Attention Canadians! There's an election today! (1 Viewer)

[Chris Bardon]

I haven't seen any numbers on the turnout yet, but I'm really curious to see whether there was a big increase over last time or not. Looking at results that were within only a few votes of each other coming in last night made you realize that each vote really does matter.

And Rick Mercer's bits on the CBC were great:

"I want to see a minority government in the same way I want to see a Rhinoceros-it could be neat."

 

[Jason L.]

Is there anyone outside Quebec that ever votes for the PQ?

 

[Aaron Reynolds]

Anyone see on CBC when the Marxist-Leninist party held the lead in one riding in Mississauga for about a dozen minutes?

I liked Rick Mercer's bit about people who don't vote because it's like choosing the lesser of three evils: "When it comes to running the country, it's very important that the least evil wins."

 

[brentl]

I wonder what will happen now with the 2 most spend happy party are running the country and have the balance of power.

Should be interesting.

B

 

[KerryK]

Not to get all arcane on you, but the PQ is actually a provincial party in Quebec, so you can't vote for them unless you live in that province. You're probably referring to the BQ (they're a federal party), and you can't vote for them if you don't live in Quebec either, because of the way our system works. You don't vote for Prime Minister, you vote for a candidate in your riding and the party that wins the most ridings generally forms the government. There is an exception: my dad is from Quebec City and he's in the air force and stationed out of the country, so he has to vote in a particular riding and he can choose where. So technically he could vote for the BQ even though he lives in the US. But that's kind of unusual.

 

[Francois Caron]

Final tally before recounts:

Liberal 135
Conservative 99
Bloc 54
NDP 19
Independent 1

Rick Mercer's bit was priceless. It should be required viewing before ANY election!

As for voter turn-out, I believe the radio this morning said it was down to 58%. Not good.

Interesting that no moderators have issued any warnings about the subject matter. Is Canadian politics really that dull?

 

[JamieD]

Yes.

Oh, and NL had a voter turnout below 50%.

 

[Chris Bardon]

I have no idea how many bits there were with him-they should really make those available online.

 

[Max Leung]

I bet more voting-age people saw the Harry Potter movies than actually went out to vote.

That would be sad, if true...

 

[KerryK]

Rick Mercer rules.


I wish. I stood in line for an hour to vote due to disorganization on the part of Elections Canada staff. Sweating up a storm in a hot, airless old church. And the person I voted for didn't even win! I was shocked how many people stayed there and stuck out the line just to vote. But my riding was a close race (Trinity-Spadina in Toronto), so that might have had something to do with it.

 

[Kwang Suh]

Who's the independent that won?

 

[Andrew Pratt]

It was some guy in BC (vancouver area I think) that quit one of the main parties to run as an independant...at least I think that's what I heard last night.

I agree Mercer's comments were right on the money (as usual)

 

[Chris Bardon]

He was another Conservative that lost a riding battle. I heard last night that he said he might join a party if he won, but he would let the people of his riding decide (claiming that his support crossed party lines). Strangely enough, he might just become the most important man in the house, since everyone (except the bloc) is going to want him. If the liberals or NDP pick up one more seat, then they combine to 155 (and can control the balance of the house). If the conservatives get him, then it's one less vote for the government. If nobody does-you have a wild card.

I have a feeling we'll hear a little more about Chuck Cadman in the near future.

 

[Kwang Suh]

Wow. He's now the most important man in the Canadian gov't!

 

[brentl]

I think that independant guy has way more power than even he thought he would have.

His vote would completely level the field if the Liberals and NDP vote together.

B

 

[MikeH]

Voter turnout was the lowest since Confederation at 60.5%.
I am quite surprised, I was sure we would have seen a higher than usual number of voters due the "close" race.


The Marxist-Lenist candidate leading was my favorite moment last night. Priceless!!

Rick Mercer rules.

Anyone try to watch CTV's coverage. Try being the operative word. One of the many reasons I like the CBC.

Mike

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

For those who don't know, Chuck Cadman is the father of a 16 year old boy (Jesse) who was murdered by other teenagers, and has been a spokesperson for reforms to the young offender's act ever since. He is very well known and well respected in B.C.

I wonder what effect all the pre election predictions had on the outcome, and whether that is something that should be looked into, since I suspect there are more than a few who voted Liberal believing that they were going to be slain like the Conservatives were a decade ago.

I also noticed someone at cbc.ca got a bit ahead of themselves when they posted a link to a story that Martin had a majority - only to have that disappear as the night went on.

I am happy that the Greens finally have official party status now. More options are always better.

Polling here was pretty smooth. I walked in, handed in my voter card, and did my thing. In and out in less than 5 minutes.

The CBC is reporting that voter turnout was the lowest it has been since 1898. This really does not speak well for this country.

 

[brentl]

I think you're right Jeff I just think most people are giving up. I feel like doing that all the time when it come to policy makers.

Brent

 

[Mike Graham]

I'm really suprised to hear that it was the lowest turnout ever. Frankly, I thought we would see a huge increase. Everyone knew the race this year was going to be very close, plus the candidates really seemed to be chasing after the votes from one very apathetic group (young people).

 

[Jason GT]

Couple of things -

First off, the low voter turnout is very disappointing -- it really was an election of voting *against* someone/something rather than *for* someone or something.

Secondly (and this treads closer to the political limits of this thread) -- Brent, I suggest that you reevaluate your statement about "the 2 most spend happy party (sic)" running the country. PM me if you'd like...

Thirdly, it would be appropriate and pretty neat if Cadman remains nonaffiliated and holds a prominent position.

Finally, I thought the ML leading in the Ontario riding (Forget which one) was rather amusing too. Sounds like the CBC crew certainly did - Mansbridge fought to control his amusement and there were clear chuckles in the background