On Monday May 2, the Canadian general election was held and there were some major changes. The Conservative Party of Canada won a majority. The New Democratic Party made tremendous gains in their seat total. The Liberal party lost heavily. The Bloc Quebecois was almost eliminated.
For some people the results were absolutely wonderful and for others the results were devastating. People commenting on television, radio, newspapers and twitter expressed a broad range of opinion. Some of these opinions were very negative and bitter while others were extremely happy. The conservatives had been working for a number of years to obtain a majority. Their supporters were overjoyed and some exuberant comments were made. The NDP made a huge gain and became the official opposition and their supporters were obviously happy. The liberals were pushed to third place and were terribly disappointed. They had worked hard and expected to maintain their level of support so a serious loss was hard to take. Many Liberal supporters were ready to blame all sorts of people for their loss. The Bloc was devastated as they went from 47 seats to 4. It's easy to see why people were disappointed. Some I'm sure were upset with the huge gain by the NDP.
For me I don't know whether to laugh or cry. I like the idea of one party having a majority as parliament can operate a little easier as the party in power knows it's in power for 5 years. However, I do not like the idea of the Conservative party being in power as they want to do some things which don't make any sense whatsoever. Why do we have to get hosed to the tune of twenty nine billion dollars for jet fighters that will be obsolete long before they wear out? The contract for the new fighters was not an open contract so we have no idea how much we are being ripped off. Why are they spending on prisons which they could not provide any figures for when the crime rate is decreasing? Why are more prisons being built when more incarceration has been proved not to work? I was happy to see the NDP become the official opposition. The NDP is not perfect but they have social policy which I agree with. I strongly support Canada health care and other policies which assist those who need help.
So there I am. I have some things to be happy about and some that I worry about.
One thing I can tell myself and all others is "get over it!" This is democracy and the people have spoken. We don't have to go away and sulk. We have to continue to work to bring about the changes that we think are necessary and valuable.
