Tuesday, May 03, 2011

Canada: Conservatives win national election

OTTAWA — The Conservative Party will again govern Canada, this time with a majority, following the country’s fourth election in seven years.

In addition, incomplete results late Monday night clearly indicated that the New Democratic Party, a movement with socialist roots, will form the official opposition, which would mean that the vote is likely to significantly reshape Canada’s political left.

It was the first time since Canada became a nation in 1867 that the Liberals, the most successful political party in the country’s history, finished in third place.

The unexpected rise over the campaign’s final days of the New Democrats, a party historically distinguished by its lock on third place, was also devastating for the Bloc Québécois, a party that has championed Quebec separatism for the last 20 years. It was reduced to just two seats and its defeated candidates included Gilles Duceppe, its long time leader.

For Prime Minister Stephen Harper, obtaining a majority was the overriding focus of his campaign. In the end, he did much better than the dozen seats he needed to secure the 155 required for control, acquiring 165, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation projected. The New Democratic Party won 105 seats, well above its previous record of 45, while the Liberals held only 35. Elizabeth May, the leader of the Green Party, became its first, and only, elected member.
Read the rest here.

4 comments:

Randy said...

You need to understand. In Canada the conservatives are not that conservative. Certainly social conservatism is not part of what they believe in. They are not pro-life. Abortion is 100% legal and paid for by taxpayers and the conservatives have no plans to even debate changing that. They do not oppose gay marriage. They do not want to do anything about pornography. No school prayer. Nothing remotely connected with values or God.

John (Ad Orientem) said...

Randy
So what your saying is that the conservatives in Canada are not statists. I am appalled by abortion as it is premeditated killing. But the other issues are ones best addressed by the church. There is no difference between social conservatives and liberals, except which aspects of people's lives they think they should dictate via legislation.

Fr. Deacon Robert Sherwood said...

If one is concerned about abortion in Canada looking for any fundamental difference between the political parties would be futile. Generaly speaking a supporter of the Conservatives in Canada would be a liberal Democrat in the USA. "Social conservativism", as a political movement in Canada is practically non-existent. All the political parties are "statist" to one degree or another. It might come as a surprise to many but the NDP is probably less "statist" than the now vaquished Liberals. If one were to follow the voting patterns the NDP is very strong in the more "working class" areas and probably has more of a left populist element than one would imagine. This is particulalry the case in Quebec where they have gained new strength. Essentially the NDP is akin to a Socialst or Labour Party and even at that probably a bit on the left wing side. I remember attending a convention of the party not that long ago and the songbook they used had "Reg Flag" in it. Of course that is not the public persona of the party but it lurks underneath. Politics in Canada has very little resemblance to the USA.

Fr. Deacon Robert Sherwood said...

Just to clarify on the matter of Canadian political parties being statist. There is a gigantic amount of social control in Canada as to social relationships and fundamentally all political parties are supportive of that. For social conservatives this might be very concerning but at the same time there are practical limits and attempts of overt interference are traditonally opposed. There are horror stories about Canada but the situation is much more fluid than the "sound bites" most Americans get about their northern cousins.