O Canada

[Lyion]

Wisdom in North America.

[brinstar]

thanks for posting a picture

good job

[Tikker]

He's referring to the election last night, and Harper's conservatives winning another semi impotent minority government

[Lyion]

A win is a win. It's not like Canada's system of government allows for wholesale change, anyways.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... -vote.html

It was the first election in a western country since the world financial crisis hit.

The Conservatives won as many as 143 seats in the 308 seat House of Commons, a gain of 17 from the last election and just 13 seats short of a majority.

Just two weeks ago it appeared leader Stephen Harper, 49, was headed for a majority. But as the financial crisis in the United States spread north, with the Toronto Stock market following New York lower, the economy took over as the main issue. The Conservatives slipped from majority support as markets fell.

Prime Minister was seen as a strong economic leader but he was mocked by his opponents for saying there was nothing to worry about and the stock market crash presented buying opportunities.

The election campaign began with global warming as the key issue. The opposition Liberals promoted a Green Shift, or a carbon tax. The Conservatives quickly moved ahead in the opinion polls as the Liberal leader Stephane Dion was unable to explain his platform. His party, known as the natural ruling party of Canada, was handed a major defeat.

The Conservatives lost seats in Newfoundland and Labrador where the province’s Conservative premier, Danny Williams, has been in a long running fight with the federal prime minister. The Newfoundland premier led an ABC (Anybody but Conservatives) campaign, and it worked.

Mr Harper made surprising gains in Ontario, in particular in Toronto, the largest city in the country where the Liberals lost some high profile races.

The Conservatives hoped to make big gains in Quebec bun won just 10 Quebec seats, the same as the last election. The separatist Bloc Quebecois won 50 of Quebec's 75 seats.

The Bloc leader, Gilles Duceppe, easily the most left wing of all the party leaders, painted Prime Minister Harper has an extreme right winger in the mold of George Bush. In reality, Mr Harper is a centre right politician, and would be considered a wet in right wing American Republican circles.

One prominent Liberal winner in Quebec was Justin Trudeau, son of the former prime minister, Pierre Trudeau. Mr Trudeau, 36, spoken of as a possible future Liberal leader, was running for the first time. The party gave a tough Montreal constituency that many expected he would lose.

The latest results put the Liberal party at 77 seats, the Bloc Quebecois at 49 seats, the New Democrats at 37 and other parties with two.

[ClakarEQ]

I have two canadians that work for me, while I don't follow closely follow the politics of Canada, didn't Harper force the election like 16 months early before some of the liberal seats where won? Again I don't know the details but wasn't this election like a year early?

[Tikker]

early elections happen a lot with minority governments

the tories saw a chance to gain a majority, and probably would have had the US financials not suddenly started dragging the canadian market down as well

Harper only made 1 real gaffe, and that was to suggest that there was nothing to worry about, money's fine, etc etc

for some reason, Lyion seems to think that posting pics of Harper is somehow an irritant to certain folks here

[Lyion]

The Prime Minister can dissolve parliament and call for elections anytime. I think it's mandated it has to happen at least every 5 years.

Don't confuse Canada's system for America. They use a plurality one. They only vote for their local member of parliament, not directly for Prime Minister.