Hello my foreign friends. It has been a while since I've updated this blog, and as you know by now, Canada had an historic general election at the federal level on May 2, 2011. Even if the election was not necessary, it was still a very good election, and not many people predicted the awesome election results. As such, the Conservative Party of Canada will continue to rule this land... this land we call Canada. As for all of you non-Conservative supporters, and "anti-Harper crusaders," we're here and we're getting tough on crime... so get used to it! And yes, I say "we," because I am a member of the insanely-awesome Conservative Party of Canada that is so cool it that it hurts non-Conservative supporters, therefore making it the coolest party that hurts non-Conservative supporters in the history of cool parties that hurts non-Conservative supporters that ever existed.
As you can tell, I am quite excited, and have not quite gotten over the fact that May 2, 2011, was a historic day. It is historic in a number of ways. Here are some of the reasons...
The *new* Conservative Party of Canada got its first majority government since its creation. Yes, conservative parties in the past have formed a majority government in Canada, but that was the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, and the last prime minister to give that party an elected majority government was the Right Honourable Brian Mulroney, since Kim Campbell does not count from that aspect. With that in mind, the Conservative Party of Canada won its first majority government since the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. In a way, both the party and Prime Minister Stephen Harper made history. This also means we won't be having an election for a while. This is the important part, and should not be feared. Canada will be a better place now, and will incrementally improve over the next little while, as we now have a strong, stable, national, majority Conservative government. However, what's really important to me is that John Baird, Pierre Poilievre and Christian Paradis got re-elected. However, I am quite saddened by the defeats of Lawrence Cannon, Josée Verner, Jean-Pierre Blackburn and Gary Lunn. As for Chuck Strahl and Stockwell Day, who have decided not to run for re-election, I will miss them (especially Stockwell Day's wetsuits).
The New Democratic Party of Canada, which I have always considered to be a fringe party, formed the Official Opposition, which will see their leader Jack Layton move into Stornoway, where Michael Ignatieff previously lived, or will be moving out very soon. This would be the first time the party has made it to second place in its own history. Along with the party, there are a lot of "fringe" candidates that include many who did not expect to be elected. This is quite dangerous, as they appeal to today's youth. Obviously, today's youth are quite... crazy, as they are willing to vote for a high-tax party that seems to think money grows on trees. Although I am a "youth" myself, according to some stupid nonsensical standards, I will never vote for such a party. However, the surge of this party to second place in an election came at the expense of the Bloc Québécois, who were reduced to just four seats in the House of Commons, officially killing their party status. And yes, they will no longer be recognized as a party. However, I am encouraged by the defeat of Jim Maloway in Manitoba and the fact that they failed to elect any MPs from Saskatchewan. Yes, Saskatchewan shunned the NDP, even though it is the birth province for the NDP, and that makes me quite happy.
This brings in the Liberal Party of Canada, and its leader Michael Ignatieff, who has since resigned, only to find a new job almost immediately after resigning. Now, during the campaign, Michael Ignatieff started off as someone highly arrogant, who took too long to say that he would not be forming a coalition with the NDP or Bloc Québécois if the Conservatives won the most seats, but not enough to form a majority. Then, he looked angry most of the time during the English leaders' debates, as well as part of the French leaders' debates. However, I'm pretty sure that things started to go down the tube for Mr. Ignatieff when Jack Layton pointed out his poor attendance record. In addition to that, he "explained" to Prime Minister Stephen Harper that in Canada, if you win a minority of seats in Canada, you "try" to win the confidence of the house. Of course, being in Mr. Harper's position, that may be difficult, as Canada only had useless opposition parties that did not nothing but oppose everything (including useful bills) during the 40th Parliament. Budget 2011 was a good example of how useless the opposition coalition parties were. However, another thing he said made him sound highly arrogant (and no, he didn't say he was highly arrogant like he did while he was away from Canada). During the English leaders' debates, he said to Jack Layton after Mr. Layton said that the Liberal Party of Canada has a record of making promises and not keeping them: "At least we get into government. You'll be in opposition forever!" Don't believe me? Click here. I'm not sure what damaged Mr. Ignatieff's chances of forming a Liberal government and being the prime minister. It was either the attendance record or telling Mr. Layton he'd be "in opposition forever." With sagging poll numbers, Mr. Ignatieff became more annoying, and told everyone to "rise up," leading to the lame and ineffective "Rise Up for Canada" campaign by the party. This came off as desperate. However, people did "rise up." They just didn't "rise up" in a manner that was beneficial to Mr. Ignatieff. Ultimately, Mr. Ignatieff, who was hoping to form a Liberal government, led the party into its worst defeat in Canadian history. In 1984, when Brian Mulroney led the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada to its 200+ seat victory, the Liberal Party of Canada won only 40 seats under the leadership of John Turner. In 2011, just last week, Mr. Ignatieff led the party to its worst defeat in Canadian history, as mentioned, winning only 34 seats. Somehow, he also managed to lose his own seat... and that's pretty sad. However, not only was that a disaster for them, they were pushed to the third place for the first time in Canadian history. Now, over the years (something highly exaggerated), I have made it clear that I dislike the Liberal Party of Canada. Although this news is good news to me as a political junkie, it still seems like a dream that will never come to fruition. However, it isn't, and I've been smiling (for the most part) since the election. This should come as a shock to Reverend Nathan. In all honesty though, I do kind of feel bad for Mr. Ignatieff... but that is democracy in action. Of course, had the Conservative Party of Canada lost the election, my position on democracy would change, because it wouldn't have benefitted me, or my party. Now, my pity for Mr. Ignatieff may be sending an unclear message. However, to be clear, I am quite happy that the Liberal Party of Canada was pushed to third place. However, the reality of the NDP being in second place still scares me. Aside from that, the Liberals did lose a lot of people. When it came to the Liberals, there were a lot of MPs that annoyed me greatly during the 40th Parliament, and I couldn't have been happier to see the following MPs get defeated, and replaced by members of other parties:
Siobhan Coady
Bonnie Crombie
Ruby Dhalla
Martha Hall Findlay
Mark Holland
Marlene Jennings
Anita Neville
Yasmin Ratansi
Joe Volpe
What saddens me is that Carolyn Bennett, Scott Brison, John McCallum, David McGuinty, Joyce Murray and Bob Rae managed to get re-elected. However, it is somewhat ironic that Stéphane Dion got re-elected, as he was tarred and feathered before being shown the red exit door by his own party. The only question that now remains is if the party will die the same way a similar party died in Britain.
As for the Bloc Québécois, which has been reduced to four seats from its previous majority of seats in Québec, it is no longer considered to be a party. Now, as a federalist, I am quite happy with the "death" of the Bloc Québécois. This means that I won't be seeing the following people in the House of Commons (possibly forever) for a long time (in no particular order): Pierre A. Paquette, France Bonsant, Ève-Mary Thaï Thi Lac (she may be Vietnamese, but she is a disgrace) and Bernard Bigras (I could never stand this guy). As for the party's leader, Gilles Duceppe (who resigned on May 2), he was an interesting character. And although I am happy that he is gone, I must say that he was an entertaining fellow who always seemed to be up to no good (a lot like myself). As for Mr. Duceppe, however, he thought he could simply go around and expect to get re-elected with a bunch of seats. That may have worked in previous elections, but he obviously didn't see an NDP surge coming (neither did anyone else), and the NDP won 100+ seats at his expense, and others in the province of Québec.
Meanwhile, the Green Party of Canada managed to win its first seat, with party leader Elizabeth May winning that seat. Although this was an historic event for Canada, and especially for the party itself, I am not happy with this development, as it came at the expense of a Conservative Member of Parliament: Gary Lunn. Therefore, I have no further comment on the Green Party of Canada winning its first seat. Oh wait, I lied... had the development come at the expense of any other party, I would be happy with this development. However, it came at the expense of the wrong party.
Well, that is my opinion regarding Election 2011. Now, before I conclude this update, I'd like to provide you with a picture of how the parties fared in each province in terms of seats.
In Alberta, the Conservative Party of Canada and NDP retained their respective seats. However, two new MPs were re-elected: Jim Hillyer and Michelle Rempel.
In British Columbia, the Liberals lost three seats while retaining two seats. As for the Conservatives, they lost two seats but won a new seat, while retaining four seats they held in the previous Parliament (they also elected new MPs Mark Strahl, David Wilks, Dan Albas and Bob Zimmer. As for the Green Party of Canada, Elizabeth May won the Green Party of Canada its first seat in Parliament in the riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands. As for the NDP, they gained three seats and elected a new MP, Kennedy Stewart. I wonder if the HST had any real influence on the election results.
In Manitoba, the Conservatives won two new seats at the expense of Anita Neville (she was annoying) from the Liberals and Jim Maloway from the NDP. Other than that, no other parties made gains or incurred losses. Out of 14 seats from Manitoba, the Conservatives now have 11, while the Liberals have one, and two for the NDP.
In New Brunswick, the Conservatives one new seat and retained one with a new MP. The Liberals retained one, but suffered a loss of two seats. Aside from that, no other parties made gains or losses.
In Newfoundland and Labrador, The NDP gained one seat, thus replacing Siobhan Coady from the Liberals (I really found her annoying). The Conservatives gained a seat after being shut out of the province in the 2008 election due to Danny Williams' "Anything But Conservative" campaign... at the expense of a Liberal MP. The Liberals retained four seats, but suffered a total loss of two seats. No other provinces lost any seats or made gains.
In the Northwest Territories, Dennis Fraser Bevington from the NDP got re-elected... so no change there.
In Nova Scotia, the Conservatives retained all of their seats, without making any gains. The Liberals lost one seat, while retaining three seats that they already had. The NDP held onto their existing seats, and gained one at the expense of Michael Savage from the Liberals.
In Nunavut, Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq got re-elected... so the status quo won in that territory.
In battleground Ontario, the Liberals retained one seat (with a new MP named Ted Hsu) where the Honourable Peter Milliken, Speaker of the House of Commons, was elected until he retired (the riding of Kingston and the Islands). Based on my own count, they party lost 26 seats, which include Michael Ignatieff, Joe Volpe (he was annoying as he peppered Toyota Canada with useless questions), Mark Holland (that guy was really annoying), Ruby Dhalla, Yasmin Ratansi (she's an absolute disgrace, according to John Baird), Bonnie Crombie and Martha Hall Findlay. The Conservative Party of Canada gained 20 seats while all their other MPs got re-elected! As for the NDP, they lost one seat, but gained six seats elsewhere.
In Québec, based on my count, the Bloc Québécois managed to lose 43 seats. They retained two seats, and elected two new MPs, but lost 43 seats. As for the Liberals, they seemed to have retained six MPs (including Justin Trudeau), elected a new MP, but lost nine seats. As for the NDP, they retained Thomas Mulcair's seat of Outremont, but of course gained 57 seats as well. So, out of 75 seats, they won 58. They're like the new Bloc Québécois, which is a left-wing party (for the most part) too. For the Conservatives, this is where they were a disappointment. Not only did they fail to make any gains in Québec, they lost four seats, which include three prominent members (in no particular order): Jean-Pierre Blackburn, Lawrence Cannon (this man can be angry) and Josée Verner (she was attractive).
In the province of Saskatchewan, where I reside, everyone maintained the status quo. In addition, Kelly Block, who represents the riding of Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar, won by an even wider margin of votes in this year's election. Hopefully, the NDP candidate, Nettie Wiebe, will stop running for the NDP already.
As for the Yukon, Liberal MP Larry Bagnell was replaced by Ryan Leef, a Conservative candidate.
This election was indeed historic, and I couldn't be happier with the election results. Since I've been so happy, it has taken a long time for me to actually believe that this is real. And now that this is real, I look forward to the 41st Parliament. The earliest that can occur is on May 23, 2011, when the election writ is returned. I look forward to question period, and I look forward to seeing John Baird in action once again. However, I don't like having to wait. But as I speak about John Baird, I remember him saying that if the Conservatives were re-elected with just a minority, Jack Layton's NDP could win more seats than the Liberals, and Jack Layton could be the prime minister of a reckless coalition government. For the most part, that probably would have been true. This was during question period back in March. Later, he vows: "We won't let the socialists win!" In the end, the socialists didn't "win."
But soon, the government will have to get back to "getting shit done." However, what's more important is that we won't be having an election for a while. And with Mr. Harper in power, Canada's justice system will soon be going through some much-needed reform. Meanwhile, there is a budget to balance, as well as more people to control. Although I am disappointed with the loss in Québec, I am glad we do have a majority Conservative government for once.
Well, that is all for now. You can expect a "regular" blog update, soon.
