lol, canada
I think we can safely say that absolutely no one predicted that. But for all that the overall result is pretty grim, there were many good things.
So, bad things:
1) Harper majority. Seriously, Ontario? Seriously, BC? I expect such things from the prairies, but you should really know better.
2) ... Harper. Being smug. Being rewarded for his contempt of parliament. I forced everyone around me to watch Rick Mercer rants on youtube rather than stream his victory speech because I couldn't bear the smugness.
Good things:
1) Well, the Bloc Quebecois isn't even an official party anymore. And all it took was one of the party leaders to go into Quebec and be all, "Hey, guys, you know we like you, right? We don't want you to leave? We'll help you out?" Et voila!
2) I have been waiting for the Green Party to win a seat since I was about twelve years old. So, fuck yeah, Elizabeth May!
3) The mid-celebration interview at Green Party headquarters, where both Elizabeth May and the reporter were clearly drunk out of their minds, grinning sloppily, and possibly a little bit stoned.
4) The NDP's massive gains. They nearly tripled their seats. Somehow they became the official opposition, on a scale that no one expected. The tiny social democrat party that could. (It has also been determined that Jack Layton is probably a superhero, as he did this while recovering from hip replacement surgery and battling prostate cancer.)
5) Things look pretty bleak for the Liberals at the moment, but I think this will force them to do the restructuring that they've needed to do for nearly a decade. For all that I'm pretty much a committed NDP-er, I do think that Canada as a country is centrist with a tinge of left and does well with centrist governments that don't lean too far in either direction. (I like the thought of either a Liberal minority propped up by the NDP or an NDP minority propped up by the Liberals; best of both worlds, etc.)
So. They have four years to let the Conservatives fuck up, and then make a comeback. I suspect that Justin Trudeau is going to be put forward as party leader eventually-probably not now, as he's quite young and I get the sense that he's trying to make a point of distancing himself from his father a bit (which is probably a wise career move if he wants to be liked anywhere west of Toronto). But, he's one of the few Liberals to actually keep his seat, everyone knows his name, his speeches are always measured and intelligent, and he's a very pretty face to have on your party's poster. Not this leadership convention, but the next one.
I'm going to call it now: a second coming of Trudeaumania, based around the best cheekbones Canadian politics has ever seen.
6) I'm pretty convinced that the Harper majority is going to implode on itself, as majorities tend to do.
All right, Canucks. It is time for you to redeem my country to me. Please to not be losing to Nashville, of all teams.
So, bad things:
1) Harper majority. Seriously, Ontario? Seriously, BC? I expect such things from the prairies, but you should really know better.
2) ... Harper. Being smug. Being rewarded for his contempt of parliament. I forced everyone around me to watch Rick Mercer rants on youtube rather than stream his victory speech because I couldn't bear the smugness.
Good things:
1) Well, the Bloc Quebecois isn't even an official party anymore. And all it took was one of the party leaders to go into Quebec and be all, "Hey, guys, you know we like you, right? We don't want you to leave? We'll help you out?" Et voila!
2) I have been waiting for the Green Party to win a seat since I was about twelve years old. So, fuck yeah, Elizabeth May!
3) The mid-celebration interview at Green Party headquarters, where both Elizabeth May and the reporter were clearly drunk out of their minds, grinning sloppily, and possibly a little bit stoned.
4) The NDP's massive gains. They nearly tripled their seats. Somehow they became the official opposition, on a scale that no one expected. The tiny social democrat party that could. (It has also been determined that Jack Layton is probably a superhero, as he did this while recovering from hip replacement surgery and battling prostate cancer.)
5) Things look pretty bleak for the Liberals at the moment, but I think this will force them to do the restructuring that they've needed to do for nearly a decade. For all that I'm pretty much a committed NDP-er, I do think that Canada as a country is centrist with a tinge of left and does well with centrist governments that don't lean too far in either direction. (I like the thought of either a Liberal minority propped up by the NDP or an NDP minority propped up by the Liberals; best of both worlds, etc.)
So. They have four years to let the Conservatives fuck up, and then make a comeback. I suspect that Justin Trudeau is going to be put forward as party leader eventually-probably not now, as he's quite young and I get the sense that he's trying to make a point of distancing himself from his father a bit (which is probably a wise career move if he wants to be liked anywhere west of Toronto). But, he's one of the few Liberals to actually keep his seat, everyone knows his name, his speeches are always measured and intelligent, and he's a very pretty face to have on your party's poster. Not this leadership convention, but the next one.
I'm going to call it now: a second coming of Trudeaumania, based around the best cheekbones Canadian politics has ever seen.
6) I'm pretty convinced that the Harper majority is going to implode on itself, as majorities tend to do.
All right, Canucks. It is time for you to redeem my country to me. Please to not be losing to Nashville, of all teams.