Can somebody please compare elections results from 2004 to the results from 2006 in the Stronach riding. The numbers do not make any sense. Stronach picked up virtually every new vote in that riding. Stronach took almost all of the increase in voter turnout from 2004. Contrast that with how liberals did in the surrounding area. Even Bevilacqua lost a bit of support in neighboring Vaughan. The same goes for Temelkovski in Oak Ridges which is just south of Stroanch's riding.

Posted by: BigPete at January 24, 2006 08:16 AM

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I am a little disappointed at such a weak minority but you take what you can. Been born and lived all my life in Canada and still do not understand Canadians. On CTV they are speculating Belinda, Ignatiev and Brison will run for the Liberal leadership? God help us. I wouldnt rule out Copps. You never know.

Posted by: Perkunas at January 24, 2006 08:22 AM

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Forty three year old, Chicoutimi native Martin Tremblay, arrested in the U.S. on money laundering charges, used his Nassau, Bahamas registered company Diminion investments to move criminally obtained funds for cleansing. Anyone care to search the LPoC donations database for donations from this individual? Any direct connections to sitting or former Liberal MP's? Don't you think it might be interesting if this bird sings?

Posted by: Bruce Randall at January 24, 2006 08:24 AM

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That should be Dominion. Doh!

Posted by: Bruce Randall at January 24, 2006 08:25 AM

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Two additions: In the winners column the emergent blogs. In the losers column-the antique media. Power and influence have shifted.

Posted by: georgew at January 24, 2006 08:51 AM

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Andy Scott didn't lose. I wish he did. But he's still a loser...

Posted by: Matt at January 24, 2006 08:59 AM

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Ontario will likely get the blame for the Tories only getting a minority.
However outside of the GTA the CPC did quite well picking up 16 seats. Remember without those seats we would be looking at a Liberal minority this morning.

Posted by: Largs at January 24, 2006 09:23 AM

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My congratulations to Stephen Harper, the Conservative Party...and the Canadian people!

You've thrown The Bums out!

Like a lot of people, I was hoping for the "M word"-a Majority Government for the Conservatives. Mark Steyn aptly described the ousting of the Liberal Party as "a necessary act of political hygeine". That's done, not totally, but a huge victory for honorable government. And, as the cliche goes, Rome wasn't built in a day.

Let Mr. Harper and the Conservatives take a short interval of well-deserved celebration. Then down to work!

When they dig into the vast fetid pile of corruption in Ottawa, the Liberal Party will be shown to the Canadian people for the thieves and hacks that they are.

And in the next election, a Conservative majority!

Posted by: Dave at January 24, 2006 09:25 AM

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I don't see how the NDP was a big winner, except in numbers. They are no longer the balance of power. Now, an NDP-conservative union on an issue would be insufficient. The conservatives can only get legislation through if either the Liberals or the Bloc support it--the NDP is mathematically irrelevant. Given that the conservatives were the number two party in most Bloc ridings, the Bloc will have to be cooperative.

Posted by: Murray at January 24, 2006 09:30 AM

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What a morally bankrupt nation Kanada is.
I mean SERIOUSLY; after ALL that has happened in the last 12-13 years of Liberal corruption, mismanagement and outright fraud...they are awarded 103 SEATS???!!!...appalling.

It's like giving a convicted serial murderer a 90 day suspended sentence to be served in his house.

Makes me want to vomit.

Posted by: MAnny at January 24, 2006 09:31 AM

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I agree with Murray that Layton went from a power broker that the Liberals had to listen to in order to survive and has morphed into an irrelevant party that cannot support Harper. The extra seats and the increased vote will result in less, not more power for Layton since his opinion no longer matters. In addition, I believe that this election was a strong anti-Liberal vote rather than a vote for the NDP and it would not surprise me to see them lose their gains in the next election when the Liberals have a new leader who is not tainted by the past scandals. Frank McKenna, your limo is waiting ....

Posted by: Thornhill at January 24, 2006 09:45 AM

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MAnny: Couldn't agree more. What does it take to Get the people of Moronto to wake up? One news report said it was a comment on Abortion that Harper was goaded into answering that swayed the un-decided voters in GTA. A single issue, no doubt an emotional one, but its gotta make you wonder what's this country sunk to?

Posted by: arctic_front at January 24, 2006 09:47 AM

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Frank McKenna! From an American perspective, Frank McKenna is another Chretien, another Martin.

Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party have a helluva long "To-Do list", no doubt. I hope fairly high up on that list is the appointment of a new non-anti-American Canadian Ambassador to the United States.

Posted by: at January 24, 2006 09:51 AM

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Stephen Harper has to prove he's not an extremist, hence the minority.

D

Posted by: David Lockwood at January 24, 2006 09:52 AM

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Belinda, not only has ugly shoes, but watching her speak after she secured her riding was pathetic. She could barely look at her constituents or the cameras at one point because she knew what she was saying was ridiculous.
Harry Potter..Landslide Annie..GONE! How wonderful is that! Alberta is completely BLUE..Tory Blue and she looks beautiful that way!
I am however stunned, that Ralph Goodale managed to hold his seat. I guess none of the people in his riding, care about the Income Trust Scandal enough to give him the boot.
I am going to get on the phone today and call all my friends in Vancouver, I can't for the life me figure out how in Gods name they could re-elect someone like Hedy Fry.
The West is FINALLY IN, I will take comfort in that and hope that Harper, will manage to live up to his potential!

Posted by: at January 24, 2006 09:56 AM

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Con - 124
Lib - 103
Bloc- 51
NDP - 29
Oth - 1

...it's getting as familiar as the Numbers on that show 'Lost' :)

D

Posted by: David Lockwood at January 24, 2006 09:58 AM

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You forgot to put PEI on your list of losers.

Posted by: RP. at January 24, 2006 10:02 AM

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THe way I see it is like this,Belinda will take a run at the Liberal leadership - lose- and drop out of politic's. She's in it for herself. She rolled the dice, gambled by crossing over to the Liberal's and will once again sit in the opposition rank's. NOt exactly her cup of tea.

Posted by: j.baker at January 24, 2006 10:05 AM

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BAAAAA ! Ontario has way too many sheep - fearfull sheep - who can be easily herded into the slaughter (or at least fleasing) by the liberals....

Iam very disappointed. I rationally expected a minority government, but not such a milk toast weak minority government. The liberals will 'accidently' triger an election when the conservatives try to bring in thier first major bill. They'll try to Joe Clark him.

Get ready for a June election.

Posted by: Curtis at January 24, 2006 10:16 AM

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It is interesting that the Liberals dominate in Toronto and do well in Vancouver--43.7 and 37.5 percent foreign-born population (2001 census, even higher now).
http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census01/products/analytic/companion/etoimm/tables/subprovs/fbpro.cfm

Monteal is a special case.

What is interesting is the situation in the next three largest metropolitan areas, all close to a population of one million: Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton. The Liberal won only two seats in Ottawa, in the urban core (the NDP won the other core seat); the Conservatives won all the suburban ridings. In Calgary and Edmonton the Conservatives won all the seats.

Surely this is an urban triumph for the Tories, but I do not think one will find any such description of the result in the media. One wonders why.

Another interesting fact: the foreign-born population of these three cities is, respectively, 17.7, 20.9, and 17.8 percent (curiously the percentage for Canada as a whole is 18.4--almost the same).

So the urban areas where the Liberals predominate are those where the foreign-born population is twice, or well over twice, the national average. Exceptionally atypical places. And Toronto and Vancouver (plus Montreal) will become only more atypical since some three-quarters of all immigrants settle in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal.
http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census01/products/analytic/companion/etoimm/canada.cfm#three_largest_urban_centres

So in fact there are three Canadas: Toronto and Vanouver, cities vastly different in their ethnic makeup from the rest of the Rest of Canada: the (anglo) Rest of Canada, and Quebec.

This ever-increasing diifference within RoC between the two great metropolises and all its other parts cannot be a Good Thing. Amongst other things the national media in Toronto (John Ibbitson of the Globe is the supreme exemplar) are simply unaware that they live in a very odd city that has ever less in common with the country as a whole--a situation that severely distorts media attitudes and coverage.

In addition, our immigration policy promotes family re-unification of the broadest possible sort. This means multitudes more of people ill-suited on the whole to add productively to the economy (let's face it, many end up on welfare) joining their relatives in the metros each year. This will only exacerbate the division of the country and I doubt the Conservatives will have the courage in a minority parliament to do anything about it.

Mark
Ottawa

Posted by: Mark Collins at January 24, 2006 10:17 AM

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Sorry, Curtis, but I just don't see it. Harper will twist and turn trying to make central Canada trust him. I don't expect any strong right wing moves for the first year. The Liberals will be in the midst of a leadership race for most of the next year and the new leader will want at least six months to put his/her stamp on the party. The next election will be at least 20 months off.

Posted by: Thornhill at January 24, 2006 10:23 AM

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The Liberals will have to stop them...

There is a lot of digging to do. They wont give them time to dig, they wont give him time to build trust with the sheep. They'll brand whatever his first bill is, 'extremist' and defeat the government on it.

Remember Trudeau quit in 1980, then took down the government, and was PM for another 4 years.

Also remember, Canada is irrelevant. What Canadians want is irrelevant. To them, the great injustice, that can not be permitted, is that they're out of power. They will do everything they can to rectify the situation as quickly as possible.

Posted by: Curtis at January 24, 2006 10:35 AM

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Yep, MetroToronto are sheep and they've been fleeced and, uh, fleeced...

Vancouver? Well the 24+ days of rain does something to the brain. Even the though of Sven being close to winning, well, what the heck is he doing there? Then again a $50,000 ring is cheaper than a 2 billion gun registry. Same stuff, different pile.

Belinda's back...what the hey? Now I know where all those student votes ended up ;-)

Posted by: tomax at January 24, 2006 10:40 AM

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"....Stronach picked up virtually every new vote in that riding..."

5358 votes going to Belinda out of an additional 7364 votes from 2004.

Belinda = Magna

Posted by: JM at January 24, 2006 10:50 AM

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I believe Chretien belongs on the Winners list. The Ottawa Citizen on Jan 23 ran the article "Chretien loyalists leap to Tory camp: Many have switched sides to ensure Paul Martin's ouster."

I don't think Ontario would have shifted over to the Liberals in the numbers they did except for the feeling that something was happening in Quebec. So, while Chretien's team didn't have much effect on ridings directly in Ontario, indirectly, the bump in CPC support came from their Quebec actions.

I just can't shake the image of a giant Chretien as a puppeteer, standing over the country, pulling the strings of all the players and enjoying the show he is putting on for us!

Posted by: KJH at January 24, 2006 11:09 AM

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I had no idea that this many Canadians actually live in fear. You gotta hand it to the Liberals, in the final days of the campaign they plastered the airways with the most vicious fear mongering ever done in Canada and a lot of Canadians bought it hook, line and sinker. What a bunch of garbage. I will never, ever give into fear and will only support hope.

The Liberals have actually ruined us more than I ever would have thought.

Posted by: Roger at January 24, 2006 11:47 AM

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The reality is the Bloc is now in control. Layton has no juice. The CPC is under the thumb of Duceppe- he is the true fount of power in this country.

Posted by: Dave P from Campbell River at January 24, 2006 12:17 PM

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I disagree that the Grits are losers.
They looted hundreds of millions from the
Adscam scandal (that we know about), traded
income trusts on inside info (perhaps raking
in billions), etc. and managed to retain 100
seats. KJH is right on: Chretien is the big winner.
Nearly all his cronies survived.
Losing would have been a 1993 PC-ish decimation.
The Grits will be back in power before
well before 13 years have elapsed.

Posted by: Mike Eisler at January 24, 2006 12:23 PM

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Congratulations to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

The electorate has allowed him to drive the government car with training wheels.

Given the Canadian public have to be weaned off of "Liberal crack"; the next election should prove to be a more handsome win.

Canadians like evolution, not revolution.

The Liberals will be thrashing about in a leadership search and destroy.

Most significantly the federation looks stronger as Duceppe took it on the chin. Harper, by working on Quebec, Atlantic Canada and the supermetropolitan areas can gradually build his base outward.

"Get Back to Jack" will make sure the social conservative "hidden agenda" never sees the light of day.

Best of all, someone else, other than the Liberals, will give an open book look at the nations finances and how the shell game has been manipulated. In the long run this is good for Canada.

Posted by: Hans Rupprecht at January 24, 2006 12:23 PM

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You would think the CPC were losers by some of this crap being spread evenly and thin. Guys, WE WON!!!

Winners, Harper, because although we didn't get as big a Minority as we would like ( I saw we as a Conservative supporter and voter, and Reform voter before that) we were almost sure we were getting a minority. Yes, Harper didn't make a breakthough in Toronto, but in our first past the post system, he actually gained in the popular vote in both Ontario and in Toronto. It is a long slow battle to liberate people from the Stockholm syndrome.

Jack Layton is the big loser. Yes, he gained 10 seats but what more can he do? He wont have the sway with Harper he had with Martin because the Libreals will fall over themselves to keep Harper in until they get out of debt and get a new leader. Harper will have way more room than most minority PM's and as long as he is reasonable and realize he has to satisfy a country's aspirations, just not those of Alberta, he will be able to gain trust. Layton? He just makes a lot of noise....

Heck, the Libreals deserved to be gutted and filleted, but you know one thing for sure, if we were facing a Leader of the Opposition by the name Jack Layton, I would likely feel nauseous. That self satisfied ego maniacal lefty is no Ed Broadbent...who at least has class. Jack and his followers are just rabble...

Posted by: Mark in Bowmanville at January 24, 2006 12:33 PM

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I'd expect Harper to start working on the more challenging (but not MOST challenging) items of his agenda, so as to push things through without fear of a vote of nonconfidence.

It's important for him to be seen as keeping his promises and delivering legislation to help Canadians long before the next election call. Mandatory minimum sentences must be implemented to combat gun violence in Toronto, as well as the lowering of the age of adult sentencing to "youths".

Frankly, many people are in a flutter about a free vote on SSM; this could be done next month for all the objections it will cause. That won't topple the government, and if it's a no-go, it's off the board. Of course, the SSM debate must be placed in terms of priority: I'd expect this to surface at least after a year's time, as the CPC can't show their immediate priority in office is to debate this issue. That'd be a non-starter & a real blow to credibility.

There are soooo many Canadians who've never seen anything BUT a liberal government, who were likely frightened into voting grit at the 11th hour. The CPC need to work as hard as they can to show that Canadians can benefit from another form of government other than liberal, and that the "scary, hidden agenda" monikers were just liberal fear mongering, if not outright lies.

Yeah, I'm pretty disappointed that my fellow Ontarions decided to drink the red kool-aid late last night, but in this horse race, you take what you get & run with it. And to those in Alberta who are screaming for separation in response to the (albeit disheartening) Ontario vote: calm your asses down. In Stephen Harper's own words, "The West is IN". I agree you've received the shaft at the hands of the liberals, and are due plenty of respect. I have faith that our new PM will open the doors wider to you than you've ever seen these last 13 years, so... be patient a little longer. The CPC have come a huge way in the last 2 years, yes? Let's give them the chance to show what they're able to do.

Now it's up to the CPC to start delivering and acting as though they're under the microscope, because they most certainly are. And the more vocal right-wing elements better get hold of their collective mouth, because any hardline soundbytes will be quoted verbatim or replayed in the next election campaign... guaranteed.

TOPICAL THOUGHT: Should Harper & the CPC instruct Gomery/Fraser to revisit the Adscam inquiry & completely blow the lid off Earnscliffe and any other forbidden nooks and crannies? Discuss.

mhb23re
(email is above username at Google webmail service)

Posted by: MHB at January 24, 2006 01:06 PM

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What a beautiful day! Harper is Prime Minister, the sun is shining and temperatures across Canada are unseasonably warm. Maybe the long cold Narnian winter is ending at last.

Posted by: BDRinBC at January 24, 2006 02:52 PM

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svend, anne, and pierre certainly belong together

Posted by: brock at January 24, 2006 02:56 PM

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If all the parties were to allow free votes, parliament would belong to the elected, and what a wonderful thing this could be...

Posted by: brock at January 24, 2006 03:00 PM

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I wouldn't want the NDP to be the official opposition, but Iam unhappy with the liberals being "taken to the woodshed" and still come out with 100 seats... that's some woodshed... Iam just afraid that the Liberals haven't learned their lesson, if there are no political costs to their 'mismanagement' or corruption why should we ever expect anything better from them?

I dont.

Posted by: Curtis at January 24, 2006 03:21 PM

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Another 'winner' for moral courage and rectitude and doing what's best, is Gurmant Grewal. So glad to see his wife won her seat!

In the context of the low moral standards that characterized governance under Liberal sleaze, Gurmant Grewal had the courage to do the only thing he could to expose these Liberal shenaegans that led to the defection of two conservatives. He taped the underhanded and illegal offers by Martin's clique. 'Offering a benefit' is illegal, yet the mainstream pundits considered this cynically as 'the way its done' in Canada and no one demanded the laying of charges despite all the blatant evidense od people receiving benefits for crossing the floor. Crossing the floor is ok, but offering and receiving benefits for doing so is against the law. Yet, the law was not enforced under Liberal hegemony over all things of process.

The 'Murphy tapes' recorded by Grewal exposed this underbelly of illegality so carefully worded, but nevertheless, clearly exposed, and he deserves credit for this. yet, somehow, under Canada's media 'chattering classes', the issue became that Grewal taped, rather than the 'offers of benefit' he exposed.

While race may not have been the motive for this shift of emphasis, certainly a cultural lassitude about corruption in high places when they are one party state Liberal corruptions of democratic process, was evidensed by Canada's media and pundit caste in what became the 'Grewal Affair', rather than the 'Martin-Murphy Affair'.

Gurmant Grewal deserves acclaim for exposing what he did.

Posted by: brock at January 24, 2006 03:37 PM

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You guys are hilarious.

U R acting like you lost.

Oh hang on a sec... maybe you did.

Ever wonder why many in Ontario don't support the CPC? It is not becuase they are afraid of you. This minority is not a step towards a majority, it is the high water mark.

Harper ran a great campaign. Martin ran a pathetic campaign. And this is all you can do?

The truth is that 64% voted either left or centre-left. And that is as good as it is going to get for you guys.

The voters in Onterio are not sheep. Alberta voters are - they have elected the same provincial government for over 30 years - they only one party? That is herd memtality.

This election is bad for Canada, but great for the Liberal Party. Harper's honeymoon will be shortened by the Liberal leadership convention. A year from now we back at the poles. Guess who wins.

Posted by: Bert at January 24, 2006 06:19 PM

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Mark in Ottawa.

Stop with the racial profiling.

The Conservatives are one of the great parties in the world. They have had great great leaders.

Saying you got beat by the ethnic vote in Toronto and Vancouver is a disservice to your great party. The reality is that without the GTA or the new wins in Que the overall numbers wouldn't have changed.

Like it or not the CPC and the LPC are brothers. Brothers who have different views. Equally valid but different.

Like Rick Mercer said: We held an election, no guns were fired, now that is a country worth voting for.

Posted by: Bert at January 24, 2006 06:32 PM

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Bert's comments serve to underline the need for genuine, far-reaching democratic reform in Canada.

Most of canada's history has been under the same party's rule with a PM with the autocratic power to appoint everything including a whole senate, judges, heads of crown corps, and commissions into his party's own wrong-doing.

Under first past the post, with 60% of voters list still bothering to vote, and ten percent off this list, 'majority governments are picked by 20 or 25 % of possible voters. That's all that these 'successful' governments represent. Added to this is regional disparity of representation. BC-Alberta have almost the same pop as Quebec, yet Quebec has 11 more seats. Per capita, PEI and the maritimes have a lot more representation than the rest.

These are the quasi-democratic means by which the Liberal Party, elected mostly in Ontario for some time now, manages to cling so illegitimately to power...This is nothing to be proud of, Bert, if you are a democrat.

You are quite right in your assessment that the Liberals will soon be back at the helm after the 'leadership renewal' show under the present skewed and undemocratic electoral system. Again, this is nothing to be proud of if you are a democrat.

So long as both the conservatives and the NDP fear each other more than they do the one party state Liberals controlling canada at every level for most of its existence, nothing real will change, and this too, is nothing to be proud of.

Posted by: brock at January 24, 2006 09:00 PM

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Brock, I certainly agree with your 3:37 views especially.

Integrity in Government means just punishment for crimes of theft and fraud. *Yet the law is not enforced under the Liberals.*

The Grewal tapes were ruled valid and genuine by experts. I expect the honchos in the PMO*s office to do the time for their crimes against Canada*s democracy that our fathers laid their life on the line for.

I expect the voting irregularities in Edmonton, Churchill, and Surrey Whiterock or whatever Dhaliwal*s riding is to be checked and verified. Belinda*s riding should be checked also. Smells fishy to me.

Harper*s winning count should go up as those Liberals who cheated are tossed out.

I am not as trusting as the Liberal minded Sheeple who have never seen the lists of 219 Liberal frauds that are commonly posted around the blogs.

Was any such full summary list ever published in the MSM? Even a partial list of 100 was not published as far as I know.

The Canadian sheeple are allowed to think there is only Adscam and two or three other scams. Little do they know! TG

Posted by: TonyGuitar at January 25, 2006 10:27 AM

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Correcting the population/seats missmatch for the west would be a good starting point to ease western alienation. Our votes are just as valuable as the votes of Quebecers, and deserve equal representation. (also, if they do the boundry re-draws, and hold by-elections, most of these seats, should go conservative)

If you look into each department, agency, corperation, foundation and organization, I think you'll find fraud waste and abuse thru all organs of the government.

Also, on election reforms - we should prevent public institutions from giving money to political parties... Iam thinking specificly in the last election the Calgary Zoo gave a large donation to the liberal party... The ironies of this donation should be self explanitory.

Posted by: Curtis at January 25, 2006 11:27 AM

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