Canada Votes
The vote for a new parliament in Canada can have an effect on the US, if only indirectly. It might provide the left and center-left in the United States a bit of relief that some people have figured out the scam that is being operated by the oligarchs and their “conservative” employees in government.
The Conservative Party of Canada has picked a lot of the GOP’s bad habits and imported them, including attitudes about women’s health and guns.
The final composition of the 40th Parliament is:
Conservatives :
143
Liberals :
77
Bloc Québécois :
47
New Democratic Party :
36
Greens :
0
Independents: 2
Vacant: 3
A majority in Parliament requires 155 seats.
If the current polling reflects the actual outcome on Monday, expect minor losses by the Conservatives and a major move by the NDP at the expense of the of the Liberals and Bloc Québécois. The early voting numbers indicate a lot more interest than the last election which had only 59% turn-out.
The economy, although in much better shape than the US, is not what Canadians have been used to, and many resent Stephen Harper proroguing Parliament twice, in December of 2008 and December of 2010, when things got a bit hot for him.
While I will report results, I will honor the Canadian prohibition against reporting results before the polls are closed in the West. I get annoyed when the state of Florida forgets that the Panhandle is on Central Time and starts reporting totals from Eastern Florida before our polls are closed. When I lived in California, it seemed like the networks had declared all of the winners before I got a chance to vote.
Update: Ian Welsh has a nice primer on the Canadian parties. His description shows what is possible if we dump the Dems and go with a real left-wing party, as the Canadian Liberal Party tracks very closely to the center right DLC-NeoLiberal-Obama Democratic Party. We need our own NDP. As Ian points out, people have been voting for the Liberal Party just to prevent the Conservatives from getting a majority – the lesser of two evils approach. The NDP offers an opportunity to vote for a party that actually believes what the majority believes and acts on it.
