Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Officially Depressed

Well, the polls were wrong! The pundits were wrong, the press was wrong, even I was wrong. The last thing I expected was a Liberal Majority Government but that is exactly what the voters of BC decided to do last night.

What happened? Who knows. Whatever it was the result was people lying to pollsters and more importantly, young people staying home and not voting! The turnout was 51%, a very low number that should be up in the seventies. People said they wanted change but would not go out and vote to get that change.

The Green Party was the spoiler. They elected one member but came a strong third in so many ridings behind the NDP that if you combined the NDP and Green vote, it would have been enough to win all these ridings  and would have put the liberals in second place. Green voters handed the election to the people they hate most, the Right Wing.

The Premier, Christie Clark, won a majority government but lost her own seat. They will fix this by asking another member in a safe seat to resign, creating a by-election that the NDP may or may not contest. My first instinct is to throw everything we have at this by-election and lock her out but I am not very realistic. By-elections are expensive and there are ridings where a liberal could not lose.

What is the answer? Maybe it is time to look at Proportional Voting. A form of that, "Single Transferable Vote" went to a referendum a few years ago and was soundly defeated. It was very confusing and few people understood it. Mandatory voting has been experimented with in some countries. Maybe it is time to seriously consider online voting as an option.

The only election I have missed in my life was one year when we were in Arizona when a Federal election was unexpectedly called. That was the only one. I cannot understand how you could justify not voting.

Well, I am heading back into my funk. See you soon.

12 comments:

  1. I always vote also. Mostly so I have a right to complain when it goes bad, like now with our dysfunctional Congress.

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  2. A sad state of affairs indeed and your funk is justified. However I just do NOT understand how Christie Clark can oust someone who was officially elected when she clearly was not.....ie she was not wanted so how can she continue as head of the province? Is that democracy?

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    1. That's politics. People wanted the Liberals, they get Christie.

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  3. I hear ya, Croft - loud and clear. As I progress through the various stages of grief, I will come out laughing at the end about what a true mess this democracy thing is. People usually get the government they deserve. Today, I think the people of B.C. deserve the Liberals. We should rejoice as we now get to sit back and watch.

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    1. Plus you and I get to spend at least a few months away from BC each year. It could be worse. I guess.

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  4. Sorry Croft. It is interesting how the conservatives are called the liberal party. Better luck next time.

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    1. It goes back a few decades to when the Conservatives and Liberals realized that the only way they could outnumber the NDP was to combine into a single "free enterprise" party which they named "Social Credit". The Socreds ruled BC for decades until they were soundly defeated. The coalition collapses back into it's component pieces but with most Conservatives joining the Liberals in the same effort to win power again. Unfortunately, it worked.

      The policies of the "Liberals" are anything but liberal.

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  5. Turn out is the key to winning elections. In the last US Federal election, many of the white underclass stayed home that have been voting Republican, the Mormon was that bad. In the mid-terms of 2010, the kids and ethnic voters stayed home in droves and my party got pounded-a census year to-boot. Getting out the vote is what determines who governs.

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  6. It's good to see the true conservatives win! Let's hope the trend spreads to the U.S.! The Obama disaster must be reversed.

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    1. Nice to see a "true conservative" who is unafraid to identify himself, 732012.

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  7. Croft, it is the liberal and conservative governments over the last 40 years that have attracted businesses to our province that now enable you to have a healthy retirement and allow you to ESCAPE BC for a few months. Interesting how you say the Socreds were soundly defeated. What would you call the annihilation of your beloved NDP under Clark (who by the way has now moved to the dark side and is reaping the benefits of a free enterprise non unionized job)? I am a union member but realize the damage the NDP have done every time they attempted to govern this province.

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    1. Karl. it looks like you got the government you asked for. What BC is going to get is wholesale transport of fossil fuel by pipeline, rail and ship. There will be no pressure to ensure safe pipelines or double hulled ships. This is a disaster in waiting, it not a matter of "if" but "'when".

      Fossil fuel development and transport may have taken place under an NDP government as well, the difference is, Workers, environmentalists and aboriginal groups could work much better with an NPD government.
      I have worked with both and much prefer NDP'ers.


      As far as union jobs, the Liberals are no champion for organized labour, in fact it was them who allowed 12 year olds to legally work, leading to a huge increase in on the job injuries.











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