The 300 Million Dollar Status Quo

by Spencer LEE

With the majority of students’ minds filled with the stress of mid-terms, it seemed like the election ended as quickly as it was called. This issue of The Semantic is pleased to bring you – the half time recap of the Federal Election.
The results are what it boils down to, and I will not keep you waiting. The results fell out with the Conservative Party at 143 seats, the Liberal Party with 73 seats, the Bloc Quebecois garnering 50 seats, and the New Democratic Party scoring 37 seats.
Also, two independent candidates were elected to parliament.
Despite more media coverage, the Green Party won no seats.
The Conservative government remains in power, incumbent Prime Minister Stephen Harper has the ability to form a minority government, not unlike the minority government he had before.
There were some upsets, victories, defeats, tears shed, and blood lost all of which I will include in the Election Highlights.

Highlights
The Conservatives swept all of Manitoba and Alberta, with the exception of two seats: one being Wascana which belongs to long standing Liberal and former cabinet member Ralph Goodale, and the second of Edmonton-Strathcona which was won by the NDP “star” Candidate Linda Duncan. This environmental lawyer turfed Conservative Caucus leader Rahim Jaffer who had held the seat since 1997.
The NDP picked up eight seats in total since the last election in 2006, with the majority of them being in Northern Ontario.
Newfoundland, on the other hand, went entirely Liberal, save for the one seat: St. John’s East went to the NDP. The Conservatives lost their once three seat foothold in this province, no thanks to the premier of the province, Danny Williams. After a fallout with Prime Minister Stephen Harper over the Atlantic Accord, Williams vowed to launch what he would coin the “ABC” campaign, which is to say “Anything But Conservative”. This news came to a shock to some, as Williams himself was elected to the Premiership of Newfoundland on a Conservative platform.
Conservative National Defense Minister Peter MacKay was victorious in what was thought to be a close battle between Green Party Leader Elizabeth May and himself. Liberal leader Stephane Dion made the controversial decision not to run a candidate in Central Nova in an alliance between the Green Party and the Liberal party to get May elected. However, both parties underestimated MacKay’s stronghold on the riding, and MacKay was elected, earning 46% of the vote to May’s 32%.
The big upset to us here, and residents of Prince Edward Island was in the riding of Egmont, where Conservative Gail Shea was able to win her seat against former PEI Premier Keith Milligan. This seat had been held by Liberals for over 20 years. Formerly, Minister Peter MacKay was appointed to represent PEI as there were no elected Conservatives to take the position.

While Harper did not win his majority, the Liberal party did lose 27 seats. This is a dramatic upset and the worst electoral finishing for the Liberal Party since the time of Confederation.
On the question of the Liberal campaign finish, third year Political Science student Timothy Cullen offered this:
“Well, obviously the party is disappointed, but now that the election is behind us, we must prepare for a new session of Parliament, where our MPs and Senators will be called on to address some serious challenges.”
The NDP picked up eight seats, two of which were from the Conservatives. The rest were scored of Northern Ontario seats, were held by Liberal incumbents.
The Bloc picked up two seats from its 2006 finishing, it is cause for belief it seems still for the Separatist movement is still alive and well in Quebec. Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe assures us all that Quebec is making its move towards sovereignty one small step at a time.

The Green Party expected to pick up one seat, failed to do so but raised in support from 2006 to an overall total of 6.02%. Green Party leader Elizabeth May also enjoyed the pleasure of being accepted into the National Leaders’ Debate for the first time.
As for the Green Party’s finish, supporter Mitchell Gallant is optimistic,
“I think she did really well. She didn’t gain any seats but she picked up a lot of popular vote, and I think next time, she’ll do better.”
The Conservative Party picks up 18 seats and falls short 12 of forming a majority Government. Some students like Dan Aiken feel this is not a loss for the Conservative leader but a victory.
“Well you can’t take everything as a loss, I mean they have more seats than they had before, and the Liberals have less so obviously this can’t be considered a loss in any sense of the word.”
As for the hopes of Stephen Harper forming a majority he said:
“I think they are a relatively new Party, and this has been there third election. I think to expect any sort of majority anytime soon, would be hoping for too much. All they can do now, is show the people that when they are in Government, they know what they’re doing.”
So as it looks now, it will be a Conservative minority government, governing for now, as long as Jack Layton doesn’t get the election jitters, and the Bloc doesn’t succeed in becoming their own country, because the way it seems the Liberals are preoccupied by infighting and an upcoming Leadership Convention. Can the Liberal Party get a Federal facelift in time, is Elizabeth May ever going to stop running in Central Nova, will Gilles Duceppe ever dye his hair, and will Jack Layton ever shave his moustache?

Tune into the Next Federal Election Campaign, date: TBA