Geekman's World: Conservative Morning

"Did you vote?" She asks me. Geez.

I'm a strategic voter. I'm a left-leaner but I have no particular loyalty to either the Liberals or the NDP. Giles Duceppe, for all that I despise separatism, has been an admirable and powerful speaker in the English debates. Duceppe also demonstrates progressive social values. So I've often said that if I lived in a closely-contested Quebec riding, I'd hold my nose and vote Bloc. All of this culminates into one single strategy: keep the Conservative Party out of government.

So yesterday I cast my vote for Libby Davies, the NDP candidate for Vancouver East. It didn't really matter: Vancouver East is the riding of Commercial Drive. Libby Davies could tear down the street in an SUV adorned with severed baby heads and still win the riding by a landslide. My vote does still count, though, because a portion of federal funding is allocated to the parties based on their percentage of the popular vote. And I want more money to go to the charismatic Jack Layton and his marvelous pack of hippie-socialists.

Alas, our Prime Minister is now Stephen Harper. Yeah, I know: UGH. But it could be worse.

a) It's only a minority government. With the left-leaning Liberals, NDP, and Bloc Quebecois holding them in check, the Conservatives can't do any real damage.

b) Have a look at the timeline at the bottom of this page. The Liberals have been the ruling party of Canada the majority of our country's history. They'll rise again.

c) The Bloc Quebecois lost three seats in this election. As much as I've grown to like Giles Duceppe, I can't stand separatists. In fact, opinion polls and percent of the vote given to the Bloc indicates that support for separatism is at an all-time low. But don't worry, Harper's presence will fix that soon enough.

d) The big winners in this election aren't the Conservatives, they're the NDP. The New Democrats gained 11 seats nationwide, including 5 that they stole from the Conservatives in B.C.

See an excellent breakdown by CTV here
A very cool election information Flash applet by CBC

Take heart. He's just the Prime Minister. You don't have to like him.

Yay NDP. Boo Conservative! Still, minority governments are always better for us all. Even if Harper and his Conservatives are in power, I don't have to start building my bomb shelter knowing the liberals and NDp are there to protect us from certain disaster. :P

There's a man outside pulling the James Moore / Conservative Party signs out of the lawn accross the street. One day down and..... well, I'd rather not start thinking about counting down the days just yet. Sad to say, but I think this had to happen. Power corrupts. Now we just have to wait for the current government to screw up big enough to justify us electing a new one! I'll be toasting a better Canada later tonight with a glass of red wine.