Stephen Harper won a majority for neocons in Canada. I fully expect

[applegrove]

he will start to implement a neocon agenda in the first weeks of power. That is how the assholes roll.

When I first appeared at the DU it was us Canadians who were a sounding board to those of you under George W. Bush. Soon I feel the shoe will be on the other foot and I'll be asking you for solace and advice. :cry:

I wish I could be happy with the NDP doing so well today. But they'll have no power. :cry:

[Cleita]

1. He won, where? The prairie provinces?

I find it hard to believe he could be elected again by Canadians, who seem to be more sensible that us, but you have my sympathy.

[Amonester]

9. Not in Quebec, that's for sure.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadavotes2011/

The ROC's Left-leaning majority blew it when they finally had the chance to put harper at his place, which is in the opposition. :grr:

[RandySF]

16. Harper won big in Ontario on West.

[Darth_Kitten]

49. Fuck Ontario, but then Fuck the Prairies, too.

:(

[midnight]

2. So sorry to hear this... Do you guys have scanner beds, paper ballots, or something else?

[SidDithers]

5. All paper ballots, all hand counted...nt

Sid

[LiberalAndProud]

8. People here say counting paper ballots would take months.

How does Canada get it done in hours?

[applegrove]

15. In canada you vote for your local representative of a party. You don't vote for a president, or

senator, or judge or district attorney. Only one vote. I've counted before and it took 1/2 an hour to count all the hand ballots. In fact I think we had counted twice in that time. Then the results are tallied up and called into elections canada.

[LiberalAndProud]

20. When do you vote for city / province representatives?

We vote for city council members, governors, college chancellors, proposed amendments to the state constitution, etc., etc. all at the same time. Do you hold more elections than we do?

[applegrove]

23. We have provincial elections every 5 years and again you just vote once. I have not voted

for mayor before. I don't know how that works. We do vote for a local candidate and for mayor then though. That is it. 4 people. Those are all the elections we have in this country.

[Canuckistanian]

45. We have federal, provincial and municipal elections

They never happen at the same time. And we don't have a lot of elected positions like judges, sherrifs, prosecutors, election officials, etc. They're usually appointed.

Also, refernda and plebiscites are rare. If they do happen, they're completely separate from the usual elections.

So our ballots are usually fairly simple.

[Posteritatis]

40. People there are simply wrong. (nt)

[rationalcalgarian]

3. Harper's GOP advisors (handlers) are terribly pleased!

National Health Care... it was nice while it lasted.

[Armstead]

4. Yes it is too bad Canada is becoming more like the worst aspects of the US

But, for what it's worth, your new opposition party seems to have the potential to bring back a progressive majority in the future.

From what little I have seen, Jack Layton seems to be a worthy progressive leader.

It also seems that the CONS still only got about 40 percent of the vote (at least according to the last numbers I heard).

So it sucks, but it could be worse I guess.

[RandySF]

6. The New Dems can't do jack.

They picked up their seats mostly in Quebec by taking them from the Bloc. This is now the weakest opposition since the Liberals took power in 1993.

[akbacchus_BC]

29. That a stupid conclusion, are you remotely with the party? Why the

fuck you feel the NDP is not with the people? Let us deal with our politics and keep out!

[Canuckistanian]

46. This is a historic victory for the NDP

They've NEVER been this close to power before. AND, they're the official Opposition now. They'll be front and center EVERY DAY in the House of Commons, grilling Harper on his policies.

That's NEVER happened before in Canadian history.

Are you sure you've been paying attention?

[Hannah Bell]

7. ok, canadians, why is harper winning? my impression has been that he was hated.

[RandySF]

10. Hated by DU, but apparently not Canada.

[Shiver]

11. Further evidence that DU is not representative of reality.

:hide:

[Hannah Bell]

26. you sure? left candidates won 60%. harper 40%.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1020755&mesg_id=1020983

[Shiver]

34. Okay, maybe I was off on this one. I hadn't seen the total percentages.

I still maintain that DU does not represent reality, however. :P

[Hannah Bell]

35. well, i tend to agree with you on that.

[Hannah Bell]

27. he "won" with 40% of the vote.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1020755&mesg_id=1020983

[Darth_Kitten]

50. 39.7

:)

[Darth_Kitten]

47. Hated by 60 % of us, but with vote splitting, he won, I guess.

:(

[DaveinMD]

12. He won

because the left was fractured. The center-left and far-left combined for almost 60 percent of the vote. This allowed Harper to win a majority with about 40 percent.

[RandySF]

14. And the Liberal Party leader was disliked.

[Hannah Bell]

25. interesting, thanks.

[rationalcalgarian]

13. Yeah, I'm confused too

All I can think of is voter apathy. The dirty tricks on election day (courtesy of Harper's GOP advisors) may have cost a couple of hundred votes, but that's not enough to send the conservatives to a majority government.

It's going to get ugly here.

[Imajika]

17. You probably got your impression...

..by hanging out in an echo chamber of people that think just like you.

Every poll was showing this was the likely result all along. Every serious analyst knew this election was going to be very favorable to Harper.

[Hannah Bell]

28. ...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1020755&mesg_id=1020983

[snagglepuss]

37. Because many Liberals are right of center and hate the NDP. So when

the polls showed the NDP might form a govt they opted for Harper. In their minds it is the lesser of two evils. A lot of them don't have a clue what Harper is planning to do.

[Hannah Bell]

dupe

[Hannah Bell]

39. i'm not getting what the ndp is. is it supposedly more left than the liberal party?

it feels like it's playing a spoiler role in this election.

like now the conservatives can enact austerity with the lib parties pretending they have no alternative but to go along.

just my uninformed impression.

[w4rma]

43. The NDP played for keeps. From now on it is the Liberal Party who will play the spoiler role. (nt)

[GreenPartyVoter]

18. I am so very sorry. *hugs* Believe me, you have my sympathy!

[RandySF]

19. Harper won over 50% in Ontario

Ontario is the largest province with the most seats and a huge block on which to form a government.

[akbacchus_BC]

22. Ontario is pretty conservative but I thought the NDP would win. The Liberals

did not have a chance! We gonna join the US in bombing the shit out of the middle east!

[alcina]

24. The Mike Harris Legacy

I lived through the Harris demotion before having to move to the states for family reasons. I'm in the process of repatriating to Canada and Harper's majority win has completely knocked the wind out of me. I've been skyping with a friend who counted votes in Toronto center, and he said everyone he's run into is just shell-shocked.

Earlier in the day this same friend sent me the following quote from Adlai Stevenson:

"The trouble with Americans is that they haven't
read the minutes of the previous meeting."

I had to send it back to him tonight.

Sigh. I'm just sitting here shaking my head. Oh, Canada!

[akbacchus_BC]

31. Do you really want to live in Canada? It's a beautiful place, has its ups and downs

but racist as hell!

[snagglepuss]

38. "Racist as hell." You gotta to be kidding. nt

[akbacchus_BC]

21. Unfortunately, the NDP was never a contention for popularity in Canada, it was a

toss up between Bloc Quebecois. We knew that the Conservatives would win to our own detriment, but Canada is regressing! Frikking sad!

[akbacchus_BC]

30. Wish the asshole did not get elected, but we have our own dicks

here too, they do not want to be progressive, we are regressing just like the Americans!

[akbacchus_BC]

32. Bet he will want into Iraq! and then Libya, Syria and Pakistan and then

will kiss up to Obama to continue the escalation of immorality in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan! I hate these fuckers, the wrong people get elected!

[999998th word]

33. Sad.

:wtf: ?

[joshcryer]

41. Canada is already involved in Libya.

[Hannah Bell]

42. o canada.

[Grey]

36. so fair and foul a day.....

In a couple years I'm going to be saying to the Whiners," don't complain to me , I didn't vote for steve"

[reggie the dog]

44. only 39.7% of canada voted on the right

30.8% voted NDP

18.7% voted Liberal

6.1% voted far left bloc quebecois

3.8% voted green

so the left got 59.4%

independents got 0.4%

canada is way on the left as a country but the conservatives managed to steal the federal election. you canadians need to work on keeping your provinces on the left now.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadavotes2011/features/results/

[Darth_Kitten]

48. That's what I wrote my Conservative (ugh) MP....

where's my tax break? Never mind giving it to corporations and children of rich Conservatives. I'm hard-working, where's my tax break?

I'm just one of the 60% of Canadians who didn't vote for you. :)