Israel: "the region's bully"

Al Jazeera English - Focus - Israel's failure to learn < read me

Already we see tensions increasing in the region. Damascus has pulled out of third-party talks with Tel Aviv and Arab anger has been mounting not just at Israel, and not just at America, but also at their own regimes which have collaborated with Washington.

Some Israelis have started to realise their government's flawed approach. While 81 per cent of Israelis support the military campaign, a poll has showed only 39 per cent believe it will succeed in removing Hamas or reducing violence.

An editorial in Haaretz, an Israeli daily, even went so far as to label Israel "the region's bully".

Barack Obama, the US president-elect, remains silent as Israel kills Palestinians with impunity. In his silence he expresses his complicity.

We could have a $20 billion surplus

TheStar.com | Canada | Harper says deficit could hit $30 billion

Hey Stephen.
How about you roll back the $50 billion in tax cuts to corporations? We already have one of the lowest taxes for corporations in all the industrialized nations. And, it has been proven time and time again that the trickle-down effect down not exist/work. So cutting back these tax cuts would a) not change any of the corporations' practises, and b) not affect the economy one way or the other (except to make more money available for services and stimulating infrastructure spending), and c) it would actually boost jobs by increasing the money for services and infrastructure spending.

Lets take that $20 billion surplus and invest it in Canada - not in foreign-owned corporations who will just pocket the money and invest it outside of Canada.

Bill Blaikie - running for a seat in the Manitoba legislature

Winnipeg Free Press

Welcome back Bill!

Veteran New Democrat Bill Blaikie will run for a seat in the
Manitoba legislature in a byelection expected to be called this spring. Blaikie won the NDP nomination for the provincial riding of Winnipeg Elmwood.

"I can't believe that the Prime Minister is just literally giving Canadians the finger."

TheStar.com | Canada | Harper's Senate plan blasted

For someone who was all about making the Senate more fair, representative and elected, this is an odd way to suddenly deal with the Senate.

OTTAWA–Constitutional experts and opposition parties yesterday
condemned Prime Minister Stephen Harper's plan to fill every empty
Senate seat in advance of his government's possible defeat in the new
year.

Constitutional scholar Desmond Morton called the move a
scandal in view of the precarious position of Harper's minority
government.

"He has the power to do it, but he shouldn't have the gall," said Morton, a professor emeritus at McGill University.

"I
think it's more in keeping with the principles of parliamentary
democracy that a potentially lame-duck administration should not make
appointments," said constitutional scholar Ned Franks.

Harper
will name the new senators before Christmas – likely in one fell swoop
– in a move his office says will bolster the chances of eventual Senate
reform, but opposition critics called a hyper-partisan power grab.

"It's
outrageous," said New Democrat MP and reform critic David
Christopherson (Hamilton Centre), whose party advocates abolishing the
Senate. "I can't believe that the Prime Minister is just literally
giving Canadians the finger."

Read more of the article at the link above.

James Laxer ponders what will Ignatieff do

No time for Ignatieff to play Mackenzie King | rabble.ca

If Ignatieff's idea of leadership is to provide confidence for the Harper government as his first act, he could be dooming himself to a short and unhappy career at the helm.

The Liberals would then wear the Harper record on the economy as their record. And while the Conservatives are bound to include some stimulus measures in the budget, there is no way that Harper and Flaherty are going to propose the overhaul of the Canadian economy based on very extensive public investments. And that is what the country needs.

Much though Ignatieff may wish to avoid it, he faces a clear choice. If he keeps Harper in power, it will be Harper who will hold the strong hand. He will determine the date of the next election, and he could well go on to win it. Meanwhile, the NDP, the Bloc and the Greens will feel deeply betrayed if Ignatieff dumps the coalition and allows Harper to remain in power.

At a date, not of his choosing, Ignatieff would go on to face the electorate, squeezed between the Conservative base vote on the one hand and the one third of the electorate already inclined to support parties other than the Liberals and the Conservatives on the other.

For Ignatieff, the WLMK option is a chimera. "A friend to all is a friend to none," Ignatieff could say if he comes to his senses, that is if Aristotle hadn't already said it.

To date, Bob Rae is showing a much clearer understanding of the lay of the political land than is his former roommate.

Click the link above - read the whole post

What Harper would do if he had a majority

If Harper survives | rabble.ca

Both know only too well just who Stephen Harper is and what he would do to the country should he ever achieve a majority.

With no mandate to do so, he would dismantle the work of three generations of Canadians in building a decent, if far from egalitarian, society.

He would, for starters, gut and or sell off the CBC.

He would repeal the Canada Health Act and open the Medicare system to massive privatization and balkanization.

He would, as quickly as he could, further gut the spending powers of the federal government with more destructive and ill-considered tax cuts for the wealthy and for Canada's corporate welfare bums.

He would rapidly devolve power to the provinces, balkanizing the country and its egalitarian approach to social programs.

Our foreign policy would be made in Washington and our energy and environmental policies would be made in Alberta. More billions would be poured into making our military a war-fighting adjunct to the U.S. war machine. (If you think Obama is going to dismantle the American Empire, think again.)

None of this will ever be part of a Harper election platform. But it is what he would do.

Conservatives wasting your money

TheStar.com | Canada | Luxury travel contradicts Tories' frugal image

This article from the Toronto Star exposes that the federal Conservatives are not so fiscally responsible with your money. Another example that they can't be trusted with our money and our economy, and how they don't practise what they preach. [I know this news came out a couple of weeks ago, but I just bumped into it now.]

Read the whole article for all the details. Here is a snippet below:

Some federal travellers can't seem to get to London, England, for less than $6,000, even though economy seats were available for $1,000 to $2,000. In our analysis of 60,000 travel records over four years, we found $18,000 flights to Australia, $7,000 flights to Paris, $11,000 flights to Indonesia and $8,000 flights to Switzerland.

By contrast, travel surveys show businesses are reducing costs by choosing more economical flights. At least one other government, Alberta, has shown more care with taxpayer dollars. For example, the Alberta environment minister and an aide spent $3,200 each to fly to Bali for a United Nations conference on climate change last year. The former federal environment minister, John Baird, took a $10,920 flight to the same conference. Three political aides and two bureaucrats joined him at similar rates. Total airfare was $61,000.

An excellent resource on the record of the Harper Conservatives

start [DokuWiki]

Canada may be the first industrialized country to fall into political
crisis as a result of the global economic recession. Could this crisis
involve the suspension of our democratic institutions?

So here's the story so far:

In the last parliament Harper was a bully, pushing around opposition parties and forcing them to support his agenda.

The Harper Government introduced a new culture of secrecy and
centralized control. No more press conferences, and Cabinet Ministers
are muzzled

Harper broke his own election law by calling the last election.

Attempted to bankrupt the opposition parties by introducing a motion to eliminate voter subsidies to political parties. Debate on Party Financing

Attempts to dehumanize Quebec sovereigntists. Debate on including the Bloc Quebecois in the coalition

Demonizes the opposition. Debate on the Ethics/Constitutionality of Coalition-Forming

In this light, perhaps proroguing Parliament should be viewed as a
dictatorship in function, since the PMO would remain in power and in
control of the Government while the opposition is shut out and
Parliament closed. Debate on the Ethics/Constitutionality of Prorogation

This may be the end of the Harper reign. The Conservatives want power
and as long as Harper could deliver, they supported him, even if it
meant biting their tongue about some of the more outrageous moves. But
he blew it - he misjudged the opposition and the troops will turn on
him just like they did to Kim Campbell when she blew it with the “face”
ads. Hatred is not a family value, but it characterizes a lot of
Conservative politics.

How does Stephen Harper respond to this global economic challenge? He locks the doors of Parliament so he can desperately cling to power.

"Today’s families have spoken loud and
clear – we need action on the economy right now. Action to create jobs,
to protect your pension and retirement, to build the green economy of
tomorrow. Stephen Harper didn’t act.

That’s why the
New Democrats have joined with the other opposition parties to put
forward an alternative government – a coalition for real change.

How
does Stephen Harper respond to this global economic challenge? He locks
the doors of Parliament so he can desperately cling to power.

Now
you and I can send a strong message to Stephen Harper. Change is coming
– and even Mr. Harper must respect the majority of Parliament and the
majority of Canadians." - Jack Layton

"Confidence isn't going to be restored by seven weeks of propaganda"

TheStar.com | Canada | Parliament shut for 7 weeks

The Governor General has decided to prorogue parliament until Jan 26, 2009.
In this time, Stephen Harper has said he will ask the opposition parties for input toward economic issues. The Conservative aim is to put together a budget for the end of January. However, considering their record, it is hard to believe that whatever they come up with won't be full of things that will be bad for Canadians and that the opposition parties cannot stomach.

Canada needs an economic boost NOW, not 7 weeks from now. This delay is going to make Canada seem even more unstable in the eyes of the world and will hurt our economy.

We can also be sure to see Harper's Conservatives spend our tax dollars lying to us in ads and statements over the next 7 weeks. Their propaganda machine will be in full force.

The Governor General has locked the doors of parliament and the doors of democracy in Canada. This is indeed a sad day for parliamentary democracy.

I urge you all to keep up the fight for democracy and truth in Canada. Keep up the letter writing campaign. Maybe if enough people protest to the Governor General, she will re-open parliament and let us get on with democracy and the urgent needs of this great country.

Naomi Klein on this moment in Canadian history

Naomi Klein: 'We can't lose this moment' | rabble.ca

Just to be clear, what I mean by the shock doctrine, as you know, is the use of crisis to push through unpopular pro-corporate policies. This bundling of a whole package of policies: denying the right of public sector workers to strike, the attack on public financing of political parties, with the economic program - that is what failed, and people were offended by the opportunism of it.

This is what so many of us were worried about during the election - the context of a Tory victory in an economic crisis, because we know that there is this pattern of using an economic crisis to push through policies that were nowhere during the campaign.
...
... what I find most exciting about what is going on right now - beyond
just getting rid of Harper, which is exciting in and of itself - is
that we have this opportunity to show what proportional representation
(PR) would look like, because all of this talk that this is a coup is a
joke.
...

To me the best case scenario that could come out of this is, one,
you get the coalition, and, two, the NDP uses this moment to really
launch a national discussion about why we need PR and that that becomes
one of the things that comes out of this crisis.

Now, they don't have the mandate for that right now, but we could
come out of this with a national referendum on proportional
representation. People might actually like it, which would be really,
really exciting.

...

The way in which public financing for political parties has been
presented in the press is "oh the politicians, they just got mad when
they went after their money," right? This is another key point that I
think is somewhat related to the issue of proportional representation.
We need to be talking about our political process here, and the issue
of public financing for political parties in elections is key to
protecting and deepening democracy in Canada, and for keeping it out of
corporate control. It is not for nothing that the Tories are attacking
that. They see attacking public financing of political parties as a way
to entrench their power.

...

So, what is exciting about this political moment, and how people can
get involved, is that this is building on that. The political parties
caught up with the grassroots movement that was happening anyway with
those initiatives like voteforenvironment.ca, Department of Culture, and people like Murray Dobbin
who have been making these arguments pretty steadily outside of the
political parties. Now it is happening, and it is happening thanks to
Stephen Harper and his extraordinary arrogance and over-reaching. We
can't lose this moment.

I just want to emphasize this point: If even through smart tactics,
Harper pulls this off, if he prorogues Parliament; if the Governor
General lets him get away with it; if the Liberals lose their nerve
over Xmas, then the Harper we will have in January will be a deeply
chastened Harper.

What everybody agrees with is that he made a massive error, that he
massively overreached, and his own party, his own base agrees with
that. Worst case scenario we dodged a bullet here. Best case scenario,
we leverage his overreach, his attempt to use a crisis to push through
his ideological pro-corporate agenda to have a deeper democracy in our
country, and to prevent forevermore a situation where a party with 35
per cent of the vote is government.

62% Majority downloads and blog banners

Downloads | Coalition for Change

Jack Layton's response to Stephen Harper's speach

CBC.ca - Video

"... Stephen Harper has broken his trust with the Canadian people, and
because of that he’s lost the confidence of Parliament. He seems to be
more interested in his job than in protecting your job. Now that’s
simply wrong.
...
Stephen Harper’s job was to ensure that Parliament would work, but
he refused to do that. By locking the door behind me he is rejecting
the democratic choice of 62% of Canadians - your choice - and every
Member of Parliament will see his right, his democratic right to
express his confidence in the government refused.

Every Member of Parliament will be denied their vote. Every Canadian
will be silenced because this House will not be permitted to speak . We
will have a Conservative government without legitimacy at the time of
an economic crisis. That doesn’t have to happen because this is a
remarkable moment in Canadian history. The opposition parties acted
together, with a common goal, to give hope back to Canadians and help
them to come through these difficult economic times. For the first
time, the majority of the parties chosen by the people set aside their
differences for the welfare of everyone.

The majority of Members of Parliament - the people’s representatives
- have set aside their differences for the good of Canada, and for the
good of every Canadian. This is a time of hope. Tonight, only one party
stands against the welfare of the Canadian people. On Monday, two
leaders of the proposed coalition sent Her Excellency, the Governor
General, a letter making it crystal clear that the majority of Members
of Parliament no longer have confidence in this Conservative
government. Nothing we have heard tonight changes this fact. Tonight,
Mr. Harper had an opportunity to chart a new course - to accept some of
the ideas we have been putting before him. But he did not. And tonight
we are announcing that if it pleases Her Excellency, we will arrange
that every New Democratic Member of Parliament will indicate
individually and together - formally - a lack of confidence in this
government.

A new government is possible, and ready to serve. A new kind of
government with a new kind of politics is ready to serve. One that will
put the economy and working families first. Thank you very much."

Harper is lying

Harper 'lies' about coalition details: Broadbent

To save his own government, Stephen Harper is deliberately trying to
deceive Canadians about the facts surrounding a proposed Liberal-NDP
coalition, former NDP leader Ed Broadbent said Wednesday.

"I've never seen the leader of a Conservative party, certainly not Bob
Stanfield, certainly not Joe Clark, lie — I choose the word
deliberately — the way Mr. Harper has," Broadbent said.

The former NDP leader, who helped negotiate Monday's deal between
the New Democrats and the Liberals with the support of the Bloc
Québécois, said Harper also lied when he said the three opposition
leaders refused to sign their agreement in front of a Canadian flag
because Gilles Duceppe, a Quebec sovereigntist, objected.

In fact, there were at least two flags present at Monday's signing
ceremony, as well as a painting of the Fathers of Confederation.

Broadbent said Harper is conducting a "shameful operation" by trying
to turn certain defeat in the House of Commons into a national unity
crisis.

"I'm concerned I have a prime minister who lies to the people of
Canada and knows it," Broadbent said. "It's one thing to exaggerate.
It's another to deliberately tell falsehoods."

The former NDP leader also accused Harper of lying about the details
of the proposed coalition, including his charge that the Bloc Québécois
is a formal partner and that six Bloc MPs would be offered Senate
positions under the coalition government.

The Bloc has said it will support the Liberal-NDP coalition for 18
months in the House of Commons, but none of its members will sit in a
cabinet led by Stéphane Dion as prime minister and a Liberal as finance
minister.

"They make it up," he said of Harper's Conservatives, who have been quick to label the proposal a "separatist coalition."

"They lie. They pay people to destroy things."

He said Harper was betraying the honourable legacy of past party
leaders by continuing to delay a confidence vote in the House of
Commons. The prime minister pushed back the confidence motion brought
by the opposition parties until next Monday and could delay a vote
indefinitely by proroguing Parliament.

"I had, my predecessors had a sense of integrity. Bob Stanfield, a
Conservative, Joe Clark, a Conservative, had a sense of integrity,"
Broadbent said.

"They would have done the proper thing. If we lost the confidence, then we would accept that and have to resign."

Write a letter to the editor in support of the opposition forming a coalition government

This was sent to me today from the NDP. I used it to quickly write a letter to the editors of 3 major newspapers in support of the coalition government formed by the opposition parties. You can too!

Are
you tired of seeing Tory complaints about a coalition being
undemocratic in all the papers, on all the radio shows?? Its because
their website allows their activists to post letters to the editors,
and radio shows through their website...

Lets use it against
them!! Use the below link to write with your SUPPORT of an NDP-Liberal
coalition. Lets use their own website to flood the waves with the
truth!!!

https://mycampaign.conservative.ca/EN/4936/77257

A summary of what led to the formation of the Coalition Government

TheStar.com | Opinion | Harper to blame for political crisis

Update to this article: Most of you know now that the details have been hammered out, and that Stephane Dion will be the leader of the new coalition.

The Choice of Dion for Leader of the Coalition Government

Some may say that choosing Dion to lead the coalition is a bad idea.

I'll admit that I don't think much of Dion's leadership skills considering how he did with the Liberals in the past as their leader, and leading up to the election. But, this coalition government will be altogether different. I think the fact that the Liberals and NDP, and the Bloc for that matter, will have to work closely together to make things work (and they have agreed to do this now) will change things for Dion in such a way that he will be taking more direction from the new cabinet and less from close personal advisers.

Also, for the Liberals to chose Dion to lead the coalition instead of one of the 3 leadership candidates is probably a smart move. Think about it. What if the coalition fails? If so, then the failure will seem connected more to Dion and less to the 3 leadership candidates in the Liberal party. Dion is on his way out as leader and has nothing to lose here. And, if the coalitions works, then this looks good on all involved in the coalition.

Dion will lead the Liberal-NDP coalition.

Dion tapped to lead Liberal-NDP coalition

Liberal caucus members agreed unanimously on Monday that Stéphane Dion
will stay on to lead a Liberal-NDP coalition, following reports that
the two parties reached a tentative agreement to replace the minority
Conservative government.

Layton to the Conservative party: "Good riddance to you!"

Winnipeg Free Press

Layton ridiculed the Conservatives over the issue Sunday night at an Ontario NDP event in Toronto.

"It's entirely possible the Conservative party is recording what I'm saying here right now," Layton told the partisan audience. "Here's what I have to say to the Conservative party tuned in: 'good riddance to you!' "

Coalition Deal Reached!

NDP, Liberal party reach deal to topple minority Tory government

As reported in the CBC News a few minutes ago, The Liberals, NDP and the Bloc have reached an agreement on the coalition. The NDP would get 25% of the seats in the new cabinet. The Bloc would not be in the coalition, but will support it. The coalition government would be for 2.5 years.

As they said - more to come.

Tories force the oppositions parties into starting to talk about a coalition

globeandmail.com: Confidence vote: Opposition parties say they will vote no

If the Liberals can come to terms with things within their party, they could form a coalition government with the NDP and Bloc, and thus, Canada would be governed by a majority government, an actual majority. Lets hope.

Canada - the new Hillbilly Nation

An interesting look at the recent polls on Far and Wide.

I agree pretty much with the analysis here and with most of the commenters - but especially with this commenter, Dana:

This just confirms for me something that I've been thinking since the morning after the election.

Canadians are dumb as dirt and the electorate of Canada has been shown to be just as gullible, just as uninformed/misinformed, just as prone to electoral blunders as our southern cousins were between the years of 2000 and roughly 2006.

Any superior finger pointing and supercilious honking should now be coming from south of the border.

Canada is now the backward hillbilly nation in english speaking North America.

Liberals - up to their same old tricks

stageleft:. life on the left side : BREAKING NEWS !!

Like I said, I'll believe it when I see it. And here they are back to their same old trick of disagreeing with the Conservatives, but not voting against them.

Canadian Media Bias - definitely leaning Right.

Far and Wide: The Conservative-Centric Media

A further point for my NDP friends, how is that Layton runs a flawless campaign, and yet the coverage wanes to almost meaningless mention?

As I've mentioned before in other posts (relative posts here, here and here), the mainstream media sways a lot of people in each election and between elections. Imagine what would happen if the media gave each party equal and fair reporting? I bet we would begin to see results at the polls that would start to show how people would vote if we had proportional representation.

Unfortunately, it seems that our progress toward true democratic proportional representation will depend significantly on the say so of the mainstream media. And they like the status quo.

Something's gotta give. Most older people still read actual papers. A lot of young people get their news on-line. But more older people vote and less young people vote. So, progress is very slow.

We need a revolution in the press.

Liberals to be a "responsible" opposition? A likely story - not

globeandmail.com: Liberals will be ‘responsible' in opposition: Dion

Considering the Liberal record of hand-sitting through 43 votes in the last couple of years, it will be a big step for them to be responsible again.

"Mr. Dion said his MPs are upbeat about the role they will play in the
next sitting of Parliament, and have learned some important lessons
from the last two years in opposition."
This remains to be seen if they have "learned some important lessons from the last two years in opposition".

From what I have read, Harper intends on running the same kind of show - making everything a confidence motion - again. So, if the Liberals are responsible and vote against legislation that would be bad for Canada, we will have another election very soon. (Harper, of course, will try to lay the blame on the opposition, but, I think Canadians will see through his little game of trying to force elections instead of trying to make things work.) Then, maybe people will see how irresponsible the Harper government is and kick them out.

Here's to hoping that the Liberals get it together, but I'm not holding my breath.

More about the MSM's role in the election.

Canadian Dimension Blog / Canadian media reveals true colours this election

MainStreamMedia list of endorsements - mainly Tory.

Fagstein » Tories win again in newspaper endorsements

Most newspapers in the Canwest, Sun and Gesca chains backed the Tories,
as did the Globe and Mail. The two main dissenters were the Toronto
Star, which continued to support the Liberals, and Le Devoir, which
steadfastly stood behind the Bloc Québécois.


Clearly, the MSM does not proportionally represent the views of the people of Canada. But, the MSM views are not just in their endorsement articles, but in the perspective and the way they write stories every day about the different political parties, leaders and members. If they don't like a party, they talk about them in a negative way - sometimes subtly with their choice of words. And, this is what affects many of the readers. How else do you explain why so many people voted Conservative, when, if you ask them to weigh in on the issues, will find that they do NOT support the Conservative stance on the issues.

Sue the MSM?

FRESH MEAT: The government we deserve?

Maybe we should begin a class-action suit against the major news media companies for misleading the public.

A better American vote selection quiz

Glassbooth - Quiz to help you choose best 2008 presidential candidate

This one includes other presidential candidates besides McCain and Obama.

Vote in the American election

Vote in the UIf the world could vote?

Post Election Analysis Pt. 2 - Proportional Representation

Proportional Representation This will hardly be mentioned with the current distribution of seats/power. First Past The Post still puts most of the power in the hands of the 2 main parties and the Bloc. So, they won't be interested in fairly distributing seats anytime soon. Here are comparisons of FPTP vs Proportional for 2006 and 2008 of how the seats would be distributed:

Post Election Analysis

Observations

Less people voted in 2008 than in 2006 (over 1 million less people).

The majority of these people who did not vote this time were Liberals. See for yourself:

2008

Voter turnout: 13,832,972 of 23,401,064 registered voters (59.1%)

Bloc - 50 seats - 16.2% of seats - 1,379,565 votes - 10%

Conservative - 143 seats - 46.4% of seats - 5,205,334 votes - 37.6%

Green - 0 seats - 0% of seats - 940,474 votes - 6.8%

Liberal - 76 seats - 24.7% of seats - 3,629,990 votes - 26.2%

NDP - 37 seats - 12% of seats - 2,517,075 votes - 18.2%

Independent - 2 seats - 0.7% of seats - 89,524 votes - 0.7%

2006

Voter turnout: 14,908,703 of 23,054,615 registered voters (64.7%)

Bloc - 51 seats - 16.6% of seats - 1,553,201 votes - 10.5%

Conservative - 124 seats - 40.3% of seats - 5,374,071 votes - 36.3%

Green - 0 seats - 0% of seats - 664,068 votes - 4.5%

Liberal - 103 seats - 33.4% of seats - 4,479,415 votes - 30.2%

NDP - 29 seats - 9.4% of seats - 2,589,597 votes - 17.5%

Independent - 1 seat - 0.3% of seats - 76,696 votes - 0.5%

My predictions vs the election results

Prediction - Election

CPC - 115 - 143

Lib - 86 - 78

NDP - 51 - 37

Bloc - 53 - 48

Green - 0 - 0

Ind - 2 - 2

Analysis

Regarding my predictions ...

Regarding the NDP - There were 14 close races I gave to the NDP due to their upward trend in the polls. But, this trend was soft and only yielded a small percentage gain. So, most of these seats went to the other main contestant - in most cases, this was a Conservative candidate.

Regarding the Conservatives. See above.
Also, I, and many others overestimated how the Liberals would do.
If you only look at the seats won or lost, you would think that there were a lot of people who switched their voting preference from the Liberals to the Conservatives.

However, when you look at raw numbers of voters and the turnouts and compare 2006 to 2008, you see that less people voted for each of the major parties. And, whereas for these parties, there was a slight drop in voter turnout, for the Liberals, there was a significant drop of almost 850,000 voters.

Why such a big drop in voter turnout? IMHO voters were disillusioned with parliament, with the leaders, with what they offered, and, most of all, with the performance and lack of leadership (Dion) the Liberals offered. So, Liberals, especially soft Liberals, became un-decided and decided not to vote.

I would say that the Liberals abstaining or being absent from so many votes in Parliament (and not standing up for what they were elected to do), and Dion's lack of leadership resulted in a lot of people becoming exacerbated in the whole political process.

So, the Conservatives end up with more seats. The NDP end up with more seats. The Bloc stay about the same. The Greens pick up no seats since their support is still too low and is not focused enough in any ridings. And 2 very strong independents get in.

New Parliament

What will happen? Much of the same?

If the Liberals intend to gain back the trust of supporters, they will have to get a new leader and start to stand up against the Conservatives in parliament (in other words, return to being an official opposition party). If they don't, they will lose all credibility and really bomb in the next election.

The Conservatives will continue to push their agenda, but it all depends on the Liberals. If they decide to get a new strong leader and be an opposition party, then the Conservatives will either end up forcing another election soon, or, they will tone things down and try to get what they can done in parliament.

The NDP will continue to stand up for their ideals, try to get what they can done for Canadians, and oppose the Conservatives when they disagree with them.

The Bloc will continue to be the Bloc - generally agreeable on things with the NDP and the Liberals, but siding with the Conservatives when it comes to getting things for Quebec (which includes more decentralization of power/transferring power to the provinces).

The Green Party saw a gain of 2.3% in popular vote. They will continue to work at becoming a viable alternative party.

Newfoundland, Toronto and Montreal now all have one thing in common - no Conservatives! You can bet that these places will get nothing from the new government.

Edmonton-Strathcona

With a non-Conservative (NDP - Linda Duncan) winning a seat in Alberta, could this be the beginning of an erosion of the Conservative power in that province?

What Canadians Can Look Forward Too

- More Conservative scandals
- More war - Continued killing of civilians in Afghanistan for American oil interests, costing us billions more in tax dollars, and hundreds more Canadian soldiers' lives
- Health and social services reduced and thus costing you more money overall
- More attempts to criminalize women, and outlaw gays
- No new childcare spaces, no new affordable housing, and no help for the poor
- No support for natives
- Increased deregulation of all sorts of things, resulting in a reduction of the safety of our health and our finances
- More attempts to turn our healthcare system into an American style one (where only the rich can afford healthcare, and more and more go bankrupt and are driven into poverty)
- Increased pollution, and embarrassment on the world stage as the Conservatives continue to block progress to reduce pollution
- A further increase of our national debt and increases in the yearly deficit as the Conservatives continue to give our money away to big corporations in the forms of tax breaks
- Increased unemployment as the Conservatives do nothing in our relations to the USA, other countries and big corporations.
- A crumbling infrastructure due to lack of federal funding (because of the Conservatives giving away our money to the big corporations)
- Continued biased news reporting that hides the truth due to the fact that the Main Stream Media, the major media companies, ARE big corporations who stand to gain much money from the Harper government.
- There's lots more bad things I could list here. Feel free to add them on in comments.

The good thing that might come of all this may be that Canadians finally begin to see what a mistake they have made in electing a Harper government (albeit a minority one) twice in a row and turf the bums out next election. Look what happened to the Conservatives after 2 terms of the Mulroney government - and he was popular, with majority governments.

Canada Election 2008 Predictions

Here are my predictions based on the last polls and polling trends:

Seats

Conservatives: 115
Liberals: 86
NDP: 51
Bloc: 53
Independent: 2
Green: 0

NL: Con 2, Lib 4, NDP 1
PE: Lib 4
NS: Con 1, Lib 5, NDP 4, Ind 1
NB: Con 2, Lib 7, NDP 1
QC: Con 7, Lib 13, NDP 1, Bloc 53, Ind 1
ON: Con 45, Lib 39, NDP 21
MB: Con 6, Lib 3, NDP 5
SK: Con 10, Lib 1, NDP 3
AB: Con 27, NDP 1
BC: Con 15, Lib 8, NDP 13
Yukon: Lib 1
Western Arctic: NDP 1
Nunavut: Lib 1

[Correction: I've made the corrections above. The error was: MB should have been Con 6, Lib 3 (not 2) and NDP 5 (not 6). This changes the totals to Con 115, Lib 86, NDP 51, Bloc 53 and indepedent 2.]

Ridings

NL	7
Avalon	Conservative
Bonavista--Gander--Grand Falls--Windsor	Liberal
Humber--St. Barbe--Baie Verte	Liberal
Labrador	Liberal
Random--Burin--St. George's	Liberal
St. John's East	NDP
St. John's South--Mount Pearl	Conservative
PE	4
Cardigan	Liberal
Charlottetown	Liberal
Egmont	Liberal
Malpeque	Liberal
NS	11
Cape Breton--Canso	Liberal
Central Nova	Conservative
Cumberland--Colchester--Musquodoboit Valley	independent
Dartmouth--Cole Harbour	NDP
Halifax	NDP
Halifax West	Liberal
Kings--Hants	Liberal
Sackville--Eastern Shore	NDP
South Shore--St. Margaret's	NDP
Sydney--Victoria	Liberal
West Nova	Liberal
NB	10
Acadie--Bathurst	NDP
Beauséjour	Liberal
Fredericton	Liberal
Fundy Royal	Conservative
Madawaska--Restigouche	Liberal
Miramichi	Liberal
Moncton--Riverview--Dieppe	Liberal
New Brunswick Southwest	Conservative
Saint John	Liberal
Tobique--Mactaquac	Liberal
QC	75
Abitibi--Baie-James--Nunavik--Eeyou	Bloc
Abitibi--Témiscamingue	Bloc
Ahuntsic	Bloc
Alfred-Pellan	Bloc
Argenteuil--Papineau--Mirabel	Bloc
Bas-Richelieu--Nicolet--Bécancour	Bloc
Beauce	Conservative
Beauharnois--Salaberry	Bloc
Beauport--Limoilou	Bloc
Berthier--Maskinongé	Bloc
Bourassa	Liberal
Brome--Missisquoi	Bloc
Brossard--La Prairie	Bloc
Chambly--Borduas	Bloc
Charlesbourg--Haute-Saint-Charles	Bloc
Châteauguay--Saint-Constant	Bloc
Chicoutimi--Le Fjord	Bloc
Compton--Stanstead	Bloc
Drummond	Bloc
Gaspésie--Îles-de-la-Madeleine	Bloc
Gatineau	Bloc
Haute-Gaspésie--La Mitis--Matane--Matapédia	Bloc
Hochelaga	Bloc
Honoré-Mercier	Liberal
Hull--Aylmer	Liberal
Jeanne-Le Ber	Bloc
Joliette	Bloc
Jonquière--Alma	Conservative
La Pointe-de-l'Île	Bloc
Lac-Saint-Louis	Liberal
LaSalle--Émard	Liberal
Laurentides--Labelle	Bloc
Laurier--Sainte-Marie	Bloc
Laval	Bloc
Laval--Les Îles	Liberal
Lévis--Bellechasse	Conservative
Longueuil--Pierre-Boucher	Bloc
Lotbinière--Chutes-de-la-Chaudière	Conservative
Louis-Hébert	Bloc
Louis-Saint-Laurent	Conservative
Manicouagan	Bloc
Marc-Aurèle-Fortin	Bloc
Mégantic--L'Érable	Conservative
Montcalm	Bloc
Montmagny--L'Islet--Kamouraska--Rivière-du-Loup	Bloc
Montmorency--Charlevoix--Haute-Côte-Nord	Bloc
Mount Royal	Liberal
Notre-Dame-de-Grâce--Lachine	Liberal
Outremont	NDP
Papineau	Liberal
Pierrefonds--Dollard	Liberal
Pontiac	Bloc
Portneuf--Jacques-Cartier	independent
Québec	Bloc
Repentigny	Bloc
Richmond--Arthabaska	Bloc
Rimouski-Neigette--Témiscouata--Les Basques	Bloc
Rivière-des-Mille-Îles	Bloc
Rivière-du-Nord	Bloc
Roberval--Lac-Saint-Jean	Conservative
Rosemont--La Petite-Patrie	Bloc
Saint-Bruno--Saint-Hubert	Bloc
Saint-Hyacinthe--Bagot	Bloc
Saint-Jean	Bloc
Saint-Lambert	Bloc
Saint-Laurent--Cartierville	Liberal
Saint-Léonard--Saint-Michel	Liberal
Saint-Maurice--Champlain	Bloc
Shefford	Bloc
Sherbrooke	Bloc
Terrebonne--Blainville	Bloc
Trois-Rivières	Bloc
Vaudreuil-Soulanges	Bloc
Verchères--Les Patriotes	Bloc
Westmount--Ville-Marie	Liberal
ON	106
Ajax--Pickering	Liberal
Algoma--Manitoulin--Kapuskasing	NDP
Ancaster--Dundas--Flamborough--Westdale	Conservative
Barrie	Conservative
Beaches--East York	NDP
Bramalea--Gore--Malton	Liberal
Brampton West	Liberal
Brampton--Springdale	Liberal
Brant	Conservative
Bruce--Grey--Owen Sound	Conservative
Burlington	Conservative
Cambridge	Conservative
Carleton--Mississippi Mills	Conservative
Chatham-Kent--Essex	Conservative
Davenport	Liberal
Don Valley East	Liberal
Don Valley West	Liberal
Dufferin--Caledon	Conservative
Durham	Conservative
Eglinton--Lawrence	Liberal
Elgin--Middlesex--London	Conservative
Essex	Conservative
Etobicoke Centre	Liberal
Etobicoke North	Liberal
Etobicoke--Lakeshore	Liberal
Glengarry--Prescott--Russell	Conservative
Guelph	Liberal
Haldimand--Norfolk	Conservative
Haliburton--Kawartha Lakes--Brock	Conservative
Halton	Conservative
Hamilton Centre	NDP
Hamilton East--Stoney Creek	NDP
Hamilton Mountain	NDP
Huron--Bruce	Conservative
Kenora	NDP
Kingston and the Islands	Liberal
Kitchener Centre	Liberal
Kitchener--Conestoga	Conservative
Kitchener--Waterloo	Liberal
Lambton--Kent--Middlesex	Conservative
Lanark--Frontenac--Lennox and Addington	Conservative
Leeds--Grenville	Conservative
London North Centre	Liberal
London West	Conservative
London--Fanshawe	NDP
Markham--Unionville	Liberal
Mississauga East--Cooksville	Liberal
Mississauga South	Conservative
Mississauga--Brampton South	Liberal
Mississauga--Erindale	Conservative
Mississauga--Streetsville	Liberal
Nepean--Carleton	Conservative
Newmarket--Aurora	Liberal
Niagara Falls	Conservative
Niagara West--Glanbrook	Conservative
Nickel Belt	NDP
Nipissing--Timiskaming	Liberal
Northumberland--Quinte West	Conservative
Oak Ridges--Markham	Liberal
Oakville	Conservative
Oshawa	NDP
Ottawa Centre	NDP
Ottawa South	Liberal
Ottawa West--Nepean	Conservative
Ottawa--Orléans	Conservative
Ottawa--Vanier	Liberal
Oxford	Conservative
Parkdale--High Park	NDP
Parry Sound--Muskoka	Conservative
Perth--Wellington	Conservative
Peterborough	Conservative
Pickering--Scarborough East	Liberal
Prince Edward--Hastings	Conservative
Renfrew--Nipissing--Pembroke	Conservative
Richmond Hill	Liberal
Sarnia--Lambton	Conservative
Sault Ste. Marie	NDP
Scarborough Centre	Liberal
Scarborough Southwest	Liberal
Scarborough--Agincourt	Liberal
Scarborough--Guildwood	Liberal
Scarborough--Rouge River	Liberal
Simcoe North	Conservative
Simcoe--Grey	Conservative
St. Catharines	Conservative
St. Paul's	Liberal
Stormont--Dundas--South Glengarry	Conservative
Sudbury	NDP
Thornhill	Liberal
Thunder Bay--Rainy River	NDP
Thunder Bay--Superior North	NDP
Timmins--James Bay	NDP
Toronto Centre	Liberal
Toronto--Danforth	NDP
Trinity--Spadina	NDP
Vaughan	Liberal
Welland	NDP
Wellington--Halton Hills	Conservative
Whitby--Oshawa	Conservative
Willowdale	Liberal
Windsor West	NDP
Windsor--Tecumseh	NDP
York Centre	Liberal
York South--Weston	Liberal
York West	Liberal
York--Simcoe	Conservative
MB	14
Brandon--Souris	Conservative
Charleswood--St. James--Assiniboia	Conservative
Churchill	NDP
Dauphin--Swan River--Marquette	Conservative
Elmwood--Transcona	NDP
Kildonan--St. Paul	Conservative
Portage--Lisgar	Conservative
Provencher	Conservative
Saint Boniface	Liberal
Selkirk--Interlake	NDP
Winnipeg Centre	NDP
Winnipeg North	NDP
Winnipeg South	Liberal
Winnipeg South Centre	Liberal
SK	14
Battlefords--Lloydminster	Conservative
Blackstrap	Conservative
Cypress Hills--Grasslands	Conservative
Desnethé--Missinippi--Churchill River	Conservative
Palliser	NDP
Prince Albert	Conservative
Regina--Lumsden--Lake Centre	Conservative
Regina--Qu'Appelle	NDP
Saskatoon--Humboldt	Conservative
Saskatoon--Rosetown--Biggar	NDP
Saskatoon--Wanuskewin	Conservative
Souris--Moose Mountain	Conservative
Wascana	Liberal
Yorkton--Melville	Conservative
AB	28
Calgary Centre	Conservative
Calgary Centre-North	Conservative
Calgary East	Conservative
Calgary Northeast	Conservative
Calgary Southeast	Conservative
Calgary Southwest	Conservative
Calgary West	Conservative
Calgary--Nose Hill	Conservative
Crowfoot	Conservative
Edmonton Centre	Conservative
Edmonton East	Conservative
Edmonton--Leduc	Conservative
Edmonton--Mill Woods--Beaumont	Conservative
Edmonton--Sherwood Park	Conservative
Edmonton--Spruce Grove	Conservative
Edmonton--St. Albert	Conservative
Edmonton--Strathcona	NDP
Fort McMurray--Athabasca	Conservative
Lethbridge	Conservative
Macleod	Conservative
Medicine Hat	Conservative
Peace River	Conservative
Red Deer	Conservative
Vegreville--Wainwright	Conservative
Westlock--St. Paul	Conservative
Wetaskiwin	Conservative
Wild Rose	Conservative
Yellowhead	Conservative
BC	36
Abbotsford	Conservative
British Columbia Southern Interior	NDP
Burnaby--Douglas	NDP
Burnaby--New Westminster	NDP
Cariboo--Prince George	Conservative
Chilliwack--Fraser Canyon	Conservative
Delta--Richmond East	Conservative
Esquimalt--Juan de Fuca	NDP
Fleetwood--Port Kells	Conservative
Kamloops--Thompson--Cariboo	Conservative
Kelowna--Lake Country	Conservative
Kootenay--Columbia	Conservative
Langley	Conservative
Nanaimo--Alberni	Conservative
Nanaimo--Cowichan	NDP
New Westminster--Coquitlam	NDP
Newton--North Delta	NDP
North Vancouver	Liberal
Okanagan--Coquihalla	Conservative
Okanagan--Shuswap	Conservative
Pitt Meadows--Maple Ridge--Mission	NDP
Port Moody--Westwood--Port Coquitlam	Conservative
Prince George--Peace River	Conservative
Richmond	Liberal
Saanich--Gulf Islands	Liberal
Skeena--Bulkley Valley	NDP
South Surrey--White Rock--Cloverdale	Conservative
Surrey North	NDP
Vancouver Centre	Liberal
Vancouver East	NDP
Vancouver Island North	NDP
Vancouver Kingsway	Liberal
Vancouver Quadra	Liberal
Vancouver South	Liberal
Victoria	NDP
West Vancouver--Sunshine Coast--Sea to Sky Country	Liberal
YK	1
Yukon	Liberal
WA	1
Western Arctic	NDP
NU	1
Nunavut	Liberal