Tags
babbling, babies, bloc quebecois, Canada, Conservatives, election 2011, electoral reform, Green Party, Liberals, May 2 2011, milestones, NDP, politics, teething, voters, votes
So, remember how I said Canada was going to end up with the same government as before?
I eat my words OM NOM NOM.
Watching the election was a bizarre mix of pure elation and rich horror for people on both sides of the fence.
Now, this is Canada’s government as of 2008:
Dark Blue = Conservative, Red = Liberal, Orange = NDP, Light Blue = Bloc Quebecois, Green = obvious
This is how Canada was polling before election day in 2011:
Dark Blue = Conservative, Red = Liberal, Orange = NDP, Light Blue = Bloc Quebecois, Green = Obvious
So you can see why I didn’t think there would be any surprises. It should be noted that for the Conservatives to get a majority government, they would need 155 seats, so the projections were showing that they would be at least 10 short of their goal. The NDP were expected to make a big gain, because the leader was campaigning in Quebec and getting a lot of interest there. So the Bloc Quebecois were expected to give up some votes.
This is what happened:
For the first time in history, the Liberals placed third in the popular vote
Despite recieving 40% of the popular vote, the Conservatives win a sweeping majority (12 more than the required 155 seats) and the NDP become the Official Opposition
Not only did the Conservatives win a majority somewhat unexpectedly, but the Bloc Québécois (the Quebec separatist party, which usually holds most of the seats in Quebec) has been virtually eradicated. Even the party leader, who has been in Parliament for 20 years, didn’t get voted into his seat. Technically, the Bloc is no longer an official political party.
The Green Party leader got a seat in Parliament for the first time, which I think is largely a success that can be attributed to vote swapping.
Embarrassingly for the Liberals (who have been either the Federal Government or the Official Opposition for 150 years), not only did they get booted into a dismal third place, but their own party leader didn’t get elected into Parliament. I feel bad for Ignatieff. I always thought he was a bad choise for Liberal leader, but he didn’t deserve that.
Anyway, basically, no one is happy with this government:
The left-wing voters are horrified by the Conservative majority. Now Mr “Harper Government” has the power to make changes against the advice of the left wing Members of Parliament, despite the fact that he only has 40% of the popular vote.
The right-wing voters are horrified by the NDP opposition. You have to understand, this is totally unprecedented. The New Democratic Party puts a strong emphasis on social programs and support for the poor, the blue-collar, and the elderly. They want to put caps on trade, increase taxes on large corporations while giving cuts to small businesses, and increase the old age pension and cut taxes for the old and the poor. They aren’t total socialists or anything – on a provincial government level, as I mentioned before, they actually have a fantastic track record when it comes to handling money responsibly. But you can’t convince the right-wing folks of that, who are sure that if the NDP get into power they would just run around naked in the streets throwing hundred-dollar bills to the homeless and then shredding the rest of the national coffers for confetti.
And now they are opposing our most right-wing faction. Interesting, no?
In a way, it’s a good thing that the Conservatives have a majority. The last few years the Conservatives have blamed everything that went wrong on the fact that they were hobbled by the left-wing Members of Parliament. Now they can’t use that excuse, and we have a strong spokesman for the Everyman keeping him honest.
I think once everyone gets over being horrified, they’ll realize that this government might actually work. And if it doesn’t, maybe it will convince people to go out and effing vote.
Or at least, do some electoral reform.
Jeez.
Meanwhile, in (to me) equally important and world-shattering news, Babby has started babbling again. I haven’t been posting about this because I know I’m a nervous nelly, and I could just see you guys rolling your eyes at me if I started going “So… Babby used to babble, but he hasn’t for a couple of months, now, and now I think he may be autistic because it runs in the family y’know etc etc etc.”
I knew that babies often put one skill aside for a while when they’re working on something else, and Babby has been very focused on learning how to move. He is now capable of dragging his body in counter-clockwise spirals as well as pushing himself backwards. He doesn’t move with great purpose or speed but he moves. We went out and bought a baby gate. Baby proofing is in the offing.
So now that he has started to work that through, he has returned to other skills, to my unspoken relief. In a matter of a day or two he want from NO babbling for weeks to yayaya, wawawa, babababa, dadadada, blah, blah, blah, and so on. He also gives high fives and has discovered clapping.
All in one weekend.
Oh, and he has two teeth.
TEEF. I HAS DEM.
If By Yes 
You forgot to mention how LESS THAN HALF of the population of this country didn’t vote!! How the majority government represents a minority of the population!! I’m sorry, am I using too many exclamation points?!! I’m just angry!!
I’m not sure if I agree with the statement that the Cons will be a good government. I think having the NDP as the official opposition is a great party to have opposing the Cons, and perhaps an even greater shift in the thinking of the minority of this country. But what’s scary is that Harper will now have the ability to make and pass decisions, EVEN IF the opposition doesn’t agree. Given his previous track record in a minority government, you’ll have to pardon me for for sitting in the corner and banging my head off of the wall. I am truly scared for the future of this country and the rights of the citizens who live here. This may be the residual shock and dismay talking, but I’m not sure that Harper has the balls to be up front and honest about decision he’s made and WHY. Four years is an awfully long time to wait for us to go back to the polls and re-elect another government. Harper has the ability to do so many things in that period of time that could seriously end up doing a lot more harm than good. I read a newspaper article that quoted Harper in saying that he wasn’t going to make any radical changes while in government. I don’t believe this. I think this is a statement made in an attempt to pacify those who most heartily oppose his leadership and sooth others into thinking that everything’s going to be okay. Given the power hungry nature of this man, anything’s possible.
I was very vocal with my NDP MP during the minority government, and I was very vociferous on a lot of issues that affected me or my family directly (mostly cuts to education programs, tuition issues and the GST hike – you know, when Harper cut and then RAISED the GST?). You can bet now that my communication with her will increase and if she was to ever see me on the street, she’d most likely run screaming in the opposite direction. I encourage people who are reading this blog to maintain a strong and open communication with their MP’s and to let them know when something really pisses you off; particularly if you’re an NDP, Liberal or Green supporter living in an area represented by a Con.
Did Babby cut only one tooth? I found with my own little ankle bitter than the first two teeth were the worst! She was crankier than ever and was constantly trying to bite me in an effort to relieve the pain. She absolutely LOVED the teething toys that you put in the freezer – I kept 4 or 5 of those around so that she could gnaw on one and I could replace it swiftly with another after the first had thawed to a temperature that was no longer soothing. She liked the frozen ones with the little nubbies on the surface the best.
Oh no, I don’t think the Cons will be a good government. But I think that with the NDP as an opposition, it might be a good combination. I’d rather it was a minority in combination with a strong opposition, but… *sigh*
Babby has both teefs now. He’s not big on teething rings. Biting me is much more fun, apparently. He makes me think of Sunny in A Series of Unfortunate Events.
Agreeing with you about the MPs – even if you don’t like your MPs party, tell them how you feel. My MP is conservative but I emailed him about transgender rights and he actually voted in favour!
Two-fies! I second the suggestion of frosty teething toys – also cold wet washcloths.
I can’t write or think about the election any more – mah brain, it is tired.
Hooray for milestones! Hooray for teeth (boo for you and the booba). Wait until he starts talking. It will blow your mind. At Alex’s age he’s gaining 10 words a DAY.
Yes it sucks that the conservatives got the majority, but the opposition has changed drastically. If Jack Layton rolls up his sleeves like he always does, it could be good for us.
(To update you on the Liberal astronaut in our riding, it was so close between him and the NDP lady we went to bed thinking she had won. Meanwhile he was probably saying “WTF! I’m an astronaut!”. He conceeded. They recounted. He had in fact won. By about 1000 votes. WILD).
Also? All the little anglophones in Quebec are singing “ding dong the witch is dead”…
Hahaha!
Sorry, I’m a nervous nellie, too. But just wanted to make a suggestion. Bug did the same thing. Babbled early. Quit. Started again. I would definitely start keeping tabs on how much he’s babbling, how often, and whether he’s picking up new sounds. Once Bug started babbling again I dropped the ball and quit worrying. So I didn’t notice the more gradual regression that followed. Ugh, as usual, I am waving red flags. Hate to be that person. Really hope Babby will be talking up a storm very soon. It’s around 12 months that those regressions can start, so keep your eyes peeled, as I know you will.
No, I appreciate it. A friend of mine said her daughter barely babbled at all, and then just started talking, so I am trying to remember that often this means nothing, but it’s actually kind of good to know that my worries were SOMEWHAT justified (although hopefully still unfounded).
Huh. So you’ve kind of had a similar thing to the UK, where the LibDems got a surprising number of votes. And that worked out so well. >_< It was so easy for the Conservatives here to blame the recession on Labour (and people actually believed them), but the Labour government had nothing to do with the mortgage crashes in America, which is what led to banks falling over in Europe as well. And now we have a Conservative-led government. In a recession. Because that worked out so well last time. (Thatcher, anyone?)
The whole "calling elections whenever" just sounds completely mad to me – I grew up in a country where elections were held every three years (raised to four in the 1990s). Much better than just surfing on the current popularity. I THINK (and hope) the UK is finally starting to come around to this idea too.
I think all of the countries are needing some serious electoral reform.
YAY for teeth! Boo for the outcome of the election:)
While I’d like to say I followed the election talk, all I hear when politics are on the table is “bzzzzzzzzzzzzz.” One day I’ll need to grow up and get a clue, I know. I do try to edumacate myself on our elections and vote accordingly, at least. You get serious props for your extensive use of colorful maps and graphs, though (and your knowledge of all things political). ;D
On to things for which I’m better equipped to comment: Yay! Teefs! And babbling! And extreme cuteness!
Holy cow. Yours is a complicated system, my friend.
I am happy that we won’t have to vote for another 4 years… And Harper better damn well keep in mind that more than half of Canadians prefer left/centre-left policies – He absolutely has an amazing opportunity to step up… I guess we’ll see.
Yay to babbling and teeth!
Boo to our new government!