Stephen Harper’s Conservatives win second minority
Stephen Harper’s Conservatives have won another minority government. As votes came in across the country, the party maintained a healthy lead over the second-place Liberals.
The Conservatives’ victory in this federal election is due in large part to gains made in Ontario and British Columbia.
The Liberals handily won most of the ridings in Atlantic Canada, and the Bloc Québécois have taken 50 seats in Quebec.
Four party leaders—Harper, Stéphane Dion, Gilles Duceppe, and the NDP’s Jack Layton—have been reelected in their ridings.
Green leader Elizabeth May has been defeated by Defence Minister Peter MacKay in Central Nova.
For complete Vancouver-based coverage of the 2008 election, go to the Straight's Federal election page.
Comments
1 Comments
David Wong
Oct 15, 2008 at 10:17am
As we digest yesterday's Conservative victory... there are a few interesting observations.
In the past, I've been asked if there is such a thing as an "ethnic voting" block. My answer, "Yes... it's unfortunate but true".
In the "Chinese heavy" ridings of Van Kingsway, Van South and Bby Douglas, have a look at the demographics and on how the vote went... it appears that if a political party ran a donkey with a Chinese surname, that donkey would have captured a sizeable number of votes. Just have a peek at the demographic numbers and voting patterns.
However, when you run two donkeys, as was done in Richmond... then a bit more cerebral activity (from the voter) may occur - concerns of the past performance of the incumbent (Donkeys are very hard on their own for perceived non-performance) ...and thoughts on party issues ...things like the economy, taxes, law & order.
So my advice to those who may be thinking of running the next time, pandering to "ethnic votes" does work in an Apathetic environment as ours is... but more important, you have to be able to get them off their apathetic behinds and be able to transport your masses of fickle supporters to the voting station.
Not an easy task.