Cons?

Any change soon?

Nope. Wait long enough, your government cheque is coming man. Just keep singing the song...

Posted by: bud at October 15, 2008 2:07 PM

Hey dude - I don't believe in the superiority of anyone. Canadians are equal, to me.

Naive or not, at the least - I hold to principle.

Which is a whole lot more than the faux-cons crawling around in here and in Parliament.

Hey bud - how much exactly did those mortgages coming off of the books of Canadian banks cost? You know, the banks that took $19 billion in profits out of the economy last year, presumeably in exchange for risk?

How about the $20 billion per year spent on corporate welfare ? No change under the Cons?

Any change soon?

Nope. Wait long enough, your government cheque is coming man. Just keep singing the song...and stay on your knees

..and keep living on your knees. Stay there. It looks like you wouldn't know what to do if you stood up.

hardboiled: "A meaningless election gerrymandered for the ruling party's own benefit..."

Give me a break. I'm not part of the "ruling party." I'm a hard-working Canadian taxpayer who's sick and tired of infantile, leftie shenanigans keeping our Parliament from passing legislation that is of benefit to ALL Canadians--that's PM Stephen Harper's mandate.

That doesn't seem to be the mandate of the NDP, Liberals, or the Bloc who appear to enjoy playing politics and perpetuating partisan bickering. The stakes are too high, and Canadians' patience and pocketbooks aren't bottomless.

It's 5:20 and so far, neither Duffy nor Newman have interviewed a Conservative! Didn't they win the election, begrudgingly admitted by Newman and Travers a few minutes ago, with dour faces?

Ujjal Dosanjh is on Duffy now and, naturally, he's blaming Dion's dismal showing on PM Harper's "belittling" Dion for the past year. No taking responsibility for the Librano$' not being in touch with Canadians on just about every front.

COME ON!

It's 5:30 and Duffy's got JUSTIN TRUDEAU on!! For G*d's sake. Sorry, Justin is a light weight and, as usual with light weights, he doesn't seem to know what he's talking about as he runs off at the mouth in all directions. Gag: He just said, "I have so much to learn from the people of Papineau." Justin's not a good istener...hmmm...I don't think he's the new Librano saviour somehow.

Building my base, learning the ropes...just what the people in Papineau need.

Over at Newman, "we're" discussing Dion's future with Liberal analyst David Hurley. What about Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government's future and the future of Canadians? Why do we have to be dissecting the Librano loss (OMG, Newman's talking about Lalonde, Trudeau, etc....old hat, old hat) and not analysing the success of Canada's new government?

Half an hour to go. Let's see if either the CBC or CTV deign to interview a successful Conservative candidate. I'm beginning to think that neither Duffy nor Newman can handle the joy. It's not in the script.

I can't believe the amount of whining and negativity, or the number of people who say it was a "meaningless" election. The Natural Ruling Party has been decimated, in an unprecedented way, outside of downtown Toronto and the Maritimes -- or, as various media blowhards put it, "it's gotta be a real disappointment for Mr. Harper."

In the last three elections over four years the Conservatives under Harper have grown from 99 seats to 124 seats to 143 seats. Or as John Moore put it in an article at NP Full Comment, "Not exactly the triumphant fruits of patient political genius."

After last night the Conservatives are now the only truly national party, winning seats across the country. Or as a CBC on air personality put it, nothing has changed, and Mr. Harper will have to take a few weeks of soul-searching to decide whether or not to stay on as leader.

BTW, if you take Quebec out of the equation -- just for fun -- the Conservatives would have a substantial majority. In a 233 seat parliament sans Quebec, with 117 seats making a majority, last night's results would be: Conservatives 133, Libs 57, NDP 35, Ind. 1.

A-News Ottawa weather personality Bill Welychka was taken off the air last week after he endorsed Stephen Harper in a video posted to the news channel's website.

http://tinyurl.com/47vnum

LOL

A majority would have been better. However, consider that this minority, if conducted properly, can govern like a majority.

The constant childish smears will likely come to an end. It's not the image the Liberals want. They'll have to reposition themselves as a mature opposition, rather than juvenile 'natural governing party' losers and learn how to be effective in that role. Something they have little experience doing. But for the sake of their party, they'd better learn quick.

Furthermore, Harper will continue to silently replace Ottawa's Liberal bureaucracy, senate and judiciary. He won't gamble too much on spotlight issues because he still wants a majority for the Conservative Party, with or without himself as leader.

Incrementalism is most effective, the reverse of which is how we got to this socialist state in the first place.

Added to the above - further bankrupting and marginalizing of the Liberal party - I'd say last night was a fairly resounding triumph.

Greens: 0 seats. No inclusion in the next debate. No more Lizard May photo ops. Heh.

"Peter Kent: Our man in Thornhill"

"He thereby became one of the few Conservatives to break into the central Toronto area, virtually guaranteeing himself a Cabinet seat."

http://tinyurl.com/43orrw (NP)

EBD - heh, nice post.

It's also fascinating to hear the MSM now talking about Dion. They are all asserting that he's 'such a nice guy'..'too nice for politics'. This ignores that his first words on becoming leader were to call Harper a 'control-freak' and constantly comparing him with Bush.

As well, Dion did nothing to stop the relentless Smear Campaigns of his Liberals against Harper (Mulroney-Schreiber, Cadman, etc)...indeed, he constantly taunted Harper to 'come clean about your corruption'. The MSM, in their role of sanctifying Dion, are ignoring these campaigns against Harper by the Liberals.

The MSM also claim that Dion is totally focused on the envt. Haven't they read his Green Shift? There is absolutely no strategy in that document for cleaning up the envt. It's a straight tax shaft of 'emitters' and handing that money over to buy votes among 'the poor'. Indeed, Dion requires constant emissions and pollution; otherwise, there's nothing to tax and bribe.

The MSM are sanctifying him, defining him as too pure, too naive, too idealistic for politics.

And, the MSM are repeating, ad nauseum, about how 'hopeless' this election was for Harper, because he didn't get a majority. They ignore that structurally, he DID get a majority.

They also ignore the deep structural shift that has taken place; the decimation of the Liberals to two big cities and the Maritimes; the weakening of Liberal support everywhere else. And the isolation of Quebec from the federation by the Bloc. These are structural effects, and we should be talking about them.

'Agreed, ET, we should be talking about the issues you've elucidated.

'Not much of a chance, however, the entitled lib-left MSM being the entitled lib-left MSM. But anyone who's serious about the future of Canadian politics--and the future of the Liberal party--needs to take them seriously. They ignore them at their peril.

Right you are BTDT. The blogs and posters on the blogs have done a great deal to discredit and 'out' the lies and bias of the tax funded msm and the tax burden CBC. We, the people, must demand dismantlement and defending of public media. Fly or nose dive on their own $$$.

STAY LORNE STAY!*

"Calvert to announce plans for his future as leader of Sask. NDP"
http://tinyurl.com/3ukkeu (cbc)
(*H/T SD, eh?)