Tuesday, September 21, 2021

The pointless Canadian election - no clear winners, only one clear loser

Yesterday's Canadian federal election, which promised to be interesting, turned out to be a big fat nothing-burger. 36 days and $600,000,000 ($480 million in real money) later, Canuckistan will once again be governed by the Liberal Party of Canada and its super-woke leader, Blackie McBlackface, aka Justin Trudeau, pictured at right. [Should be on the left, shurely! Ed.]

The composition of the House of Commons (analogous to the US House of Representatives) remains virtually unchanged. When the last Parliament was dissolved, the Gliberals held 155 seats, the self-styled Conservatives (really the alt-Liberals) had 119, le Bloc Québécois 32, the New Democrats (celebrating their 60th anniversary) 24, and the Green Party 2. There were 5 independents and 1 seat was vacant.

When the sun rose over Parliament Hill this morning, the Liberals were elected or leading in 157 ridings (+2), the Red Tories 119 (unchanged), the BQ 34 (+2), NDP 25 (+1), and the Soylent Greens 2 (unchanged). One MP who was fired by the Liberals two days before the election under suspicion of sexual misconduct will have to sit as an independent.

The People's Party of Canada, led by Maxime Bernier and endorsed by YVT, had no seats in the last parliament and will have no seats in the new one, as "Mad Max" failed to win his home riding of Beauce.

Canadian Conservatives can make the same claim as they did in 2019 and the US Dumbocrats did in 2016, that they are the real winners because they won more of the popular vote -- 34% to the Liberals' 32.5% -- but too bad for them, the systems of both countries are similar in that you can win the popular vote and still lose the election. 

Now let's take a look at the party leaders, to see who were the winners and who the losers.

Justin Trudeau called the election, in the middle of the kung flu pandemic, for no reason other than his egomaniacal desire to win a third term with a majority. He didn't. So we can say he lost. But he's still Prime Minister of Canuckistan this morning, so he also won.

The leader of the alleged Conservatives, Erin O'Toole, lost an election that was his to win. Mr Socks is the most loathed prime minister in Canadian history -- and that's saying something! -- and could have been beaten, had the Cons offered a real alternative. That they didn't is on Mr O'Tool, who deliberately dragged his party from the centre to the left, in hopes of appealing to "progressive" voters. Mr O'Tool will likely face a fight to continue in his role as leader. Still, he can say that his party increased its share of the popular vote, so in that sense he's a "winner", just like Hellery Clinton.  

Yves-François Blanchet's Bloc Québécois gained two seats, which makes M Blanchet a winner, except that, in spite of finishing in third place, they don't hold the balance of power in the minority government, since Mr Socks can count on the support of the NDP to do whatever they like to Canada, including Québec, which is all M Blanchet cares about anyway. [Walt! What have I told you about run-on sentences?! Ed.]

The socialist NDP, led by Jagmeet Singh, is down one seat, which makes Mr Singh a loser, since they should have been able to do better with liberals fed up with M Trudeau. Still, they are the real holders of the balance of power and can bring down the Liberals if they choose. But that's Strike Two for Mr Singh and he won't be in any hurry to step up to the plate a third time.

Annamie Paul was the first black, Jewish woman to lead a "national Party", although to call the Green Party "national" is being charitable, since it ran candidates in only two-thirds of the ridings. She finished a distant fourth in her own riding of Toronto Centre, and her party was lucky to win two seats, the same total (but not the same seats) as last time. Even before the election, the Green Party brass was trying to oust her, and she will likely step down after a decent interval.

Finally, let us consider the fate of Maxime Bernier, erstwhile leader of the People's Party of Canada, which he founded just four years ago. He lost his own riding by a margin of more than 2 to 1. But under his leadership, and as a result of his tireless campaigning right across the huge empty country, the PPC's share of the vote increased from 1.6% in 2019 to nearly 6% at last count. 


The analysts, pundits, etc agree: The PPC is real, and here to stay! IMHO, that makes "Mad Max" a winner!

FOOTNOTE: Where the PPC did make a difference was in seven or eight ridings where the PPC drew just enough votes, mainly from the Conservatives, to let the Liberal candidate win. That should be a lesson for the Conservatives about the perils of alienating the real conservatives just to appease the "moderates".

ANOTHER FOOTNOTE: Early this morning, the Campaign Life Coalition issued a news release saying it was disappointed but not surprised by the election result. "The Conservatives would've done much better," they said, "if O'Toole had not alienated the party’s socially conservative base with his shameless support for abortion, LGBT ideology, oppressive lockdowns and liberty-destroying vaccine passports." [My emphasis. Walt]

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