# election today



## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

as people go to vote could they please post in news, observations, tidbits from their ridings or nearby ...

i'm from a hard-core liberal riding; no change.


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

My only observation so far is that turnaround will be higher than in both 2006 and 2008.
I voted during the advance polls last weekend and I was surprised by the line ups for the advance poll.
I had to wait over 30 mins....I don't recall doing that even on election days in the past.
It's a good sign for sure...more and more people should come out and make their vote count.

My riding is historically conservative, and I expect it to remain the same.
The liberals and the NDP in my riding have shown little interest or motivation in changing that and have hardly campaigned.


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

It didn't seem any more crowded in my riding than usual; I'm also in a long-standing Liberal riding and everyone's predicting the incumbent to stay in but we'll see.

The NY Times yesterday had a short article on the election, noting that so many of the NPD candidates in Québec have no experience and are so idealistic that if the NPD becomes the official opposition it could hurt the party's future chances in the rest of Canada -- kind of like how the inexperienced and idealistic Tea Party candidates in the US have shifted the Republican party so far to the right that it's causing a backlash. They edited that bit out of the article overnight and it's not in today's version: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/world/americas/02canada.html.


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## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

I will be voting later this afternoon. What a waste of time and money for yet another election triggered by opportunists.


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## CanadianCapitalist (Mar 31, 2009)

We voted in advance polling over the Easter weekend. There was hardly any other voter around.

I live in a 'safe' Liberal riding as well. Last time around Liberals won by 16%. I see little chance of any upset here.

Please *do not post* any results prior to 10 PM EDT / 7 PM PDT. We don't want to get into trouble with Elections Canada.


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

Luckily I was able to vote 2 weeks ago before leaving the country

Seems no live streaming or info online until 10pm, so I guess I won't know anything until tomorrow morning


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

Elections Canada cracked down on leaking of elections results. It should be interesting to see how they can keep it off twitter. If Nfld polls are announced before 10 EST, it will be all over twitter, even if it's sent via a person outside Canadian jurisdiction.


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## steve41 (Apr 18, 2009)

I sincerely hope that participants on this forum observe the elections act... 

_No person shall transmit the result or purported result of the vote in an electoral district to the public in another electoral district before the close of all of the polling stations in that other electoral district._


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## LondonHomes (Dec 29, 2010)

We have 1 seat in play in the London area. Ed holder a Con incumbent who shot himself in the foot.

However the rise in NDP support may save him from the Liberal challenger.


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## I'm Howard (Oct 13, 2010)

Liberals might sneak in through the back door is this Big C Riding, thanks to Guergis.?

Reality, I don't give a damn, I'm one of those old farts that they are all promising freebies for.


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## slacker (Mar 8, 2010)

I see a lot of comments on "my riding is already a safe riding for XYZ party". This is an critical defect in our first-past-the-post electoral system. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7tWHJfhiyo


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## Sampson (Apr 3, 2009)

I'm in Calgary... no need to say more.

The only interesting tidbit is that I live in Jim Prentice's vacated riding, so theoretically there could be change, but...

I'M IN CALGARY. 
no change expected.


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## lister (Apr 3, 2009)

slacker said:


> I see a lot of comments on "my riding is already a safe riding for XYZ party". This is an critical defect in our first-past-the-post electoral system.


That's one of the reasons why I haven't voted in the past few elections on all levels of government. Over the past 15 years I've lived in two ridings that were slam dunks for a particular party or a particular person. I started voting Green as a protest of sorts but for the past couple elections I haven't bothered voting at all. Why bother if the status quo remains?

Even if the party I favoured (not really favoured but a selection of the lesser evil) was always the slam dunk favourite, I'd still not like it. I don't want comfy candidates. They need to be held on short leashes and know that they can be turfed easily. Actually I don't even have a party that I favour anymore, it died when the Reformers took over.

Anyways after not voting in the municipal election, I recently read how much closer the results were because of the condo boom in my riding. So that and the fact the polling station is in my condo building, I've decided to vote. I held my nose, made some faces and picked someone. Ugh.

My prediction is a Cons minority with a huge NDP increase. I hope Harper falls on his sword or is pushed and the more moderate section of the party takes over.


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

slacker said:


> I see a lot of comments on "my riding is already a safe riding for XYZ party". This is an critical defect in our first-past-the-post electoral system.
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7tWHJfhiyo


So Jack Layton's the spoiler effect?


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## DavidJD (Sep 27, 2009)

I read that Harper could get the majority after all if enough liberals vote NDP and if the conservative candidates come up the middle. The more I read about this and similar the more I could see it happening.

Too bad May doesn't look like she will get elected. Would have been great to have another voice since Layton and Liberals are more centre every day.

If Harper does not get his majority he is going to be royally pis*ed off.


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## SixesAndSevens (Dec 4, 2009)

all I want from this election is for the bloc to be eliminated.
don't care who takes those seats, any of the other 3 parties would do.
We've had enough of that nonsense
I hear Duceppe's own seat is uncertain now.
My only expectation is for the bloc to be completely routed and not be able to hold the country to ransom again.


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## Jungle (Feb 17, 2010)

I voted cons after seeing an nice summary this morning on BNN. Yes we have deficit but I do not think that raising taxes right now is the best thing to do for everybody. 

Now hopefully this is a kick in their @ss and a lesson learned stop the wreckless spending; ie G20 and fighter jets.


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

My brother has been in the military for 34 years so I hear his horror stories on how badly the air crafts are in our fleet. I personally would not mind money being spent on our military as my family member has to fly from Canada To Afghanistan several times a year.


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

The media blows things way out of proportion and it's sad that people vote based on propaganda. The F-35 is a good deal long term and the G20 replaced a lot of security training money ie my Sqn would have deployed to Florida instead to train with the US because we have nothing to train on here, whereas the G20 is realistic training and cheaper. Both are blown way out of proportion as they are a drop in the bucket GDP wise.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

mode3sour said:


> The media blows things way out of proportion and it's sad that people vote based on propaganda. The F-35 is a good deal long term and the G20 replaced a lot of security training money ie my Sqn would have deployed to Florida instead to train with the US because we have nothing to train on here, whereas the G20 is realistic training and cheaper. Both are blown way out of proportion as they are a drop in the bucket GDP wise.


Why were such costs attributed to G20? That's not responsible budgeting.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

trivia.

my ballot had 7 choices. Lib, con, bloc, ndp, green, rhino or communist party of canada.

communist candidate gave a speech in the district last week. Hard to distinguish from stock ndp or green party platform. Website has trotsky's pic but you'd never know from the mild stuff they dish.

on my street lives the son of a previous communist party candidate. Son works in the movie biz. His dad the red candidate used to visit here driving a mercedes.


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## dogcom (May 23, 2009)

Watching the election coverage here and it looks like BC will decide for the first time if the Conservatives form a majority or not.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

dogcom said:


> Watching the election coverage here and it looks like BC will decide for the first time if the Conservatives form a majority or not.


It's always Ontario that decides. That's just our electoral math. Either that, or more rationally, every seat counts the same whether it's counted first or last.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

what is happening in quebec is starkers.

some leading ndp candidates in not-yet-confirmed quebec ridings don't speak french. Winning ndp candidate in gaspésie-les-iles-de-la-madeleine never set foot in les-iles-de-la-madeleine yet the madelinôts voted for him anyhow. Sont fous, là.

the irony is that the Bloc, by its defeat at the hands of previously-unknown-in-quebec ndp, has guaranteed a federal canadian powerhouse for at least a decade to come.

liberal astronaut marc garneau battling hard to overcome close 2nd place behind unknown greenhorn ndp candidate, who doesn't live in the riding, in westmount-ville-marie.

justin trudeau, lately crown-prince-in-waiting but now more of a joker in a tattered liberal party, won handily in his home papineau riding, though.


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## plen (Nov 18, 2010)

Duceppe steps down as Bloc leader.
May wins first Green Party seat.


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

I bet all these non FRENCH speaking NDP winners are downloading Rosetta Stone tonight lol


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## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

Lol marina. 

I suspected a Tory majority, but the rest? 

I guess congrats. to Mr. Harper, Mr. Layton and Ms. May.


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## CanadianCapitalist (Mar 31, 2009)

Even the NDP candidate who doesn't speak much French, works in an Ottawa pub and was in vacation in Las Vegas instead of campaigning won her riding. Oh well, at least she would know where Parliament Hill is.


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

I wish she had invited me to join her in Vegas


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## SixesAndSevens (Dec 4, 2009)

i am happy that my only hope and expectation from the election has come true.
total and complete rout for the bloc party.
and the icing on the cake is that Duceppe lost his seat.
these are true winds of change
i hope all that separatist nonsense is behind us now and we move forward together as one country


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

Sounds like that Vegas girl and few others ran as a joke , Bet they will be happy to see what they will make when they go to Ottawa lol


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

SixesAndSevens said:


> i am happy that my only hope and expectation from the election has come true.
> total and complete rout for the bloc party.
> and the icing on the cake is that Duceppe lost his seat.
> these are true winds of change
> i hope all that separatist nonsense is behind us now and we move forward together as one country


I think it's probably the first step toward a PQ government in Quebec, increased alienation in Quebec and perhaps another referendum. Jack is playing with fire. He's made big promises to the Quebec nationalists that the rest of Canada may not be too comfortable with.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

race to the wee hours & counting. Garneau finally takes a slim 200-vote lead only minutes ago over ndp greenstick corbeil in tight race, with 5 polls still to report.

what is going on. He's served all his life in the military, in space, in academia as chancellor of carleton U, as MP & shadow critic of science & industry. She's never been elected.

did someone say with duceppe gone canada can move now forward as one country. LOL. Every sovereignist will tell you we are one country. It's just a sovereign nation within another sovereign nation. Just a mere matter of adjustment.


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## dogcom (May 23, 2009)

Andrewf you said it is always Ontario that decides. Well I think Saskatchewan west should go our own way and take our riches with us. You guys out east can vampire each other and enjoy. I know Alberta has paid dearly in the tune of at least a 160 billion dollars over the years for the eastern whiners and BC would have done so as well if it didn't vote NDP in the past.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

I know, I know, you wish barrels of oil had votes too.


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

andrewf said:


> I think it's probably the first step toward a PQ government in Quebec, increased alienation in Quebec and perhaps another referendum.


I think there's a lot of truth to this. Eighty-two percent of Quebecers voted against the Conservatives and are likely to feel more alienated than ever from the federal government. The Liberals feel more and more like yesterday's party, and Jean Charest's popularity has always been tenuous; I wouldn't be surprised to see provincial elections here before too long.


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

humble_pie said:


> did someone say with duceppe gone canada can move now forward as one country. LOL. Every sovereignist will tell you we are one country. It's just a sovereign nation within another sovereign nation. Just a mere matter of adjustment.


Exactly. A nation within a nation is how most people felt where I lived. It's basically how the "province" acts and labels themselves officially with Revenue Québec, QPP, fête nationale du Québec, Capitale-Nationale, la belle pays Québec etc. It's just not recognized that way outside of Québec.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

quebec more alienated than ever from the federal government ? jean charest's liberal hold weakened by the flood of orange ?

the fortunes of quebec liberals have never been tied to ottawa liberals. La vieille souche in the old citadel has never forgotten or forgiven meech lake. Is closer to federal PC than to federal liberals.

next faint trace of tea leaves will be readable soon in british bone china tea cups when will & kate come calling in quebec city in 2 months.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

brad said:


> I think there's a lot of truth to this. Eighty-two percent of Quebecers voted against the Conservatives and are likely to feel more alienated than ever from the federal government. The Liberals feel more and more like yesterday's party, and Jean Charest's popularity has always been tenuous; I wouldn't be surprised to see provincial elections here before too long.


Harper has to be really careful or he'll go down in history as the PM who revived sovereignty.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

*election may 2*

harper [will] go down in history as the PM who revived sovereignty ?

organic farmers are neurotoxic killers because century-old rotenone/derris organic fertilizer made a few rats sick when it was injected ?

andrew this stuff looks over the top. You're too smart to swerve into this. Paranoia. Will destroia.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

It's not what I said, pie--it's pretty ridiculous to try and quote me out of context the very next post in a thread. 

I said he has to be careful. Quebeckers are really unhappy with him. He doesn't need them. That's a recipe for stoking some really serious anger and resentment in Quebec if it's not handled carefully. The defeat of the Bloc this time around does not mean sovereignty is dead. All it takes is a spark to reignite, like the Liberals with the sponsorship scandal. We're almost certainly going to be getting the PQ back in Quebec City in the next provincial election. I'm not the only person who sees trouble ahead. The BQ has been a safety valve for the past twenty years. Without them, we might see the sovereignty movement come to a head.

The organic stuff is off-topic but suffice to say you're grossly misquoting me. I said nothing of the sort.


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## LondonHomes (Dec 29, 2010)

I am shocked at quality of some of the people elected (vegas girl). It just shows you how worthless the individual MP is today.

With the Cons in a majority government position it will be interesting what they can do now they can work on their "secret agenda".


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

andrewf said:


> I said he has to be careful. Quebeckers are really unhappy with him. He doesn't need them. That's a recipe for stoking some really serious anger and resentment in Quebec if it's not handled carefully. The defeat of the Bloc this time around does not mean sovereignty is dead. All it takes is a spark to reignite, like the Liberals with the sponsorship scandal. We're almost certainly going to be getting the PQ back in Quebec City in the next provincial election. I'm not the only person who sees trouble ahead. The BQ has been a safety valve for the past twenty years. Without them, we might see the sovereignty movement come to a head.


I can see this viewpoint.
There is clearly no love lost between Quebec and Harper (and his group).
I vaguely recall that back in the days of the Reform Party, led by Harper, they proposed the abolition of official bilingualism.

However, more than Stephen Harper (now basking in the glory of majority), I'd say it is Layton that needs to tread carefully.
50% of his caucus is now based out of Quebec - a province where he has no previous experience.
It will be an interesting 4 years.


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## dogcom (May 23, 2009)

In my opinion it is a good thing if Quebec gets ignored. I remember one day a caller on the radio said that all Quebec wants is their equal share. The radio host then replied "Oh so you want less then." 

Out here in BC we are missing a number of MP's as our population grows. I think it is time for all of Canada to grow up and be stronger as a nation and treat all regions and provinces the same. I am talking about representation and trade and so on and not our cultural differences.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

andrew of course you said something of the sort. There's no gross mis-quoting whatsoever. If you don't like being questioned on your statements, then perhaps you shouldn't post.

il va sans dire that every federal politician in ottawa is going to "be careful" about quebec. No politician more so than a prime minister of any party. Even a bloquiste PM would inevitably find himself being careful about quebec. 

here's what you said & imho it's inappropriate scare tactics:

_" Harper has to be really careful or he'll go down in history as the PM who revived sovereignty."_

now here you go again. To you another péquiste majority in the assemblée nationale apparently spells dire trouble. To quebec, it's just business as usual.

_" We're almost certainly going to be getting the PQ back in Quebec City in the next provincial election. I'm not the only person who sees trouble ahead."_


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## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

Looks like many of us were up late last night, but it was a night that could not have been missed! 

I felt blue yesterday, very tired today.


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

HaroldCrump said:


> I'd say it is Layton that needs to tread carefully.
> 50% of his caucus is now based out of Quebec - a province where he has no previous experience.


But Layton was born in Montréal and raised in Hudson, Québec. Does that not count as experience?


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## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

I must say this was one of the more interesting elections in a while. Nice speech by Iggy. Now politicians can go back to doing what they want and ignoring us.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

pie, you took a conditional statement I made and turned it into an assertion. You don't think that's misquoting? It's worthy of an attack ad!

It's not a foregone conclusion that PMs from ROC will be careful about Quebec. I agree that Layton also has a fine line to walk. It's easier for him, as he has no power and thus nothing to be held accountable for. His pandering to Quebec nationalists may be tricky to handle going forward. I suspect he might hold to that line while the ROC isn't paying attention, but an NDP government would be in a tricky spot given the promises they made to the nationalists. It's like the NDP ran two different campaigns--one in french and one in english.


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

brad said:


> But Layton was born in Montréal and raised in Hudson, Québec. Does that not count as experience?


Yeah but his party has never held any substantial positions in this province.
Many of the elected MPs are newbies, and some rather "interesting" characters, too.
Quebec politics has been dominated at various times by conservatives, liberals and the Bloc, but never by the NDP.
I haven't followed the NDP Quebec campaign so I'd be curious to know what they are offering that has caused such a landslide vote.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

He is still an anglo. I wonder when we'll see the next francophone leader. I doubt the Liberals will choose a Quebec francophone for their next leader.

One wild-card is Layton's cancer. Fortunately, it sounds like it's been successfully treated, but if Layton has to step down if could cause another big shift. It seems the NDP didn't win big last night, but Jack Layton. He's easily the most charismatic and natural politician of all the leaders. I doubt Mulcair could replicate his success.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

andrewf said:


> It's always Ontario that decides. That's just our electoral math. Either that, or more rationally, every seat counts the same whether it's counted first or last.


To wit, total seats for the Conservatives outside Ontario was a wash. Ontario's swing to the Conservatives (plus some vote splitting with the NDP) is what decided this election.


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