not much news out of Canada

[calimac]

Since the most recent of the major political earthquakes which regularly shake not stir the Canadian polity, the 2003 merger of two right-wing parties to form a new model Conservative Party, there have been three general elections, the latest yesterday. Each has resulted in a minority government - the only previous time there've been three of those in a row in Canada was in the 1960s - and in each the New Model Conservatives, who became the largest party and the government at the second election, two years ago, have steadily gained. This time they got about 38% of the vote and 46% of the seats, a notable advance on last time.

And so Canada muddles on as before. Likely as not there'll be some inter-party agreement on the economy, which might distract attention from the Conservatives' social policies. The current administration is far more socially conservative than any previous one in Canada, in the mode if not to the extent of the U.S. Republicans. They've already significantly cut arts funding, one of the livability issues that made Canada such a beacon, and interference in people's private lives can only be prevented by the vigilance of the other parties.

Comments

[alanro.livejournal.com]

Well, I voted at the consulate... And the cut in arts funding did not go over very well at all in Quebec. In fact, this may have cost the Tories the majority they were looking for (the only reason why they called this election in the first place).

An interesting result of the first past the post system: the Bloc Quebecois received approximately 10% of the popular vote and 48 seats in the House of Commons. The Green Party received approximately 8% of the popular vote and zero seats in the House of Commons...