Content Preview: rss
David Reevely 409 days ago
Here's the beginning of a Conservative party press release explaining what the election was about: Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been given a strong mandate by Canadians to continue his government’s programme of economic stewardship and getting results for people. The election was called to allow Canadians to give a strong mandate to their government in order to address the challenges presented by global economic uncertainty. The Canadian public said today they want a Conservative government to continue delivering for voters. "Today" in the sense of "Tuesday," but whatever. I note two things. First, the claim that the election was called because of the economic uncertainty. If so, why did Harper tell us it was because Parliament was dysfunctional? Incidentally, the TSX index was at about 13,000 when the election was called, and since then it's lost more than 4,000 points. So. Second: "his government's programme of economic stewardship ...LauraDrake 410 days ago
I can't believe it's over. I had like seven different election-based dreams last night (in case anyone out there had any remaining illusions that I was somehow cool.) And since I'm so clearly still a nerd, here are some of the facts I've gleaned from the results on Elections Canada's website. Voter turnout: 59.1 per cent. Percentage of Canadians 18 and over who are lame: 40.9 per cent Number of races won by less than one per cent: 12. The NDP, Liberals and and Bloc each won two, the Conservatives won the other half. Closest race: Conservative Gail Shea edged Liberal Keith Milligan by only 62 votes, or 0.34 per cent. Liberal Keith Martin was re-elected in Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca by only 68 votes, which was 0.12 per cent of the vote. Number of judicial recounts currently requested: 0 Number of ridings with more than 50 per cent of the vote between the winner and second place candidate: 15. One independent (Bill Casey) ...LauraDrake 410 days ago
9:45: Can't start reporting on results until 10, lest I get sent to jail for a year, but had to start the liveblogging 15 minutes early to share two things from reporter Matthew Pearson, who is with Pierre Poilievre's campaign. First, he said, for no apparent reason, a bag piper walked through the ballroom. Everyone got on their feet as he marched through the room and promptly left. Second, as the tireless Mr. Pearson was trying to interview some young election volunteers, two unidentified campaign workers swooped in and hovered above, convincing at least one to refuse to give his name. I personally don't understand why Poilievre wouldn't want people who gave up a whole night to work for him to be on the record, but I guess that's his call. 9:49: Uh, well I'm not allowed to report on results, but CTV national has already called the election as a Conservative minority. Jump the gun much? 9:50: I am going to take this opportunity to facetiously curse ...David Reevely 410 days ago
Watching the countdown to the polls closing on CBC, and they've just introduced David Herle as their analyst-with-a-Liberal-background. This guy was one of Paul Martin's outboard brains. It astounds me that he's been able to parlay a career in which a commitment to tactics over strategy took his guy out of power a lot faster than he got into it into a rather pleasant perch in punditry.LauraDrake 410 days ago
According to Martin Gour, an Ottawa-Orléans voter who just called into the newsroom, the lineup at his local polling station at Béatrice-Desloges high school was at least half an hour long. "The right dollars should been spent towards getting more resources," Mr. Gour said, suggesting that Elections Canada, if they're really interested in getting more voters out, should also have options such as online voting. Meanwhile, there have been rumours that polls had to shut down in Ottawa West Nepean because of a lack of poll clerks. Calls are pending to Elections Canada to check out the veracity of voting problems across the region, but in the meantime, feel free to call into the newsroom (613-596-3664) if you had any voting problems. Make sure to ask for me. UPDATE: Joan O'Neill, Elections Canada field liason officer for Eastern Ontario, says Béatrice-Desloges high school in Ottawa-Orléans has been a special little problem in the city. The thing is, she said, that there ...
