Canada Goes to the Polls (Election Thread)

[Solauren]

Well, it's voting time.

Let's see which pays out

Conservative attacks ads on the Liberals
Liberal attack ads on the Conservatives
NDP attack ads on the Conservatives
The Green Party getting snubbed and using the resulting publicity

Oddly enough, I don't recall seeing many, if any, attack ads against the NDP....

[Ma Deuce]

The final polls seem to support my original prediction of another Conservative minority, but of course we won't know for sure until tonight. I voted Liberal, even though I have little confidence in them, and besides there's no damn way their local candidate is going to unseat Jim Flaherty.

Oddly enough, I don't recall seeing many, if any, attack ads against the NDP....

Because they've got very little chance of actually winning, and despite some polls earlier in the campaign that suggested the possibility, it's also highly unlikely at this point they'll replace the Liberals as the Official Opposition. I will give Layton props for running a pretty solid campaign (namely actually campaigning like he's aiming to form the next government), even if his platform was decidedly pie-in-the-sky.

Even so, the NDP are well positioned to gain some seats at the Liberals' expense, so overall I see the Conservatives roughly maintaining their current seat count, with the Liberals losing maybe 10-12 seats with most of those going to the NDP. The resurgent Bloc seem poised to steal a few Conservative seats in Quebec, though these will likely be offset by gains in Ontario and elsewhere. As for the Greens, they're as close as they've ever been to gaining a seat in a general election, but the chances of their single sitting MP (elected as a Liberal, defected to the Greens this August) don't look good: So, one seat, at most for the Greens.

[Ekiqa]

single sitting MP (elected as a Liberal, defected to the Greens this August) don't look good: So, one seat, at most for the Greens.

The guy who defected was an independant who switched to Green.

The media has done its best to support the Tories, though, this election, as well as the RCMP.

[Ma Deuce]

The guy who defected was an independant who switched to Green.

Well if you want to get technical, yes he was an independent when he swore allegiance to the greens, after having resigned from the Liberals in October '07 over legal/financial troubles, and being denied re-admittance into the Liberal party in July.

[aerius]

Unfortunately there isn't a Marijuana Party of Canada candidate in my riding, so I'm voting Liberal. Should be a landslide win, again, my riding is solid red and has been for as long as I've been voting. Hoping for the Conservatards to get a minority so all the economic shit can be pinned on them, while at the same time they don't get to fuck things up too badly. In theory.

[Ekiqa]

Unfortunately there isn't a Marijuana Party of Canada candidate in my riding, so I'm voting Liberal. Should be a landslide win, again, my riding is solid red and has been for as long as I've been voting. Hoping for the Conservatards to get a minority so all the economic shit can be pinned on them, while at the same time they don't get to fuck things up too badly. In theory.

My riding is also solid red, something like a 14,000 vote gap last time.

I'd rather get a Lib-NDP coalition government. Something good might happen then. Thats how the national health care and other parts of the safety net came into place.

[Solauren]

I wouldn't be surprised at a Minority Conservative government, with the Liberals + NDP forming a voting block to become the effective 'Majority' Government.

It is mathematically possible, and was even discussed in a local newspaper (I believe the Metro, but I am probably wrong) as a possiblity.

[Enigma]

I wouldn't be surprised at a Minority Conservative government, with the Liberals + NDP forming a voting block to become the effective 'Majority' Government.

It is mathematically possible, and was even discussed in a local newspaper (I believe the Metro, but I am probably wrong) as a possiblity.

Not if the Bloc have their way. All the Tories have to do to counter it would to try and ally with the BQ.

[Archon]

I wouldn't be surprised at a Minority Conservative government, with the Liberals + NDP forming a voting block to become the effective 'Majority' Government.

It is mathematically possible, and was even discussed in a local newspaper (I believe the Metro, but I am probably wrong) as a possiblity.

I wouldn't be suprised if neither the Tories alone or the Grits and Dippers together get more than 130-135 seats.

[Next of Kin]

I just came back from the polls and voted for the Libs. My riding is blue because the ndp and liberals split the vote ushering the way for the conservative party to take the win. There was some choice on the ballot with the tories, grits, ndp, green and marxist-leninist parties.

[muse]

There was some choice on the ballot with the tories, grits, ndp, green and marxist-leninist parties.

There were only four choices in my riding this time, Libs, PC, NDP, and Greens. We used to have the Marxist-Leninist party and a few other loonies on our ballots but not this time. I was sorely disappointed.

[Kar Kar]

I held my nose and voted for the commies this time.

I just can't see the Liberals doing anything different as the opposition than before, and what they did before amounted to dick all. At least the NDP could keep things interesting and give the Harper government some of the crap it deserves.

Also I'm really, really hoping the conservatives don't get a majority. Seeing all the walking corpses at the voting station had me hoping their cataracts were extra thick and they'd miss marking their X today.

[Braedley]

Well Bill Casey, the former Conservative and now independent will win handily in my riding. He's drawing support from all parties, as everyone else have lost a significant chunk of their support here. Last I checked, the NDP candidate was running second, ahead of the Conservative candidate, which was nearly unthinkable the last election.

[Zeond]

Well, it's voting time.

Let's see which pays out

Conservative attacks ads on the Liberals
Liberal attack ads on the Conservatives
NDP attack ads on the Conservatives
The Green Party getting snubbed and using the resulting publicity

Oddly enough, I don't recall seeing many, if any, attack ads against the NDP....

The conservatives had a rather nasty attack ad against the NDP here in BC claiming that that the Ottawa NDP does not listen to BC. It was actually rather funny as it showed the back of Layton's head with his fingers stuck in his ears and you wouldn't know it was paid by the tories unless you managed to read the one second long fine print at the end.

As usual, I voted for the NDP as the Liberals don't have much of a chance at winning any BC ridings outside of Vancouver itself and Vancouver Island. Not that my vote will do much good as it will be lost in the landslide victory for the conservative candidate in this mostly rural backwater with plenty of oil, imported newfies and farmers.

[Braedley]

Fuck fuck fuck! I knew I should have voted in Fredericton. Granted, not having Andy Scott rerun didn't help any, but that riding was close last time as well.

[Elaro]

Well, voted NDP in a majorly Liberal (Grit?) riding. Eh, I would like less Tories, and NDP seemed as good a vote as any. Plus, they support Net Neutrality.

[Darth Wong]

I was wondering if the Liberals had decided to throw this election. For every Liberal campaign ad on TV, I think I saw about 10 Conservative ads. In any case, we'll see what happens as the night progresses and the results come in.

[Braedley]

You're cheating, Mike, you shouldn't have been on for 5 minutes
Anyways, the Liberals weren't hurt in Newfoundland, where they nearly swept the province, save one NDP seat in St John's.

[Braedley]

CTV is now predicting with near certainty that the conservatives will take it with a minority to near majority.

[Kar Kar]

Current confirmed elected results from cbc.ca are

CON 68
LIB 36
BQ 17
NDP 15
IND 1
GRN 0
OTH 0

And if you're on the CBC site be sure to check the Interactive Results Map they have.

[Enigma]

Party Elected Leading Total
Conservatives 109 33 142
Liberals 56 20 76
Bloc 39 8 47
NDP 23 9 32
Independent 1 2 3
Green 0 0 0

[Braedley]

Tomorrow is going to be rough, what with the massive binge drinking that my sister and I will be doing. Just kidding, but these results do not make me happy.

[Ekiqa]

So this was the biggest waste of taxpayer money.

Nothing really different from two months ago.

Harper decides to have an election before the American one, cons the G-G into illegally calling an election.

Harper hadn't lost the confidence of Parliament, because Parliament was not in session when he killed the government. No majority, so if what Harper believed was true, that Parliament lost the confidence, then we'll be back at the polls soon after he calls Parliament.

[Kar Kar]

but these results do not make me happy.

I'm rather pleased with the results myself. The Conservatives are kept to a minority, Dion will likely be pushed out, and those filthy hippies in the Green Party didn't win a single seat. Plus I see a couple of Independents on the list too.

[Academia Nut]

Yeah, the biggest problem I had with Dion is that he just couldn't get people interested. The most likely outcome of this is the Liberals finally getting their shit together and having strong, competent leadership for when the Conservatives get shoved out within the next six months to year. Harper was probably hoping he could secure a majority before the American election so that the change-over in the White House doesn't colour Canadian opinions and before the full fallout of the economic troubles of the past few months hit while he was in a minority. The fact that he failed to get a majority is probably making him sweat right now, but of course he'll never admit it.