Big Election Night!

"Ignatieff and Duceppe are a couple of mindless jerks who will be the first against the wall when the revolution comes!"

- from my FB status today

The revolution did come and those two men were casualties of that revolution.  The NDP swept across Quebec decimating the Liberals and the Bloc Quebecois,  and Mr. Duceppe has stepped down has party leader.  Ignatieff's future is unclear, but it is doubtful he will be Liberal leader for long.  The Blue Tide swept into Toronto an many other parts of Canada as well, giving us our first majority in many years.  And thanks to Douglas Adams for the inspiration for that quote... ;)

Yesterday saw yet another Canadian election (we have had several in the last few years due to minority governments), but this one had a twist.  A mandate was finally delivered, and we had a major shift in political fortunes.  Stephen Harper and his Conservatives received their long sought after majority, and in a more shocking turn, the Liberal Party was decimated to third place, being overtaken by the NDP, who now hold almost three times the seats that the Liberals have, and the Bloc Quebecois are a shadow of their former selves, having lost official party status.

I am amazed this morning by the amount of sour grapes I have seen among friends on Facebook.  Many are acting like the world is ending, which is prompting me to write this blog entry.  

Lets face facts, those who voted yesterday gave a mandate to Harper and rejected the Liberals in a big way.  I've seen a lot of posts today that lament the fact that Harper has issues with democracy.  Perhaps he has played fast and loose with it, but he certainly isn't the first.  Jean Chretien prorogued parliament more than Harper, and had MAJORITIES at the same time.  Even Trudeau The-Not-So-Great played fast and loose - three words WAR MEASURES ACT!  Not to mention to scandals that still resonate with voters (especially in Quebec, which many pundits feel helped fuel the NDP's Orange Tide) today.  An in my opinion, Ignatieff did not connect with voters.  When I see him, I always get the distinct feeling he is talking down to me, that I am somehow inferior.  The fact that he has been absent from Canada and got parachuted into the Liberal leadership via backroom deals also says a lot.  And people are saying Harper has problems with democracy?  Give me a break!

And if people are so concerned about democracy, then why did they vote for the seemingly devilish Harper?  We did only get about 60% of voters turning out, so that still says something about voter apathy.  Talk to people who didn't vote and find out why they didn't.  Talk to those who voted and find out why they did.  In my case, I voted Conservative.  Ignatieff didn't do it for me, and I'm not a left of center of guy, and I've been pretty happy with Harper since he came to power.

Other concerns raised were about the public sector and possible cuts, even to the CBC.  To be honest, it might be something we have to look at.  Canada's population is rapidly aging and the costs for pensions, health care and other services related to that are only going to increase in time.  Where are we going to find the money?  Taxation is a problem as Canadians are already taxed to the hilt, paying 40% on average.  Some say "Tax the rich and corporations!!!"  That is all well and good, but you can only tax higher income earners only so much.  The fact is that those people and companies have the resources with which to relocate somewhere else, and will if pushed to it.  Lets be honest, companies exist to make money, and if they can make more somewhere else, they will go there.

I for one am happy we will have a stable government for the next 4-5 years, without the threat of another election. Since the year 2000, we have had five general elections and three in the last 5 years.  It pleases me that we won't be spending another $300 million on an election until around 2015 or 2016.  Mr. Ignattieff showed immense hubris in pushing for this election and both he and Mr. Duceppe have paid for their lack of vision.

It will be interesting to see how the new dynamic in Canadian politics will play out over the next few years...

To those who are lamenting the results, I say:

Build a bridge and get over it!