The news I’m hearing from north of the border is not good. I had hoped that Canada would not succumb to conservative lies and Rove-like tactics. I wanted Layton to do at least well enough to form a coalition government with the Liberal Party. But it appears that is not to be.
Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper won his coveted majority government in elections Monday that also marked a shattering defeat for the opposition Liberals, preliminary results showed.
Harper, who took office in 2006, has won two elections but until now had never held a majority of Parliament’s 308 seats, forcing him to rely on the opposition to pass legislation. While Harper’s hold on the 308-member Parliament has been tenuous during his five-year tenure, he has managed to nudge an instinctively center-left country to the right. He has gradually lowered sales and corporate taxes, avoided climate change legislation, promoted Arctic sovereignty, upped military spending and extended Canada’s military mission in Afghanistan.
Elections Canada reported preliminary results on its website, giving the Conservatives 164 seats, which will give Harper four years of uninterrupted government… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Washington Post>
How sad for Canada! I offer my Canadian friends my heartfelt condolences.
14 Responses to “A Sad Day for Canada”
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Definitely sad. But at least they still have the prettiest national anthem! (At least as I remember it before Ménière’s Disease took my hearing.)
I agree. Therefore Harper may change it. I’m sorry about your hearing. I had never heard of that affliction.
Damn! We were planning our underground railway escape to Canada if the US keeps heading down the Fascist path. I’m a bit more encouraged that won’t happen since Ryan’s budget pissed off nearly everybody except the Koch brothers.
Then, again, the Supreme court continues to worse the conditions in the US gulag.
Marva, Canada is about to become much worse.
No! Not Canada too! Jebus, what’s wrong with people? 😡 😯
Lisa, you’d better rethink your plans.
I am very disheartened that Stephen Harper has won the election. My Canadian friends, I hoped that you were too smart to allow your nation to fall over the same cliff we did. I hoped that our Wisconsin mess meant something to you. Clearly it did not, for now you are going to “enjoy” the same sort of treatment.
Realist, it amazes me too. Couldn’t they see across the border?
Tom, Canada’s economy is stronger than America’s right now, and our dollar is almost par. Our crime rate is falling, and our housing starts are rising. Our unemployment rate is 7.7 while America’s is 8.8.
We still have universal health care, legalized same sex marriage, and Vancouver, Ottawa and Toronto have been listed by Mercer Consulting as three of the top cities in the world in which to live.
Please do not weep too much for us, my friend. 🙂
Cheers,
Josie
Josie, on a couple of occasions you have promised an ‘I told you so’, like about Edwards. Now it’s my turn. Canada is in much better shape than the US, but this is the beginning of conservative majority rule, so they have not yet had an opportunity to undo any of those good things. There will be cause to weep as time goes on.
Tom, Canadians won’t allow those things to be undone. We also have legalized abortion, which I still have two minds about.
For some reason, Canadians actually like Harper. The Liberal party was absolutely deciminated, eviscerated. Canadians are tired of the Liberals. They swung so far to the left, we didn’t recognize our own country anymore.
Time will tell… 🙂
Now that Harper has a majority, he does not have to exercise the restraint he did during a coalition government. When time tells, you’ll owe me one this time.
I’ll take your challenge, Tom. 🙂 Stephen Harper is the person Canadians love to hate, but oddly enough I have good gut instincts about him. We’ll see in 12 months.
Cheers!
Cool, but it may take longer than a year. It took six before the majority of Americans realized that Bush had devastated this country.