Canadian Election results

Published on 24 Jan 2006 at 2:55 am.
Filed under Politics.

Well, the 2006 Canadian voting results are in, and the Conservatives have won the election. Unfortunately for them, they did not win the majority. Unlike American politics, Canada actually has more than two parties that matter. While the Liberal and the Conservative parties represent most of Canada, there are two more parties — the Bloc Québécois and the NDP. The Bloc party essentially looks out for the best interest of Quebec, while the NDP is a political party further to the left than the Liberals (who are center-left). In Canada, the NDP and the Liberals have gotten along in the past, but they are separate enough on some issues that they don’t always they are their own parties.

Under the Liberals, Canada was saw a budget surplus (which is not good in excess because it means you are taxing your people too much) and advancements in human rights issues (most recently passing a nation wide law OKing same-sex civil marriage). It recently went through a corruption scandal that led to the recent election.

What does all this mean? Canadian politics are going to be boring for a while. No clear majority means that the Conservatives need to play nice with one of the other parties in order to get any laws passed. Historically, when the Conservatives are given full control, they screw things up (in many Canadians’ eyes) and they will run back to the Liberals. Since they will not be that effective as a minority leader, less people will look at them in contempt, and thus they not run back to the Liberals for leadership. Before that would ever happen, the Liberals need to clean up shop.