My Election Coverage Begins…Now

It’s hard to vote when you really don’t want any of the parties running to lead your country.

I wonder how this coalition government would be setup? Would it be up to the GG to ask two parties to form the government? If so, what needs to happen (the trigger condition) for her to ask this question?

What’s the difference between being appathetic and stoic???anyone… This is a question I just can’t seem to figure; I feel I would be a hypocrit (spelling I knwo) if I were to vote today as I don’t know enough about each of the parties they all seem crooked to me and…then if I do I have no right to complain and I’, sorry but sometimes it’s nessesarry (spelling again I know) and yes this still reminds me of a song, I just can’t figure out wich one…purple words on a grey back round…what the fuck does this mean???

Agreed, Conservative minorityyet again.
So in this age of economic uncertainty won’t this just prove to be another big waste of time and money?
We’ll all wake up tomorrow and things will be just the same as they were had we not held an election at all.
Yay Canada! We’re awfully good at not making any progress.
Perhaps that’s why they dropped the “progressive” from Progressive Conservative.
Sigh.

Jane: that was not a typo. In 2004 Paul Martin’s Liberals were re-elected, in 2006 we went to the polls and elected Harper and his Conservatives, and here we are in October of 2008, third time in four years, probably putting Harper back in, as a minority, again. Ian pointed out above, that we are basically just burning time and money.

Why? Just my opinion: this is indicative of our federal government - one of it’s basic tenets is to run around pointlessly in ever decreasing circles until you eventually disappear up your own arse.

Jane: The regular 2004 election resulted in a Liberal minority government, which means they won the highest number of seats but not an overall majority of them. That means the government can easily be “brought down” by a vote of no confidence from the other parties. So, that happened in 2006, which forced another election. The Conservatives won that time, but they only managed to eke out a minority government as well. There was no confidence vote this time around– Harper just sort of decided on his own to ask the Governor General to dissolve Parliament because he felt it was no longer functional. So, election #3 in four years. Fun.

Here’s another possible take of tonight’s outcome: a LIBERAL minority government.

It seems that Ontario is the swing province and that the Harper campaign in the last 10 days was so poorly perceived that there may be more votes going Dion’s way from Ontario just to move away from a possible Conservative government.

Were this to happen, I think Stéphane might have a mini heart attack. Won’t the Western provinces have fun with that!

I think we all kind of knew from day 1 of this election being called we would end up with another minority Conservative government.
The country still seems pretty undecided on Harper. But compared to the idea of Stephan Dion and jack Layton he seems like the default vote.
The only big change I can possibly see happening is the NDP becoming the opposition party and much more even amount of representatives from different parties creating a government of even more conflicting ideals.

My only hope is that all those that are voting today choose to vote with your hearts and not your minds. I strongly believe that as long as you vote with your heart you cannot go wrong. If the conservatives do re-gain the minority government it will be up to the other parties to form a coalition. I don’t believe it to be our responsibility to try and sway the vote one way or another. Just vote with your heart and you can all sleep soundly! For the record, if anyone cares, I do agree with Matt that this will all be for not and the Coservatives with again hold a minority government. The Greens may pick up a few more votes and maybe a seat or two, which I don’t think would be a bad thing at all. VOTE WITH YOUR HEART!

Ian: i think you are over-reacting and should be proud to call this man your Prime Minister:

http://impolitical.blogspot.com/2007/10/stephen-harper-is-not-cowboy.html

@ ianb: you and i both, dude! like i have been saying for the past few weeks, if harper wins (and subsequently, mccain), we will have a one-party, two-county nation :S and one that i will no longer wish to be a part of…

hellooooooo deutschland! :D

Mike Pew: You can still vote; you just need to swear an oath and, I believe, have someone else vouch for you.

When I refer to this election as a waste of time I am referring to it being a waste of money, which it will be. I am obviously all for political discourse. That said, when it’s the third election in four years, and nothing is going to really change, the millions spent could have been used elsewhere rather than on a gamble to gain a majority.

I hate like fuck that I have to agree….. It will probably end up another conservative minority…… uhg

It’s exactly like with France and their elections. They vote left cause they’re not happy with the right, and then by the 3rd year they’re not happy with the left so they vote for the right…and it goes on and on and on. We’re just too many people with too many different opinions and in different situations, and of course, with Mr. Time always changing (wow..that was corny) we just can’t all stay satisfied. Instead of complaining about conservative minority, try proving to Them that we won’t stand for having millions of dollars lost on elections and adversiting, and then doing something that you wouldn’t normally do but because the party that you wanted can’t supposedly do it, you could try to instead. Like fuuuck, if you voted Green and they’re not elected, then go support Green Peace or plant a tree- it’s the least you could do.

only a few weeks

I thought this is my third federal election. Thanks to the frequency of the federal elections, I’ve voted a grand total of five times since turning 18 - at least one election for each year I’ve been an adult. Not that I don’t enjoy my right to vote. Personally, today I dragged my ass to my old high school and proudly confused the hell out of the elderly polling officers when me, a youngin’, showed up to vote. I swear I got some really strange looks walking in there…but at the very least, my millions of my tax dollars went towards giving me the opportunity to confuse the living shit out of old people.) I just don’t enjoy the fact I’m wasting money to participate in a practice that will not in anyway change the state of my country.

Of course, probably the saddest part I think to all of this, is that three federal elections in, I still don’t know what it’s like to actually have a majority government in parliament. All I’ve known as a Canadian voter is that my life has been one gigantic attack ad - and that isn’t going to change anytime soon.