Though I’ll be posting updates, I’m not going to liveblog what you can readily access online or on air, but the comments are open for your links, reaction and local reports. Just don’t go breaking any laws, though by the looks of things…
… Elections Canada has better things to do than track down surly beavers.
However, as traffic will be heavy tonight, PLEASE avoid tying up server resources with one-liners, chat, expletives, and whatnot.
Game on!
And in these waning hours, one final pitch from Gaia to the voters of southern Saskatchewan –
Only your vote can save the planet from global warming!
Update: Looks like Dizzy Lizzy picked a bad day to go carbon free.
My goodness, a couple of blog sites are getting slammed tonight. (Try not to hit refresh too often, ok?)
And in other breaking news – SDA still up, Elections Canada still down.
Lusers.
Methinks it looks like Karlheinz Schreiber picked a bad day to go midday cocktail free.
One we’ve all been waiting for – GARTH TURNER DEFEATED
Oh! – and to all my deluded Liberal blogging friends living east of Manitoba – I told you so.
Duceppe is speaking now. All I can think is that this man and his party that doesn’t want to be in Canada,is keeping Canada from being everything it can be. What a friggin a-hole. This is not a victory for Quebec,but a slap in the face from the spoiled child of Canada.Next referendum,let the ROC vote if we want them to seperate.
Yes, Trev, it isn’t bad at all.
You have to hand it to Harper. He beat the combined efforts of 4 opposition parties and a good portion of the media.
The Liberals held out hope until the end…
…in the background of one of the reporters, they had the CBC on the big screen.
Most of the pundits made the argument 2 weeks ago that the CPC would not do well in Quebec… that was already factor in over the past week when many of them argued that Harper would get the same 127, slightly above, and in many cases under that.
In spite of the Quebec showing, the ABC campaign, a sagging econmy always having a negative effect on the incumbant gov’t, MSM attacks, pundit pessimism, polls going in the wrong direct, spin of Liberal vindication on Cadman in the last days… Harper wins 144. Quite an accomplishment.
It is too easy to say that the arts and crime issues hurt the CP in QUe. I think that there were seats won in BC and Ontario because of those policies.
the ‘stash is about to speak…
My name is Jack layton and to put ordinary families first, I ran for PM. I ran so that we could put the kitchen table first and not just the boardroom table…bla. bla. bla.
Yes you can see the story lining up about how this was a failure on Stephen Harpers part….even though the popular vote is up and certainly at the high end if not higher than the final polls showed.
In fact they were talking about a Liberal minority being a possibility.
I wonder how many Quebecers are rethinging their vote, if they had known which way it was going.
Anyway. Happy with result, would have loved majority. Oh please let Dion decide to bull his way thorugh this…please….quick jason, blacberry your leader, tell him we all voted the wrong way because we were adle minded from too much CO2….BEG HIM TO STAY!!!!
Nah he’ll fall on his sword, being helped downward by Rae, Iggy, Kennedy and Hall Findley.
Kennedy and Hall Findley have lots to answer for….as in they were the KINGMAKERS…..
Should be fun.
My name is Jack Layton and we came within only 100 seats of ruling the country and we kicked lizzie’s butt,and those from the indy party too.
“Liberal MP Bob Rae — a frontrunner to replace embattled Liberal Leader Stephane Dion — seemed to suggest that his party would work closely with the other opposition parties to oppose Stephen Harper in a Tuesday night interview with CTV News.
But Michael Ignatieff — the other frontrunner for Dion’s job — told CTV News that talk of a coalition was “political-science fiction” and that the Liberals would oppose the Conservatives “from the centre.”
Pollster Peter Donolo said that the silver lining in the Liberal defeat was that their numbers are so low, they could vote against the Conservatives without triggering an election.”
Waaaay toooooo funny!
Blech. The Trudeau spawn wins his seat.
Canadians can rest assured they made the right choice for PM. Dion said he will stay on and fight like John Tory.
So when he announces his resignation as leader, we can see that not only does he have trouble making priorities, he lied to Canadians as well…. saying one thing during the election, doing another after it.
Good thing we didn’t elect him.
Conservatives gain six seats in Ontario. It’s possible there could be a recount in some tight ridings where liberals ahead, possibly placing conservatives ahead.
The expression’tail wagging the dog’ is much used in politics. That is what we have in Canada,take out the quebec results and we have a conservative majority. It is a pity and a shame.
A few snippets from a newspaper in Garth’s riding:
“Canadian Champion news editor Steve LeBlanc was escorted out of Liberal incumbent Garth Turner’s campaign office just before the federal election polls closed tonight.”
“Asked to leave at about 9:25 p.m. by a man who only identified himself as being security for the Halton MP…”
“While Shaye and the security guard offered no reason for LeBlanc’s dismissal, it may have something to do with the fact that the Champion endorsed Turner’s chief opponent…”
“LeBlanc was the only member of the media — among a group of more than a dozen — escorted out of the Main Street building.”
Ouch! and LOL! all at the same time; Dion: “The last one I want to talk to is CTV..”
Annie:
Saw that. Laughed my sack off at the irony.
Harper the clear winner…
-Runs for leadership of CA after a tough loss to the Liberals
-Wins the leadership of the party
-After failed attempts, unites the right
-topples the might Liberals, ending their 13 years reign of absolute power
-Told by MSM he could never become PM because he’s “too extreme”
-topples the Liberals; becomes PM
-MSM, pundits, critics predict 120+
-supplants LPC as for power in Ontario
-nearly wipes out LPC in the west
MSM can spin it any way they want.
All you need to know about how important this victory is for Harper is to look at the depressed expressions of all of the media on all of the channels. They gave it their best shot and Harper still came within an eyelash of a majority. Hopefully by the next election the internet will have supplanted the MSM.
Greens with 0 seats. Good thing May was allowed to take part in the debates, otherwise Canadian democracy would be a shambles.
Garth turner leaves after his defeat speech tonight in Halton, and then leaves predictably the way he came in
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpraJYnbVtE
Keith Boag looks like he is going to cry while talking about Steffi. I think that steffi will make his decision after consulting with his wife ,who will tell him ” do whatever the hell you want,just don’t fire the pool boy”.
Listened to Dion’s concession speech and he stated that he had just phoned the PM to congratulate him and assure him that the Liberals “would work with him to make this parliament work”. Didn’t the PM ask Dion if he would cooperate a few weeks ago? and didn’t Dion say “NO”. Basically this whole costly exercise could have been avoided. Shame on Dion and let’s see if the MSM pick it up.
Some interesting ones for the British Columbia folks out there:
Ujjal Dosanjh (L) in a tough fight against Wai Young (CPC)
Keith Martin (L) in a tough fight against Troy DeSouza (CPC)
Andrew Saxon (CPC) nailing Don Bell (L) in North Vancouver
Gary Lunn wins
Alice Wong (CPC) does Raymond Chan in Richmond
Many Burnaby/Coquitlam ridings very close this time.
Some interesting stuff in BC this election. Seems the Carbon tax a la Provincial Libs isn’t going over well and helping the Conservatives.
So Stephane Dion, captured and set on slow boil in the cauldron, lives to babble for another day while the savage PCs (the ones with “no class”) keep up their ancient war ritual, dancing around the cauldron with their hockey sticks, Calgary Flames jerseys and Don Cherry shirt collars while calling for the privatization of the CBC.
And Dion fires back: “CTV: they’re the last ones I want to talk to.”
Beautiful. As Cherniak says: “Leadership You Can Count On!”
Hit of the night…Dion’s bodyguard on CTV reporter.
Quote of the night… “the last one I’ll talk to is CTV, you understand”
“Didn’t the PM ask Dion if he would cooperate a few weeks ago?”
Those type of “future tense” questions confuse the poor, delicate Mr. Dion. You will have to do that question over, and let him confer with 5 advisors.
I hope he phoned Harper from a pay phone.
Roger Smith, CTV commentator, has just cried in his beer about Stephane Dion and the Liberals’ lost seats: Poor Dion. Boo hoo. He and Lloyd Robertson figuratively held Dion’s hand as they wiped Dion’s tears away.
This is all the more amazing, seeing as Dion very petulantly rebuked Roger a few minutes earlier when he, Dion, entered the hall to give his concession speech. When Smith asked for a comment from Dion, Dion snapped at him, “CTV is the last network I’m going to give a comment to,” or words to that effect.
Then Smith and Lloyd proceeded to say they could understand Dion’s disappointment and went on to gush over Dion’s sterling qualities: principled, stuck to policy (he did?) during the campaign, idealistic, loves Canada, blah, blah, blah…
Not a good night for the media…but, then, that was a foregone conclusion.
Lowest voter turnout in the history of Canada.
Question of the night:
Has Craig Oliver flown south for the winter, or will he just burrow underground and sleep till April 2009?
Can anyone tell me how 6 seats west of Toronto makes the Liberals a “National” party?
I heard that on CBC and thought they were on crack.
Craig Oliver just showed his true colours yet again: “This has been a dismal journey tonight.”
Well, I guess if you’re a shill for the Librano$ it’s dismal.
This CPC supporter is smiling, even if Owl Eyes Oliver isn’t. Speak for yourself, Craig. Or, better yet, keep your mean-spirited, biased remarks to yourself.
Hang on now. Olivers happy pills just kicked in. He just peed his pants when told Rahim Jaffer is behind in a very close race in Edmonton. He’s giving it the old I told you so. Lloyd’s laugh seems that of embarrasment.
“This has been a dismal journey tonight.”
If you’re a ninth inning media hack looking for a Senate Appointment to close out the golden years, and put your nose up Sharon Carstairs’ skirt, then ya, its been dismal Craig.
I guess ya got p’owned by the dismal scientist in the PMO.
“Lloyd’s laugh seems that of embarrasment.”
Reminds me of the scene in Mark Helprin’s Memoir from Antproof Case, when the protagonist is eating boiled turkey anus at the company dinner.
Listened to Dion’s concession speech and he stated that he had just phoned the PM to congratulate him and assure him that the Liberals “would work with him to make this parliament work”. Didn’t the PM ask Dion if he would cooperate a few weeks ago? and didn’t Dion say “NO”. Basically this whole costly exercise could have been avoided. Shame on Dion and let’s see if the MSM pick it up.
Posted by: Norman at October 15, 2008 12:28 AM ”
huh?
spin spin spin.
the election call was exclusively PMSH’s doing, NOT the result of a non-confidence vote.
also:
Harper the clear winner…
-Runs for leadership of CA after a tough loss to the Liberals
-Wins the leadership of the party
-After failed attempts, unites the right
-topples the might Liberals, ending their 13 years reign of absolute power
-Told by MSM he could never become PM because he’s “too extreme”
-topples the Liberals; becomes PM
-MSM, pundits, critics predict 120+”
more spinning: PMSH FAILED in the primary objective, a majority parliament. the rest of this stuff is just ‘miss congeniality’.
About 6 months ago,Craggy said at the end of a show,”It will be so much fun putting this gov’t out of it’s misery”. Looks good on him,if it wasn’t for the liberal sycophants in the media,we would most likely have a majority,even with the New France vote.Quebec is the puppy with three mouths.
Tonight’s biggest looser — David Suzuki.
Kyoto is dead, Canada can now move on.
“Carol Skelton stopped by the house tonight to say hi. Let’s just say that Kelly Block has a lot to learn about campaigning.”
Good enough to win. Not bad for a raw rookie who was savaged by the local media for taking a pass on participating in NDP orchestrated heckling-fests disguised as “candidate forums”. Three strikes for Nettie Wiebe. Time to take her bat and scurry back to the dugout. You can bet that next time around, the NDP will send someone else up to the plate.
This is especially satisfying since the socialists actually thought this one was in the bag.
Dion flip flopped again.
In his ? speech, he abandoned the “Green Shift” altogether. (He mentioned the environment, once, among many other “priorities”.)
He knows that his own party’s going to turf him, so, being the opportunist he is, he pitched his sale to the Conservative government: “I’ll cooperate with the government to strengthen the economy . . . blah, blah, blah . . .” What a narcissist.
After the outcome was certain, I made my way over to CBC. Peter Pansbridge is a preening idiot. It must have been difficult for him to smi . . . actually sneer . . . as he saw his Senate seat disappear altogether. ‘Couldn’t happen to a more deserving partisan.
I’m just watching the principled and savvy PMSH. IMO, it’s a great night!
The Liberals: Canada’s “natural governing party”
http://s3.amazonaws.com/scribblelive/d2d9c89e-3d0d-4de6-9fb2-25d42808cc76_300.jpg
An add-on. Quebec is the puppy with three mouths,two will feed while the other will cry for more. Good night to all and thanks to the gracious hostess.
Would I be too bold to suggest that the next “Federal” election in Canada will involve the election of at least a few Senators rather than Parliamentarians.
http://www.ccfd.ca/
I can’t believe the elephant in the room, the Bloc’s existence as a federal party, that NO-ONE seems to be talking about. All of those smart people, including Chantal Hebert and Andrew Coyne (ok two smart people), talking and talking about this election all night and NONE of them mentioned it!
Quebecers elected 50 or so MPs… elected them INTO THE VOID! They do nothing in Parliament to represent their electors and act ONLY to destabilize the country. And to add insult to injury taxpayers are going to fund this sham of a political party to the tune of MILLIONs of dollars. For what? So that election after election Canadians are robbed of a majority government. People whine and complain about the possibility of a Conservative Party majority, but people WAKE UP. WE would already have a Conservative majority (probably twice over) had the Bloc been dealt with properly.
OK, I am going to say it. Unless the federal party runs a candidate in each riding, or has a realistic timeline in place to do so eventually, Elections Canada should revoke their official party status. The Bloc have no right to exist!
Good night. Thanks Kate.
Let’s not forget one of the big lie of the final week… pollsters and MSM working in concert to hammer home: Liberals are turning things around.
32 seat differential becomes nearly 70.
Things are tightening up, they said.
No one predicted a majority. The MSM spinning this as a loss are half right… it’s a loss for the Liberals. Whatever became of them? Touted as great economic managers… 77 seats. Pathetic!
One last comment. Rick Mercer talking to Peter Mansbridge and I quote “What is good for us and what is good for canada are two different things”.Is he talking about CBC’s panel?
bob crooks – I absolutely agree. The Bloc has no right in a federal legislature. It is completely undemocratic to insert criteria for the voter, that have to be met, before you can vote for a particular political party.
At one time, the criterion was ‘land’; you had to be a property owner or you couldn’t vote. Other criteria were gender (only males); or race (only whites); or ethnicity (no Asians); or religion. In Canada, it’s geographic. You have to live in Quebec to vote for the Bloc. That means that we don’t have universal suffrage here; you can only get to vote for the Bloc if you live in Quebec. BUT, this same party sits in the federal legislature and makes decisions about you! But, you can’t vote them out!
And here, they get about 9% of the vote and get 28 seats, while the NDP gets double that percentage of the vote, 19% and only gets 38 seats. That’s undemocratic.
We have allowed the Bloc to exist, and it’s the default party of Quebec. Remember, Quebecers don’t feel part of Canada. They feel that Canada is a foreign nation and they, as a nation, are trapped within this foreign nation. So, giving them their own political party (nothing to do with separation)..the Bloc is the default party of Quebec.
Notice also, that the Conservatives won this election, not as a reaction of the electorate to the Liberal Sponsorship scandal (2006) but for themselves, for Harper. And gained seats, going from 127 to 145. Almost a majority. Except for the interference of the Bloc in our country.
The Conservatives have spread further in all parts of the country. And in Ontario. The Liberals remain only in Toronto and Montreal and in Nfld. Pockets.
My suggestion? Forget Quebec. Stop pandering to Quebec. As long as it has its own political party, we are trapped with people in Quebec voting automatically for the Bloc. Forget Quebec. The ROC is sick of political parties having to pander to Quebec. Focus on the West and Ontario. Ignore Quebec and stop pandering to them.
Once the pandering stops, Quebec might wake up.
Harper gave a great victory speech. I think he got exactly what he wanted…that incremental step by step achievement. That’s his style. He seemed extremely happy about it all. Only the MSM pundits were unhappy. Heh.
Craggy oliver just praised the strong slate of liberals perhaps the strongest of any party.
What!!! Is he blind
Thoughts . . .
— I think the Conservatives did very well tonight. It is a convincing win — even though short of a majority.
— Did I hear Dion say in his concession speech that S. Harper lied re the Carbon Tax? I am not sure if he actually said it or if it was a pundit’s comment — if he did say it, tsk. tsk., most ungracious.
— What was that totally goofy layout on the CBC these people on high podiums so Mansbridge had to waltz all around the room and gaze up to interview them. A bit bizarre if you ask me.
Kate,
I just got back from the CPC party here in Saskatoon. I worked hard for Kelly Block and I am glad she won. I also was a strong support of Carol Skelton, so what did you mean by:
Carol Skelton stopped by the house tonight to say hi. Let’s just say that Kelly Block has a lot to learn about campaigning.
Posted by: Kate at October 14, 2008 11:20 PM ?
I don’t mean any offense, I just feel that Kelly did a good job.