Elections Canada

Well the results are in, ladies and gentlemen:

Conservatives: 167 seats (majority)
NDP: 102 seats (official opposition for the first time in history)
Liberals: 34 seats (outside top 2 for the first time in history, party leader Michael Ignatieff lost his seat)
Bloq Quebecois: 4 seats (party leader Gilles Duceppe lost his seat and Quebec was basically swept by the NDP)
Green Party: 1 seat (party leader Elizabeth May won the first ever Green Party seat in Canada)

I will be brief in my reaction, but I think that there are many positives to take out of it:

Pros:
1) NDP opposition: it seems that democratic socialism is not dead, even in Canada. It also means that although the Conservatives have a majority, they must tread carefully, and will perhaps have to be less Conservative than in former times. We shall see...
2) Green party seat: it's always nice when a new party gets a foot in the door.
3) Liberal fail: since history has not been repeated in terms of 'who does historically well', it may be that more people are actually critically engaging with issues.
4) Conservative majority: why is this under pros? well it will be under cons as well. But I think it is useful that people can finally see how much damage the Conservatives will do to the country over the next four years. Moreover, recall that it was after Mulroney's failures in the early in the 80s and early 90s that caused people to become disillusioned with Conservativism and ushered in Jean Chretien, who I still think was a reasonably good leader. Perhaps this will usher in an era of Prime Minister Jack Layton? Doubtful, but let's see what happens. And it also means that there will be no more elections and dissolved parliaments for awhile, as it is always a bit annoying to hear the ranting and raving and mudslinging every few years...
5) Linda Duncan consolidating her success in Edmonton-Strathcona. Nice to see she got a majority of the popular vote (>53%) and destroyed the Conservative candidate (~40%).
6) Left vs. Right. It will be interesting to see how the Conservative-NDP dynamic unfolds over the next few years. And it is very interesting to see how much the opinions of the voting public have been polarized recently, rather than opting for the more central-left Liberals.
7) Bloq destroyed in Quebec. Perhaps this will see a much more unified Canada over the next few years.
8) All the major gaffes that may come back to haunt various people down the line (see below).

Cons:
1) Conservative majority. They are in control of both the Commons and the Senate. How much damage will they do?

The gaffes are always the best though, so I recommend going through them yourself: 2011 controversies and gaffes. Though here are a few of my favourites:

i) Raymond Sturgeon, the Conservative candidate for the federal riding of Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing was until December 2010 a lobbyist for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, the manufacturer of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II fighter plane – which the Canadian government agreed to purchase in July 2010.

Insider dealings? You're kidding me.

ii) Cheryl Gallant, the Conservative candidate for Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke compared Michael Ignatieff to Libyan dictator Gaddafi. She later apologized.

I dont see the connection. One is an individual that led a country from poverty to a general degree of wealth, and enacted a very interesting general political theory. The other is a washed-up pseudo-American whose books are filled with rubbish. But then one sort of expects uninformed mudslinging in these trying times.

iii) At a tightly controlled event aimed at immigrant communities in Brampton, Ontario, Harper used the phrase "you people" to attendees, implying they were categorically different from he or his party or government. Ignatieff and Layton immediately criticized Harper and pointed to his record of reducing family reunification quotas for immigration, and criminal justice policies that disadvantage non-white populations.

It's always nice to know that your leader cares about 'you people'.

iv) The Conservative Party came under heavy fire on April 11 when a draft report for the G8 summit was leaked to the Canadian Press, which indicated that the Tories misled the Parliament of Canada to seek approval for $50 million tax dollars to be spread on dubious projects, which over half of it was spent on the riding of Parry Sound—Muskoka – Tony Clement's riding. It prompted calls from the other leaders to release the report now, but the Auditor General of Canada, Sheila Fraser; told reporters the rules forbid her to release it because she has to release it to the Speaker of the House of Commons.

Funneling public money into campaign coffers? You're kidding me.

v) Canadian Arab Federation president Khaled Mouamar received an email from Etobicoke Centre Conservative campaign staffer Zeljko Zidaric asking him if he had any groups that would like to participate in a Conservative rally "by having someone at the event in an ethnic costume". The email further elaborated that they wanted them for a "photo-op about all the multicultural groups that support Ted Opitz our local Conservative candidate and the Prime Minister." Mouamar took offence to the email.

Ignorance and over-simplification with respect to foreign, racial, and cultural issues by right-wing political groups? You're kidding me.

vi) A Liberal campaign volunteer for Joe Volpe in Eglinton-Lawrence was caught on camera removing Green Party pamphlets from mailboxes, throwing them away, and replacing them with Liberal campaign materials, as Volpe looked on. Tampering with mail is a criminal offence in Canada. Volpe has since fired the worker, but only after being caught on camera standing next to the worker as he committed these actions.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. What more need be said?

But in the end, just remember:

"The people will think [the House representative] is voting on toleration, on peace or war, on billeting or taxes or what not; but the real question on which he will always be voting is whether or no his party shall remain in office or he himself have to spend half his property on another election with the chance of losing his seat if his opponent has a few thousand pounds more to spend than he."

--George Bernard Shaw

Being in South Africa, I didn't see much of what was going on, but I hope everybody back home enjoyed the unfolding drama!!