CANADA: Liberals headed for minority government! Conservatives Wipe Out Liberal Majority!
Liberals headed for minority government
By MARTIN O?HANLON
Canada heads to the polls
Party leaders holding breath
Voting day
(CP) – Paul Martin’s Liberals were headed for a minority government in Monday night’s federal election, buoyed by a surprisingly strong showing in Ontario and Atlantic Canada.
The Grits jumped to a big lead in seat-rich Central Canada after scoring a political knockout in the Atlantic provinces, handily beating back a challenge from the Conservatives while ducking punishment for the sponsorship scandal. A minority would be a bittersweet result for Martin.
It’s a blow for a man who, just a few months ago, he had been expected to coast easily into office and whose website once boldly predicted a huge majority with over 200 of the 308 Commons seats.
But it’s also likely a huge relief given that polls during the election campaign had suggested the Conservatives were on course to win a minority.
A new Liberal government will have to be far tamer animal than the mighty Jean Chretien majorities of the last 11 years. The fragile entity will have to rely on the support of the Bloc Quebecois or the NDP to survive, meaning every piece of legislation may have to be negotiated.
The Liberals were leading in about 130 ridings, including 100 seats in Ontario and Quebec after taking 22 of the 32 Atlantic ridings.
The Conservatives, a merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservatives, were leading in about 80 ridings. The party had a disappointing showing in the Atlantic region, taking just seven seats compared with eight in 2000.
The NDP were leading in more than a dozen seats in Ontario after taking three ridings in the Atlantic provinces.
The Bloc was on track to take about 50 seats in their home province.
The Conservatives’ failure to capitalize on the Liberal sponsorship troubles in the Atlantic region may have been compromised by long Maritime memories.
In May 2002, Harper infuriated Atlantic Canadians when he blamed the region’s “culture of defeat” for the Alliance party’s inability to elect any members from the region.
In another slap to the Tories, Scott Brison, who abandoned the Conservatives to join the Liberals, easily won his Nova Scotia riding.
Brison, aware that many voters in B.C. had not yet gone to the polls, gave an early victory speech warning Canadians that Harper would run roughshod over minority rights and impose socially conservative mores on the country
Conservative Deputy Leader Peter MacKay, who won his Nova Scotia riding, said Liberal attack ads demonizing the Tories apparently took their toll.
Opinion polls had suggested neither party is headed for a majority in the 308-seat House of Commons, meaning the next government is likely to be decided by the party that can secure the backing of the separatist Bloc Quebecois, or possibly the NDP.
As the incumbent government, the Liberals would have the first crack at forming a government. If they failed, it would be up to the Governor General to invite the Conservatives to give it a try – or call a new election.
The party that does form a government will have to be a far tamer animal than the mighty Liberal and Tory majorities of the last 24 years.
The fragile entity would have to rely on the support of an opposition party to survive, meaning every piece of legislation may have to be negotiated.
Joe Clark’s minority Tory government in 1979 lasted just six months before he was forced to call an election, but Lester Pearson managed to hold together two minority governments over five years in the 1960s.
Martin appeared headed for an easy majority just a few months ago before he was stung by the sponsorship scandal and hobbled by an unpopular provincial budget brought down by his Liberal cousins in Ontario.
The election campaign was more about whom not to vote for rather than whom to vote for.
The Liberals hammered relentlessly at Harper as a right-wing bogeyman. The attack was unwittingly fueled by several Conservative candidates who made controversial comments about gay marriage, abortion rights, bilingualism and overruling the courts on social issues.
Harper pounded back with equal vigour about Liberal waste and mismanagement, reminding voters daily about the sponsorship scandal and the gun registry.
It was part of a carefully orchestrated attack designed to inflict maximum damage on a government already limping from the sponsorship blow.
To my Quebec friends, here is one American who will not rest in his heart or mind till you have suceeded from Canada and have become an independent state, and thus a true Quebecois!
