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| Great White North |
| Canada's Conservative Party wins re-election |
| 2008-10-15 |
| Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the first major world leader to face voters since the global financial meltdown, led his Conservative Party to victory in Tuesday's election but was forecast to fall short of a majority in Parliament. The election agency reported on its Web site that the Conservatives had won or was leading in races for 143 of Parliament's 308 seats, an improvement over the 127 seats the party had in the previous Parliament. But, based on results obtained directly from election officials, Canadian Broadcasting Corp. predicted the Conservative Party would not win the 155 seats needed to govern on its own. That would force it to again rely on opposition support to pass budgets and legislation -- as it has had to since a 2006 election victory. Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion conceded to Harper early Wednesday. "I have talked to Prime Minister Harper to offer him congratulations and my full cooperation in these difficult economic times," Dion said. Harper had called elections early in hopes of getting his party a majority, but the Conservatives sought to put a good face on the results, pointing to their increased number of seats. "Every other incumbent government in the Western world is in serious political trouble with the economic situation," Conservative legislator Jason Kenney said. "Ours is probably the only one that could be re-elected -- let alone with an increased mandate." The Liberal Party, long Canada's top party, suffered a severe drubbing, dropping about two dozen seats from 95 in the previous Parliament, according to the election agency. Bloc Quebecois led for about 50 seats, the New Democrats just under 40 and independent candidates 2. Election figures gave the Conservatives about 37 percent of the total vote, the Liberals 27 percent, Bloc Quebecois 10 percent, New Democrats 18 percent and others 8 percent. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #8 heard voter turnout was the lowest ever. Not sure what that means other than that the liberal voter is even more disenchanted than the conservatives..... |
| Posted by: Hupith Wittlesbach6903 2008-10-15 23:17 |
| #7 The Conservatives increased their numbers so that even though they will still be in a minority position, they will have a lot more "OOMPH" in their decisions. The Liberals, the biggest single opposition party, are now flat broke and are in a terrible mess financially and facing the prospect of going bankrupt. They definitely will NOT want to have another election soon. No other opposition party will want another election soon, either. That means that the Cons, with Stephen Harper at the helm, will be steering the ship of state for the next few years. Going to be interesting up here in Canuckistan . . . and funny. |
| Posted by: Canuckistan sniper 2008-10-15 17:16 |
| #6 vote related note: sent Little Sister (in Battle Creek MI) a link to the Michell Nobama phone call to the API denoucing all that question The One's motives as well as a cheap shot regarding the activities of ACORN up that a way and her reply was that the Democratic gov'nor has hacked off so many people that the only ones pulling the 'D' lever are drowning in the kool aid. Her tone sounded like there may be a bit of a surprise for the pollsters from the Mitten State. (hope so) |
| Posted by: USN,Ret. 2008-10-15 14:29 |
| #5 Always a pleasure to share the victories of our friends, mac w only. (Welcome to the conversation! I look forward to seeing more of your thoughts, as well as of the many who've spoken up recently.) But, given how deeply biased the media and the pollsters are, I give no credence to their pronouncements -- they were wrong about wins for Kerry in 2004 and Gore in 2000, after all. Dr. Steve posted a useful link in the O Club that says it better than I seem to be able to. ;-) At any rate, Mr. Wife, trailing daughter #1, and I will do our bit on election day, and in the meantime the full Ohio court of appeal ruled that all new voter registrations must be checked against driver's license or Social Security records to ensure validity before those votes can be counted, and the program must be running by the end of the week. ACORN has lost another round -- isn't it wonderful when the system works as it ought!! |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-10-15 11:57 |
| #4 Thanks TW... It sure is looking like the US is on track to OUT-SOCIAL Canada... I don't think universal Heath Care is such a bad Idea, but Universal Banking does not sit to well with me... I would be pissed if I was American. |
| Posted by: mac w only 2008-10-15 11:42 |
| #3 Canada's Conservative Party wins re-election And continues to implement "liberal" policies |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2008-10-15 09:58 |
| #2 Congratulations to Canada and our Canadian Rantburgers! |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-10-15 08:30 |
| #1 Harper, Sarkosy, Merkel - one might almost think the world is turning in a different direction. It would be both ironic and unfortunate if the US Prez ended up being the biggest Socialist of the bunch. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2008-10-15 01:12 |